Real English® is listening

Teach English in the USA - Get a Master's in TESOL or an ESL Certificate

2016-01-28T04:38:00.004-08:00

MastersinTesol.net is one of those rare sites that is very specific, with extremely useful knowledge and help for future ESL teachers or directors, and is completely free.
It’s obviously the passion of its creators who are performing a public service based upon a wealth of personal and professional expertise on the subject, all gathered together in one coherent, well-organized site.

Why get a Master’s degree in TESOL or ESL? Is it expensive? What kind of job can I get with a master’s? Is it possible to get a grant or scholarship to attend an American University specializing in TESOL? Are there scholarships available for candidiates living outside of the US? (Yes, there are!).

Are there any online schools offering a Master’s in TESOL? What about teaching certificates? These are only a few of the many questions addressed on the site. The answers are clear and there is a contact form for asking additional questions if necessary.

MastersinTesol.net features 203 universities & programs with 199 masters and 81 certificates and also includes 68 distance learning options. With a Master’s in TESOL, the happy graduate becomes eligible to become a Program Director or Curriculum Director in a college or university offering ESL education for its students. On the other hand, if you want to become a TESOL teacher as opposed to a program director or TESOL teacher trainer for example, one or 2 semesters of study to obtain a TESOL Certificate is sufficient. For students from outside the US, this assumes that the student’s bachelor’s degree is recognized by the American university.

It's an authoritative site with a 100% trust value. The numerous interviews with 16 experts in the field are true eye-openers, giving you a perspective of the strongest points of each university's Tesol program, providing candidates with reasons to prefer the possibility of attending one university or another, based on the candid remarks we read about the advantages of each as seen from the inside.

Have a look! You will save many hours if not days of googling by concentrating on MastersinTesol.net as your headquarters for all the basic information imaginable in the field, before you contact the university of your choice, or before applying for a scholarship to help you pay your way for a TESOL/ESL education and career.

Online Language Learning with Teachers andFree Conversation Exchanges in English & Other Languages

2014-09-29T07:18:00.002-07:00

I - Online Teachers at a (Sweet) Price
II - Free Conversation Exchange Services as of September 30, 2014

Introduction

The first part of this post will be of interest to online language teachers, and also to learners who can afford to pay online teachers.

The second part is meant to be helpful to English language learners who are looking for
live conversations for free with fluent or native speakers of English, especially for those learners who can't afford online lessons or who want additional practice. This becomes possible thanks to the notion of conversation exchanges.

1 - Online Teachers at a (Sweet) Price

There are already tens of thousands of online teachers and online teaching companies / organizations, and many more are created daily. And it's just the beginning. Someone will probably provide us with such a directory since the demand exists amongst English Language Learners.

In this section, I'd simply like to present one successful group of online teachers, called E-Learning for All, an American organization of online language teachers. And when I write "American", I am speaking in the global sense of the term as used in Latin America, encompassing both North and South America.

The site was created by Luisa Oliveira. She keeps things loosely but intelligently organized and also teaches. The group presently includes 17 teachers of English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, and German.

Many of the English teachers presently live in Argentina, as well as in Portugal, Brazil, and the US. Approximately half of them either still live in the US, were born and raised in the US before moving to South America, or spent at least a year there. In other words, Luisa does not require that all the English teachers in her group be native speakers, which in my mind, makes quite a bit of sense in her context.

Let's digress slightly to put the "native speaker" question in proper context (while I admit that all the teachers in my own brick-and-mortar language school in France are all native speakers, teaching only their mother tongues, even in 2007 before the crash, when there were 32 full-time teachers).

Online English Teachers at E-Learning for All

The problem is that a lot of people seem to think that only native speakers can teach well. This is false. Rather, having a native speaker as teacher is a sort of a cultural bonus for the students, especially the more advanced ones.

