#260 Playing Games to Learn English (Dylan

Dylan (from the YouTube channel British Education) joined me for a fun games session today. We're using games to have a conversation and practice English, and we encourage you to play along too. If you have a teacher or language partner, we also encourage you to try these games for yourself.

We actually recorded for about 2 hours together, but I cut it down a lot to fit into this week's podcast. We played 20 Questions, Would You Rather, Riddles, and 2 Truths and a Lie.

We also spoke for a long time about travel, language learning, and self-improvement, but this was cut out of the episode. I'm posting the full conversation on the website for members. Click below to join!

Where to find Dylan

Show notes page - https://levelupenglish.school/podcast260

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Sign Up for Free Lessons - https://www.levelupenglish.school/#freelessons

Join Level Up English - https://courses.levelupenglish.school
By becoming a member, you can access all podcast transcripts, listen to the private podcast and join live lessons and courses on the website.

Michael: 0:05

Welcome to the Level Up English podcast. The best place to come to practice the English language, learn about the British accent and culture. With me, your host, Michael Lavers. Hello English learners, welcome back to the Level Up English podcast. My name is Michael and I'm talking today with Dylan. Dylan is a fellow British English teacher, YouTuber. You might know him from YouTube at British Education. That's the YouTube channel. He has a website called dylaneducation.co.uk. And we had a really good chat today. Really good chat. So we actually ended up talking for about two hours. I managed to kind of cut it down to 90 minutes, which is still far too long for the podcast So there's lots of content that I'm not able to include in this episode. But I think we got carried away and we had a really fun time. I do get a lot of suggestions and people asking if I can post more content that's very conversational and casual. Just talking how I normally talk and not really trying to talk to an English learning audience. And I think this conversation is a really good example of that because when I listen back to it, it kind of sounds like just two friends having fun, chatting, talking. There's some slang that we're using. It's really not too formal. So I think this is a great conversation to listen to, hopefully to have fun, but also to hear a kind of casual British English conversation. I often talk about the importance of having fun when learning English or learning anything, really. I think having fun is so important and that's why this episode is all about games. So we are learning English by playing games. We actually made a list together of some game ideas and some of them are more visual games. So for that reason we haven't included them in this episode because I know most of you will be listening to this and not watching on Youtube. But we're thinking maybe doing a part two where we do these visual games and that can be like a bonus YouTube episode. I'm not sure at the moment, but maybe that could be something possible in the future. But anyway, in this episode, we did some more kind of speaking, audio games. So for most of you who are listening to this, that is also totally fine. You will not miss anything. The games we play, we've got 20 questions. We have, Would You Rather. Two truths and a lie, and then we share some riddles with each other. So we've got four kind of spoken conversation games here, and we'll explain a bit more about what they are later. But I think they're quite fun, I hope you enjoy them, and maybe you can play along as well. Some of them, in fact, maybe all of them, are possible for you to play along too. You can think about the answer in your head, or you can think about what you would say to the questions. Even speak it out loud, you know, pretend that you are joining in the conversation with us. At the moment, I'm not currently sure what parts will make it into the final episode because, as I said, we recorded for quite a long time, so some parts might be cut out. But if you want to see the full video, the uncut video, then you can become a member. I will put the full video at Level Up English Members. So if you want to see that, go to levelupenglish. school, click on the Members button at the top of the page and become a member and you can see our full conversation and all the games that we played. But yes, once again, I hope you enjoy the conversation today, the games we play. If you want to learn more about Dylan, click on the links in the description and maybe follow his YouTube channel, British Education. Let's get into the episode today. I hope you enjoy it. Hello everyone. My name is Michael. I am the host of the Level Up English Podcast, Uh, if you're watching on the podcast, you will of course know that, but If you're Dylan's audience, then hello. I've been teaching online since around 2016. I'm originally from Cornwall in the southwest of England and yeah, I'm very happy to be here.

Dylan: 4:37

Lovely. Yeah, hello everyone. If you're, if you're watching this video, um, on my channel, of course you, you know who I am. Welcome back. And if you are Michael's lovely audience, my name is Dylan. I run a YouTube channel where I teach British English and yeah, I'm also from the south of England as well.

Michael: 5:01

Very nice. Very nice. So. We have some games today to get into, right? Hopefully fun games that we're going to be using to practise our English, because, you know, our English is not so good. And I think the learners can also use it for their own language learning, but hopefully just have fun listening along at the same time. Is that the idea?

Dylan: 5:20

Yeah, think they might enjoy listening to us chat some rubbish and hopefully get a bit more of an idea as to who we are, um, on a personal level.

Michael: 5:30

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And we've kind of selected some games that hopefully will be good for audio listeners as well. So even if you're not watching, you could still play along. I guess for a lot of these, they could play along at home, couldn't they? And they could figure out the answers themselves or answer the questions in their heads. What we're going to do now is called Would You Rather questions. I really, really love these. I think they're so fun, partly because it gets you thinking quite deeply on often quite strange topics. But also, as Dylan says, it really allows you to learn more about the other person and their preferences. It's quite a nice way to get to know somebody. It could be even something you use on a date. If you go on a date with someone, give them some Would You Rather questions to learn more about them. So, would you rather is the sentence starter where you give someone two choices. They have to choose one of those options, but would you rather do this thing or this thing? Another way of saying would you rather is would you prefer or what would you like more? What would you like most? You have to choose one. So play along with us and see if you agree with our answers.

