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Give Yourself a Sporting Chance! Sports Idioms in English

It is funny how big sporting events such the FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon or the Olympics can suddenly turn entire nations sporting mad, even for armchair fans who only cheer on their teams from the comfort of their own homes. Although most people do tend to have a passing interest in sports, we are never as avid fans as when there is a great sporting event taking place.

Someone will be celebrating victory after winning the FIFA World Cup final in Brazil, and although it might not be your team who wins, it is still a good opportunity to learn some phrases or idioms that originate from sports and that have been adopted into everyday speech. These idioms can be used in business situations, social occasions and, of course, during sporting events.

Let’s kick off with a simple one such as, well, kick off. We use this phrase when we want to initiate or start something, but we could just as easily say let’s get the ball rolling, get a head start, be first out of the gate, play ball or even make a flying start.

If you are too eager to get started, someone might use the phrase jump the gun, which usually implies that you have started without getting all of the information required to complete a task properly. You might even score an own goal, by which we mean doing something that has a negative effect, or the opposite of what you intended.

If you get into trouble, it could be three strikes and you’re out, you could be said to be out of your depth, in deep water, or even be for the high jump, but friends or colleagues could offer you support by going to bat for you, or by being in your corner. Be careful, though; the odds may be against you unless you are saved by the bell.

When preparing for an interview for a new job or promotion, you should emphasize how much of a team player you are. You should be ready to step up to the plate to take on a new challenge so don’t drop the ball. Don’t pull your punches when selling your skills and experiences, since you may need to play hardball to convince your boss that you are worthy of promotion. Most importantly, don’t throw in the towel, this could be a whole new ball game for you.

 It’s Not Cricket!

You can have lots of fun, as well as make yourself sound more interesting by using sporting idioms to help to describe many situations. There are far too many to list them all here, as there are an estimated twenty-five thousand idioms in the English language altogether. As you can see from the above text, sporting idioms in particular can spice up your language skills, so let’s take a look in detail at one or two sporting idioms that you may already have come across in business English.

Plain sailing – This denotes a simple or easy situation, although from my experiences there are very few easy situations in real life. Businessmen and women often use this phrase to describe complex decisions or discussions in which they are hoping for a positive outcome.

The ball is in your court – Often used when a decision needs to be reached and the responsibility has passed onto a single person to decide. Sometimes though, it is used by others to strong-arm someone into making a decision against their better judgment.

Call the shots – Usually this signifies who is in charge or making the decisions and where you would go to ask for advice if needed. In cases where different groups are meeting, one might ask the other who is calling the shots in order to discover who they need to impress the most.

Saved by the bell – A term from boxing which signifies when a lucky or fortunate event occurs which has a positive outcome. It describes encountering an event which may have saved you from misfortune, but was totally unexpected.

A level playing field – Often denotes when there is an equal amount of opportunity between rivals, this can apply to candidates with similar skills and experiences who have applied for a new job or promotion, or alternatively be between companies hoping to win a big contract. There is a fair chance for everyone to win or succeed.

 Literally Translated

However, it is not just business situations where these idioms are used. They are used in everyday common language by most of us, so it is important to grasp their meanings as quickly as possible. Idioms exist in most modern languages, but they do not tend to translate very well into anything meaningful when literally translated word-for-word. It is their figurative meanings that are important, which normally cannot be easily understood from the literal meanings of the words.

I suggest that next time you take an English language lesson, prepare some sporting idioms from your own language to translate into English. You can translate them literally into English, and then choose from the many different English idioms that closely match their meanings in your own language. Finally, remember that the use of idioms is vital in the IELTS exam if you are looking for a score of 7 or more!

For more information on idioms in general, a well as sporting idioms, visit me onFacebook, where you will find daily bites of fun English. You can also find me on italki most days, either teaching or gladly helping out with any English language queries you may have.

For further reading on sporting idioms, the BBC has a page dedicated to some of those most commonly used.

Contact Rachel today!  http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345 

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Pretty Amazing Prepositions of Place: In, On, At, and More!

The cat is in the tree.

Do you have problems working out your in from your on; your at from your from; or your up from your down? If so, this fun exercise can help you to figure out which is the correct preposition to use and how to remember them.

First things first: what exactly is a preposition of place? Simply put, a preposition of place is a preposition which tells us where something or someone is located. There are actually only three prepositions of place — at, on and in — but they can be used to describe almost any number of places. These are:

  • At –is used to describe a certain point or place
  • In–helps us to describe an enclosed space
  • On–means we are talking about a surface

Let’s look at a few examples of how we use prepositions of place.