My experience as director of a language school for French adults have (from 1976 to the present) has taught me that the following skills are the most important when hiring a new teacher, in the order listed, from most to least important:
1 - The ability to put students at ease,
2 - Planning one's lessons and mastering essential teaching techniques,
3 - Being a native speaker of the language taught,
4 - Obtaining specific certificates, or diplomas for language teaching.

Note that I mentioned that Luisa keeps the school loosely organized. One example concerns pricing. Each teacher is an independent player, deciding on the prices he or she has decided to charge, providing prospective students with transparent choices in this regard. The only disadvantage in my opinion is that the teachers post in different currencies, making it difficult to compare one teacher's prices with another. I had to spend an inordinate amount of time on xe.com converting Argentine pesos, for example, to the Brazilian Real in order to make comparisons. Some teachers post in US dollars, and one wishes they all did.

One constant, however, is that all teachers give prices for the same amounts of time/duration. Choose a teacher here to see concrete examples of the following:
- 5 classes of 30 minutes each for total price "A"
- 10 classes of 30 minutes each for total price "B"
- 5 classes of 1 hour each for total price "C"
- 10 classes of 1 hour each for total price "D"

The prices are reasonable, or very reasonable, especially when compared to prices charged in the US and Britain, for example. VERY generally speaking, and after comparing five colleagues chosen randomly, the average of the averages came to approx. USD $21/hour.

The first class is free, which is the case with most, but not all online teaching sites/organizations. I noticed that there is a multiple choice test to help the teacher determine the student's level. In my experience, both written and oral tests are very important, allowing the teacher to properly prepare the student's first few lessons. In the case of my own school, the teachers know ahead of time if the student is going to be taking courses with us for 40 or 80 hours or longer, justifying not only complete entry tests, but regular progress tests too. But in this case of online learning where 10 hours seems to be a relatively long time, I am left wondering how this question of organization works out in practice.

A few days ago, Luisa gave me a great Skype lesson in beginner Portuguese, and then we had a general conversation. I'm really sorry that I didn't think of recording our Skype lesson, she was so dynamic and at the same time made me relax, and I would have loved to show you how she deals with real beginners in Portuguese. And by recording her, I would have had thousands of great photos of her, instead of the photo she uses on her site which doesn't do her justice at all!

My Portuguese lesson reminded me that every language teacher in the world should take a course in a language he or she doesn't know at all, in order to reopen his or her eyes to the challenges of being a student. On the other hand, it could be that my reaction to being on the other side of the fence is somewhat unique, since I am truly very average or perhaps less talented than the average language learner. I can only say that it has always been a sort of humbling experience, and a great eye-opener to be a student again. Every language teacher should be a student from time to time!

When I asked Luisa about the very reasonable prices, she reminded me that prospective students simply could not pay as much as they did in other, more economically developed countries. We also spoke about the advantage of being a native speaker of the language being taught, while she also pointed out to me the advantages of teaching English to fellow Brazilians, since one can anticipate problems in English specific to those who speak Portuguese. This made sense to me since I speak French fluently and have always taught French people. And we agreed that the point was to take advantage of this linguistic and cultural background and knowledge, but avoiding speaking anything but English during an English course!

Skype and Google Hangouts / One-on-One vs Mini-Groups Courses

Skype is often used for one-on-one courses while Google Hangout seems to be the preferred platform for group courses, which, so far, are extremely rare in comparison to the private courses. It's all a question of money of course. If a teacher has 2 students in the same class instead of one, both students contribute to the total amount earned by the teacher. Each student will be happy to pay less, and the teacher will be happy to earn a bit more. The key here is homogeneity. Whether the 2 students are friends or strangers, they must be at the same level. Given my own experience, and on a scale of 1 - 100, there must not be more than 4 to 5 points difference in the written/oral test results in order for a group course to be successful.

Finally, in order to be able to organize mini-groups of 2 or 3 students, the online organization needs a certain level of traffic, i.e., a pool of tested candidates who are willing to work together. Few of the online language schools are large enough to offer quality courses for truly homogeneous groups. Perhaps E-Learning for All will be one of the first in South America.