Dylan: 6:48

It's quite a good way to, to get to know someone as well. You can see how their mind works, which could be a good thing could be a bad thing. Right, um, would you like me to ask you a question then Michael?

Michael: 6:59

Yeah, go ahead.

Dylan: 7:00

Okay. All right So would you rather have to sing instead of speak every time or dance instead of walking?

Michael: 7:15

I'm not a fan of the questions where it's like they're both bad choices. I like the ones where they're both good choices I, I think I would rather dance every time I walk, partly because it would be good exercise, you know, burning off all those calories. Um, and I just think dancing is more fun than singing. I don't like singing at all.

Dylan: 7:41

Plus, eventually you would get very good at dancing as well.

Michael: 7:45

That's true.

Dylan: 7:45

So it starts to look pretty cool if you're just dancing around Thailand.

Michael: 7:49

And there are other ways to move besides walking, right? You could cycle, skateboard, get... you know. It doesn't mean you're dancing every second of the day, so if you don't want to dance, just get a bike or something.

Dylan: 8:01

Get one of those like electric scooters.

Michael: 8:03

Yes, yes, that'd be good, yeah. I mean, do you agree with me, or do you think differently on this?

Dylan: 8:08

Um, I cannot sing, so that is the problem. My singing is horrendous.

Michael: 8:14

Not yet!

Dylan: 8:15

Exactly, yeah. If I had to sing every time I spoke, then I think that would definitely change the game a bit. I would go for the dancing as well, to be honest with you, mainly because I like to speak. And I think if I, in my videos, if I had to sing everything that I, that I had to speak, um, I think I'd potentially lose a lot of subscribers and it wouldn't really go so well. So I'm, I'm gonna go for the dance as well. Me and you can, we can dance around England, we can dance around Thailand and I think we could, uh, yeah. I think that would be quite a good exercise, as you say, yeah.

Michael: 8:50

And also, like, half of TikTok is already that. It's people dancing while they're talking about something unrelated. So you would fit right in.

Dylan: 8:58

We could be the next big thing, Michael. Me and you.

Michael: 9:03

Right, okay, I'll pick one for you now. Would you rather wear the same socks for a month, or the same underwear for a week?

Dylan: 9:15

I would rather wear the same socks for a month, if I'm honest. Ooh, that, I mean...

Michael: 9:22

It's a long time.

Dylan: 9:23

Yeah, it is a long time actually. But, I think, can, am I allowed to shower in, in the socks?

Michael: 9:30

That, that actually changes a lot, doesn't it? Uh, I mean, it doesn't say anything about shower. I, I guess what you would do is shower, but you cannot wear the socks, and you would have to put on the dirty socks again after the shower.

Dylan: 9:46

Okay, so I can get clean and then put on the dirty socks.

Michael: 9:48

I think so. That sounds right.

Dylan: 9:51

I think... Yeah, I'm gonna go for the socks. I can just wear shoes, you know, and then potentially wear, like, another pair of socks over them to sort of mask the, uh... The, the, the smell and I think after a while, I think the relief, right, you know, when you've had a long day and then you finally, like, if you've been on your feet all day and you finally take off your shoes and your socks, it feels good, right? Imagine that after a month, that'd be incredible.

Michael: 10:17

They'd be stuck to your feet.

Dylan: 10:19

Yeah, you'd need like a little chainsaw. It's like a cast when you break your leg.

Michael: 10:24

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this one does. I like this question because it's so difficult for me like they're both equally bad, especially if you're somewhere here where it's like 30 degrees minimum every day. Yeah. You need to change twice a day really, but I feel like I probably would agree. I feel like feet are easier to ignore than, um, that other region, right? Like, if your feet are uncomfortable, you can kind of just put it out of your mind for a while more easily. So maybe that's my reasoning. And if other people don't like the smell, it's their problem.

Dylan: 10:59

Yeah, it's their problem. I think that was a good one. Okay.

Michael: 11:04

Let me ask you one more then. Would you rather know every language or play every instrument? Because this will tell me a lot about you.

Dylan: 11:13

Know every language. Definitely.

Michael: 11:15

Okay.

Dylan: 11:15

Yeah. I think that would just unlock the whole world, wouldn't it? It would be so impressive and you could go anywhere in the world and then just start speaking fluently. Like, in all these crazy languages, right? And then, I think the locals, the reaction for that would be hilarious. Because they'd just be so shocked. How does this, this guy from England, how is he fluent in Uzbek, you know? That sort of thing. I think that's what he called it that language.

Michael: 11:47

I think so. Yeah, you'll be going to all these like, uncontacted tribes and speaking their language fluently.

Dylan: 11:52

Yeah, yeah, start having a laugh at them, yeah. Don't get me wrong, it would be cool to play every instrument, but I think the language would be, um, would be incredible, yeah.

Michael: 12:02

Do you know any other languages to a high level apart from English?

Dylan: 12:06

Um, I know, I'd say I'm... I know a bit of Korean. Oh, nice, okay. I'd say potentially like Lower intermediate on a good day My my speaking is certainly better than my listening skills. Okay.

