Over the summer, my sister (who makes cool stuff over here by the way) had a friend, Emily, staying. Emily is American. About a month into her stay I realised I was completely missing an opportunity to exploit her Americanness and make a video about it. And thus, this video of American English vs British English was born! Hurrah! It’s […]
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Teaching on Skype has quickly become a big part of my business. It’s a valuable part too – I can go from one lesson to another without the risk that’s always there with “real life” lessons of getting stuck in traffic. This means I can teach more. Instead of one lesson 3-4 then 4.15-5.15 then 5.45-6.45, I can work from […]
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Language is, always has been, and always will be, constantly changing. A little like technology. But when it seems technology is advancing so quickly, does language adapt itself at the same speed? I remember way back when in 200*cough cough* and I was the proud owner of a Nokia 3210. The shops were overloaded with the likes of “A Dummie’s […]
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Getting to grips with the basics of a language is one thing, getting a hold on the nitty gritty advanced grammar that will blow natives away is quite another. Currently, I have a wonderful array of pretty awesome English students with a pretty awesome level of English. It’s got the the point where we’re discussing those nitty gritty advanced grammar […]
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Guess what? I want a way to connect better with you. Yes, you! I considered a book group but we’re all studying and speaking different languages so that’s a bit tricky. But then one day, I was on the cross-trainer (my prime foreign film viewing time) and I had an idea: let’s watch films together! Let’s start a World Cinema […]
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Free time is normally 5 minutes before heading to bed, a few minutes waiting for the kettle to boil or brushing teeth. Brushing my teeth is my least favourite thing that you have to do daily. I hate it. Don’t get me wrong – I still do it! Just don’t ever ask me to watch a film when there’s a […]
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When people know you have a passion, you tend to get big news about your passion coming to you from all over the place! A few months ago it was this video, lately it’s WordLens. I like this by the way – please keep telling me language news! What is WordLens? WordLens is a (currently) free app which aims to […]
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Lately I’ve been listening to lots of French! In the car, at my desk, on a horse. Well, the last one’s not true. But you get the idea. I wanted to share with you today the ways I’m listening to French, most of which can be swapped over to other languages too! At My Desk This is where most of […]
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Memrise has to be one of the greatest language learning tools to surface in recent years. But I’m beginning to notice a slight pattern to my Memrise sessions… Seeing that little red icon telling you just how much you have to do for weeks. Gulp. Finally feeling motivated enough to do it. All of it. Yeah! Yeah! YEAH! Then this […]
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Well, that’s it! It’s over! 25 lessons in 8 weeks sounds like quite the challenge, and at times, it definitely was. So today I want to share some things I did (and didn’t) do during the italki World Cup Language Challenge – and what I want to do next time to make it even better and more productive. Things I […]
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