The English Blog’s Learning English Blog is rather good but only updated every month or two. It has links to materials for a mix of levels. This is where I found out about Speechyard, which has links to YouTube videos of movie clips and full movies with Google Translate powered subtitles (I’d recommend English subtitles … [Read more…]
So many people are busy and a lot of people think they are too busy to study English outside their English lesson time. That once-a-week lesson, with no homework in between, means that you leave seven days available for forgetting what you learned. This post from Learn English at Home gives you some ideas about … [Read more…]
Today’s podcast is about the way native speakers pronounce words to allow them to flow together more quickly. I look at ‘flap D’, the way written ‘t’ turns to a ‘d’ sound in spoken English, then I look at inserting a ‘w’ sound between two vowels to allow words to run together quickly. I hope … [Read more…]
Here are a some links to different sites that I like for English. The English Learner Blog is written by Michal, a Polish guy and it is very well written. I love recommending BBC’s Newsround because it is news for kids, but it is a great way for adults to get news vocabulary. Antimoon has … [Read more…]
To develop fluency in your speech, there is only one way: speak. To improve you must practise. Practise any way you can. Read aloud, repeat along to podcasts or videos (using the pause button to help you), talk to yourself. Do anything to speak English. To check you are getting better, record yourself speaking English … [Read more…]
Since I became a teacher I have been interested in how people use technology to help them study. When I was setting up this website and the social media that I use to let people know about it, I found some interesting ways to use Pinterest and Evernote for language study. Use Pinterest as a … [Read more…]
It is important to know word families for standardized tests like TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS and Eiken. However, word families are not only important for those tests; they give you the ability to choose a different form of a word you know that is similar to a word you are trying to remember but cannot. In … [Read more…]
Some students worry about the vocabulary that they should make notes of and really try to learn. What vocabulary is important? There is no easy answer because it depends on the person. If you use English mainly at work, learn vocabulary by listening to podcasts or reading about your industry in English. If you use … [Read more…]
A lot of false shortcuts are taught to English students. Lots of words and phrases are said to be “the same” because it is quicker to teach them to beginning and intermediate learners without explaining them. ‘Even if’ and ‘even though’ are not the same but teachers often say they are. In this first example, … [Read more…]
A lot of students have problems using articles, the short words a, an and the. Remember: A/an means one single thing The means one particular thing or some particular things/stuff or things we know and are talking about (or sometimes about animal or plant species. No article means any things/ stuff. A and an are … [Read more…]