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Practice English on Snapchat

Practice English on Snapchat by chatting back and forth with me in English

Take advantage of social media and get free practice using English on Snapchat.  I will be posting daily ‘stories’ and sharing things from my life and English vocabulary.

  • Don’t know what Snapchat is?  Have a look here at this tutorial >> Snapchat 101

This is a great way for people to get practice USING English.  Over the years, I have learned that most of the students that I talk to have a great passive vocabulary, but are just missing the opportunity to speak and use that English they have stored in their mind.  From an early stage in language development, you can read and understand things, but producing language, especially in the spoken form, is more difficult and requires practice.

Enough of the boring stuff, onto the fun!  How can YOU use English on Snapchat?

First of all, follow me : SkypEnglish4U

English on Snapchat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find your friends from contacts or by searching and you can also ‘friend’ many celebrities.  You and your friends can ‘snap’ back and forth as a normal messenger system, except that the messages disappear after a short time.

I will post ‘stories’ with different things and while you are watching them, you can swipe up and respond to me directly.  I encourage you to send me a snap, better yet a video snap so that you can practice speaking.  You can send me a question, respond to my ‘story’ or just tell me about something, ANYTHING really.  Get involved and active with your English.  I look forward to hearing from you!

#EngVocab
tutorial (noun) a book, computer program, etc., that teaches someone how to do something by explaining each stage of a process
take advantage (idiom) to make use of something well; to make use of an opportunity
*practice using these words in the comments section and I will check them and give you feedback*
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Learning by Doing

There are many ways to learn a language.

You can read – a grammar book, a book for fun, a blog, or beautiful phrases.

You can listen – to audiobooks, tv series, podcasts, or music

You can watch and see – a whiteboard in a classroom, a picture dictionary, a movie

You can speak – in a classroom, in a hangouts chat group or on the bus to a new friend

Usually when people start to learn English they will learn with grammar books, classroom whiteboards, movies, music and classroom speaking practice. All of these methods have value and will help you in your goal of improving your language abilities, but I have found that often the most valuable learning comes in the moments in when you are LEARNING THE LANGUAGE IN A NATURAL CONTEXT.

For example, if you are learning the language to use in a restaurant, you can read about it in an English textbook, you can watch a restaurant scene in a movie, or you can read the words a teacher writes on a whiteboard. These are all helpful. Sometimes it feels less stressful to begin to learn the language OUTSIDE of the natural context (in a classroom or in a book) but the moment that you actually connect with the language and REALLY UNDERSTAND how to use it is when you are actually IN the restaurant. When it is REAL English.

This learning that is done in the moment is called experiential learning, or LEARNING BY DOING. This is why full immersion is such an effective way to learn a language. When you put yourself in a situation where you must use the language in all the every day moments of life, you learn language in the most effective way.

 

There is a saying from Confucius.  “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” 

 

I have created a unique English learning program to give people the opportunity to learn by doing and to learn in an environment that is beautiful, fun and relaxing. It is not in a school. It is not in a classroom. It is outdoors, in nature. It is a small group of new friends. It is many moments of every day learning opportunities. There will also be specific English skills, and reading, and grammar and whatever is necessary to help the learning process. There will be the best of learning before you.

This and more helpful articles can be found here > http://englishretreats.ca/learning-by-doing/

Andrea’s Profile

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500 Most Common English Words

This list of 500 common words in English is a good place for beginners to start learning the foundation of the language or for advanced students to really test themselves.

Vocabulary is the foundation of language.  Without the words, you can’t make the sentences.  Many students get overwhelmed at the thought of learning ‘all of those words’.  Everybody learns differently, so you need to figure out what is best for you!  If you are an organized, laid-out-plan type of person, this list of the 500 most common words in English is a good place for you to start.  Do you prefer more of a random style of learning?  This list will be great for you as well.

  • Come up with a plan of attack: I’ve grouped the words into clumps so that it is easier to identify small groups of 10 words instead of looking at a list of 500 words.  Decide on a number that you want to focus on per day/per week.  3 a day seems to be a popular number with students or 15 a week if you have less time to spend on it.  You decide what works for you best.  If you miss a day it is not the end of the world, pick up where you left off.
    • Make paper note cards
    • Make electronic flash cards (Quizlet & Anki are both popular)
    • Use a whiteboard 
    • Have a notebook with the words ANDthe words used in sentences
  • Random sampling: Save this list and each day just point to a word and use it in a sentence.  Do not just say it in your mind and tell yourself, ‘Cool, I know this word’.  WRITE IT DOWN or record yourself saying it.

