Hey everyone, the holiday break on April 30th and May 1st is approaching, and everyone must be ready with their hats, clothes, and shoes for some outings, right? Whether it's flip-flops for the beach or hiking boots for the mountains, this week we're going to explore the trend of shoe selection in the UK alongside the 6 minute English listening “The rise in popularity of the comfy shoe”.

The listening starts with Dan's question to Neil “ARE YOU WEARING HIGH HEELS?” (high means tall, heels are the back part of shoes, high heels are shoes with tall backs, both men and women have this type although the kind for men is less common) Neil used to wear them but no longer because he finds them painful (AGONY) and why can women wear high heels, is it perhaps because they look fashionable and cool? Nowadays, comfy (short for comfortable) shoes are increasingly popular around the world, and COMFY SHOES often refer to trainers (sports shoes). The fashion trend over the last 10 years has been the “CASUALISATION OF EVERYTHING”. Casualisation (the adjective of casual) is the PROCESS of becoming less FORMAL and more RELAXED. This trend has FILTERED THROUGH gradually (like coffee dripping through a filter). And people use comfy shoes not just because they follow fashion but also for health (WELLNESS – the state of being healthy), trainers can be FITTING TO THE SHAPE OF YOUR FOOT more than high heels. During the discussion, Dan plays with the phrase “HARD ON THE HEELS”, you can find out the meaning yourself.