-
English Is Hard! DUH! And Here Are 3 Reasons Why!
•
English hard! I hate it! “English hard, why does it have to be so hard” have repeatedly complained my students! My reaction is “Duh”! How stupid would someone have to be to think language learning, any language learning, can actually be easy! However, no one said it couldn’t be “easIER”! Why English hard? If…
-
I hate pronunciation!
•
Don’t worry, I’m neither possessed nor schizophrenic and I haven’t lost my mind! It’s not the field that I hate, just the actual term itself. Why? Because the term “pronunciation”, as it is understood now by ESL specialists and schools, does not do justice to the actual concept of pronunciation. Ask an average ESL…
-
They hear how, not what you say
•
Is that fair? Who cares? Life’s not fair in many ways, is it? You might have the most remarkable vocabulary and the most accurate grammar and still be wondering why you can’t get people to like hanging out with you or just have a conversation with you. No one likes robots. No one likes…
-
Mary crease moss and a hoppy new ear!
•
Since we’re just a few days away from Christmas Eve, I thought I should tell you how to say it without sounding funny (in the negative way). It’s very unlikely that people won’t understand you when you greet them with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year” because they are expecting it right? Let me…
-
How To Master English Pronunciation
•
Thoughts on English Pronunciation I must have written tens of articles about English pronunciation but I never run out of ideas or other angles to view this topic from. Pronunciation, for the majority of learners, is what they study when having problems being understood. On the other hand, for some, it essentially has to…
-
Phonological awareness and phonics: Phon what?
•
I have been getting many kindergarten teachers asking me about the difference between phonological awareness and phonics or between phonemic awareness and phonics. You’ve got to see how frustrated they look when asking “what the hell is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?”. I know, I know. It’s confusing isn’t it? No…
-
Why You Can’t Understand Native English!
•
“Because I’m not a native speaker of English! Duhhh” many of you might think. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had advanced students coming up to me completely baffled. They have been learning English for years, yet they are still unable to understand native English speakers, especially on TV. Why especially on…
-
The 9 most important sounds for fluent English!
•
Aren’t all sounds important for fluent English? Yes absolutely. Yet, there are 9 sounds or phonemes which, in my opinion, are crucial for clear and fluent English. The reason that I consider these phonemes to be critical is their frequency. In other words, they are more common than other sounds, hence important. If you…