Archive for: February 2009

There are over 3,000 homographic words in the English language (more in U.S. English). Words that are spelled exactly the same way yet have a different meaning. There is no way to tell what the usage is other than by memorization or sentence context, so how do you get young minds to grasp such a confusing concept? This is one of the most frustrating parts of the language that ESL students must conquer as the learn English. Here are a few exercises that the ESL student might practice to help familiarize themselves with homonyms: (more…)

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Learn English – Weather

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Learn English – Office Talk

Who can forget the early practice exercises that had the learner taking an imaginary ‘shopping’ trip to the local grocery store in order to expand their item vocabulary? These exercises while quite practical were not very inspiring. Talk about boring! Who wants to remember how to say ‘I want ten bananas’, or ‘How much is that bread’? How about “What colors do these Air Forces come in so that they will match my Lakers basketball jersey, Gold t-shirt, and B-Ball Shorts?” That’s what young people are saying nowadays. The second part of the shopping equation is “What is my favorite celebrity wearing?” Shoes, sneakers jeans, dresses, caps, jewelry, shorts all come under the umbrella of the popular name brands clothing lines by those same celebrities. With the internet all these things are accessible online. (more…)

Everyone is familiar with the normal steps to learning English as a second language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and pronunciation. This is the normal set of skills used in the learning of any new language, but all languages are learned by their native speakers through hearing the words spoken and noting the tone, pacing, and sound of the words when they are strung together to form sentences, in other words, diction. (more…)

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Learn English – Computers

Who does not enjoy a good movie? Movies are an excellent way to get a view into the ideas, myths and values of the culture they represent and while they seem the perfect way to learn English, learners must be made aware of the pitfalls they represent. (more…)

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Learn English – Complaining

Navigating through the English language is fraught with pitfalls and can be a confusing, frustrating labyrinth without a guide to help point out the points of interests. Trying to inspire adolescents (or oneself) to travel through this tangled maze requires a ‘hook’ or interesting approach to keep them involved. (more…)

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Learn English – Food