Bonus episode #135 – They never saw it coming

Culips Everyday English Podcast

Culips English Podcast

Self-improvement, Education, Language Learning, Courses

4.8 • 968 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Andrew tells the story of how he surprised his parents at Christmas. He shares the big reveal, their shocked reactions, and how they spent the holiday. He also talks about what he did during the rest of his visit and how he felt about surprising them. This real-life story will help you improve your English skills and become a better communicator.

How this episode will improve your English:

* Listening: Hear natural, everyday English as Andrew shares a real-life story about surprising his parents at Christmas.
* New Vocabulary: Learn words and phrases about family gatherings, holiday traditions, and making last-minute arrangements during the festive season.
* Idioms and Expressions: Learn useful English expressions like “to be taken aback,” “the more the merrier,” and “to break the ice,” and see how they’re used in real conversations.
* Pronunciation: Listen to Andrew’s intonation and rhythm, then practice repeating short clips of the episode to build your fluency and sound more natural.
* Speaking: Join discussions with other listeners on the Culips Discord server, share your own surprise stories, and practice using new vocabulary in casual conversations.

Important links:

* Become a Culips member
* Study with the interactive transcript
* Join the Culips Discord server
* Small-group discussion class schedule (member only)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Have you ever surprised somebody so much that they were taken aback and speechless and they didn't know how to react?
0:07.7	Well, that's what happened to me recently when I surprised my parents at Christmas, and in this episode,
0:13.4	I'm going to tell you that story. My name's Andrew, and I help you improve your English fluency
0:18.8	through real life stories and lessons.
0:22.0	To accompany this episode, there is a 100% free interactive transcript and vocabulary glossary.
0:29.0	You can get it just by following the link in the description.
0:31.8	And if you're a Culeps member, then you'll also get a comprehension quiz, add free audio, and all of our learning materials
0:39.7	and resources that are designed to help you improve your English fluency faster and better
0:45.1	than ever. Now is a great time to sign up and become a QLips member, and you can do that
0:50.6	just by visiting our website, culips.com.
0:58.4	So in this episode, I'm going to tell you the story about going back to my hometown Kelowna to spend some good old family time with my folks and my brother and sister over
1:04.0	Christmas.
1:04.8	Let's get started.
1:06.2	Here we go.
1:13.6	Chapter 1. The pre-surprise setup.
1:17.6	I arrived in Colonna on Christmas Eve morning.
1:21.6	My brother was kind enough to come and pick me up at the airport.
1:25.6	And after he picked me up, we went to a local restaurant to
1:29.1	grab some breakfast together. It was really nice just to catch up over some eggs bennies.
1:35.9	Eggs Benedict. Do you know what this breakfast dish is? It's just an egg dish. I think it's usually
1:42.4	served on an English muffin, which is kind of bread. And on
1:47.1	each half of the English muffin, there is some ham or some bacon. And then there's a poached
	...

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