Woah… Did Sam really just write that? Yes. Spelling is not important when you’re in the middle of a conversation or debate. What is important is communicating your message effectively and clearly. When you’re asking a question, in the middle of a conversation or having a debate with someone, the last thing they’re thinking is: …
When you’re learning English it’s easy to get distracted by the huge amount of information available on the internet. There’s so much information that it can actually be quite difficult to figure out what’s true and what’s a myth. A myth is something that people believe is true, but really it isn’t. For example, one …
Five Myths That Will Damage Your English Learning Read More »
Usually students don’t ask how to write effective English paragraphs. That’s because it’s usually too late when they realise they need help writing a good paragraph (such as 1am the night before a deadline). The truth is we don’t often realise we need help until it’s too late. We don’t look for the prevention, we …
Isn’t the internet awesome? I remember back when I was a kid and we got our first family computer (in 1995) that came with some free information CDs. I absolutely loved all of them: Dangerous Creatures, Musical Instruments, Ancient Lands and Encarta 95. I spent hours and hours just reading and learning from those CDs. …
Five English Learning Myths That Are Holding You Back Read More »
Can you work out what this article is going to talk about? Any ideas…? That’s right: phrasal verbs, the popular language item which confuses many English learners. Why are phrasal verbs confusing? Well, take a look at the question above – do you understand what “work out” means? It could mean “to exercise”, “to end …
In class I like to do a critical thinking skills evaluation on my students. I usually do it a week into the course. By that time, my students have had the time to read some of the material on the topic that we will focus on. So, let’s say our topic is globalisation. I’ll ask …
Do you dream of speaking English like it was your first language? Do you ever wish you could write sentences which just seem natural and complex? Do you want to avoid using strange expressions like ‘snow cold’? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to make all of these come true!? Well there …
The English tenses are a bit of a nightmare. It scares them so much that they put too much focus on it OR ignore it completely! For teachers and frustrated students, grammar gives a structure for teaching or learning. It’s easy to teach a lesson on how to write sentences using the present simple. It’s …
“I didn’t know that I would have to read so much!” “Sam, I have to read too much on my course. I don’t know what’s important.” Does this sound familiar? One thing that many of my students find surprising is the amount of reading that they have to do for their degree courses. If you’re doing …
Anyone who has written or is writing a dissertation will agree with me when I say: Dissertations are not easy. Are they fun? Possibly. Are they easy? No, definitely not. But what if dissertations could be easier? Writing a dissertation still wouldn’t be really easy… but it would definitely be easier. Well, in today’s post, I’m …
Using Journal Articles to Make Your Dissertation (and Your Life) Easier Read More »