Michael: 12:21

That's interesting. Usually it's I feel like it's not that way around maybe And there's so many Koreans in my building where everyone here is Korean. So you'd have a good uh, good practice here.

Dylan: 12:31

Good conversation, Yeah.

Michael: 12:32

Well, maybe I can I can change it a little bit more because I agree. I think language is the easy option for most people including me. But what if I said would you rather know how to play every instrument or know five languages fluently.

Dylan: 12:46

Mm hmm. Am I like the best in the world are these instruments?

Michael: 12:51

Not like the best but like you are very proficient, it's just like second nature to you, but you're not like known as the best

Dylan: 13:01

All right, okay, but if I trained at one I would have the natural talent to be the best if I..

Michael: 13:08

I guess so. Yeah.

Dylan: 13:10

...dedicated my life to it. I would probably go for the languages. Just... I'd choose five I'd maybe choose two, um, useful ones, more, you know, more commonly spoken ones. And then I'd just choose some random ones. And then I would just, maybe just get some content of me going to these random places and speaking fluently in their language. Bit of Uzbek, as I say. Um, and I think that'd be quite entertaining as well. And also I think that, yeah, and I think that you'd, you'd have the chance to meet a lot of interesting people.

Michael: 13:49

Yeah, I mean, that's my reason. I would have the same answer. I might even say the same for two languages, to be honest. Because. I feel like my life happiness level could be so much higher connecting with people around the world uh, regardless of how many instruments I could know like...

Dylan: 14:05

Yeah

Michael: 14:05

Instruments are fun, but I don't think it's quite matches up to connecting with people from different cultures to me.

Dylan: 14:12

Exactly. And so you said you choose two languages, which two would you choose?

Michael: 14:17

That's an interesting one because I'm learning Japanese and Chinese. So part of me would like to get them fluent because they're my you know, they're my favorites. But on the other hand i've put in so much work into both of them, it would seem kind of like a waste Like why not get two other ones fluent if these are already like partway there, you know. So I guess if it weren't those two it would just be something to cover big parts of the world like maybe Spanish. I think Spanish... I would love to learn Spanish and um could be French perhaps as well.

Dylan: 14:49

French. Okay, cool

Michael: 14:50

Or Russian, maybe. Some like fairly big language.

Dylan: 14:54

Yeah, Russian would certainly be interesting. I feel like that's a very hard language to learn as well. So...

Michael: 15:00

yeah. I also totally forgot about Arabic. I think probably that would be more useful.

Dylan: 15:05

Yeah. Okay. You can have three then. You can have three.

Michael: 15:10

Thank you. Thank you. So next video is going to be all in Arabic, uh, part two.

Dylan: 15:16

Yeah, I think, I think it would be best to choose one which where the, um, the alphabet isn't in English. So for example, Russian or Japanese or Arabic. I think that, um, it makes the language a lot harder to learn. So if you are able to be fluent in that, then that would certainly be an advantage.

Michael: 15:33

That's a really good point. So you don't want to waste your free language wish...

Dylan: 15:36

Exactly. Exactly

Michael: 15:37

...on an easy language, right? You want to learn that language and waste it on a hard one. That's interesting. Hungarian or something hard to learn.

Dylan: 15:45

Yeah, something like that.

Michael: 15:46

Yeah

Dylan: 15:46

Let's just go for one more one quick one one quick one. Okay. Would you rather have the ability to see 10 minutes into the future or 150 years into the future?

Michael: 15:59

This is a hard one actually, uh, because obviously the latter, 150 years, like, is it really going to be that useful for you? It might be interesting. Uh, and yeah, I'm kind of like deciding as I'm talking, but I kind of feel like that might be a bit frustrating because you might see problems in the future. But then you might be going, Hey guys, we got to change, you know, protect the environment. The world's going to end in 50 years or a hundred years and no one's going to care. Cause ah, that's too far away. Like, yeah. And

Dylan: 16:35

"Guys, trust me, I promise you".

Michael: 16:37

Yeah. Also they won't believe you. Yeah. 10 minutes was the other one, right? Yeah. That's not long, but I feel like it could get you out of some sticky situations as like, as long as you can turn it off and on. Like if you're always seeing it, like you cannot stop seeing it, I think that would make you crazy, but I, I'm assuming it's an ability you can, you have to actively think about to activate.

Dylan: 16:58

Yeah, yeah, there's a little on switch.

Michael: 17:00

Yeah, yeah, um, some kind of space in your brain to find. So I, I think I would choose that one because I could avoid getting myself into some danger. I'm like, should I go out tonight? Is it going to rain when I leave the door? I can like, should I bring a coat maybe? I can, I can plan these things. It's not going to be quite as life changing as the, you know, stopping climate change, but I just feel like that seems like a bit of a stressful one. How about you?

Dylan: 17:28

I completely agree, but maybe for different reasons. I think if you could see 10 minutes into the future, what I would do is I would take up gambling.

Michael: 17:37

Nice, I like it.

Dylan: 17:39

And I'd play a lot of roulette. I'd make a lot of bets on football and stuff like that. And, yeah, you've got a bit of an advantage, if you can see, into the future there.