500-most-common-english-words.pdf

Pronunciation

Now that you KNOW the words, it time to pronounce them correctly!  Have a look at this link here > Pronunciation in English: 500 Common Words

As you look at the words, click on VIDEO in each column to watch video lessons on the sounds and word lists.  Soon you will be pronouncing 500 common words according to American English pronunciation. Plus, you will feel confident about American English sounds.

Practice

Practice makes perfect!  You have to use the words in order to really KNOW them.  Practice speaking with a native speaker and in no time, you will feel comfortable and confident with your English speaking>>  SkypEnglish4U Online Sessions

#EngVocab
Plan of attack (noun) ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation

 

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Around the World ‘Round Table’ Discussion

Round Table : a number of people gathered together for conference, discussion of some subject, etc., and often seated at a round table.

Round Table discussions are an excellent way for you to get a chance to practice speaking English with someone from another country and at the same time, learn a bit about their culture and everyday life!  You will be exposed to other accents and participate in a ‘real-life’ conversation with someone you have never met before in a comfortable, friendly environment.  The general topics are endless and if possible, we can even arrange for you to speak with someone who also works in your industry.

Sessions

I will serve as the ‘host’ making sure that the conversation keeps flowing and that everyone gets a chance to speak.

Generally we will speak in an order assigned at the beginning of the session. Person 1 gives their answer, 2, then 3 and then it is open for discussion as I see fit.  I will help keep the order by speaking directly to the student when they are to answer.  During the open discussion, participants must be courteous and not interrupt or speak over other people.  At any time, I reserve the right to remove someone from the call.

I will keep running notes of vocabulary, grammar issues and sentence structure in the Skype chat.

Scheduling

This options is only available to SkypEnglish4U clients (join today!) that are ‘pre-approved’ and have the appropriate level of English required to partake in one of these group exercises.

Each SE4U student will get one free 30min AWRT credit and will schedule it with me.  If a student wants to participate in more, they will pay a % out of their existing sessions based on the people participating in the call– If there are 2 students, for 30min, they each will spend 15min of their existing packages.  The maximum amount of students per call is 3.

You will see specific times labeled as ‘Round Table’ on my google calendar and you can select them just as you regularly schedule.  I will be very flexible with these sessions… if you want to do one at a certain time, please let me know and I will try to find another student.

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10 Fun & Easy Ways to Learn English Faster

We’ve all heard a thousand times that the only way to really learn English is to be totally immersed in the language, completely surrounded by it everywhere you go. But we wanted to go deeperthan that and find quick and easy ways to start getting immersed. So our research team put together 10 steps that you can follow, in this order, to make learning English faster and a whole lot more fun.
#1: Find some English radio stations and podcasts in iTunes
There are tons of podcasts about all topics imaginable these days: entertainment, politics, news. A good way to find one is to look for a podcast from a TV channel you usually watch in your cable TV. Look for one that interests you and listen to it in your car while driving. You’ll train your ear that way!
#2: Check out the Top Videos on YouTube and watch for at least a few minutes
Most of them are hilarious! It will be so worth it. Try looking at the comments to pick up some words and sentences you aren’t familiar with, but be careful there is all kinds of bizarre stuff in YouTube comments.
#3: Talk and sing to yourself in English
When you are alone at home, or of course in the shower, start talking! Sing a song in English the way it sounds to you, talk about the weather or any other topic. Do this frequently and your pronunciation will drastically improve – guaranteed!
4#: Do you have an English-speaking idol? Go to YouTube and watch all of his/her interviews in English
You can spend hours doing that listening to interviews and it sure won’t feel like studying. But it is! It helps you a great deal.
5#: Sit near people who are speaking English on the bus or in the park. Listen in…
Okay now don’t be a creepy eavesdropper! But, see what words you can pick up and listen to the flow of the conversation. How much did you understand? What general topic were they talking about? Did you hear an interesting word you might want to look up after?
#6: Pay attention to billboards, signs, advertisements, magazine stands and establishment names
Look and think about what these ads mean. How many words do you recognize? Did you see that same word elsewhere? Make up sentences about what you’re seeing.
#7: Love music? Try figuring out the words/lyrics of your favorite songs
Watch video clips with lyrics on YouTube and sing along. Read the translation and build up your vocabulary. Listen to “clean” versions of songs and try to figure out what dirty words were taken out. It’s fun!
#8: Watch TV clips, episodes or soap operas in English
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand what they’re saying, watch anyway! Try to understand why something is funny or sad . If the joke is related to the word itself, then maybe that is why the joke does not make sense in your native language. What would be the best translation into your language then?
#9: Engage in a conversation on Facebook with friends who post in English
When you have English speakers in your timeline, you see their posts daily and get inside information about news and viral videos in English. Your friends can be your teachers! Their timeline basically sort out the best material for you to study.
#10: Produce, produce, produce. No matter how shy you are or how much you don’t “get” English, force yourself to speak
Help out a tourist who looks lost. They won’t mind you struggling with the language while you’re doing them a favor! After class, talk to your teacher about how things are going and what you need help with in English. When traveling, ask around for directions in English, even if you don’t need them! Try purchasing things online and by phone, or using customer support in English.
It does not matter if you talk slowly, you are learning, that’s only natural!
BONUS TIP: When seeing a new movie look up the original title on IMDB.com
The translation sometimes does not correspond directly to the original. Find out what the original title really means. Ask yourself how the translation makes sense.  What is the relation to the movie? You will never forget a new word that once it’s associated with an unforgettable movie. Works every time!
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Hold the front page!