  • Janice is waiting for you at the bus stop.
  • The no-smoking sign is on the wall.
  • I live in New York City.

However, in conjunction with these three prepositions, we can also use prepositions of direction which help clarify exactly where something is located. There are many more of these which are used to confirm when, where and under what conditions something is located. For example, let’s take a further look at our first preposition of place: at.

Janice is waiting for you at the bus stop, by the library.

In this example, we already knew that Janice was waiting for us at the bus stop. But, by using the preposition of direction by, it tells us exactly which bus stop Janice is waiting at. So, by using the two prepositions (place and direction) we are given clearer instructions and information. Let’s move on to our next example.

The no-smoking sign is on the wall between the entrance and the foyer.

Here we are told exactly where the no-smoking sign is located, so we can expect to see it as we walk into the building.

I live in New York City, close to Times Square.

New York is a large city, but the additional information gives us a more precise location. Before we get to the fun exercise, here is a list of just some of the prepositions of direction which we can use in conjunction with prepositions of place:

  •  Above — The picture hangs above the fireplace.
  • Against — The fly flew against the window.
  • Among — I sat among a group of people.
  • Behind — The ball is behind the garage.
  • Between — The playing field is between the two buildings.
  • By — I stopped by the light house.
  • Close to — I wanted a table that was close to the window.
  • In front of — There was a man in front of me in the queue.
  • Inside — Let’s get inside before it starts to rain again.
  • Near — I live near the tube station.
  • Next to — The pharmacy is next to the doctors office.
  • Onto — The pigeon flew onto the roof of my car.
  • Opposite — The restaurant is opposite the car park.
  • Towards — The crowd is heading towards the concert stage.
  • Under — The bag is under the table.

Now, let’s get physical!

To help my students learn and remember these prepositions, I actually ask them to physically place objects in the places which use the prepositions they are trying to remember. So, get yourself something memorable that you can place somewhere in your house or garden:

  • Put a teddy bear on your bed.
  • Plant a pumpkin in your garden by the wall.
  • Put your mobile phone in your purse near the door.
  • Move your neighbour’s pet tortoise into your bathtub.

This physical representation will be much more memorable than any flashcard or list of words. It will stay clearly in your mind when you put your Grandmother’s teapot among the flowers in the garden, or put the cat under the piano stool next to the bookshelf, or even when the pink cushion lands behind the dog on the sofa.

So, practice, choose your object, choose your preposition of place, make it funny if possible, and then you’ll remember it.

Participation and creativity is the key, even if you use really ridiculous places such as in my earor on my head and so on. You could even do this with a friend. Take some silly photos and post them on Facebook! Why not?

I can guarantee you won’t forget your prepositions of place after that! For more information on prepositions, visit me on Facebook where you will find daily bites of fun English. You can also find me on italki most days either teaching or gladly helping out with any English language queries you may have.

Contact Rachel today!  http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345 

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STRESS and EMPHASIS

“I didn’t say we should kill him!”

When you speak English do you ever consider your tone?  To be really good at speaking English you must not only understand the grammar and the vocabulary and perfect how you communicate. You must also understand the conversational tone and tactics that native speakers use. A simple example for you is to consider when your voice rises and falls in a phrase. However in English adding additional STRESS or EMPHASIS can change the significance entirely. Look at these examples, stress the words in bold:

  1. I didn’t say we should kill him.  = Someone else said we should kill him.
  2. I didn’t say we should kill him. = I am denying saying it.
  3. I didn’t say we should kill him. = I implied it / whispered it / wrote it down.
  4. I didn’t say we should kill him. = I said someone else should kill him /you should kill him, etc.
  5. I didn’t say we should kill him. = I said we shouldn’t kill him / we must kill him, etc.
  6. I didn’t say we should kill him. = I said we should take him to dinner /take care of him / send him on a diving holiday.
  7. I didn’t say we should kill him. = We should kill someone else.

So, be careful when you talk about killing someone!

Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

 

So or Really?

A student recently sent me a query from the FCE practice. He didn’t understand the difference between: I was really impressed (which he got wrong) OR I was so impressed (which was the right answer).
The full sentence was: I was ………. impressed I went straight home.
This was my reply.
‘So’ is stronger than ‘really’.
It is used before adjectives and adverbs but not before verbs.
You use ‘so’ when a reason or a result is stated.
You don’t have a reason or result with ‘really’.
Here there is a result, the person went home!
Hence the answer is ‘so’ and not ‘really’

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Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

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Three – It’s The Magic Number

There is something special about the number 3, throughout history it has been a significant number and continues to be so today. The Egyptians built the Pyramids, the Bible talks of the 3 Wise Men and the Holy Trinity. There are 3 primary colours, 3 dimensions, 3 parts to time, we live on the third planet in our Solar System and there are 3 kingdoms on Planet Earth.

