This week I talked with some students about business meetings and the (weird) expressions you may hear in them. My students almost fell off their chairs when I said they didn’t need to bother learning to use them; only to understand them. Why? Because many business idioms are terrible clichés. Silly Phrases Saying silly phrases… Continue reading Business Idiomatic Expressions
Robert Frost’s poetry is ideal for learners of English because of the easy vocabulary. Yet despite that his poems are deeper than meets the eye. Just the other day I came across a simple, but intriguing introduction to this American poet’s work. Here is the link. And here is a link to the poet reading… Continue reading The Poetry of Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken
A short guide on how and when to use words such as myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc. Matthew Frederickson When to use: 1 When you do something to yourself. Examples: He is shaving himself. She hurt herself when she fell off her bike. They laughed at themselves when they took the wrong road again. 2… Continue reading Can You Do That Yourself?
Many people, including a bunch of English teachers, think you can’t change your accents. That’s not true. Usually the “rule” is that after you reached your thirtieth birthday, your accent will be fully formed, and you won’t be able to change it. Don’t worry, that’s not completely accurate. Although it’s easier to change your accent… Continue reading Correcting your Accent – Pronuncation of V
Taken from http://lifeokblog.blogspot.co.il By Olga Koliichuk This, that, these, those are demonstrative pronouns, which means they indicate some objects. THIS is used with nouns in the singular and denotes that the object is close to the speaker. It’s here. Examples: This cup is clean. This picture is by Vincent Van Gogh. This exercise is too… Continue reading I Like This Ice Cream and These Cookies
Test yourself with this check list from Berlitz, where I taught for a year. I still use this list myself to see what new students can do and what they can’t do. It works like this: go through the list. Think what you can do in English. If you get to the end of the… Continue reading How Good is Your English? – Test Yourself
stifle (verb) – to cut, to block or close the throat (choke) stifled (adjective) – having no air to breathe (also figuratively) stifling (adjective) – to close something so that there is no air Examples of how you can use stifle: The students stifled a laugh when their lecturer hurt herself when she fell off a chair. This… Continue reading Word to the Wise – Stifle
Quiz See if you know these idioms with fingers and hands. Go here to do this quiz online and check your answers. 1 Since Ali and his girlfriend moved to a cottage in the country, he discovered he has a knack for gardening and growing plants. He has: a) Flower fingers b) Green fingers c) Green… Continue reading Do You Know These Expressions with Fingers and Hands?
by Olga Koliichuk The is the definite article. You use it when you talk about something that you know. When it’s known, it’s defined. So that’s why it’s called the definite article. (Another article in English is “a” or “an,” which we talked about last time.) When To Use The Here are some examples of… Continue reading I would like to go to the Pacific Ocean – The: The Definite Article
By Olga Koliichuk Since many students ask about how they can get help from the web to enrich their English skills, here are some suggestions: http://www.elllo.org/ This website is very good for developing listening skills. You can find a lot of video and audio material with transcripts, quizzes and vocabulary. Videos and audios are produced… Continue reading Websites for Learning English
English with a Smile 