Thinking in English

The World Cup is currently underway in North America, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about football, or soccer depending on where you are from. And specifically, we are going to explore the history of the world’s most popular sport.

Most people probably think football has always looked more or less the same. Two teams with eleven players. Referees and clear rules. Ninety-minute matches.

But that is not true at all. If you travelled back a few hundred years and watched a football match in England, you might not even recognise it as football.

In this episode, we are going to explore the development of football.

I want to talk about medieval folk football, the British schools that helped create modern rules, and cities like Sheffield that played their own versions of the game. We’ll also look at why football and rugby developed separately, where the word “soccer” actually comes from, and how industrialisation transformed football into a global professional sport watched by billions of people.

By the end of this episode, I think you’ll see football very differently. And you will also have learned lots of new English vocabulary!

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TRANSCRIPT - https://thinkinginenglish.blog/2026/06/19/393-history-of-football-english-vocabulary-lesson/

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Today, we’re going to talk about Warsaw. Warsaw is the capital of Poland and one of Europe’s most resilient cities.

If you visit Warsaw today, you’ll find a modern and quickly developing European capital. There are skyscrapers, busy shopping streets, trendy cafés, and a growing economy. But history of city is dramatic and tragic.

In this episode, I am going to explore the fascinating history of Warsaw. We’ll look at its rise as Poland’s capital, periods of foreign occupation and division, the devastation of World War II, communist rebuilding, and the modern city we see today.

And we will learn some new vocabulary and practice our English listening comprehension at the same time!

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TRANSCRIPT - https://thinkinginenglish.blog/2026/06/15/392-history-of-warsaw-english-vocabulary-lesson/

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The United Arab Emirates has announced that it is leaving OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) after almost sixty years as a member. Why does this matter?

Well, oil is still one of the most important resources in the world. The price of oil affects how much we pay for petrol, the cost of transporting food, airline tickets, electricity, and much more. When oil prices rise, the economy is also affected.

OPEC is one of the most powerful organisations influencing oil prices. For decades, this group of oil-producing countries has worked together to control how much oil enters the global market. But now one of its main members is walking away.

In today’s episode, we’re going to think about a few important questions.

What is OPEC? Why is it often called an “oil cartel”? Why has the UAE decided to leave? And what could happen next?

And we’ll do all of this while learning come new vocabulary and practicing your English listening comprehension!

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TRANSCRIPT - https://thinkinginenglish.blog/2026/06/08/391-why-is-the-uae-leaving-opec-and-what-is-opec-anyway-english-vocabulary-lesson/

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Thousands of years ago, Ancient Greek travellers created a list of the most extraordinary sights they encountered: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

These included places like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and the Colossus of Rhodes. Today though, only one still survives: the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

So, in the early 2000s, a huge international campaign called the “New Seven Wonders of the World” aimed to create a modern list of wonders.

Some governments launched campaigns encouraging citizens to vote for their country’s monument. Critics argued that countries with larger populations had an unfair advantage. And UNESCO, the United Nations organisation responsible for protecting world heritage sites, was not involved in the project.

So today, I want to explore the story behind the New Seven Wonders of the World. What are they? Why were they chosen? And do they really deserve the title of “wonder”?

And we will do all of this while learning some new vocabulary and practicing your English listening comprehension.

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TRANSCRIPT - https://thinkinginenglish.blog/2026/06/01/390-what-are-the-new-seven-wonders-of-the-world-english-vocabulary-lesson/

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Humans have been speaking languages for tens of thousands of years. We told stories around fires, passed down myths from parents to children, and memorised important information about survival and history. But for a very long time, nobody could write anything down.

Then, at some point, humans invented writing.

Writing allowed people to record laws, preserve stories, collect knowledge, and communicate across generations. Eventually, writing gave us books.

Today, I want to explore the history of books, from ancient clay tablets in Mesopotamia to modern audiobooks and e-books on smartphones. We’ll look at the origins of writing, the oldest surviving texts, the first true “books,”  the world’s first novels, the printing revolution, the bestselling books in history, and finally… the future of reading itself.

And we will do all of this while learning some new vocabulary and practicing your English listening comprehension.

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