I could go on, but we would be here all day, so take a look at this page for more facts about the number 3.

The point I am trying to make is that we use the number 3 in many ways everyday without even realising that we are doing it, and in teaching it can be a very powerful weapon to have in your armour.

Think about it for a second or 3

Stories contain a beginning, middle and ending, and when we speak and use descriptive nouns we tend to use them in threes automatically. Presentations and reports normally include an introduction, main body of information and a conclusion. Our world seems to revolve around the number 3.

So, how can we use the number 3 in language lessons?

I am constantly working with a number of students who are preparing for IELTS speaking test, whose level of English is good, but they just need to show greater fluency on the day. The best little trick I can pass on to them is to think about the number 3.

What I mean is, when you are asked something about yourself, instead of just replying with a single answer such as, ‘I like to watch movies‘, what you need to do is think bigger.

In any answer, you need to think in threes, not in single nouns. So, let’s take movies, drinking coffee and reading as example personal traits, three not one. Next we need to add adjectives to each noun and where possible put them into a specific order of emotion, in order to end up with a response such as: ‘I like to read magazines and drink coffee, but most of all I love to watch movies.’

What you achieve by always thinking in threes is to actually help yourself to achieve greater fluency, which by return means a better score. However, it isn’t just nouns and adjectives that make us seem proficient and fluent. Idioms and phrasal verbs are just as important, and again 3 is the magic number to use. Try to introduce 3 simple idioms and 3 phrasal verbs, and to make sure that you practice using them before your speaking test, so that you understand how and when they are appropriate.

This method actually arms you with 3 tools for getting the score you need on your speaking test; always being able to answer questions with 3 responses, plus 3 idioms and 3 phrasal verbs to use. Interestingly enough, there are 3 parts to an IELTS speaking tests, so the idioms and phrasal verbs can be split equally between them.

 

For more on the Magic of 3, take a look at this video from EngVid.

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Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

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Learning a language… When the time comes to dig in!

I have been trying to learn Russian for a year now, and on a day when my teacher had to cancel the lesson due to a severe cold I sat considering whether I wanted to continue or throw in the towel.

The reason that I started to learn Russian was due to curiosity, since I had a lot of Russian students learning English, but also I wanted to put myself through the student process and see what insight this gave me to help me to improve as a teacher. In this I have achieved many things and it has been an invaluable experience, plus I have been proud of my achievement in understanding the language too, but I also see, with shame, that if I had just tried that bit harder I would have achieved so much more. I have come to truly appreciate that ‘less is more’ when you come across new grammar or concepts. That time to revise and revisit previous learning points is never time wasted. That ‘a little… often’ is priceless advice, and that ultimately homework rules, as it really does reinforce your learning and understanding.

So were there any negatives? Yes. My Italian has suffered and that must now resume priority because I live in Italy. I have seen myself struggle to find words that were once known so well, and have heard myself automatically respond in Russian, then English before finding the correct Italian words. It worries me and I intend to resolve that with haste.

However, I am reluctant to let go of my Russian. I have become extremely interested in the process of learning and the construction of the language itself. I am now curious to see if my return to learning Italian will actually be improved. I have a sneaky suspicion that I will be braver in tackling the more difficult grammar and pronunciation now. I mean, nothing can be as difficult as Russian, surely!

So I conclude, as possibly most students of English do at one time or another, that when you think about giving up, it is really the time when you take stock, appreciate and then prepare to dig in deeper than before. Keep learning! If you’ve taken a break from your English studies over the festive period, now is the time to come back with vengeance and start again. Refresh your memory, renew your efforts, progress to new levels. SkypEnglish4U is the perfect place. We’re a fun group, flexible and friendly. We understand the highs and lows of learning a language. We will help you.

So are you ready? Yeah… Bring it on!

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Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

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Do you know your colloquial pairs?

Many of my IELTS students make a point of studying their idioms and phrasal verbs, mostly as it’s a clear cut way to show fluency and develop a more natural and advanced way of speaking English. However, there is something else which can also help here. This is the use of colloquial pairs. You will surely all now about ‘pros and cons’  from learning how to speak about advantages and disadvantages, and this is indeed a colloquial pair, however what about others?

What is a colloquial pair? Well these are pairs of words that have a special significance, such as idioms or slang. You must take care not to put them in the wrong order however, as while these pairs may be understood in a reversed order, they will sound incorrect to a native speaker.

