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.
0 Comments
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 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! 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.
How often do you use Google? I use it so many times a day that I can’t count! I’ve been using Google for many years, since before smartphones and apps came along, so it’s still my first choice for finding information. Some of the questions I’m asked by my online followers make me wonder if perhaps they don’t know how to find the answers for themselves using Google so I decided to make this post to show you some different things you can do.
I’ve been working on my Facebook page quite a bit recently and I’ve been happy to get lots of followers, likes and lovely comments! One thing I’ve noticed is that people are very interested to know how they can learn or improve their English on their own for free. This post explores how easy or difficult it is to do this.
Do you need a native speaker to practise speaking with or is it possible to make progress with a non-native partner or even on your own? How would you even find a native speaker to talk to anyway? Keep reading for some answers to these questions!
When you are trying to improve your English, it’s good to find enjoyable ways to do it. If it’s something you like doing, you will be more motivated. This post is for people who like music.
A lot of people really want to speak English but they are scared. Is this you?
Are you shy? Or you don’t know what to say? Or are you worried about making mistakes? Or worried that people won’t understand you? I tried learning Polish when I was living in Poland so I do know that it isn’t easy to get past this fear. But if you really want to speak English, you have to work on it! Here are some ideas. How often do you (or your teacher) ask questions like this:
Is this correct English? Is this good grammar? What is the grammar rule? Let me ask you some different questions: Which came first - the language or the rules? And what is grammar anyway? Have you ever wondered which grammar topics are the most important to learn? Which ones are the most important to get right if you want people to understand you? That’s what I’m going to explore in today’s blog post.
Sometimes people talk about learning a language as if it’s a complicated and mysterious thing. There’s a lot of discussion about the best ways to teach and learn English. However, I think there are just three basic things you have to do if you want to speak better English. Keep reading to find out what they are.
"How can I speak English better?" It’s probably no surprise that this is the most common question I get from English learners. If you have the same question, keep reading to find out what I think the first step is. You can also get a free e-book to help you with your speaking.
My first job teaching English was in Warsaw, Poland. I was there for two and a half years from 2000 to 2002 and it was an amazing experience. It also taught me a great deal about learning and teaching languages.
|
About the blogFollow the blog for mini lessons and tips on how to improve your English. Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|