Well, THAT's a new way to think about a language...

This week, The New Yorker magazine has an article about how, this year, anything connected to Denmark and the Danish language has become fashionable in the UK.

Unfortunately, I can't link to the article because it's only available to subscribers. However, I thought that it was worth risking the anger of the magazine's lawyers by citing this one (very funny) part:

When asked by the Guardian to account for the popularity of Danish television overseas, [one] actress....replied, "I've no idea, because our language is one of the most ugly and limited around. You can't seduce anyone in Danish; it sounds like you are throwing up. (=vomiting)"

If you need help with phrasal verbs...

Yesterday, I posted my latest Doceri video about phrasal verbs. Looking back, though, I realize that I should have provided a little bit more of an explanation, so here's a quick rundown of what to remember about phrasal verbs:

a) Phrasal verbs may be complex, but they're not LONG. The maximum number of words you can have in a phrasal verb is three words. That makes it easier to learn and use all the parts together. Don't fixate on the meaning of the individual pieces. That won't help you. Trying to translate the individual words just shows that you can't work in English. If you can learn the name of a brand (e.g. Coca-Cola - two words) or someone's name (Angelina Jolie, which has two words), you can learn phrasal verbs.

b) You do not need to know every possible phrasal verb that exists in English. If I told you that you had to memorize the credit card numbers of everyone you know, you would think that I'm crazy. If I told you to sit in the Metro and learn the names of every single station in the Metro system, you'd think I was mad. So why do students feel that they have to learn every single possible phrasal verb? Don't drive yourself crazy with that idea. So....

c) Focus on the phrasal verbs that you need to use in your everyday life. Don't try to learn phrasal verbs that you won't use. If you're a secretary, you probably don't feel a great need to learn terms related to neuroscience. It's the same thing, here.

I'll post more Doceri presentations about phrasal verbs in the future; but, for now, if you can remember those three key ideas, you'll give yourself a lot less stress and frustration.

STOP SPANGLISH grammar on YouTube

Someone once said that I need to make a video of all those funny little bits of information about English verbs. Well, thanks to a new iPad too called Doceri, I've done it! This video reviews all of the little funny things that I keep forgetting to tell everyone, so here they all are, in one video. Hope you find it helpful.

(There will be more videos coming up soon, especially about the different predicate patterns and about prepositions after verbs, so stay tuned -- and let me know if you think there's a topic that deserves a video.)

When Sergio said, "Merry Christmas"...

Today's EL PAÍS has an article about...well, I don't really know what it's about - it's kind of a summary of "we speak English as badly as they speak Spanish but in the end, everything is OK."  Articles like this bother me, and I never know if they bother me because they're so inaccurate (what, exactly, are they complaining about?) or because they seem to try to talk about all sides of an issue and end up not offering information about anything.

I've spent twelve years helping actors, secretaries, help desk staff, politicians and doctors improve their accents, and I just want to say this: Sergio Ramos is fine. Nobody has to speak like Sir Laurence Olivier if there isn't a clear, definite reason to speak that way. Ramos is a twenty-something kid from Cádiz who probably doesn't speak English on a regular basis, and his accent reflects that. Anyone who feels the need to really beat up on Ramos because of his accent has a serious problem with self-esteem.

Personally, I think that if Sergio Ramos spoke English like Olivier, that would be bizarre. It's not like Ramos is like Gael García Bernal, who lived and studied in the UK - and is an actor who works with English-speaking directors. García Bernal needs to sound like Laurence Olivier. Ramos may want to speak that well, but there is no rational reason for him to speak that way.

Don't give yourself more problems than you already have -- learning to use English well is tough enough!

Christmas English for the kids!

If you have small children at home...and you might need to find something for them to do while you're preparing for Christmas Eve dinner...try the NORAD Santa Tracker.

Well, er, yes, it's basically a military application and yes, NORAD is connected to NATO. This website has been known to keep more than one kid quiet for an hour or so...plus they can work on their geography and English at the same time.

What might tomorrow's English sound like?

