MANY ENGLISHES

Test Your Knowledge of French in English (a)

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

I often tell my students that if their native language is French, they have a distinct advantage over other non-native speakers because about 40% of English vocabulary comes from French. That is, English is peppered with French, especially our language of food: maitre d', omelette, croissant, baguette, champagne, quiche, prix fixe, entree, soup du jour, and so on. Then, there are those

Test Your Knowledge of French in English (b)

2011-12-16T00:35:00.000-08:00

Here is another challenging crossword puzzle for advanced level students of English with some knowledge of French. The words in the crossword are found in an English dictionary but come from French. Remember that with this online puzzle maker, there are no spaces, accent marks, or other punctuation allowed either in the target word or the definition. This is another way to develop and

Online Teacher Aides to the Rescue

2011-12-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

Are you a creative teacher who wants to customize an integrated language arts or math lesson? Then, you need to check out Lesson Writer and NiceNet. These are free websites that allow teachers to create lesson plans using their own materials or using articles they find online. And for teachers who are assessment conscious - who isn't these days?, there is a truly convenient Easy TestMaker.

Online Readers with Built-in Dictionary or Translator

2011-12-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a reading site that is already set up for a non-native speaker, this is it. It's called ESL Desk.com. You click on any word in a reading of your choice and are linked to a dictionary, which can either translate to any of the major languages in the world or give a definition of the word in English. The main drawback of this approach to reading is that if the word is part

The V(owel)-C(onsonant)-silent "e" Rule

2011-12-05T21:04:00.000-08:00

One of the most frustrating features of English is pronunciation because it isn't clearly related to spelling. There doesn't seem to be any logic to spelling and pronunciation - no matter if you're a native speaker or a non-native speaker of English. So, are there any rules that we teachers can pass on to our students about how to say unfamiliar words? The simplest rule that most native

The Written Word

2011-12-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

A while ago I did a post about the correct use of English. This is a link to a similar discussion about the correct use of French. Why do I take an interest in French if the focus of my blog is on English? Well, in case you haven't noticed or are unfamiliar with the similarities in spelling between many words in English and French (also Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian), about 40% of the

Word Formation Organizer for Vocabulary Students

2011-10-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is a graphic organizer (Blank Word Formation Sheet) for my intermediate vocabulary students. They can download it as a Word Document (under the File menu) and type in different word forms along with an example sentence for any target vocabulary. Teachers can also fill in the sheet themselves, print it out, and refer students in the future to this page to download additional sheets. (If

"Chinglish"

2011-10-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Besides teaching English as a Second Language, I have a long-term interest in other Englishes. Chinglish, of course, is the word we sometimes humorously use to refer to the kind of English spoken by Chinese who are non-native speakers of English. This post, however, is partly about "Chinglish", the new play that was performed this summer in Chicago and is moving on to New York and (I hope,

"A" is for "Achieve"

2011-10-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Vocabulary is still one of the areas where most students are weak, so I often put up posts here on this topic. I am always searching for ways to enhance student and teacher performance. Unfortunately, there is no one, sure-fire method to improve vocabulary. Repeated exposures to the target vocabulary is a basic strategy. The adage "Use it, or lose it!" applies very well. English Central is a

Correct Use of English

2011-10-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

A comment at another site caused me to rethink how important it is to get students to use "correct" English and which structures to fight for and which to accept. This video is a reading on the topic of the English language and the ways in which it is used today (a commentary delivered by the British actor and writer Stephen Fry).I have been in the position of having taught students the

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Cambridge Proficiency Exam Set Text)

2011-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that I taught the Cambridge Proficiency Test preparation course the past year. Otherwise, I would never have read Philip K. Dick's profound novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", which is one of the set texts for the CPE Writing Paper.Recently, I went searching for some audio commentary about the author and came up with several online links. There are some downloadable ones

"P" is for "power" - Collocations using Concordancer

2011-10-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

How many ways can you use the word "power"? It's a small word - only five letters, but it has a strong meaning. To have power in English, you need to know how to use words in combination with other words. To sound more native, you need to put words together that collocate. That simply means you need to put words together that commonly go together when people either write or speak in EnglishAs

Practice Pronunciation Online

2011-09-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

The course I'm taking this semester at Alliant International University has been stimulating as I have been exposed to several online sites that can be used to help students improve their English outside of class. For pronunciation, most educators would agree that online sites and software are pretty good these days, but that students will still greatly benefit with class or a tutor's help with