I think that this little exercise is one of the most fun activities that you can do that will vastly improve your English when you are over the basic level. This is to imagine that you are a journalist for the day.
 
Watch an old Agatha Christie crime story, such as Hercule Poirot, or any crime series really for this little project, then write a front page article for the newspaper after watching either a clip or a full episode. Don’t just try to do a simple report that just states the facts, try to use your imagination, report perhaps what a certain character had witnessed, or even imagine you also had the opportunity to interview either Hercule himself, one of his sidekicks, or any of the many suspects in the case.

This little exercise will help you to use all your tenses, to describe past activities and the backgrounds of the people involved, where they have been and who or what they say they saw at the time. Also, practice how to describe the current activities of an on-going investigation as well as the planned future activities of the investigation.
 
Then perhaps think about the task of interviewing the individual characters from the investigation. Try to ask direct questions relating to the episode and the character’s role in the events in order to expand upon the original crime report. You could try creating your own video news report and practice your pronunciation too, to check how you sound when you speak English, and get your teacher or another native speaker to check your work. So the written English exercise turns into a spoken English exercise as well.
 

I think crime drama adds a bit of spice which helps to fire up the imagination. Why not try this on a wet and rainy Sunday afternoon?

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

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Having a ‘whoop’ of a time thinking about ‘whoops a daisy’!

Have you seen the movie ‘Notting Hill’? Have you seen the scene where Hugh Grant keeps saying ‘whoops a daisy!’?

 

‘Whoops a daisy!’ is an expression of surprise or dismay, as shown by Hugh Grant when he fails to climb over the garden wall. The modern-day equivalent is thought to probably be ‘Doh!’ The term has been shortened to “whoops” and some people think it may be related to the expression “to whoop,” as in giving “whoops of joy.”
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With regards to the historical background of “whoop” as a verb, it relates to a falconer who whoops his hawks and dates back to the early 1400s.  If you cried ‘whoop’ during a hunt this would indicate to your fellow hunters that your quarry, your target animal, or game, was dead.
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Whoop also appears in slang, for example ‘to whoop it up’  which means to have a jolly good time, or to ‘live it up’. “Making whoopee” arose in the US around 1927. Plus, something not so pleasant, for us Brits the term “whoopsie” is apparently a child’s word for excrement. So for anyone who mixes American and British English you must be careful to be clear between making whoopie, and making whoopsie! Things could go really wrong!
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Finally, yes people really do say this! Well… I do, and so does Hugh Grant!
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Connected Speech

What is connected speech?

Simply put, connected speech is when a speaker puts words or sounds together in a sentence such as “gonna” (going to) or “wanna” (want to). Usually, this is not understood at all by the English learner!!

Have you ever heard something like “I’m gonna go ta tha store, do ya wanna come?” What does this mean??
When the native English speaker says things like this ^, it is usually just to make their speech easier and more efficient. In fact, the main goal of a native speaker is usually not to be correct, but to be efficient. So, when you are trying to speak perfectly, remember that even native speakers don’t always sound perfect! Elemental English discusses this topic here. 

So, let me explain the sentence “I’m gonna go ta tha store, do ya wanna come?”