Michael: 17:50

I mean, we're assuming that you can change the future, I guess, like, because on the roulette wheel, you put your bet on black, and then you look into the future, and you see you losing. Actually, let me take that bet off and put it on red. It's gonna be a bit suspicious as well.

Dylan: 18:08

That's a good point, actually. Yeah, I think we're assuming that you... Are we assuming that you can change the future? Or are you just stuck with the reality of the future?

Michael: 18:17

I think Yoda once said, The future is always in motion. I feel like we should go with that, like you can change.

Dylan: 18:23

Bringing Yoda into this. That's deep. Cool man.

Michael: 18:29

We are now going to play a game called 20 questions. This is a really fun conversation game that you can do to practice your English or just have fun with a friend. I think it can be quite enjoyable, but this is basically where one person thinks of something in their head. It could be anything. And the other person has to guess what that is by asking fewer than 20 questions. The sooner you get it, the better, really, the better you have done. And you can only ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no. Right, so very common questions would be like, Is your item a person? Is the thing you're thinking of a place? Can it be eaten? Is it green? Right, and every time you ask a question, you get closer and closer to the answer, hopefully. Let's see if you can guess what we're talking about before Dylan and I do.

Dylan: 19:27

I'm just going to preface this by saying I have not played this in an extremely long time, so I'm going to get my excuses in early. Right. Michael, is it a living thing? It is not. It's a living thing. Okay. No. Is it a building? No. Is it an, ooh, is it something you might consume? No. Is it something you listen to?

Michael: 19:59

Some of these questions... this is the hard part where it's like, kind of yes and no. I never know what to say for those.

Dylan: 20:06

Quite abstract.

Michael: 20:07

Um, I, I, I would lean towards no for that question, but. Okay. Okay. iS it something that you might watch? That's another hard one. Um... I'm gonna say no again. Okay, so it's not a living thing and you can't consume it and you can't watch or listen to it Is it a feeling? Interesting, uh, but no

Dylan: 20:34

No, right Is it something In your house at the moment?

Michael: 20:42

Uh, I feel like I've picked a really hard one. No, it's not in my house.

Dylan: 20:48

Right. Okay. How many questions is that? I think that's five or six or?

Michael: 20:53

That's seven! Counting on my fingers. Yeah.

Dylan: 20:54

Okay. Um, goodness. I've got no idea what this could be. Could you provide a hint maybe?

Michael: 21:01

Oh, I don't know if that's in the rules, but okay. It's here.

Dylan: 21:07

Is it air?

Michael: 21:10

No.

Dylan: 21:11

Can it be seen?

Michael: 21:13

Yes, finally we have a yes.

Dylan: 21:14

It can, can be seen, brilliant!

Michael: 21:16

It can be seen, yeah.

Dylan: 21:17

Okay, so a non living thing that can't really be, that can't be listened to.

Michael: 21:26

By the way, this is, this is a really interesting game for like passive voice, isn't it? Using that grammar, like, yeah, the thing be seen and we're not saying can you see it, but can it be seen? It's quite interesting grammar for people to practice. Is it light? You mean like...?

Dylan: 21:44

I mean, like it's the thing you're thinking of. Is your answer light?

Michael: 21:47

Okay, not opposite of heavy, but light as in from the sun.

Dylan: 21:51

As in like the, yeah, like bulbs, stuff like that. Like on your door. Ooh, goodness.

Michael: 21:58

I'll give you another hint. I think you're, now you've got to ten questions. You're getting, it's too abstract. Like you're, you're trying too hard. That's my hint.

Dylan: 22:06

Okay, trying too hard. Is it used regularly by people, would you say?

Michael: 22:14

Hard, but I would lean towards Yes.

Dylan: 22:19

Is it used... is it being used during this podcast? Uh,

Michael: 22:26

No offense, but the question is not worded in the best way. So like whatever I say isn't going to be quite true.

Dylan: 22:33

Right. Okay. Okay. Right. Hmm. Is it helping us to record this podcast?

Michael: 22:44

I think it's definitely my bad for picking such a hard one because I feel like technically you could say yes to some of these but I'm gonna say no for that one.

Dylan: 22:52

Right, and how many guesses am I on? I think that's 12

Michael: 22:56

Okay, I've sort of run out of questions now. This is quite a challenging start to the podcast, isn't it? I don't know how entertaining this is for listeners. Just like, yes, no.

Dylan: 23:07

Is it something that I might have in my room as well? No, you don't have it in your room. So something, do you have it in your room?

Michael: 23:15

I never said I had it in my room. I said it was here.

Dylan: 23:17

Oh, but you said it was here.

Michael: 23:18

But it's not in my room.

Dylan: 23:19

Okay, so it's, it's here, not in your room, not a living thing.

Michael: 23:24

You could just be one question away. If you ask the right question, it could just be so obvious, like.

Dylan: 23:30

Yeah.

Michael: 23:30

It's not, it's just, it's all about what you happen to ask, you know.

Dylan: 23:35

Mmm, that's the tough part. Is it tangible?

Michael: 23:42

Uh, yeah, I would say so.

Dylan: 23:44

Okay, so there's something here that is tangible. Is it a computer?

Michael: 23:55

It's not.

