YouTube is an excellent way to learn English in small clips from popular movies. Here are a couple of examples. Don’t be afraid to repeat the clips over and over. High Fidelity – “I haven’t seen Evil Dead 2 yet.” Present perfect and the adverb ‘yet’. Speed – “There’s a bomb on a bus.” Practice … [Read more…]
I’m writing this in reply to a Twitter conversation. When you listen to a video or a CD and don’t understand, how many times should you repeat it or replay it? As many times as it takes. However, are you taking notes? Can you check words in a dictionary. Can you repeat what the speaker … [Read more…]
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…]
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
Why Is Business Writing So Terrible? – slightly difficult. High Intermediate/Advanced How Being Bilingual Benefits The Brain – Intermediate
One of the most pleasurable ways to develop your vocabulary is to read poetry. A short poem can give you something interesting to think about and you can see different ways to describe things, people and feelings than you might have thought. A poem can be read on a short commute, in line at the … [Read more…]