Looking for effective English lessons? Join Jack from To Fluency as he gives you English learning advice and detailed lessons to help you improve. Learn key vocabulary, the most powerful ways to learn English, and get the best listening practice so you can start understanding native speakers. If you're looking for an English podcast that will take you to an advanced level, this is for you.
Speak English Confidently: Small Talk Secrets You Need to Know (Key Phrases)
Host Jack shares essential small talk phrases and strategies to confidently open, maintain, and end English conversations.
25 Nov 2025
Learn English Naturally: Talking about Cooking - Can You Understand? (Video Podcast with Subtitles)
Learn everyday English through the topic of cooking and food.
In this episode, we talk about breakfast routines, snacks, quick meals, go-to dinners, grocery shopping, and even washing up. You’ll get natural listening practice plus lots of useful phrases that you can use to describe your own daily life in English.
We keep things conversational and practical so you can build real-world fluency while enjoying a relaxed chat about food.
In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
Talk about your typical breakfast and morning routine
Describe snacks, cravings, and “guilty pleasures”
Explain quick meals and leftovers in natural English
Use phrases for ordering takeout and frozen meals
Describe your go-to meals and cooking style
Use common expressions for grocery shopping
Talk about washing up and taking turns with chores
Express food preferences, likes, and dislikes
Useful phrases from the episode:
Breakfast and habits
I tend to have breakfast around nine or ten.
I usually start the day with a cup of coffee.
I used to eat a lot of cereal as a kid.
I used to live in Spain.
I’ve grown to love this.
I’ve gotten used to being hungry.
I don’t mind being hungry.
Snacks and cravings
I’m not big on snacks.
I just need a little something before lunch.
I need a little snack to get me through until dinner.
Let’s grab a few snacks before we go.
I fancy something to eat.
I fancy something sweet.
Chips are my guilty pleasure.
Chocolate is my guilty pleasure.
I’m trying to cut back on chocolate.
I’m trying to cut back on snacks.
Quick meals, leftovers, and takeout
I’m just going to throw something together.
Let’s just have pizza.
Let’s finish that leftover pasta.
We have some leftovers in the fridge.
I love leftovers.
Can I get a box for this?
In American English, we say “takeout.”
Frozen pizza is really popular here.
It’s convenient and fast.
Go-to meals and cooking style
What’s your go-to meal?
My go-to meal is beef stew.
My go-to meal is beef pasta.
I like to cook from scratch.
I don’t really like ready meals.
Instant meals are very popular in the U.S.
We try to rotate meals each week.
Grocery shopping
Do we have any garlic?
Do we have any pasta left?
Do we have any herbs for this dish?
I’m just going to nip to the store.
Let’s stock up before the weekend.
I’m not a big fan of grocery shopping.
I forgot the one ingredient I needed.
Cooking and washing up
I like to clean as I cook.
I like having music or a podcast on while I cook.
I don’t mind washing up.
We take turns doing the washing up.
It’s my turn to wash up tonight.
Whose turn is it to wash up tonight?
The sink is full again.
The dishwasher hasn’t been unloaded.
This pan needs soaking.
I like to get in the zone when I’m cooking.
Talking about likes and dislikes
I fancy a quick drink before dinner.
I fancy going out to eat.
I’m craving steak tonight.
It’s not my cup of tea.
I’m not a big fan of full English breakfasts.
I’m not keen on full English breakfasts.
Reflect and practice
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would you choose? Use the phrases from this episode to describe your own breakfast, snacks, and dinner routines in English.
Chapters:
(00:00) Learn English Podcast Intro
(00:48) Breakfast
(04:11) Snacks and Snacking Habits
(08:26) Quick and Easy Meals
(09:16) Leftovers and Takeout Culture
(11:44) Cooking from Scratch vs. Instant Meals
(15:15) Grocery Shopping Tips
(20:30) Cleaning Up and Final Thoughts
18 Nov 2025
Learn These Powerful English Sentences to Instantly Improve Your English (Adj + Prepositions)
In this lesson, you’ll learn natural adjective + preposition combinations such as afraid of, interested in, angry about, excited about, addicted to, and more. These structures are essential for fluent and natural English, but most learners struggle with them because you simply have to learn them through examples and patterns, not rules.
Below, you’ll find all the key phrases and example sentences from the lesson so you can review them, repeat them, and add them to your sentence-learning routine.
Want to be able to think in English freely? Listen to this next: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ghgRn40AS2BeHJNN5BJvS?si=JtONR5i3ROqij-eNyTaG2g
Learn 30 phrases about emotions: https://open.spotify.com/episode/27ASOVrQexjGZfPeI1huJr?si=flGLmYsTRrqeAosaBMU3pQ
Phrases and examples from the lesson:
Afraid of
• I’m afraid of the dark.• I’m afraid of going outside when it’s dark.
Interested in
• I’m really interested in photography at the moment.• I’m not really interested in watching any more of that show.• He didn’t seem very interested in what we proposed.
Angry about
• I’m angry about what you did.• He’s angry about not being able to see his friends.
Ashamed of
• I’m ashamed of what I did.• I’m ashamed of what the company is doing at the moment.
Aware of
• Not that I’m aware of.• Be aware of your surroundings when you go downtown at night.
Good at / bad at / fantastic at / terrible at / amazing at
• Try and get good at speaking to strangers to help you improve your English.• I’m bad at keeping in touch with people at the moment.• He’s really good at listening to people when they speak.• She’s amazing at explaining things in a simple way.
Certain about
• I’ve never been so certain about something in my entire life.• Are you certain about that?• I’m not completely certain about it, but let’s just do it anyway.
Content with
• I’m not content with the state of our house at the moment.• I’m content with staying in tonight.
Busy with
• I’m so busy with work right now.• They seem really busy with their new restaurant at the moment.
Smart of / stupid of
• That’s not very smart of you.• It was stupid of him to say that.• How stupid of you. What were you thinking?
Addicted to
• I think I’m addicted to coffee.• Kids are addicted to screens these days.
Excited about
• She’s so excited about going to the party later.• He doesn’t seem that excited about it.• I was really excited about going to the pool.
Sad about / happy about
• We’re so sad about what happened.• Are you happy about your new job?
Disappointed with / pleased with
• I’m really disappointed with how you are acting at the moment.• I’m so pleased with you.• Are you pleased with your progress this year?
Overwhelmed with / overwhelmed by
• I’m overwhelmed with all the work I have to do right now.• I was overwhelmed by all the cleaning I had to do.
Use the phrases in the description to review, repeat, and build your own personalized sentence list.
If you enjoyed this lesson, watch the next video on your screen and keep practicing English in a natural, sentence-based way.
Inside a recent episode
Speak English Confidently: Small Talk Secrets You Need to Know (Key Phrases)
Published 31 May 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] By small talk, what I mean here is just light, casual conversation. The type of conversation you have with a neighbor, a colleague, a stranger at a coffee shop, someone you meet at a party or a language exchange, or just someone who you run into who you've not seen for a while. The conversation isn't deep. […]
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