Dylan: 23:59

Of course that can be watched. Is it a microphone? No, no, that's actually not one of my guesses. Is it a language?

Michael: 24:14

No, but that's an interesting guess.

Dylan: 24:17

Okay. I'm not smart enough for this. Right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give up, I'm afraid. What is it? I'm so curious.

Michael: 24:24

I'm ashamed to tell you because I feel like... You're going to be annoyed at me for picking a bad one. Right. Um, it was the city of Bangkok.

Dylan: 24:33

No, I should have got that really. I wasn't really thinking like that.

Michael: 24:36

A lot of the questions are quite hard. Like, it made me realize that city is quite... it can, it depends what you think of it. Like, is it tangible? Like, like, what is a city? Is it buildings? Is it people?

Dylan: 24:49

Yeah.

Michael: 24:50

It made me think quite deeply, like, it's quite hard to say. So I think that's a very tough one for the first go.

Dylan: 24:56

I think, no, I don't think it was that tough. I think I was just thinking way too narrowed in. Yeah. Is it in your room?

Michael: 25:03

And you also, you were assuming it can be used. You said like, do people use it every day?

Dylan: 25:07

Yeah, yeah

Michael: 25:09

And like it's hard to answer like do people use a city? I don't know Yeah, but I feel if you if you said like is it a place that would have like

Dylan: 25:17

that was the question I needed to ask. Yeah. All right, cool Um, thank you for that

Michael: 25:24

I'm, sorry. Should we switch?

Dylan: 25:27

All right, cool. Yeah, right. I am thinking of something.

Michael: 25:31

Okay, so you have a thing in mind Um, yes, is it a person?

Dylan: 25:35

No,

Michael: 25:38

Is it something you can touch?

Dylan: 25:42

Yes.

Michael: 25:45

Is it an inanimate object?

Dylan: 25:51

No.

Michael: 25:52

Okay, inanimate meaning not moving. okay, so you, you can touch it, but it's not inanimate.

Dylan: 26:01

Actually, mm, no, I would say it's inanimate actually, yeah.

Michael: 26:05

Okay, interesting. I'm already like looking out my window trying to look at objects. Like, what could it be? Uh. Is it something you can eat?

Dylan: 26:16

Yes.

Michael: 26:17

Oh! See it's just one question makes all the difference.

Dylan: 26:21

Yeah.

Michael: 26:21

Uh, is it a fruit?

Dylan: 26:23

No.

Michael: 26:26

Uh, is, does it grow from the ground?

Dylan: 26:32

No.

Michael: 26:34

Hmm. Uh, does it come from a factory?

Dylan: 26:39

No.

Michael: 26:40

Huh. Is it, uh, is it... Like some kind of meat, animal product?

Dylan: 26:53

Is it an animal product? Is that your question? Yes.

Michael: 26:57

Are you thinking of cheese?

Dylan: 27:02

No.

Michael: 27:03

Okay.

Dylan: 27:05

I respect it.

Michael: 27:08

I feel like I'm getting close, but it could be so many things still. Yeah. Okay, so then I'll narrow it down. Is it a kind of meat?

Dylan: 27:18

It's not a type of meat, no.

Michael: 27:21

Is it some kind of dairy product?

Dylan: 27:26

No. Perhaps go for the region of where the food could originate from.

Michael: 27:33

I'm not quite sure what that means. Is it an egg?

Dylan: 27:37

No, no, no. So more like, um, geographically, what sort of, where would this food typically... where would it come from? Where would it be typically consumed, type thing. It's quite a cultural cuisine.

Michael: 27:52

Oh, interesting. So, is it something that is generally eaten in the UK? Oh,

Dylan: 28:04

um, It depends. If you, if we're looking at every single person in the UK, how commonly they eat this thing, I would say it's uncommon.

Michael: 28:12

Okay, okay.

Dylan: 28:13

So, no.

Michael: 28:14

Less than 50 percent maybe.

Dylan: 28:16

Yes, definitely.

Michael: 28:17

Hmm. Ah, there's so many different foods it could be. So it's something about animal product. It's not egg, it's not cheese, but it's a little bit, a little bit strange, a little bit less common. Um, and obviously the world is a very big place and I don't know if it's somewhere you've been before.

Dylan: 28:39

I can give you a free clue because you don't really know where I've been. It is somewhere I've been to before.

Michael: 28:44

Okay. Yeah. That doesn't help me.

Dylan: 28:46

It rules out Thailand at least.

Michael: 28:48

Oh yeah. I know you haven't been here. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that does help actually because for some reason I was just naturally thinking of stuff people eat here. Yeah. Because a lot of it is quite unusual to me. Is it, is it something eaten in Asia?

Dylan: 29:03

Yes.

Michael: 29:04

China?

Dylan: 29:06

No. Well, potentially, it's not from China though.

Michael: 29:09

Yeah, like the main country. Uh, Japan?

Dylan: 29:12

Yes.

Michael: 29:13

Oh, I feel like I'm around 14 questions. I don't know if you've been counting.

Dylan: 29:16

I think, I think you've got four left.

Michael: 29:18

Okay, okay. I was being too optimistic. Oh, is it sushi?

Dylan: 29:24

Yeah.

Michael: 29:24

Yes!

