Happy Halloween! I love a good scare, so I play horror games and explain the English I hear along the way. Watch, flip the cards and try the exercises below!
On my YouTube channel I often play horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. While I’m (trying to) survive, I stop to explain the English I hear: spooky vocabulary, phrasal verbs, grammar and British pronunciation. 🎃
Here are my spookiest episodes. Every one has its own interactive episode on this site, with a script that follows the video and exercises with instant feedback. Grab a torch (that’s British for flashlight) and let’s crack on!
Watch: my spookiest episodes 👻
1. My first time playing Silent Hill 2 Remake
▶ Practise this episode: interactive script and exercises
Thick fog, empty streets and a very eerie atmosphere. I explain words like eerie, grope and squeeze through, plus a British pronunciation feature: the intrusive R in “Is this what I saw(r) in the fog?”
Tap any line of the script to jump to it, flip the vocabulary cards and try 4 exercises.
2. Nobody gets these words in RE Village
▶ Practise this episode: interactive script and exercises
A giant monster, lots of screaming and some very useful English: writhing in pain, run for it and running out of bullets.
Read along with the script and practise the words in context.
3. Learn English LIVE with Resident Evil 2 Remake (pt 1)
▶ Practise this episode: interactive script and exercises
Zombies in the Raccoon City police station! A live stream where I compare British and American English while trying not to get eaten.
The best moments of the stream with a synced script and exercises.
4. Learn English with Resident Evil 9 | Classic Mode (Pt 1)
▶ Practise this episode: interactive script and exercises
The newest Resident Evil, Requiem. Real game dialogue, explained as it comes up.
Game dialogue with a synced script, vocabulary cards and exercises.
5. The Tale of the Three Brothers (Harry Potter) #halloween
▶ Practise this episode: interactive script and exercises
Not a horror game, but a spooky story about Death himself, from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Perfect for a short listening practice on Halloween night.
Follow the story line by line and test your listening.
Want more? 🦇
What do “snarl”, “thump” and “shatter” mean here? A quick Resident Evil vocabulary episode.
RE9: how do you pronounce REQUIEM? And why is RE9 called that?
Playing Resident Evil Village, but I’m an English teacher: surviving the opening.
Playing Resident Evil 2, but I’m an English teacher: back to the RPD after RE9 Requiem.
And two spooky stories already on the site, plus all my gaming lessons:
- The Escaped Man: a spooky short story on a stormy night, with British pronunciation practice
- The Doppelgänger: someone who looks exactly like you… but isn’t you 😱
- Learn English with Games: all my gaming episodes in one place
Halloween and horror vocabulary 🕸️
- eerie: strange in a frightening and mysterious way
- creepy: making you feel nervous or a bit scared
- unsettling: making you feel uneasy, worried or uncomfortable
- abandoned: left empty; nobody lives or works there any more
- grope (around): search for something by feeling with your hands, because you can’t see
- squeeze through: get through a small space or a crowd with difficulty
- writhe (in pain): twist your body because something hurts a lot
- run for it: run away fast to escape danger
- run out of something: have none left
- snarl: (of an animal or monster) make a deep, angry sound and show its teeth
- thump: a loud, dull sound of something heavy hitting something
- shatter: break suddenly into lots of small pieces
🔗 Exercise 1: Match the word to its meaning
- eerie
- abandoned
- shatter
- writhe
- snarl
- run out of
🔽 Exercise 2: Fill the gap
- The lights went out and I ___ around for my phone.
- There was a loud ___ on the door at midnight. 😨
- I don’t like dolls. They’re a bit ___.
- The cat ___ through a gap in the fence.
- Walking alone in the fog gave me an ___ feeling.
- Nobody answered my message for three days. It was quite ___.
✍️ Exercise 3: Spooky phrasal verbs
- “There’s something wrong with this town. You should ___.”
- That clown at the party really ___ me out.
- The zombies are coming! ___!
- Don’t ___ when the lights go off. It’s only a power cut.
- We’re going to ___ batteries for the torch soon.
Which horror game should I play next? Tell me in the comments on YouTube, and don’t forget to subscribe to @alexadventuresinenglish. Have a spooky Halloween! 🦇
Alex