English speakers often use the weather as a topic of discussion. There are many idioms that are weather connected. We often use the term ‘under the weather’ to express if we feel unwell or perhaps if we don’t feel our normal healthy happy selves.To ‘have a sunny outlook’ means to be optimistic or happy aboutContinue reading “The weather.”
Author Archives: Lennets
English is confusing…
My native language is English, but I understand how challenging it can be for learners to absorb all the strange rules for grammar and pronunciation. I usually say ‘guidelines’ instead of rules as there are many exceptions and they sometimes change as language evolves.Many native speakers will readily admit that they aren’t always familiar withContinue reading “English is confusing…”
It’s time…
We use the expression ‘It’s time’ in English to talk about an event in the near future. However, the grammar aspect of the phrase is in the past tense. Here are some examples. ‘It’s late, it’s time we caught our train’. ‘It’s time I had my hair cut’. ‘It’s time I went home’ ‘It’s timeContinue reading “It’s time…”
Konnichiwa
After many years experimenting with blogs, starting them, deleting them, starting them and then posting every day and then not posting for months and in some cases years, I thought I’d start again. I’ve been working in EFL for nearly 20 years teaching teenagers and adults in monolingual and multilingual classes. I’ve taught all theContinue reading “Konnichiwa”
Ichi, ni, san…
Working with Japanese students, I have picked up a few Japanese phrases. One of the first things I taught myself was to count to ten in Japanese. I think it’s quite easy and once you have mastered this, the numbers from 11-99 are quite easy too. While looking for ‘phonics’ songs on YouTube, I foundContinue reading “Ichi, ni, san…”
Influenced by other sources.
Browsing through ‘Writing Successful Textbooks’ by Anthony Haynes (A and C Black, 2001, London), the writer advises potential authors to ‘free write’. That is, to write for a set period each day (15/30 minutes perhaps) and to just write without thinking about punctuation, structure etc during that time. Just write. The fine tuning can beContinue reading “Influenced by other sources.”
Recording vocabulary.
When learning another language, there are many ways of recording vocabulary. Depending on your style of learning, you may have a specific way of memorising new words.Many years ago, one of my Turkish students brought in a list of English words he wanted to learn. He just wanted me to read the words in English,Continue reading “Recording vocabulary.”
Idioms and proverbs
Some literature reports that English language learners can tell the difference between idioms and proverbs. The approximate meaning of a proverb can be worked out from the words in the sentence. However, the meaning of idioms cannot always be defined by the learner’s knowledge of the words in the phrase, even if they know everyContinue reading “Idioms and proverbs”