Nearly 10 million people have listened to Reza Shah and Craig

Wealand’s podcast, Aprender Ingles con Reza y Craig. 

It’s an English language learning podcast for Spanish speakers with
topics like hypnosis, truck drivers’ language and chocolate.

For English Language Day 2021, these podcasters and English

language teachers tell us what connects their community of
listeners. 

We understand you were friends before you started the podcast.

Craig: We were friends many years before we started the podcast, and thankfully we still are.
I'd been podcasting since 2010. Reza joined as co-host in 2014 and it became Aprender
Ingles con Reza y Craig. In the beginning, we were pleased if a couple hundred people
listened – we didn’t expect such a big community.

Reza: When it comes to a language learning podcast, or any audio, there has to be two
people. Two people create a dialogue. A lot of people write to us and say that they listen
because they learn and it’s entertaining.

Craig: We’ve been releasing an episode every week since 2014. I’m really proud that we
haven’t broken that chain. People mainly join us because they want to improve their English. I
like to think they stay for the hosts. We combine English teaching with a bit of entertainment
and a sense of community.

How do you find topics?

Reza: Sometimes our listeners suggest topics. For example, someone suggested DIY (do-it-
yourself, or home renovation). The topic hadn’t occurred to us, but it is a really important
language area. 

Craig: Things come up in conversation with people in our lives, or we hear ideas in our
classrooms. But most of the topics we’ve done recently have come from listener suggestions.

Reza: One of my favourite requests was from a listener we know as Tony Tiger, a Mexican
truck driver living in the United States. He asked for an episode about the language of truck
driving . We practiced language like long haul, short haul and articulated lorry or articulated
truck. And, less formal language like ‘catch ya on the flip-flop’. We talked about how to get
heavy goods vehicle licences in the EU and US, and how much truckers generally earn. 

Craig: And we learned the abbreviations and special language that truckers use on citizens
band (CB) radio. For example, ‘10-4’ which means that everything is okay, and the very
important ‘10-100’. 

You often play voice recordings that listeners send to you, which you call feedbacks.
Why is that such a big part of the podcast?

Reza: People are proud of the progress they make. It’s not easy to learn a language, and it’s
great that we can all hear their progress and give feedback. 

Craig: It creates a sense of community. Some people send in multiple voice messages, and
so others in the community get to know them a bit. They also recognise that the mistakes we
make while learning are not isolated. 

Reza: We have listeners all over the world, and we hear lots of different ways of speaking.
We have quite a few listeners in Italy and France.