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Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 9 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 9 focuses on spoken English under pressure — debate, persuasion, difficult conversations, and the speaking strategies that help you communicate confidently when stakes are high.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Write Like the World Is Watching

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 8 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 8 turns The Last of Us’s cinematic storytelling into a writing masterclass — covering descriptive writing, narrative structure, point of view, and the techniques that make prose unforgettable.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Moral Vocabulary: How to Talk About What’s Right

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 7 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 7 builds an advanced ethical vocabulary by using The Last of Us’s brutal moral dilemmas as a springboard for C1-C2 English discussion, academic language, and the rhetorical tools for arguing about right and wrong.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Joel’s Silence: What We Don’t Say

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 6 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 6 explores the linguistics of silence and implication — how Joel communicates through what he withholds — as a gateway to English reading comprehension, inference skills, and the art of subtext.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Ellie’s Voice: Slang, Humor, and Youth Language

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 5 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 5 celebrates Ellie’s unmistakable voice in The Last of Us — her slang, her sarcasm, her dark humour — as a lesson in informal English, generational language, and the crucial social functions of humour.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

The Grammar of Survival: Modal Verbs in Extremis

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 4 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 4 takes a deep dive into English modal verbs — must, should, could, might, would — using the survival decisions and moral dilemmas of The Last of Us as a grammar laboratory.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Grief Is Not a Stage — It’s a Sentence

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 3 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 3 explores the language of grief and emotional expression in English, using the devastating loss at the heart of The Last of Us as a framework for learning collocations, euphemisms, and emotionally precise vocabulary.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

Trust Nobody — Until You Have To

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 2 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

Episode 2 of The Last of Us English series explores the vocabulary of trust and suspicion, with a deep dive into descriptive adjectives and how English speakers characterize people with nuance and precision.

Speaking Under Pressure: Dialogue That Matters

When the World Ends, Language Survives

by Danny Ballan | The Last of Us Part 1

This is part 1 of 11 in Learn from The Last of Us Part 1

In the first episode of The Last of Us English series, we dive into survival vocabulary — the words, phrases, and grammatical structures that keep you going when everything around you is falling apart. Inspired by the opening of TLOU.

All Publicity Is Good Publicity — Until It Isn’t | Close Reading

All Publicity Is Good Publicity — Until It Isn’t | Close Reading

by Danny Ballan | Close Reading

The idea that all publicity is good publicity is one of the most repeated — and most dangerous — myths in celebrity culture. Let’s look at what the evidence actually says.

Puerile: The Art of Knowing When to Grow Up (and When Not To)

Puerile: The Art of Knowing When to Grow Up (and When Not To)

by Danny Ballan | FLOW

Puerile is one of English’s great backhanded words — it sounds almost elegant, but it’s actually a fairly sharp insult. In this episode, we unpack what it means to be childish, why that’s sometimes a problem, and why it’s sometimes the most human thing in the world.

How to Prepare for a Job Interview in English: The Words, Phrases, and Confidence to Get Hired

How to Prepare for a Job Interview in English: The Words, Phrases, and Confidence to Get Hired

by Danny Ballan | Progressive English Speaking

Master the English you need to ace a job interview, from basic introductions to advanced storytelling about your strengths, with grammar, phrasing, and real confidence-building tips at every level.

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