Lesson Corner – Grammar Resources

It’s been a long time since I posted new material here – I have not been teaching for quite some time. However I heard today from a website called Lesson Corner and thought that my visitors here would like to know about the site which has some excellent resources – and lots of them. These [...]

Daily Words 20 – Space Exploration Special

I’ve not been making posts as frequently as usual recently as I have been very busy so here is a special edition to make up for it. Last night someone introduced me to NASA TV at the website of the US Space Exploration Program. Wow! You can watch a live webcam broadcast of astronauts aboard [...]

Writing about Youth Crime – a Success Story

Here is a really brilliant topic resource for any student who needs to write an essay about Youth problems. It is a news report from the UK’s Sky News about a highly successful scheme set up to offer young men who have been excluded from school for bad behaviour a new and different way to [...]

Death of a Language

This is rather sad but will be of interest to anyone who loves languages. The BBC reported today that the very last speaker of an Alaskan language called Eyak has died. Marie Smith Jones (picture above borrowed from the BBC story) was the mother of 9 children but none of them learned Eyak because when [...]

Writing about Environmental Problems

We are often asked to talk and write about issues like Hunger and our planet’s environmental problems as part of our English studies and to offer solutions. Hah! I have been known to get very cross about this kind of composition. How can examiners expect teenagers to write solutions to problems which some of the [...]

The Great British Auntie

I am always encouraging (or pleading with) my students to read more real English. If you are going to sit any advanced English exam it is absolutely essential that you make it a habit to read something English every day. You can spend years working at grammar exercises but nothing will help solve your problems [...]

Be an English Filmstar

           Do you like movies? Here’s a fun way to learn some English today. http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/eslvideo/index.html There are three pages of really funny movie clips including extracts from The Simpsons, The Royal Tennenbaums, Miss Congeniality and The Golden Compass (and many more) to watch all with comprehension questions to go with them. Excellent practice for [...]

Are You Listening?

All the important English examinations have a listening section and it is extremely important to get a lot of practice. If you are paying for lessons by the hour this can prove to be expensive. Fortunately there is a lot you can do for yourself. After all, there is no point paying a teacher just [...]