Correctly written, it is “I am going to the store, do you want to come?”

“Going to” changes to “gonna,” “to the” changes to “ta tha,” “you” changes to “ya,” and “want to” changes to wanna.” Of course, this is not correct English and should never be in writing… However, if you want to better understand native speakers, I would recommend practicing listening for these connected words.

Below is a great example of connected speech in a scene from the classic movie “Remember the Titans.” Watch the video and see if you can understand what they’re saying. If it is difficult, try reading the text below and notice the connected speech. Does it make sense this time? Great!

Bertier: Aight man. Listen, I’m Gerry, you’re Julius. Let’s just get some particulars and get this over with, alright?

Big Ju: Particulars? Man, no matter what I tell you, you ain’t never gonna know nothin about me.

Bertier: Hey- Listen, I ain’t running any more of these three-a- days, okay?

Big Ju: Well, what I’ve got to say, you really don’t wanna hear ‘cuz honesty ain’t too high upon your people’s priorities list, right?

Bertier: Honesty? You want honesty? Alright, honestly, I think you’re nothing. Nothing but a pure waste of God-given talent. You don’t listen to nobody, man! Not even Doc or Boone! Shiver push on the line everytime and you blow right past ‘em! Push ‘em, pull ‘em, do something! You run over everybody in this league, and everytime you do you leave one of your teammates hanging out to dry, me in particular!

Big Ju: Why should I give a hoot about you, huh? Or anybody else out there? You wanna talk about the ways you’re the captain?

Bertier: Right.

Big Ju: Captains supposed to be the leader, right? Bertier: Right.

Big Ju: You got a job?

Bertier: I have a job.

Big Ju: You been doing your job?

Bertier: I’ve been doing my job.

Big Ju: Then why don’t you tell your white buddies to block for Rev better? ‘Cause they have not blocked for him worth a blood nickel, and you know it! Nobody plays. Yourself included. I’m supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team? No, no, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna look out for myself and I’m gonn get mine.

Bertier: See man, that’s the worst attitude I ever heard. Big Ju: Attitude reflects leadership, captain.

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It’s only English, how many accents could there be!?

While English has become the most widely used language in the world, the definition of “Standard English” is not always so clear.

This video is one of my favorites for helping English students see the variations between accents and dialects in spoken English. Surprisingly, English accents vary greatly; and if a student has learned American English in school, for example, he/she could have a very hard time understanding someone speaking Australian English.

Because listening to various English accents is “easier said than done,” I recommend learning the fun way- with movies! Here is a great website that can help you learn all kinds of English accents by watching movie trailers and clips. Watch and re-watch until you can understand, and don’t hesitate to ask questions or look up some of the phrases being said. Also, I would advise taking on one accent at a time until you can better understand it, then moving on to the next one. Good luck, and don’t give up!

http://kelseysensei.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/its-only-english-how-many-accents-could-there-be/ 

 

 

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Surround Yourself with English

I have been teaching online since 2010 and I have probably said ‘surround yourself with English’ over 1,000 times!  I guess it is my catchphrase

You MUST surround yourself with everyday English as much as possible.  The first time that you hear or read a word/idiom/phrase that you don’t know, write it down and look it up or better yet, ask someone (sometimes the dictionary can confuse you with idioms or phrasal verbs).  When you take the time to do a little research, the word/idiom/phrase is more likely to stick in your mind.  Then the next time you come across it, it will become reinforced and more of a part of your active vocabulary.   The more you hear or see something the more likely you are to remember it, right?  And that, my friends,  is why you need to listen and read English whenever you can!

The next step is to be able to actively use the word/idiom/phrase in your daily interactions.  This is where difficulties can arise.  Anyone can LEARN a word/idiom/phrase by using a book or the internet, but it is much more difficult to get that word/idiom/phrase into your active vocabulary and be able to easily use it yourself.  This is where PRACTICE comes in.  PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE! (another catchphrase of mine).  Once you learn the word, you need to use it!

Speaking with a native speaker is an excellent way to practice, but that may not be possible for everyone.  I am always posting on facebook, twitter, pinterest and tumblr to help students surround themselves with English as much as possible.  I hope that you will take advantage of it and spend a little time everyday to improve your English.

#EngVocab

catchphrase (noun) a word or expression that is used repeatedly and conveniently to represent or characterize a person, group, idea, or point of view

come across (phrasal verb) to find or encounter, especially by chance

 

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