What might English sound like in the distant future - especially if things like the Mayan Apocalypse were to happen? The Economist's Johnson blog has an idea.

Thanks to Jesús Marín for sending this one in!

If you are convinced you'll never learn English....

....because you haven't done so well so far, think of this:

PAST PERFORMANCE DOES NOT GUARANTEE FUTURE RETURNS.

That's what you see at the bottom of any information on investments, and it's true.

Let me put it another way:

IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO GRAB OPPORTUNITIES IN  THE FUTURE IF YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF GARBAGE FROM THE PAST.

Maybe you didn't get what you wanted in the past. That doesn't guarantee that you're never going to get what you want in the future.

What can you change in 2013 to make your English better than ever?

The NICE test for auxiliary verbs

So I was flipping through a book on linguistics yesterday (typical bathroom reading, y'know....) and I came across an interesting memory trick that might help you remember the difference between "normal" verbs and auxiliary verbs.

What are the most important differences between "normal" and auxiliary verbs? Think of the NICE test:

• Both time and modal auxiliary verbs have NEGATIVE forms: hadn't, wouldn't couldn't, isn't, aren't (NOT: amn't.) 
• For questions, the order of auxiliary verbs can be INVERTED: he had = had he?; they could = could they?
• You can have them in shortened forms as long as you know what the CONTEXT is: "They could go there by car, couldn't they?" -- "They could." (The sentence doesn't make any sense if you don't have the question before it. 
• You couldn't do this with "You like running, don't you?" -- "I like.")
• They can be stressed with EMPHASIS: "You can't do this." -- "I can!!" 

(EDIT: Oh, and remember: You can't use two auxiliary verbs together: I will can go, He did must speak.)

(Source: The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, by P. H. Matthews)

Oooops! of the Day

If you don't think that you need to remember participle adjectives (bored, interesting), take a look at this.

(Source: www.theatlantic.com).

Pigs don't sing.

People who teach English are like any other people: there are things about our jobs that irritate us greatly. One thing that never fails to bother me is the number of people who don't speak English themselves, but demand that their kids speak English, no matter what the cost.

To me, this is kind of like torturing your kids into being football stars because you play football really terribly -- but you always dreamed of being a star football player. In Spain, however, it seems to be a favourite way of trying to get kids to speak English. 

Know what? It doesn't work.  

In English, this is called stage mother syndrome, and we don't think much of it. (In Canada, it might be called "trying to get a pig to sing"; it's futile and all it does is frustrate you and make the pig angry.) 

Folks: if your kids do not ask you, bother you, demand English classes from you...please. Don't do it. I don't care how smart or bright or intelligent your kid is. If your kid hates English and does not want English classes, don't give them private English classes. Students who are unmotivated are, generally, students who will not do very well because they don't CARE enough about learning and it won't be important for them to do a good job. That is just as true of adults as it is of youngsters. Unmotivated students who don't want to do a good job won't do a good job. You're wasting your money. Your kid will just be angry and resentful, especially if your kid KNOWS you're making him or her do it because you can't. And it won't make up for the fact that you can't speak English as well as you want to.

If you feel self-conscious about your ability to speak English, well, then....I would like to invite you to take classes. I'm not saying this to increase my business. I'm saying this because there are already too many pigs who can't sing in this world.

Five reflexive verbs for language practice

Normally, English doesn't tend to use reflexive verbs as much as other languages, such as French or Spanish, do. There are, however, five reflexive verbs that you might find useful, especially if you're studying to take an exam:

• familiarize yourself with a concept/topic
• say something to yourself    (also possible: tell yourself something)
• remind yourself of something
• convince yourself of something

Notice how you use prepositions (with/to/of) to connect another concept with the verb!

This doesn't have much pedagogical value, but...

...if you're looking for a daily smile, go over to Twitter and follow the Twitter feed of the Solihull Police force. I have no idea who does their Twitter posts, but damn, they are funny:

You know too much already....”@ianst0028 - @SolihullPolice freedom of information request. What's your zombie apocalypse plan?”