In my next articles on online teaching, I will speak about new online teacher training services such as the Teach English Online Course by Jack Askew, another sign that the market is entering maturity.

I also want to say a few words about Holly Dilatush who has created an online teaching site called LEWWWP - "Learn English with a WorldWide Perspective". This will hopefully be done soon, perhaps in a comparative review with others having the same or similar services, based in North America the next time around.

For the moment I want to finish with the second part of this post, hopefully giving hope to students who can't afford online teachers, no matter how reasonable in price:

2 - Free Services as of October 2014

I have done a bit of research with help from my colleagues in the Webhead Community in order to try to make a complete beta list of resources dealing with the two ways of learning a second (or 3rd...) language. The free services all follow the same model. Upon signing up, you tell the community about your native language(s) as well as other the language(s) which you think you know well enough to "teach", and, of course, the language(s) that you want to learn.

The verb "teach" is in quotes because these sites do not pretend nor purport to teach languages per se. Their mission is to put people in contact with each other for conversational practice in the languages of their choosing.

The main reason that these services are free, is that there is no quality control, in fact there isn't any control at all concerning who can join nor the actual ability of a member to correctly converse in his chosen language. But it is free and many users are happy with their experiences.

I am not reviewing any of these sites yet, but I have signed up with 5 of them so far, for general confirmation of my remarks in this post, and with hopes of becoming a more active member:

- Easy Language Exchange - http://www.easylanguageexchange.com/

- Language Exchange Community - www.conversationexchange.com

- Shared Talk, a service acquired by Rosetta Stone - www.sharedtalk.com

- The Mixxer - http://www.language-exchanges.org/
- Coeffee learning - coeffee.com
- Lingo Globe - http://www.lingoglobe.com/

- Verbling includes a free (exchange) section- https://www.verbling.com/
- Babel Village - http://babelvillage.com/
- Conversation Exchange www.conversationexchange.com/

- Tandem Spot - http://tandemspot.com/
- Tandem Buddy - http://tandembuddy.eu/intro.seam

- Polyglot Club - http://polyglotclub.com/

- Phrasebase - http://www.phrasebase.com/

- HelloTalk - for mobile devices - http://hellotalk.com/

- Busuu includes a free exchange section http://www.busuu.com/

- I would have included Livemocha, the largest or certainly one of the largest sites listed here, but it must be included with the paid services since their free audio exchanges between "Language Partners" is available only for those who pay for their other services.

- My Language Exchange - http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/ - This seems to be the only site in this list which includes an additional paid service for basic exchange functions such as initiating a conversation. If someone has the means to make a payment it would make more sense to me for a real live teacher, I don't understand why anyone would pay for such a basic exchange-level service.

PalTalk - www.paltalk.com is relevant but quite different. It's a Voice/Video Messenger Tool which includes chat rooms for learning languages, but was not specifically designed for learning languages.

italki - http://www.italki.com is one of the larger and has a 3-tier organization which makes a lot of sense. It involves 2 options that you must pay for, i.e., lessons from professional teachers, practice with language enthusiasts (less expensive than the 1st option) and a free language exchange similar to all the services listed above. This service is based in Shanghai.

Transparency Statement: If you're like me, you are wary of many reviews you read regardless of the subject matter. So many apparently "objective articles" are skillfully written by affiliates or advertisers, and even include some negative remarks about the product or service being promoted in order to help give the appearance of objectivity and authenticity.

In my case, I have said a lot of positive things about Luisa and the community she has created, but all of my remarks are based on personal experience with the site, the person, the teaching, and my honest interpretation of the facts and opinions.

I certainly will not hide the fact that I hope the new generation of online teachers will use my collection of Real English® video and exercises in their online courses the same way that the previous generation has used Real English in the classroom for the past 20 years or so. There are regular updates, with as many videos and lessons from the 90s as from the last 5 or 6 years.And since online teachers are already online (!), it becomes extremely easy to use this resource with students.

