First Certificate and Squeaky Wheels

Okay, let's be honest: People don't always like writing, and on the First Certificate, they really don't like formal writing. They're especially not happy about the Letter of Complaint. Why, they say, do they include this on the writing? Why complain? Complaining doesn't work. It's impossible!!

Let me tell you a story about what happened in my home town today.

My hometown is called Kemptville, Ontario. For a long time, it was not a very big place, and it wasn't very rich. That's why a lot of us left: there were no jobs. We went to different places - Toronto, Ottawa, even Spain! - to find work.

Things have changed a lot since then. The town had 2,500 people when I left; it now has about 20,000 living in the area. There are more businesses operating there. It's hard to find a really good job, but it's not hard to find a decent job.

I won't go into all the details (you can read them here); but, on Tuesday, a girl from my home town got fired (perhaps illegally) and decided to complain. And, oh, did she complain. She took the campaign to the media and social media after she complained about being fired illegally. When I joined the Facebook campaign this morning, it had about 200 members. It's now up to 8,820 members. She now has a lawyer and a couple of job offers. And she wouldn't have that if she didn't complain.

Be very careful when you roll your eyes and say that something is impossible. Just because something is new and scary, that doesn't mean that it's impossible.

When preparing for exams....don't do these things!

One of the reasons why I love The Guardian newspaper is that it's a fabulous source of how-to information on a variety of topics. Today's edition is no different - there's a very good article on what not to do when you're taking an exam -- and I think that a LOT of this information is valid for TOEFL iBT and the writing part of the GMAT exam.

Text 2 Mind Map: A great tool for vocabulary management

Are you one of those students who has a lot of notebooks from past courses? Are you one of those students who makes lots and lots of lists of words, but you don't know how to use them once the class is done? Trust me, you are not alone. You'd be surprised 

One way to solve this problem is to filter out the vocabulary and identify the words that you will actually use. (Just because you wrote a word down in your book a year ago doesn't mean that you will use it a year from now.)  

Once you've done that, group the words according to common concepts - things you find in the kitchen, verbs related to studying, verbs that use subjunctive.  

Why is it useful to do this? First, it helps you reduce and filter the old photocopies and notebooks: if you're not using your old class materials, cull them and get them out of the way. Second, it's a lot easier to remember words and ideas if you understand the context behind them. The more you understand the reason WHY a word is important, the easier it will be to remember it and use it again in the future.

This is a word map that I created for basic verbs for TOEFL iBT using a website called Text 2 Mind Map. I like this website because you can use it with both Macs and Windows, it's free to use (we like free! Free is good!) and you can download the word maps and share them. (I don't know if you can collaborate with other people to create a word map - I'm still waiting to hear on that.)

I'll probably update this word map over time: consult the latest version by clicking here.

This is definitely worth using - I'm going to think of ways to incorporate this into my classes.

COLLEAGUE or COLLEGE - do you need help saying the words properly?

It's easy to think of vocabulary mistakes just being a problem of what words mean. Sound, however, can also give us trouble when we're learning vocabulary. For many learners, this is the problem they face with saying the difference between colleague or college - they mean to say the first word but end up saying the second. 

The difference is in the final sound. When you're saying colleague, be sure to say the "g" sound at the back of your throat, not at the teeth. Otherwise, it comes out sounding like "college", which has the same "g" sound as George or edge. 

If you'd like more help working with and practising individual sounds in English, be sure to check out the Pronunciation page on the BBC Learning English website.  

EDUCATED or POLITE - What's the difference?

One set of false friends that causes a lot of confusion in English is the difference between an EDUCATED person and a POLITE person. This is important to understand because even though we use them to describe people, they don't mean the same thing - and this video explains why.

Pronunciation help: -ED endings

A couple of students had problems yesterday with pronouncing the -ED ending (for either regular past simple or participle adjectives), so I've created a video that explains the rule.

Here's how you do it: the first time you watch the video, just watch. Don't do anything. The second time you watch the video, try pronouncing the words after I say them. If you don't say it correctly, no worries. You can watch the video as many times as you want to practice.

This video goes a little more slowly (to help lower-level students) - but don't be fooled. There are 45 videos on there: are you sure that you could pronounce all of these ED words correctly?

Are adults better learners than children are?

Many students believe that it's better to learn a language when you're a child. Certainly, kids have more neuroplasticity and their brains are able to construct connections because....well, they're kids. That is what the brains of kids do: build connections to understand things more clearly.

Today, I want to present another point of view to the idea that, if you're an adult, you can't learn English - or learn any skill - properly or efficiently.

Here's a short list of what adults can do that kids can't do.

1. Adults have intrinsic motivation to learn. Many adults like learning for many reasons: it gives them a sense of accomplishment; it helps them build relationships and open up opportunities - or maybe they just like learning because they like learning. This isn't always true with children. There are some kids who do enjoy English (God bless 'em!) but most kids don't think of learning as something that's fun, maybe because they don't see learning as something that will help them in the long term.

2. Adults are able to think critically. Well, most adults, anyway. They can see how things are connected or not connected, how things are related (or not related), they know that you can't just say anything. (Most adults are also aware that you have to say SOMETHING - it's not acceptable to sit there with your mouth closed and not say anything.)

3. Adults are able to visualize connections and structures. Most adults have the ability to see the relationships between words and ideas. They also understand that you can put different things together to create different effects, especially with language. That means that....

4. Adults understand how language can be changed or adapted to get different results. Every adult realizes that you don't use the same kind of language with your boss as you do with your kids. The question here isn't about language - it's about social roles. Kids know what it means to be a kid: they don't have the experience of trying to be different because all they have to do is be a kid, so they don't have to adapt to different situations. Adults have to fill many roles in their lives (with work, friends and family) and they have to change their language depending on what role they are fulfilling at any moment.

5. Adults understand that there is more than one way to do something. Again, most adults can do this; some adults need help seeing this. Since adults have an easier time of setting goals and seeing the steps they need to take to reach a goal, they are usually better about developing techniques to do that. Additionally, if their techniques don't work, they're usually pretty good about finding other ways, techniques and solutions to reach that goal.

So don't despair if you're not a kid any more. Not being a kid does not mean that you will never learn English. As they say in English: With age comes experience.

When you think about what it means to be an effective communicator in English, which of these things are most important for you?

POLITICS or POLITICIANS: What's the difference?

I try to create videos that are timely and help people talk about current affairs. Today's video is for those of you who follow the news: What's the difference between politicians and politics? 

(No jokes, just definitions!)

I should have done this one last week...

Unfortunately, I didn't think about doing a video on this until Monday, when I started seeing all the pictures of everyone at Carnaval. I hope that you had a great time at Carnaval, and I hope that this pair of words - custom or costume? - doesn't give you trouble.

I apologize for being a little slow with the videos this week - it's been busy. There will be more to come!

If phrasal verbs give you a headache....

...try this: organize the phrasal verbs according to the particle, not by the verb.

Why?

Consult one of those very long lists of phrasal verbs, and you notice one thing: there are LOT more verbs than their are particles (particles are the adverbs or prepositions that create a phrasal verb.) So why not try organizing phrasal verbs by the particle, rather than the verb?

Don't forget...focus on the phrasal verbs that you need, rather than memorizing long lists of random phrasal verbs that you will never use.