And this contribution to the classic Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas":

On the 1st day of Solihull Christmas my True twitter love gave to me ♬ 1 Martin Johnson ♬ Solihull rugby god who won the World Cup in 2003!

...which generated a lot of on-line eye-rolling, which, in turn, generated this post:

So you don’t like our Christmas rhyme, what is this the blinking X Factor? This is a local copper tweeting - who’d you expect, John Lennon?

Well....The Police, maybe?

Enjoy!

FCE Vocabulary: Right word, wrong word

If you're doing the First Certificate this year, you've probably noticed that you are expected to understand the difference between words that seem really similar, but are used in different circumstances.

Here's an example of something I did in class with Irene last night (and with Juan Francisco on Thursday). Can you describe the differences between these words?

FRIEND

PAL

CLASSMATE

CO-WORKER

BUDDY

SOUL-MATE?


I'll post the answer tomorrow (Saturday.)

==========================

UPDATE - Saturday:

Right! Here are the answers. Thanks to everyone who wrote in with ideas and explanations.

The OALD defines FRIEND as: a person you know well and like, and who is not usually a member of your family.

A PAL is closer to the idea of ACQUAINTANCE - someone you know, but not very well. Put another way: If you were in jail at 4AM on a Saturday, you would call a friend to help you (not a pal...unless you have no friends, I guess.) 

BUDDY is similar to PAL, but it's a slightly older term. Your parents, for example, would use "buddy", but it's not a word that you hear teenagers say these days.

A CLASSMATE is someone who's in your class at school (or university or a night or language class): you share the common context of education (and it doesn't automatically mean that the person is your friend.) CO-WORKER has the common context of work. Spanish speakers of English might find CO-WORKER easier to pronounce than "colleague" (which comes out sounding too much like "college".)

SOUL-MATE has the idea of: "a person that you have a special friendship with because you understand each other's feelings and interests".   It's often (but not always) used in romantic contexts.

The Temporary Worker visa is BACK ON.

Canadian Immigration minister Jason Kenney announced today that the Canadian government will start the temporary worker visa program once more.

Starting in 2013, the Federal Skilled Trades Scheme will offer 3,000 visas to qualified workers (especially workers who have recent, relevant experience in the construction industry). This number will increase over the next few years because many people in the construction industry want to offer jobs to qualified immigrants.

You can read a bit more about the program here. It's worth noting that you do NOT have to meet the typical language requirements (IELTS Level 7 or Cambridge Advanced Certificate) - having a minimum knowledge of English or French is fine.

I'll post more information as I find out about it.

Funny!

Now why don't ESL textbooks ever contain information like this?

http://sco.lt/7M28X3

(Thanks to @BCMadridAdults for the laugh.)

Do you use EVERNOTE?

Attention EVERNOTE users!

I'm experimenting with some quick (under three minute) pronunciation exercises on Evernote, and I'm looking for some people who would be willing to try the exercises and let me know what's good about them and how effective they find them.

If you'd like to try the exercises, please leave me a message in the Comments below, and let me know how to get in touch with you. I promise that I will only use your e-mail to get in touch with you - I won't spam you with other e-mails or any marketing (because I hate spam, and because I don't really have the time to do that, anyway.)

Thanks in advance to anyone and everyone who wants to help!

Watch your "but".

Be very careful how often you say "BUT" in conversation in English:

"It's a nice day out today."
"Yes, but...the sky is very blue."

-- or --

"Gonzalo works as an engineer."
"Yes, but, he speaks English."

BUT is a conjunction that shows contrast. In Spanish, pero can be used to bring together ideas. In English, BUT is not used to connect ideas: it's used to show that one thing is not the same as another.

• He owns a really nice house but he doesn't have a lot of money in his bank account.
• He's allergic to peanuts but he really likes peanut butter.
• Tyson loves the movies but he rarely goes to the cinema.

If you use BUT too much when you talk, it can sound like you are continually disagreeing with the other person.

For doctors who want to come to Canada...

