Develop your English vocabulary – describe your country
September 28th, 2009There are many things I love about England. People are generally kind, thoughtful and polite; London is exciting. multi-cultural and great for shopping; and the countryside is beautiful – occasionally dramatic but often soothing.
If you had to describe your country in three words or phrases, how would you do it? Feel free to use any combination of adjectives, nouns or verbs – unleash your English vocabulary here!
Checking words in English
September 20th, 2009I think reading iin English is a great way to improve vocabulary and writing skills. But it can be very frustrating to have to keep looking in a dictionary because you don't understand all the words. Of course, you don't always need to know every word, and often you can guess the meaning of the word from the context, but it's sometimes difficult to know what word you need to look up, and what word you can "ignore".
What do you do when you read? Do you look up every word, or only those you're sure are important to understand?
Learning English in five minutes a day
September 10th, 2009There's a lot you can do to learn English, even if you only have a few minutes a day.
Here are five ideas to get you started:
- watch TV or a youtube video for five minutes a day
- listen to a podcast, internet radio, or a new song in English
- read a page (or two) of a book you particularly like. Make a note of three new words / phrases and find out their meaning from a good dictionary
- review the vocabulary you learnt last week. Do you still remember the words? Have you heard or seen them used in the last week?
- post a message on the HelpMe! forum (if you have a question) or on the Penpals forum, if you want to make contact with someone else learning English.
What else can you do to learn or use English in five minutes a day?