  • prim and proper
  • to and fro
  • odds and ends
  • hard and fast
  • tooth and nail
  • pros and cons
  • by and large
  • down and out
  • length and breadth
  • safe and sound

So, can I give you some examples? Well, I’m very ‘prim and proper’ about my colloquialpairs so I must make sure I use them correctly! I believe that ‘by and large’ these are phrases which are essential to add to your vocabulary if you want to speak like a native, and there is nothing we can do to change that! I’m afraid these rules are set ‘hard and fast’ and we can’t make any exceptions.

Why not look the other pairs up online and see if you can use them?

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Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

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Get moving into MODALS

Some of my students have a particularly hard time understanding modal verbs. Since I teach a lot of Italians I have become familiar with some language work for Italian students of English, specifically that of John Peter Sloan. However, he explains his ‘methods’ in Italian, obviously! So for the purpose of all other students, who don’t speak Italian, here is the translation. It’s not my idea, it’s his. I want to make that clear, but it’s a very good idea indeed and works wonders for making modals easier to understand and use.

The idea is that you think of modal verbs with percentages that show to what degree the action is likely, possible or probable. Then you simply use the relevant modal according to the result.

For example:

could                    35%
may / might        50%
have to                 75%
must                     90%

should = the only exception, no percentage here as it is a matter of advice… think of someone with a wagging finger, tutting at you when you use this… ‘You SHOULD stop smoking!’

So… the process:

  1. Choose your subject pronoun
  2. Choose your verb, always in the infinitive (without ‘to’) after a modal verb.
  3. Choose the possibility factor and insert the appropriate modal between the subject pronoun and the verb.
I COULD go to the party (35% possibility factor… probably won’t go as I can’t borrow the car that night!)
I MAY go to the party (50% possibility factor… probably depends on whether their best friend goes too!)
I HAVE TO go to the party (75% possibility factor… as it’s my parents’ anniversary!)
I MUST go to the party (90% possibility factor… because it has been organised especially for me to celebrate my 40th birthday!)
I SHOULD go the party (because my girlfriend will be upset if I don’t!)

Try it… it works!

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Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

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AIM, TARGET, GOAL!

Do you still have troubles talking about an aim, a target and a goal?
Specifically, in the Russian language there is the same word for all of these meanings!

Plus, what about object and purpose?

Have a look at these definitions below and perhaps they will help you.

Target – what you are aiming for.
Aim – the state you want to acquire by the end.
Object – the point of doing it.
Goal – synonymous with ‘target’.
Purpose – the reason for doing it.

So, let’s do an example…

My target (or goal) is to speak Russian.
My aim is to be able to hold a conversation with native speakers.
The object of this is to be able to understand the differences between Russian and English better.
So the purpose of this will be that I can teach my Russian students the English language more effectively.

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Contact Rachel today > http://www.italki.com/teacher/1394345

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Education meets overseas travel with the spirit of Eurovision

The above description represents how many young learners felt about the European Unions Erasmus program, and up until quite recently there was still a hint of youthful idealism about the scheme, albeit mixed with some essential life skills for the next generation.
More recently however, the newly branded Erasmus+ appears to have a more clearly defined strategic purpose. With youth unemployment throughout Europe at record levels, around 6 million young people out of work, it is one of the European Unions toughest challenges. It is probably no wonder then, that the budget for Erasmus+ has been increased by 40% in order to help fight youth unemployment. The main problem, according to some sources, is the fact that skills held by the young and unemployed do not match the jobs available. According to European Union sources, there are currently 2 million job vacancies within the EU where employers cannot find people with the right skills.
In countries where youth unemployment is low, such as Germany and Austria, there are vocational training places available for every young person who wants one. The new Erasmus+ scheme also includes apprenticeship exchanges.
Less is more
In my view there are far too many soft courses for students nowadays. Many University campuses have grow huge on the back of providing these soft degree courses such as media studies or humanities, while failing to equip graduates with the skills they require to become productive in the workplace. This is probably one reason why there are so many immigrants moving to the UK to do work that nobody else will do.
What we are failing to do is prepare the next generation for the harsh realities of life. There are only so many jobs available in the media at any one time, so why not limit the number of students studying such degrees and increase the places available for courses that teach transferable skills? We are also failing to equip students of all ages with skills in languages, an extremely transferable skill that could be useful in any sector.

Languages are the lifeblood of Europe, and as Language teachers we should be encouraging all students to learn at least one foreign language, and of course, English is the best!
You can find information about the Erasmus+ programme here:http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm
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