Dylan: 29:25

Yeah it is. Well done. Well done.

Michael: 29:28

It all clicked when, when I realised you said maybe most people don't eat it regularly because like, it is fairly common but not part of like an everyday diet is it?

Dylan: 29:38

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I think maybe in, in bigger cities where there's like sushi places it's quite commonly consumed. Whereas I think most people aren't really eating sushi that regularly. Unless they're very lucky, of course.

Michael: 29:52

Well that was really good.

Dylan: 29:52

Do you like sushi?

Michael: 29:53

Yeah, I mean, sometimes. I don't eat fish, but if it doesn't have fish in it, I like it, yeah.

Dylan: 29:58

Yeah, yeah, you can get the vegetarian options, they're still pretty good as well.

Michael: 30:03

Yeah, have you been to, like, uh, Wasabi? The, I guess it's like a UK chain, but they have Japanese food.

Dylan: 30:08

Yeah, yeah, I have been, yeah, of course, yeah.

Michael: 30:10

Yeah, it's so good. I love it there.

Dylan: 30:12

Do they have that in Thailand?

Michael: 30:13

No, they don't have that kind of stuff. I mean, they've got a lot of, like, real, more traditional Japanese restaurants here like lots of really good like sushi restaurants, but very expensive and a lot of them do have fish in, so I don't really go there.

Dylan: 30:27

Of course. Yeah, no doubt of much higher quality though than Wasabi.

Michael: 30:31

I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah, no offense to Wasabi.

Dylan: 30:34

Yeah, big up wasabi, obviously

Michael: 30:37

Do you want to try Two Truths and a Lie next?

Dylan: 30:40

Yes. I will let you begin, Michael.

Michael: 30:43

This is a game that I play quite often with my group classes because it's really fun to get to know each other and break the ice as well. But basically this is where we each give three facts about ourselves, and one of them is a lie. So two of them are true, one of them is a lie, it's just totally made up, and the other person has to guess which one the lie is. I think mine are quite hard, so we'll see. First of all, I have travelled to six continents.

Dylan: 31:15

Mm hmm.

Michael: 31:17

I used to have very long dreadlocks, and I only own one pair of shoes.

Dylan: 31:27

Two truths and a lie. So two of those are true?

Michael: 31:30

Yeah. Right. They all sound ridiculous, don't they?

Dylan: 31:34

Um, you seem well travelled, so I think that's true. Okay. You, hmm, I've done a bit of research. I know you're very active. You're a walker, right? So I'm gonna say that the Dreadlocks is a lie.

Michael: 31:55

You being bald racist now. Is that why?

Dylan: 31:58

No, I'm just narrowing down the options.

Michael: 32:01

I feel like you would have picked that one. Um, you're wrong though. That is true. Really? Yeah, but when I was like 21, 22, I used to have dreadlocks. And then I started to lose my hair, so that's when I cut them all off, yeah.

Dylan: 32:20

Oh wow, do you have any pictures?

Michael: 32:22

Uh, I do. You wanna see now?

Dylan: 32:24

You certainly need to put some on the screen or something.

Michael: 32:27

I can later, yeah.

Dylan: 32:29

Amazing. So what was the lie?

Michael: 32:31

Travel to six continents. I haven't done that. Right. I only... I see. Only two, I think. AsiA, Europe. Yeah, so I do only have one pair of shoes, actually. It's got a hole in it too, so it's not ideal.

Dylan: 32:45

It's very, um, frugal of you.

Michael: 32:49

But yeah, I'm glad I got you on that one. Do you have questions for me now?

Dylan: 32:55

Yes. Statements, yeah, I do. Right, so, two truths and a lie. I know how to skateboard. I was in an advert in Korea. And I broke my leg celebrating a goal in football.

Michael: 33:13

Oh, that's interesting. You've got, you know, one that's quite general, one that's quite specific. I guess two that are quite specific. I wonder if, like, the odd one out could be the lie. That's part of my logic. Uh, but you seem like the kind of guy who might both skateboard and play football. And also I know, you know, I've met quite a few people who, who, like, do modelling in Asia because it's... I guess, there's a higher demand for white people... Non-Asian people in some places, right? I'm gonna say the football one is a lie, because I think you do play football, but I think maybe you haven't broken your leg. That's gonna be my logic.

Dylan: 34:00

That's correct, yeah. Oh, nice! Yeah, that's correct, yeah. I did, I did, um, slice my knee open celebrating a goal in football, which was very painful. But yeah, I've never broken a bone. What about you? Have you broken anything? Is that currently broken then?

Michael: 34:16

it's fractured. I fractured my wrist play... actually skateboarding, coincidentally

Dylan: 34:20

Oh, right, amazing. Yeah, I used to love skateboarding as well. Oh, nice.

Michael: 34:25

So like proper, like skateboarding tricks on ramps and stuff like that.

Dylan: 34:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Michael: 34:29

Yeah. I always say skateboarding, uh, to make it easier'cause some people don't know, but it's really long boarding. I don't, I've never really skateboarded before.

Dylan: 34:36

Oh, I see. But it is, yeah. Is what, is Thailand quite flat or is it hilly?