So, in light of everything that is happening in the Spanish health system:

A number of people have expressed interest in coming to Canada to practice. I can understand why - one of the main topics you hear in the news every week is that Canada doesn't have enough doctors, especially primary care physicians.  That made me wonder: if there are so many qualified doctors in other parts of the world, and there's a lack of doctors in Canada, what's the problem? What isn't working?

I started investigating things a couple of weeks ago and this is what I found. I'll also add a section about what I don't know at the bottom, and I'll post an update once I get the information:

a) If your medical school has been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), they will be able to provide you with a certificate that your medical school certification meets world standards.

b) Once you receive that certificate, you are required to establish professional competence by writing the Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Exam (MCCEE), which compares what you've learnt to what Canadian medical school graduates would be expected to know. The exam tests your knowledge in internal medicine, ob/gyn, paediatrics, psychiatry and surgery. These exams are held every March and September and are offered in Canada and other countries. (See Note 1 below.)

c) Once you've successfully completed the MCCEE, you may (depending on which province you want to practice in) need to do a twelve-month residency program (whether this HAS to be in Canada or can be completed outside of Canada, I don't know.) There are thirteen post-graduate medical programs that accept foreign candidates (this is organized by the Canadian Resident Matching Service, here in Ottawa) It's not entirely clear from the information what kind of numbers we're talking about - how many they accept per year, whether that is a fixed number of residents or if it changes depending on need, and if certain specialties are given priority.

d) Depending on your speciality (and the province you end up in), you may be required to write supplementary exams. (May.)

Now, all that said, there's still a lot of stuff I don't know:
1. I don't know if you have to have any kind of English certification!!
2. I don't know how many potential candidates this could involve and I don't know how doctors are selected.
3. I don't know how much time this actually means - if you start the process now, I don't know how long you would have to wait, what with all the exams and everything.

So the good news is that it's not impossible.

The bad(-ish) news is that it seems to be a system that heavily favours exams.

I'll keep adding news as I find more out. Feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested. I'm not sure how much help I'll be able to provide, but I'll give you all the information I can find.

(Note 1: I haven't figured out where, exactly, the MCCEE is held outside of Canada. I would assume that they *should* offer it in Madrid, but it may mean going to London or Paris. I also need to find out what the registration process is and how far in advance you need to register for the exam, how much it costs, stuff like that.)

An observation about "REAL" English...

...almost nobody under the age of 60, in Canada, says, "There are (plural noun)." It's very surprising to hear almost everybody say "There's people who..."

It just goes to show that speaking like a native speaker and speaking correctly aren't always the same thing.

Practice, not study: Mar's ideas

(This is another post that dates back to 2011, which I apologize for not publishing earlier...)

Mar and I were having class yesterday in the Parque del Oeste, and the topic came up about study versus practice. Here's what she does when she wants to work on her English, but doesn't have time to get study in....

• Washing dishes: What are these things called? What adjectives can you use to describe utensils, pots and pans?
• Cleaning around the house: What prepositions and adverbs do you need to describe location and movement? What are the machines called? How do you spell the names of the machines?
• Grocery shopping: What are the English words that describe the groceries that you usually buy every week? Which ones are countable, and which ones are uncountable?

Remember: Study is fine as long as you're disciplined enough to do it. Most of us benefit from regular practice. It's better to do a little bit every day than a whole lot at one time...especially if you don't like those big, long study sessions.

Are you doing the TOEFL next month? Read this.

This is a post that dates back from 2010, but I thought it was timely because it deals with one of the main issues on the TOEFL (which many of you will be doing next month.)

Oddly enough, it's also the page with the most page views on this blog. I'm not entirely sure why.

Want to learn more about English?

And, by that, I don't mean learning more about English grammar and English vocabulary...I mean learning more about who speaks English, why we do the things we do when we speak English and how people -- both native- and non-native speakers -- use the language.

Last summer, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had a great program called BABEL, which ran for ten programs. It had ten programs in total and focused on how we use English as a tool for communication, not just on the bits that make up language. The host, Mariel Borelli, has a voice that's easy to understand, and for those of you who'd like to learn more about ideas behind language, this program is excellent listening practice.

Click here for more information and to listen to the program online.

Just a reminder....