Cambridge Practice Word Formation

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have noticed, using Blogger Stats, that many people who visit this site are looking for Cambridge Exam practice. For those of you looking for word formation practice, two years ago, I created 10 crossword puzzles which cover 180 different word forms from the Cambridge exams (FCE, CAE, CPE). To get the most from these crossword puzzles, drill yourself and see how fast you can fill in the

"R" is for "Range" (More words with multiple meanings)

2011-09-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

Most test rubrics (= a set of instructions or a description of skills that assessors use for evaluating an individual's abilities in speaking or writing, e.g.) state that for students to obtain the highest score on an English exam, they must display a range of grammar and vocabulary. What does that mean exactly? What does range mean? Range is another word with multiple meanings. It has so

Helping Arabic Speakers to Write Cursive

2011-09-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

When we were children in elementary school, we learned to print letters and later on, we learned to write in cursive. My husband and many other native speakers I know gave up writing cursive once it was no longer mandatory. That is, teachers used to demand handwritten essays, not ones with printed letters. Because these native speakers had already mastered printing, they did not have the

Revisiting Indian English

2011-08-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

One popular post that I've had here at 'Many Englishes' was on the topic of prejudice against Indian English. That was back in 2007. Since then, I've had fewer phone exchanges with Indian customer service representatives than I had a four years ago, and we're not getting so many marketing calls at dinner time from non-native English speakers either. Maybe some American companies have learned

Build Vocabulary from Advertisements and Headlines

2011-08-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Because headlines and advertisements are meant to be eye-catching and extremely condensed summaries of the news or products, they pose a unique problem for most non-native speakers. However, if you see headlines as a way of learning idioms, expanding your knowledge of expressions that often have double meanings, and practicing English in a fun way, you may be surprised by the results. Here is a

Ways to Attack the Academic Word List (AWL)

2011-02-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

Well... it's a new year 2011, and finally I'm getting around to putting up some new posts. That's because my energy recently has been focused on reorganizing my wiki for my TOEFL students, from intermediate to advanced level. There is rarely time for me to get my students exposed to essential vocabulary to perform well on this exam, but this link will take you to a very useful site for

Are Americans 'Wusses'?

2011-02-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's already February, but I'm happy to see that despite my lack of activity here in 2011, many people have been continuing to visit this site and find useful pages and materials. Thank you all for stopping by and browsing! This posting focuses on both a socio-cultural development and terms that are being used to describe Americans. Do Americans see themselves as wimps and

Comparative Word Chat Board

2010-12-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

Like other game chat boards that I've created and posted at this site, this one has been popular among my colleagues, so I thought I'd share it with you this holiday season. As with my Irregular Verb Chat board, this one only requires dice and coins or colored pieces of paper for markers.NB: When you print out this game board (jpg format), you should go to 'page set up' under 'file' and enlarge

Is English a 'true' multicultural language?

2010-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

In a fall issue of the Japan Times, an article was published that got me thinking again about why English has stuck as an international language despite its many irregularities. Every day in the classroom, I am struck by the challenges that English brings to non-native speakers: the incongruities between spelling and pronunciation, the use of foreign words which are often not pronounced the same

Words with Multiple Meanings (WMM6)

2010-12-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

I don't like acronyms very much, but for the sake of brevity in the future, I will refer to these 'Words with Multiple Meanings' (CAE, Part 4, Use of English paper) as WMMs. For those students and teachers who are prepping for the Cambridge Use of English paper or who are building vocabulary for your classes, these word puzzles may be of interest to you.Not only is the spelling of English

The Tell-Tale Heart for Halloween

2010-10-17T14:30:00.001-07:00

At Halloween, I ask higher level students to read one of my favorite Edgar Allan Poe short stories, 'The Tell-Tale Heart.' Often I let the students follow along with the text in front of them as I read it aloud. Poe's stories and poems deserve to be read aloud. (Probably this could be said of all well-written works, but since my children are all grown up, I rarely do it anymore.)Today I was

Words with Multiple Meanings, Part 5 (CAE Use of English Practice, Part 4 (d))

2010-10-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is my fifth post (see 'Words with Multiple Meanings' and Part 4 (a, b, c) for more like this one) about words with several meanings. These exercises can be used for vocabulary development in any intermediate+ level class, but it was especially designed for Cambridge Advanced students preparing for the Use of English paper.Your job is to find the one word that fits into each set of sentences