Michael: 34:42

I mean, it's very flat. There's like no, well at least where I am now, there's no hills, but in terms of like the, the pavement and the road. No, there's like cracks, there's holes in the, in the path. Like, uh, it's not good for that. So you have to find like a car park or somewhere to do it. I mean, it's not, not the best, not the best place for this.

Dylan: 35:00

I see. Right. Yeah. Those are my two truths and a lie. Yeah. The advert in Korea. I will... I should probably clarify on this. It was quite random. It wasn't... I don't think it actually made, um, made the air, you know? So basically I was, it was about a year and a half ago and I was just doing some sightseeing. I went to one of the palaces. I think it was the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul and I was there by myself and I was just had my headphones in. I was going for a little stroll and there was a Korean man sat or stood outside the the entrance to the palace and he had a tractor next to him and he sort of ushered me over and I was keen to practice my Korean, so I just got into a conversation with this man and literally the next thing I know I'm sat on this tractor I've got a fan blowing at me like pushing my hair to the side. I've got a bottle of water A script, and he's filming me on his phone. I think it was a bit of a miscommunication, I guess. And I didn't end up doing the advert. But we filmed a little bit of it, and I was like, this is very odd. I'm done. I'm not doing this. You weren't paid for that? He tried to offer me, um, ten thousand won, which is like six quid. So apparently that's my worth.

Michael: 36:23

That, that's, that's not right, that's not right. But also it's weird that it sounds like a, I mean to me it sounds like a legit thing until you mentioned on his phone, like why did he not have like a nice camera? It's a bit strange.

Dylan: 36:32

I think it was a small business.

Michael: 36:34

Okay.

Dylan: 36:35

Yeah, and I ended up having to, I called one of my Korean friends and explained what happened. Because the language barrier was... he didn't really speak any English. My Korean, I didn't really learn how to ask about tractor adverts in my, like, Korean lessons. So I had to put my friend on the phone and just explain what happened. Give, give the man the phone and just stand there awkwardly whilst they speak Korean to each other trying to figure out what the hell I've just been involved in.

Michael: 37:02

I bet that's a great motivation to improve your Korean, though. Like, I need to, I need to figure out what I'm doing in these situations.

Dylan: 37:09

Yeah. And finally launch my, uh, acting career in Korea.

Michael: 37:13

Yeah. That's interesting, though. Nice, nice. Um, all right. Okay. I, I think the first one was my most fun one, but anyway, here's, here's three more. Heres, uh, I drink alcohol most weekends. I don't have any pets. London is my favourite city. Not quite as strange as the first one.

Dylan: 37:36

I believe you don't have any pets. Just because it might be a bit awkward having a pet abroad. Good logic, yeah. Yeah, okay. London is your favourite city. That's a tough one. What was the other one? You drink alcohol every weekend. Yeah.

Michael: 37:56

Most weekends.

Dylan: 37:58

Most weekends, most weekends. I think that London is not your favourite city. Because I will presume that there's quite a good drinking culture in Thailand. Hmm. But then again, you look, you look very healthy. You look like the type of person that potentially wouldn't drink. Okay, thank you. So, ah, and you did sort of trick, well you didn't trick me, but you got me a bit on the last one, so.

Michael: 38:25

I am trying to trick you, that is true.

Dylan: 38:28

That's part of the game. Right, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna change my answer. I'm gonna say that London is your favorite city, and you don't drink most weekends.

Michael: 38:41

That is true. I, I don't actually, I don't drink at all. And, um, I, I do love London. London's my favorite city so far. Good job. Nice.

Dylan: 38:50

Thank you man. Yeah. I love London as well. Have you, have you spent much time there?

Michael: 38:54

Yeah. Before coming here, I lived there for two years. Um.

Dylan: 38:57

Oh, nice.

Michael: 38:57

The next thing we're going to do is talk about some riddles. Now, a riddle is kind of like a cryptic question. It's a question that is quite hard to understand but there's an answer to it. So it's worded in such a way that makes it quite confusing. For example, I could say, What has a bed but does not sleep? What has a bed but does not sleep? Oh, interesting. What could that be? Any of you know? It's quite a hard one. It's good for English practice, honestly. Uh, the answer is a river. A river, because you have a river bed. If you don't know, a river bed is the bottom of a river. When you hit the ground at the bottom, that's the bed, the base of the river. So a river has a bed, but it doesn't sleep. So we're going to be sharing a couple of riddles with each other now and see if you can get the answer before we do. Play along at home and see how you do. Let's have a go.

Dylan: 39:57

I'll begin. I'll ask you a riddle. I need to choose, choose which one. What has keys but can't open locks?

Michael: 40:06

Uh, a river.

Dylan: 40:11

No, although that's not a bad shout. I guess that is technically true, yeah.

Michael: 40:17

It's spelt differently, right?

Dylan: 40:18

Yeah, yeah. That is correct, actually. It's not the answer, though.

Michael: 40:23

What else has a key? So I kind of get what this could be, like something else that uses the word key that isn't a key, but I'm not quite sure where else we can use the word key. What has keys? The first thing that came to my mind was like some like mechanical thing where like, I don't know, like cogs and stuff, but I don't... key? I don't know how that would fit in.

Dylan: 40:47

You'll kick yourself when you hear it.