(I had to make new cards for my online classes anyway. I left the old ones in Madrid.)

Mobile phones in the classroom? The answer is yes!

(NOTE: I'm just going through some of my old blog posts, and I realized I had this one stored in the DRAFTS folder. Since I went through this debate with some students last year, I thought it might be interesting to bring this one back.) 

Once upon a time, I hated it when students brought their cellphones to class. Ten years ago, if students brought their phones to class, it was only for two reasons: a) because they were scared of their manager and had a difficult job where they needed to be available all the time, whether they wanted to be or not; or, more likely b) because they really believed that a call from Mamá, saying, "Buy bread!" was more important than class time was.

Things have changed. First of all, not many companies are offering free classes to their students anymore. People who didn't behave themselves in classes have not been given more classes. (There's an economic crisis, after all.) The best reason, though, is because phones can do so much more than they could in 2001. As a result, I want to learn some new things, too, especially how to welcome phones into the classroom, and the truth is that I see more advantages than disadvantages.

Here are three reasons to keep that phone on while you're learning.

Don't write it down - take a photo! Even the cheapest mobile phone now has a decent camera on it. If you find it hard to take notes AND take part in the class at the same time, use the camera on your phone to record what's being written on the board.

I do this a lot when we have a class with a lot of grammar, and there's something I want to remember, or if I explained something in a different way and I want to remember how I did it.

It's also a good method if you're one of those people who likes to take lots of notes - and then you never look at them again. Be honest - what do you look at more, your notes from English class, or your phone? If you're like 99% of people, it'll be the latter.

Keep track of your homework assignments and exam dates with a notes application. I use Evernote because I can link it in with GMail (which, in turn, can connect class notes in Google Drive), and I can also open the pictures in Penultimate to write notes on the photos.

Use an online dictionary like Dictionary.com, instead of a paper dictionary. Or, even better, try to find your favourite dictionaries online. For example, did you know that the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary - the big one that sells for €45 - is now available totally free, online (although with reduced features)?

Use an app to organize your notes. In yesterday's post, I mentioned three apps that we've used in classes, but for every app I mentioned, there are probably fifteen or twenty that I don't know about that  are just as good. 

A small note about vocabulary...

Hello, everyone... Just a quick note about usage:

Don't say "on the other hand" if you haven't used "on the one hand..." first. You need the two parts together to make the thing complete:

• She's crazy. On the other hand, she's a good worker.

You use "on the one hand/on the other hand" to compare and contrast two things that are logically connected:

• On the one hand, she's a good worker. On the other hand, her work is often late because her time management skills aren't very good.

Three Great Apps for Exam Candidates

So I've had my iPad for about a year, now - it was one of my birthday presents to myself last year. It's interesting to see how more and more people are investing in tablet computers - and the good news is that if you're learning English and you have a tablet computer, there are lots of great apps (short for applications) that you can use.

The best apps, however, aren't always the ones that are only about English. Here are three apps that we've used in class and which we really like. All of these are free and it won't take you any time at all to learn how to use them.

EVERNOTE is an online system that allows you to organize images, class notes, lists and voice files so that you can use them again in the future. Do you always lose the words you want to practice most? Do you need a better way to organize your notes? It's free to use (though you can get more advanced features for US$45 a year) and once you have an account, you can open, edit and re-organize notes through the app or through the website (your account will work on both platforms.) Evernote is available for BlackBerry, Apple and Android devices.

FLASHCARD MACHINE is perfect for those of you who need to practice and memorize a lot of vocabulary, or a specific grammar point, like irregular verbs. After you set up your account on the website, you can access the sets of cards that other users have published (you also have the option of not making them public), or create your own.

The website is free to use, and if you have an iPhone (or one that uses Android - sorry, Blackberry users), you can download the app for free to get 100 card turns, or pay a one-time fee of €3.99 for an unlimited number of card turns. This app is great if there is something you need to review a lot, like phrasal verbs or irregular past simple.

(Would you like to try Flashcard machine? Click here for a set of cards that helps you with MAKE/DO combinations.) 

