Idea of checking your own progress with English - a podcast by Alan Palmer

Hello everybody

It’s nice to be here again to talk to you. I’ve been having some nice feedback about my podcasts recently and it’s always nice to receive it. Thanks to those of you who sent me messages of encouragement either here or on Livemocha.com.

I’m always glad to know that you find my podcasts useful and interesting.

Today I want to suggest an idea for those of you who want to know how your English is progressing and also a small English practice test.

My idea is this. I want to give you a topic here that you can read about and then you can write a small text in your own words to explain my text. Maybe between 50 and 100 words will be enough. Copy any words I have written – but don’t copy out my text word for word – or it will not be useful for the test. You must create a new text yourself in your own words.

If you have access to recording equipment, make a recording of your voice saying my words and also read out aloud your written text.

Keep this text and voice recording for a month and then do the same test again. Do not check your previous work and try to write the best text and speak as well as you can.

Record your voice again copying my voice recording and also your new writing.

Once you have done this – keep the text and recording safe for a few days.

Then get both recordings and texts together and listen to and read to the first one and then the second. You will be able to see if you have improved:

Your pronunciation, speed of speaking and confidence
Your reading skills – for how easily you can read and understand my text and your own
Your listening skills – how well you can understand this podcast
Your writing skills – how your written language has improved from the first piece of writing to the second – 1 month later

You can see how much progress you have made across all four language skills. I think this will be useful for you.

Now I will read out the text below at normal speed.

My country

Today I want to talk about my country. Did you know that I live in 4 different places? Well, I mean that my country has four different names.

My country is called England

Great Britain is the name of the largest island. Eire is the name of the next biggest island. There are many other smaller islands. Together these islands are called “The British Isles (Isles also means islands)

United Kingdom means England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is the political union of the country. The capital of the United Kingdom is London.


The United Kingdom does not have an official language – but of course, most people here speak English. Although English is the most common language, there are other languages in the British Isles. These are: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Manx (Isle of Mann)

There was also a language that used to be called Cornish –this was spoken by people in the south-west part of England which is now called Cornwall.

There are many different people living in Great Britain. Those people who are born here are called “British” This is true even when their parents come from other countries

There are 50,000,000 British people living in the United Kingdom

The flag of the United Kingdom is very well know and is a red cross (for England) a blue cross for Scotland and “St Patrick’s cross” for Northern Ireland. There is no part of the flag to represent Wales – which is something that some people would like to see changed.

So, when I say “I am English” I mean that I live in one country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain which is called England


I hope you like this idea and I am very interested to know if it helps you judge your progress

Bye for now

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