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I’ve had some interesting conversations on Facebook recently about accents, standard English and whether it is or isn’t OK to use “ain’t”! So today’s newsletter is all about what standard English is and what learners should learn and use.
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Some of my most popular posts on my Facebook page recently have been about pairs of confusing words so I thought I would share some of these with you here.
If you’d like to learn more, go to my Facebook page, find “search” in the menu and look for “confusing words”. I’ve seen a couple of interesting posts on social media recently about the most important tenses in English. Also, in the past, learners have asked me which tenses are the most commonly used and which they should learn first. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.
One of my favourite things about teaching English is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and learn about different cultures. I’ve been teaching English for 23 years now and I wonder how many nationalities I’ve met! Over 50 face-to-face, I think, and maybe 100 if I include conversations on social media!
Learners often ask me what the difference is between British and American English. The biggest difference is probably in the vocabulary. We have different words for quite a lot of things, especially when talking about food. So today, I’m going to give you a list of some of these words. If you like watching films and TV shows, this information might be helpful!
I told one of my one-to-one students recently that she has a Turkish accent and she was really embarrassed. I had to reassure her that her pronunciation is good and that I can understand everything she says!
Also, I see so many people on my Facebook page saying things like “I want to speak like a native speaker!” or “I want to have a British accent!” But why?! What’s wrong with having a non-native accent? I’ve seen some interesting conversations about British and American English on social media recently, including on my Facebook page, so I thought I would put all my thoughts together in a post, along with some answers to common questions, which you can find at the end.
When learners ask me for advice about how to improve their English, I often tell them to read. In fact, I think reading is one of the best things you can do. Today, I want to tell you a bit more about why, what and how you should read!
I’ve noticed that some learners confuse “what?” and “how?” in certain situations. English speakers also make questions with “what … like?” quite often. In today’s lesson, I’ll try to show you the differences between these three questions. I'll also give you lots of useful examples.
One thing that’s difficult about learning English is that words are often not spelt the way they sound, or they aren’t pronounced how they look. Today’s post is going to focus on words which contain silent letters.
I want to talk to you today about positive thinking. Did you know that the way you think, and the things that you tell yourself, can have a big effect on your learning?
I’ve chosen three things that students often say to me, both in our one-to-one lessons and on my Facebook page. Maybe these are things that you say or think too. I want to help you change the way you think about your learning so you have more success with your English! Today’s lesson is all about countable and uncountable nouns. These are not always as easy as you might think. Have a go at my quiz and test your knowledge!
Did you know that there are quite a lot of words in English which are actually borrowed from French? These are called loan words. Do you know the meaning of faux pas, cliché or tête à tête? Keep reading to learn more!
I recently posted something on my Facebook page about Google Translate and about why I don’t recommend using it. This started an interesting conversation and lots of people asked me what they should use instead. Keep reading to learn more!
How do you feel about learning idioms? Sometimes I post idioms on my Facebook page and somebody asked me recently if it was important to learn them. So I’ve been thinking about this question over the last few days and here is my answer.
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