PENULTIMATE was recently purchased by the Evernote people, and where Evernote works with typed text, Penultimate (which is only available as an app, not via a website) allows you to use your tablet as you would a notebook. The app allows you to create an unlimited number of notebooks (so you could use one for exam vocabulary, another for questions you want to ask your teacher) and you can organize your ideas by colours and topics - this is a great tool for those of you who like to use word maps. Evernote is completely free - but I will say, from experience, that it helps to have a stylus (the pen-like item that draws lines) because those of us with normal-sized fingers will tend to draw big, thick lines, even if we don't want to.

What about you? What apps have you found to be useful? Do you use your apps on a tablet or a smartphone? What apps would you like to see in the future?

Whoops (x2)!

I think the only thing that might be more embarrassing than saying "Whoops!" is having to say "Whoops!" twice about the same thing.

So...an update: As many people know, I made the decision to leave Spain and move back to Ottawa, Canada, where I'm from. There are a number of reasons for this decision (most of them are too long and involved to get into here, and not all of them have to do with the economic situations over there.) But let me just say that, if you're going to try to move halfway around the world (and do it with three weeks of preparation), it's a good idea a) to drink lots of water; b) not to panic; and, c) write all your blog posts before you leave.

This is not to forget that, if you DO move halfway around the world, it's a good idea to give yourself more than three weeks to do it. But that's another blog post entirely.

Anyway...it's good to be back in Canada. It's good to be back in an English-speaking environment - I think that I'll probably speak much better English than I did before.

The most interesting thing to witness is that even though Canada is, officially, a bilingual country, there are a lot of immigrants here who are not having a good time with learning English. (I don't know much about the situation learning French, but I suspect that there may be a lot of similar issues happening.) To give you an example: My mother now has a cleaning lady who comes in, twice a month. Our cleaning lady is from Peru, and she and her family have been in Canada for thirteen years: they came to Canada at about the time I went to Prague to teach English.

After thirteen years here, however, our cleaning lady doesn't feel confident enough with her English to be able to get a job besides being a cleaning lady. This surprises me, because, in Canada, there's a program called Language Instruction for New Canadians (LINC) which (I understood) was meant to give immigrants enough English instruction to avoid that problem. I haven't had a chance to sit down and talk to her about her individual circumstances, but...I wonder. I wonder about a lot of things like this. I wonder about communication skills; I wonder how much language you need to feel integrated into your new homeland. I wonder what it means to be a good communicator, as opposed to speaking good English (because the two don't mean the same thing.)

At any rate...it's good to be back. More soon.

Babysitters and language teachers

I've been meaning to put this link up for some time: At what age is a person "too young" to learn a language?

I'm really thankful that it's summertime....it's definitely time to get caught up on blog posts!

Is "newspaper English" a totally different tongue?

There's an excellent article in this week's "The Economist" newspaper (don't ask me why, it calls itself a newspaper, not a magazine) about the problem with understanding the kind of English newspaper writers use.

If you've ever tried to read a newspaper and didn't understand what the writers were trying to say....maybe it's not YOU!

(Thanks to Kristine Pommert of the BBC for the link.)

"Now it's their country, it must be their language, too."

BCNPaul just posted a link from The Telegraph (London) about how new immigrants to the UK - and the writer specifically mentions Spain by name - need to have a workable level of English if they decide to move to another country.

Obviously, I'm posting this because I really do feel that, if you're going to move to an English-speaking country, you'd better have a decent level of English. The article also makes me think of another point: Most of the immigrants who have come to Spain in the last ten years have either been from Spanish-speaking countries (Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela....) or have made a point of learning Spanish (I'm thinking especially of the Poles and Chinese.) This makes me think of what Ludwig Wittgenstein once said: The limits of my language are the limits of my world.

Trust me: Moving to another country is terrifying enough. Wherever you go, make sure that you do everything you can not to be isolated. You don't need to integrate fully into the culture, but you do yourself no favors by purposely isolating yourself from it.

The role of teachers

There's a post on EL PAIS's "Trans-Iberian" blog that talks about the role of English teachers during the crisis -- and how well-prepared English teachers should be.

