English Learning for Curious Minds | A More Interesting Way To Learn English

 For centuries, a woman could be accused of being a witch for the simple crime of being too poor, too rich, or too old.For those accused, the trials were deeply unfair, and the punishment was often torture and death.In this episode, we explore the unfair and bloody history of witches.The Salem Witch TrialsThe punishments given for witches at SalemWhat actually was a "witch"?Reasons people could be accused of being a witchBlack vs. White magicWitches & the Black DeathMalleus Maleficarum: The Catholic Church's witch instruction manualHow witch trials workedKing James VI & witchesWhy witch fears declinedWitches in modern cultureFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/witches ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

 For hundreds of years, people have been afraid of blood-sucking creatures that rise from the dead.But where does the vampire myth actually come from, what happened to the people accused of being a vampire, and what if there was a simple, biological explanation for it all?The start of Bram Stoker's DraculaThe fundamental characteristics of vampiresVampires in ancient European folkloreWhy people might have thought vampires needed to drink bloodVampires being blamed for the plagueThe Great Vampire EpidemicThe story of Petar BlagojevićJohn Polidori’s The VampyreVampires & Vlad The ImpalerVampires on filmModern vampiresFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/vampires ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

It has been 5 years since the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.In part three of this three-part mini-series, we look at what has happened since then and ask ourselves whether we are any closer to knowing the truth.Recap of the story so farVince Muscat starts talking to the policeMelvin Theuma: the middlemanYorgen Fenech & 17 BlackThe phantom jobMelvin Theuma starts getting paranoidThe arrest of Melvin TheumaThe letter to be passed to Yorgen FenechKeith Schembri's lost phoneThe public inquestPolitical changes since Daphne's deathThe corruption and scandal involved in Daphne's murder investigationWill the killers ever be brought to justice?Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/daphne-caruana-galizia-part-3

A few months after Daphne's brutal assassination, the Maltese police raided a potato shed.They would "find" three men who would later admit to being involved in the murder, but were they really any closer to the truth?The initial investigations of Daphne's murderThe December raid on the potato shedVince Muscat & The DeGiorgio BrothersHow the police caught the hitmenNovember 2019: when everything changedThe arrest of Yorgen FenechThe power goes out and Keith Schembri is arrestedYorgen Fenech promises to "spill the beans"Fenech's pardon request is refusedThe resignation of the Prime Minister, Joseph MuscatFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/daphne-caruana-galizia-part-2

On October 16th, 2017, a 52-year-old journalist was blown up in a car bomb outside her home in Malta.In part one of our three-part mini-series, we'll learn about who she was, and who might have wanted her dead.The assassination of Daphne Caruana GaliziaIntroduction to MaltaWhy small island countries are more prone to corruptionThe early career of Daphne Caruana GaliziaWhy Daphne Caruana Galizia was so popularEconomic growth in 21st-century Malta“Malta is 17 miles by nine and flooded with cocaine, corruption, and filthy money”Daphne's corruption allegations in MaltaWhy Daphne was very unpopular with some Maltese citizensThe attacks and harassment she facedClaims against Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri & Joseph MuscatFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/daphne-caruana-galizia-part-1

 He was the 45th President of the USA and the most controversial in recent history.In this episode, we look at the life of Donald J. Trump and examine how he went from real estate developer to the leader of the free world.The early life of Donald TrumpHis paternal and maternal influencesAccusations of racism against Fred TrumpAvoiding getting drafted in the Vietnam War ("bone spurs")Getting into business with The Trump OrganizationEarly business controversiesGoing upmarket and entering the casino businessA small loan of 1 million dollarsDeveloping the family business and becoming a (self-reported) billionaireBusiness problems in the 1990sBecoming a TV celebrity after "The Apprentice"Donald Trump's business failures & controversiesTrump's political alliances over the yearsHis path to The White HouseA return to politics?Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/donald-trump ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

 It's one of the most controversial topics in modern Spain; some say it's a cultural art form, and others say it's a brutal form of torture.In this episode, we look at the history of bullfighting through the ages and ask ourselves what lies ahead.The matador looks up to the crowdWhat happens in a bullfightThe early history of bullfightingBullfighting in the Iberian peninsulaThe first "anti-bullfighting" legislation in the 16th CenturyThe development of "modern" bullfightingThe different styles of bullfightingGeneral Franco & bullfightingThe opposition to bullfightingBullfighting todayWill bullfighting ever be banned in Spain?Full interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/bullfighting ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

 We have been recycling for decades, yet only 9% of the world's plastic has ever been successfully recycled.In this episode, we ask ourselves the heretical question, "is plastic recycling actually worth it?"A brief history of plastic usageHow much plastic do we really use?The uses (and advantages) of plasticPlastic's advantages in food productionPlastic's usage in medicinePlastic as a way to reduce energy usage?The durability of plasticThe problem of what to do with plastic after we have finished using itWhat proportion of the world actually recycles?The environmental "cost" of recyclingPlastic vs. cotton bags: the numbersRecycling + reducing + reusingSimple acts to reduce plastic usageTechnological developments with recyclingFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/plastic-recycling ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

 For thousands of years, humans have had ideas about mankind's potential impact on the climate.In this episode, we look at how these ideas have changed, the men and women who have contributed to them, and ask ourselves why it has taken so long to start paying attention.Ancient ideas about mankind's impact on the climateThe North American "rain follows the plough" theoryJoseph Fourier & The Greenhouse EffectEunice Newton Foote's discovery about CO2The theory that burning coal might be causing temperatures to riseSvante Arrhenius & global heatingGuy Callendar, the amateur meteorologistThe fear of a return to the Ice AgeThe Great Smog of 1952 in LondonCharles David Keeling attributes human activity to climate changeWere rising CO2 levels good or bad?The establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeModern climate change theoriesThe role of the oil & gas industryClimate change deniers in US politicsFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/history-climate-change ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية

 He was put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list in 1999, and he would only be removed after he was hunted down and killed by US operatives in 2011In this episode, we will tell the story of how Osama bin Laden went from a shy, religious young boy to the world's most famous terrorist.The early life of Osama bin LadenHis time at universityDeciding not to join the family businessThe Iranian Revolution of 1979The Soviet invasion of AfghanistanFighting in the Afghanistan WarThe invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forcesWhy Osama bin Laden didn't want US forces in Saudi ArabiaLosing his Saudi citizenshipLaunching Al QaedaThe 9/11 attacksOsama bin Laden's whereabouts after 9/11The killing of Osama bin LadenWhat was found in Osama bin Laden's compoundPopular misconceptions about Osama bin LadenThe legacy of Osama bin LadenFull interactive transcript, subtitles and key vocabulary available on the website: https://www.leonardoenglish.com/podcasts/osama-bin-laden ---You might like:🔓 Unlock bonus episodes, interactive transcripts, subtitles & vocabulary lists✨ 5 Powerful Tips for Learning English with Podcasts (Faster & Effectively!) [YouTube]📹 A look inside Leonardo English membership 📧 Join our FREE weekly newsletter---Keywords: Learn English, vocabulary, lessons, idioms, aprende inglés, idiomas, aprender inglês, apprendre l'anglais, imparare l’inglese, ingilizce öğren,英語を習う, تعلم الإنجليزية