Michael: 40:49

Oh, no. Uh, I think it's the pressure of being recorded too, that I know I'm being recorded, so it makes me panic. What has keys, but what, what was the riddle? What has keys, but...?

Dylan: 41:00

Um, what has keys but can't open locks?

Michael: 41:03

Can't open locks... For the sake of brevity, I might, I might give up.'cause I I can, I can tell I'm not gonna get it.

Dylan: 41:11

The answer is a piano.

Michael: 41:13

Oh, no. of course. Piano keys, right, right.

Dylan: 41:17

Yeah. Yeah.

Michael: 41:18

Oh, and I didn't even think of a keyboard, like computer, like keyboard keys.

Dylan: 41:21

Yeah, yeah, so you've, you've thought of two answers, which are technically correct. Although, not what I was looking for.

Michael: 41:27

I feel like I made it too hard. I feel like I've heard that one too. I still got it wrong. Yeah. Okay, well, let me give one for you. I feel like you can get this one.

Dylan: 41:36

Okay.

Michael: 41:37

What has to be broken before you can use it?

Dylan: 41:42

Uh, what has to be broken before you can use it? Um... I want to say, hmm, I'm thinking, I'll tell you what I'm thinking right now. I'm thinking potentially like, like a dustpan and brush because, although of course that isn't broken, but the thing that, if something is broken, then that's when you would normally have to clean something up. I know that's not the answer, but I'm just sharing my, my thoughts.

Michael: 42:08

Something else has to be broken, but yeah.

Dylan: 42:10

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Michael: 42:11

But in this case, the thing itself has to be broken.

Dylan: 42:13

Broken before you can use it... your voice? Because your voice breaks. And then you can use it.

Michael: 42:20

Oh, that's an interesting, interesting one. But, I mean, you can still use your voice before it breaks, right? Something that you might prepare in a room in your house.

Dylan: 42:32

I don't know, my mind's gone blank. I'm guessing, potentially in the kitchen?

Michael: 42:36

Uh huh, uh huh.

Dylan: 42:37

Yeah, yeah. Break before you can use it.

Michael: 42:42

I'm surprised you haven't got this. Like, if you want to make this recipe, let's break some...

Dylan: 42:49

I'm not much of a chef, you see.

Michael: 42:51

Woah.

Dylan: 42:52

Um, eggs.

Michael: 42:53

Yes, eggs.

Dylan: 42:54

Yeah, of course, of course.

Michael: 42:56

Good job, good job.

Dylan: 42:58

I mean, eggs is one of the things I do eat quite regularly.

Michael: 43:00

I'm not much of a chef. Egg? What's an egg?

Dylan: 43:03

I certainly should have got that. This is hard, but I think you'll get it, to be fair. You're pretty good at these. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? Uh...

Michael: 43:14

This sounds like one I've heard as well, but I have no memory of it. Uh, apart from it sounding familiar. So, the more you take, the more you leave behind. I don't know how much of this is, is me being smart or, or how much is just coming back in my memory, but I think it's, uh, steps.

Dylan: 43:33

Yeah. Amazing.

Michael: 43:34

I like it. It's a good one though, isn't it? The more steps you take, the more steps you leave behind. Yeah.

Dylan: 43:39

You're, you're a genius. Well done. Yeah.

Michael: 43:43

I'll give you, ah. I'll give you one here, okay. what month of the year has 28 days?

Dylan: 43:51

February?

Michael: 43:55

It's not the answer.

Dylan: 43:57

What month of the year has 28 days?

Michael: 43:58

It may be correct, but that's not the answer.

Dylan: 44:02

That did seem a bit easy. What month of the year has 28 days?

Michael: 44:06

People at home, there might be, some people might be like shouting, it's this, it's this.

Dylan: 44:10

I'm sure they are, yeah.

Michael: 44:14

This is one where you will kind of kick yourself, I think, a bit when you hear it.

Dylan: 44:18

I'm sure it is, yeah. All of them?

Michael: 44:22

Yes! Hey! I was going to say before, it's kind of a joke more than a riddle.

Dylan: 44:30

Yeah.

Michael: 44:31

But yeah, they all have 28 days and some have a few more as well.

Dylan: 44:34

Yeah, alright. Cool. Brilliant. Got there in the end.

Michael: 44:39

Well, there we have it. I really hope you enjoyed our conversation. We decided to leave it there so we don't go any longer, but as I said before, there is a longer full conversation that you can find up on the members website if you want to see us play more games and have more conversation. If you enjoyed this one, please leave your feedback in the comments. It's always appreciated. You can go to levelupenglish. school podcast to see all of the previous podcast show notes. And also don't forget to check out Dylan online. His Youtube channel is called British Education and you can also find him on instagram or on his website. The links will be in the description. Thanks for watching. If you made it this far, that's amazing and I'll see you in the next one. You have been listening to the Level Up English podcast. If you would like to leave a question to be answered on a future episode, then please go to levelupenglish. school forward slash podcast. That's levelupenglish. school slash podcast. And I'll answer your question on a future episode. Thanks for listening.

The Level Up English Podcast

#260 Playing Games to Learn English (Dylan - British Education)

The Level Up English Podcast

#260 Playing Games to Learn English (Dylan - British Education)

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