Paris Map by Stefano Creative Commons: Attribution Some cities have slightly different names in English to the way their names in other languages. Some of these are different pronunciations of the same spelling, such as Paris; others are wildly different, such as Florence and Prague. This week’s podcast teaches you how to say different city … [Read more…]
These are some words that students often find confusing. I hope this post helps you to tell the difference. If you have any other ideas, leave a comment. Hard / Hardly Hard (adverb)
This post is for beginners. It may be useful for others, too. For good English you need to read English. Reading English is hard. Sometimes there are words you don’t understand. Don’t quit. You need to do more work when you are starting to read English. Sometimes you choose to read, sometimes you have to … [Read more…]
These links are about money and how we talk about it. 22 Phrases That Only Wall Streeters Will Understand via Edulang Banking language by English-At-Home.com This one isn’t about English but it is about business. The English Empire: A growing number of firms worldwide are making English their official language. At The Economist, via Ross … [Read more…]
Previously I’ve written about studying what you find interesting. This has built-in motivation and will help you talk about the things you do every day. However, sometimes you want to learn new things. To do this, become a ‘specialist’. Focus on a topic and learn vocabulary about it by listening and reading about it. This … [Read more…]
Comfort Zone: a place or situation where everything is comfortable and familiar. You can already read English well enough to understand this blog. This blog is not reading practice; it is part of your reading practice. I know that ‘real’ English (as opposed to ESL textbook English) is difficult but life is difficult, too. If … [Read more…]
In this week’s podcast I talk about describing food. This is useful when ordering in restaurants or helping friends know what to order. 12th Feb 2014 – Food Descriptions
These days a lot of people have smartphones. I think maybe only my parents have slim phones that only make calls and receive text messages. Most people use their smartphones for games or internet surfing or email. Some people use them to time their runs and record how many miles they have run. However, there … [Read more…]
When you write opinion-based essays for TOEFL or IELTS, you need to keep thinking about organising your thoughts in threes. This helps you to structure your writing more effectively. When you have three thoughts to organise each part of your writing it is much easier to stay with your plan. Plan in Three Parts You … [Read more…]
Why Is Business Writing So Terrible? – slightly difficult. High Intermediate/Advanced How Being Bilingual Benefits The Brain – Intermediate