learn english

  • How Intensive Listening Does Wonders For English Learning

    Ever since I finished my TESOL degree and started teaching, my top obsession has been “how could I somehow enable the memory of an adult English learner to achieve what a child’s does. How could I somehow speed up the human processor, that is the brain, so that it could respond to the sounds…

  • 7 spelling-pronunciation rules for vowels

    English spelling is messy, chaotic and can be one of the biggest and worst nightmares for English learners. It affects your pronunciation, and therefore writing and speaking. Find out how and why!

  • How to improve your English grammar and reading skills

    It’s certainly not by learning the rules of grammar as you would learn the rules of physics, but rather by….well…reading. Yes, it’s that simple, reading everything and anything you can get your hands on. It would help a great deal if you could find something you are really crazy or obsessed about. 20 years…

  • 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…

  • Listen to speak, read to write

    That is my advice to learners of English as a second or foreign language. That is also my advice to English schools and ESL teachers responsible for creating ESL programs, curricula and textbooks. Just as it says in the title, to improve your speaking, you’ve got to start with listening, and to improve your…

  • Improving English: None for you without review

    The title of this article says it all. So why is review such an important part of the learning process and improving English? Well, just look at the first two letters of the word “review”, what have you got? That’s right. “Re”. “Re” also happens to be the first two letters of the word…

  • Learning English or learning about English?

    Learning English, learning about English, “tomEYto” “tomAHto” you might think. Unfortunately, most English learners spend 70% of their time learning about English. They learn about grammar rules, vocabulary, how to write an essay or pass an exam etc. but hardly learning English as in fully immersing themselves in the language. Look, needless to say,…

  • The stubborn pronunciation problems of Japanese learners

    Japanese are stubborn, so are their pronunciation problems Japanese students of English struggle with their pronunciation problems. No matter how advanced the speakers are, no matter how long the learners have been learning or speaking English for, some (phonetic) mistakes are real stubborn aren’t they? They keep happening over and over and Japanese students…

  • Blessed are the English learners who can master their emotions

    To master your emotions is to decide how YOU WANT to be feeling now as opposed to how you ARE feeling now! Imagine how difficult that is. As a matter of fact, for most people, it is beyond reach. While it is most certainly not beyond reach (unfeasible), it can easily be if it…

  • 4 silly myths about learning English

      Silly myth 1: “If you live in an English speaking country for just 3 months, you can speak English like a native speaker.” Can’t tell you how many dreams I’ve seen get shattered and hearts broken. Many seem to believe that it is almost a certain fact if you manage to live in…