Why not take the New Year vibe in your stride and give shape to a few resolutions that will boost your English in 2019? *
English is the chalk and the year ahead is your slate. So how are you going to fill that space in?
Here are some considerations you might want to take account of. Continue reading “New Year, Clean Slate”
This post is based on an extra-curricular activity that I encouraged students to pursue for the length of a month.
By facebooking WORDS IN THE NEWS taken from every working day’s headlines, I intended to inspire them to do the same. Some did so and shared them with me. Others went the extra mile and declared their intention to keep going after the month is finished.
At the beginning of the next video extract, Emily Blunt is interviewed about the film The girl on the train. Notice how both herself and her interviewer intersperse their utterances with fillers.
I have listed the fillers they use (some of them repeatedly) in the first section of the video 0:00-02:10. Continue reading “Fillers: Buying Time”
Looking into the flow of English
The natural rhythm that gives English its musicality is partly influenced by how the words are linked. In order to enhance our speaking and make it sound more natural and relaxed, we need to understand the mechanics of how this works.
This is not a typical feature in some languages such as Spanish so it will help to first analyse and recognise when this happens in natural speech to, later, implement it in your speaking. An additional benefit is that your overall improvement in listening comprehension and a more natural flow can lead to better results in tests.
Let’s look into some very basic everyday phrases in which connected speech makes its appearance. Continue reading “Connected Speech”
ADVICE IS UNCOUNTABLE
Her mentor offered some sound advice that took her far in life.
Notes:
Advice is uncountable and as such, it cannot be preceded by an indeterminate article: A/an. Instead, we should use words like some, a word/piece/bit of or the.
Some ideas to use it as an English learning tool
Voice or speech recognition has developed significantly over time and become a useful tool that has countless applications in many areas of life. Gadgets like Amazon Alexa or Google Home can play the role of a secretary, a speaking encyclopedia, a music player and so many more. The possibilities are endless and some of them applicable to language learning.
The subject of this blogpost is a humbler version of those devices, that’s to say your mobile google assistant. If you do not know of its existence, it might be found as an inbuilt app. But most likely, if there, it has come into view to greet you at some point. I was not quite sure whether to be annoyed or curious when it showed up on my screen. Was it another one of those time-consuming pop-ups that keep appearing when you least expect them? Continue reading “Google Assistant”
How to make the most of a long-winded text, step by step and learn vocabulary in the process.
Advanced students are presented with demanding readings that can, at first sight, look daunting because of their length and complexity.
With this technique, they can be broken down into manageable tasks that will, in turn, not only make it more accessible but also promote vocabulary learning. Continue reading “Dissecting an article”
A false friend is a word that resembles another one in your native tongue in its form but not in its meaning. You probably know that “actually” expresses “in fact” and it is not translated as “actualmente”. But this is a no-brainer. Students with an extensive English background know it and if they occasionally fall in the trap, it is no more than a slip to be quickly self-corrected. Continue reading “5 False friends that can mislead Spanish speakers”
As I often say, if learning a language were like constructing a high-rise building, effortlessly understanding movies and series would be the top floor. Admittedly, reaching that level takes time and dedication.
That said, nothing can stop you from starting now, no matter your current level—so long as you’re willing to embrace a certain amount of confusion and gaps in understanding while adding a dash of imagination to your viewing experience. Just remember: if your level is still low, don’t be too hard on yourself.
Subtitles, yes or no? Spanish or English?
As a rule of thumb, my advice is: be open to all different approaches and see what works best for you. Adopt a method of watching that aligns with the time you have, the effort you are willing to put in, the kind of movie in question and other factors.
Let’s consider some of the pros and cons in each case.