Personally, I don't think much of the blog post. Until the government establishes some kind of minimum qualification for teachers of English as a Second Language, you're probably not going to see much of an improvement.

This is actually something I've always wondered about, to be honest. When I taught in the Czech Republic in 1999, Teachers of English as a Second Language were required to have completed a TEFL/TESL course (minimum 40 hours, though most schools wouldn't hire you if you had less than 100) to get a visa. We were told that this requirement was an EU requirement. If it is, it doesn't seem to be one that people in Spain use. As many of you know, language teaching is controlled by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and not the Ministry of Education. (That gives a whole new meaning to the expression "you get what you pay for". Or "buyer beware.")

Can anyone confirm if the requirements have changed? In the nearly twelve years I've spent here, I have never heard of a government requirement for private language teaching.

New video!

A couple of months ago, I described the sticky note method of practicing and recycling vocabulary. I got working yesterday and created this video to show you how to do it...

And yes, that is my toothbrush!

This should go without saying. However....

...."NO IS" is not proper English.

Repeat after me:

It is not...

It is not...

It is not...

It is not...

It is not...

It is not...

It is not...

I'm not usually this sarcastic about class notes, but, c'mon, guys....this is basic. "NO IS" is totally Spanglish. It doesn't matter how many times you say it -- it will never be correct.

Money and mouths....

So....today's collocation is "to put your money where your mouth is:" to support what you say by doing something practical; to show by your actions that you really mean something.

I just picked up the DELE Superior C2 book at FNAC. I'm not surprised that I don't know a lot of the vocabulary in it, but I'm very happy that I have six or seven months to prepare for the exam.

The big day comes at the beginning of November. After all the hell I put you guys through, now is your chance to laugh at me. :)

Vocabulary notes - "TRUST"

Just a quick note about "TRUST": Generally, TRUST is something you do, not something you have:

I trust this car. (NOT: *I don't have trust of this car.)

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives us some useful notes on how to use this word:

You can trust a person, but not a thing or system. You can trust somebody's judgement or advice, but not their support. You can depend on someone's support, but not their judgement or advice.

Practise what you preach...

Okay. I know that I'm always going on about the importance of setting goals and making sure that you have motivation. You guys also know that I try to show empathy as a teacher, too! So here's the plan: I am going to do the DELE this fall - the C1 level, which is probably a little lower than I should aim for, but probably realistic (since I learnt most of my Spanish by reading El Jueves and listening to Raimundo Amador.)

I'm going to do the exam some time before Christmas, probably November. Part of it is because I want to have a certification in Spanish (I need to know what, exactly, I AM able to do) and part of it is because I think teachers are better if they remember what it was like to be a student....so....here we go. Goals are important! Look at me - I've set myself two important goals this year: I'm going to run a 10K run and I'm going to pass the DELE. I should be capable of meeting at least ONE of those goals.

I wasn't kidding about the thing about Raimundo Amador, by the way.

Great help with listening and employment English

Elllo.org (yes, with three L's) has started something new and interesting - a Flash game that helps you practice your English listening skills and your problem-solving skills.

Here's a great listening exercise that helps you think and practice your "employment English."

Is he...? No he isn't. (Part 1 of....)

Just one note (I thought of this as I was working on a new exercise:) do not use "sportsman" to talk about someone (male or female) who plays a sport.

If you're speaking about sports in general, you can call someone an "athlete" (it's not just for athletics), use "player" with the name of the sport (volleyball player, tennis player, hockey player) or use the noun that goes with the sport (cyclist, jockey, runner).

"Sportman" (singular) does not exist in any dictionary that I consulted.

Bilingual and looking for a job?

Just saw this on Twitter and thought it might it be interesting for anyone who's a fluent English speaker and is also looking for a job: BilingualPeople.es is having a job fair this weekend in Barcelona.

Comma karma

Another example, this time from The Grammar Nazi, about why punctuation matters.

Business phrasal verbs!

Here you go - 64 phrasal verbs related to business! (Note that they're not exclusively for business - you could use quite a number of these in regular social situations, too.)

