Entries by Kelsey

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“THINK”- Phrasal verbs with about, of, and on

I recently had someone ask me about the difference between “think about,” “think of,” and “think on.” (Shout out to Benedito! Thanks!) As a native speaker, these phrasal verbs are not even a problem! But after studying the differences, I can see how incredibly confusing it can be. Below, I have described the most common […]

Tips on making “small talk”

For the majority of my students, making “small talk,” or short conversation with strangers or co-workers, is the most difficult part about using their daily conversational English. Here are some tips that I have found useful when making small talk: 1) Talk about the weather. This one seems to be common in most cultures. Some […]

“Oo” vs. “W” – Especially for my Japanese students!

This topic is one that doesn’t seem to be a problem for some people when learning English, but I’ve seen that it can be especially difficult for Japanese learners. Because most Japanese learn with カタカナ(katakana), some of the sounds are not exactly right. For example, ウ is the English sound for “oo,”  as in “blue,” […]

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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 […]

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Much and Many

“Much” and “many” are used so many times in English! It takes much effort to learn the difference between them. Students should spend a lot of time studying if they want to speak fluent English. There are many great websites that help with this subject. Here are some resources that you can use to learn more: http://englishlanguagehelp.info/esl/much-vs-many/ http://stickyball.net/esl-grammar.html?id=394 And here is a quiz for practice. […]

The Importance of Asking Questions

We all know that asking questions is important when you learn a new language, but how important? As an ESL teacher, I am always looking for new ways to help my students learn. One of the best ways I can do that is by knowing my student’s interests and any QUESTIONS they may have. When […]

Lets Learn aLL about *L’s*

How difficult was that sentence to say? If you are like most ESL learners, it wasn’t so easy. Below are some of my favorite resources on how to pronounce the English *L*. Start with this lesson from pronuncian.com. It will explain in detail the mechanics, or step-by-step movements, of how to move your mouth in the sound of an L. order essays […]