Remember to write down the ones you need the most (or the ones that give you most trouble), and practice them as often as you can!

Pre-Intermediate isn't a level....it's an attitude.

It's 8.45, in the offices of a bank in downtown Madrid. I'm packing up my things and getting ready to go home because the class was supposed to start at 8:30 and I don't know where anyone is. Then, just as I'm putting my coat on, R. comes in. I explain to her that the company policy is that if we don't see anyone for 15 minutes, we can go. Yes, she says, but the security guards told me that you were here so I didn't worry. Yes, I say, but I didn't know that you were here, and since no one else has come, I was going to leave. I don't think R. has understood what I meant.

Next: the homework. You didn't give us any exercises, so I didn't practice, R. says. This is the kind of attitude that makes me want to go back to being a waitress. Honestly. But it's normal. Sad, but normal. If I had a dollar (sorry, no more Euros now) for every time a student tried to make it my problem that they didn't study, I'd be rich. Honestly.

Let me ask you something: who is the boss of your class?

The teacher? The student?

No, YOU are.

Yes, YOU. Not the teacher. Not the school. The reason is easy to understand: only you can help yourself. If you don't know how to help yourself....if you aren't disciplined enough to review your class notes and do your homework...if you don't take responsibility for helping yourself... that is not the teacher's fault.

That's why so many people get stuck at the pre-intermediate level, in my opinion. It's not that they're dumb. It's not that they're bad at English. It's because they have a very unrealistic attitude that the teacher is the person who must do all the work. If the student fails, it's the teacher's fault. (Is it any wonder that so many qualified, experienced teachers are leaving Spain and going to other countries?)

"Pre-Intermediate" is not a level. It's an attitude.

Is that attitude getting you what you want? If not, it's time to change your way of thinking. In this economic climate, you don't have the option of thinking that someone else is going to do the work for you.

Ask your teacher for help.

Look on the Internet for ways to practice.

Review your notes!!

Just do....something....except blame the teacher.

How do you know if your English is good enough?

One politician in Arizona found out the hard way that her English isn't quite as good as she thought it was....

(via The Economist)

Okay, I admit it. We've been lying to you....

This is the real reason you should learn English. Honest.

(Thanks to Stuart for the link and the laugh.)

Back on the horse

I have a new personal trainer. His name is David and he has huge muscles, and he yells a lot. I don't really need a personal trainer, really. Some of you know that I am a huge cycling fanatic and, not so long ago, I used to race, too. I wasn't very good at it. No, the truth of it is that I was REALLY bad at it. I was so bad at racing bicycles that the only reason I went was to have fun with the other gals who were also really bad.

Then last summer hit, and a lot of stuff happened. It's not worth describing what it was; let's just say that I'd rather forget the period between, oh, say, July 27th and today. It's done. It wasn't fun, but it's over with. (I hope.)

I've wanted to write this post for about two months, but it's hard to talk about something when you're still in the middle of it. Let me just say this: even when things are really horrible, even when learning English only makes you feel stupid or silly and you think that there's no sense in trying, you still have to try. I know. It sucks. It's awful. Doing things that you don't want to do, when you really aren't convinced that you can do it, is the most agonizing feeling in the world. But sometimes, it's all you can do.

There's more valor in trying. No one has to know if you quit, but YOU will know if you quit.

You don't have to quit. You can keep trying. You're not Don Quixote. No one will ever make fun of you for trying. Or they shouldn't, anyway.

And you can hold onto trying. Even if it doesn't work out, no one can ever take the sense of pride away from you. There is nothing wrong with being proud of doing a good job. Nothing at all.

In English, we call this "getting back on the horse that threw you." I don't know anything about horses; I know a lot about bicycles. And I know that if you fall off a bicycle, there is only one thing that you can do -- get back on it. Why? Because the shame of giving up is, sometimes, too great.

So that's 2012. Back on the horse.

I hope that you had a great Christmas and a fabulous New Year's, and that you've managed to avoid the January flu.

Now let's get back to work.