I think the best recipe is for teachers to use their own ideas with the main videos, and to assign the existing exercises-with-very-short-videos as homework, since they are indeed easy and fun for students to use on their own. But it's the teacher's choice, of course. The Teacher can go through the exercises/short videos with the Students from the start. In this case, the busy teacher has a concise lesson plan ready to use!

Acknowledgements: The following members of the Webhead Community contributed to the list above concerning "Free Services as of October 2014":
- Teresa Almeida d'Eça, of Pronunciation Made Easy for Portuguese-speaking learners of English
- Anne Fox
- Fernanda Rodrigues
- Mary Ziller

- Elizabeth Anne
- Bob Clark

http://bit.ly/reblog21

My ESL / EFL Colleagues - # 1: Rachel's English

2014-06-19T06:09:00.002-07:00

This post is the beginning of a new weekly section on this blog concerning my ESL and EFL colleagues who do good work, work which deserves to be noticed and shared. Some would say I'm giving free advertising space to my competitors, but I'm simply a realist: smart teachers and students know that no single site or method is "the best". The best way to learn English is to discover the wide variety of sites on the web in order to find out which ones work best for you, the learner or teacher. The needs and preferences of each learner are different in a wide variety of ways. By searching and trying out many of the best sites like the ones you will find here, you will create your own library of resources.

We will begin with Rachel's English. This is her site. The most important components of her work are her videos on YouTube. She specializes in American English Pronunciation. As this picture suggests she's a real livewire. Her enthusiasm is obvious in all her clips and is frankly contagious in my experience.

One reason I like her work is that she very often emphasizes the difference between "perfect English", which sounds very artificial to the ears of native speakers, and natural English. This is what I call "classroom English" as opposed to "spontaneous" or real English.

This clip illustrates the principle very well.

You will see and hear many examples of the strange sound of perfect English immediately followed by the normal way of pronouncing the same sentences.

Also, we all have our own jargon when it comes to our specialties. In Rachel's case, you will learn what "reductions" are, as well as the "true T" sound, in addition to the "Flat T" and the "Stop T", for example.

You will also meet Tom Kelley in this clip (picture above), and in many others which deal with the Relaxation and Contractversation series, which he wrote. Tom is an actor and language coach living in New York. He has an MFA from Harvard University's acting program, where he took courses in phonetics as part of his voice and speech training.

I just learned that Rachel is going to take a road trip across America this summer. It sounds exciting. I think of all the different types of American English that could be recorded or filmed during such a trip from the East to the West Coast and back again. In any case, she has promised us a weekly video during the trip. I'm looking forward to that!

Simple Instructions for Using the Real English® Lessons in 39 Languages - Updated March 14, 2014

2014-03-15T00:33:00.000-07:00

These basic native-language translations of the instructions will help real beginners get started! Updates will appear at the top of this section of this blog. We now have 39 languages. If your native language (mother tongue) is not here, please contribute your translation of this text in English:

How to Use Real English®
1 - Go here http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp and choose a lesson.

2 - Watch the video at the top, without subtitles.

3 - Click on "Exercise 1". Follow the instructions. Do all the exercises.

4 - Now watch the video with subtitles.

Howard Burns has provided us with the Hebrew translation

כיצד להשתמש
REAL ENGLISH ® באתר
ולבחור בשיעור http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp עבור לכאן
צפה בסרטון בחלקו העליון, ללא כתוביות
לחץ על "תרגיל 1". עקוב אחר ההוראות. לעשות את כל התרגילים

Seymur has provided us with a translation to Azerbaijani

Real English®-dən istifadə qaydaları: 1 - İlk olaraq http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp linkinə daxil olun və istədiyiniz dərsi seçin 2 - Yuxarıda qeyd edilən videonu alt yazıları (titr) olmadan izləyin 3 - "Exercise 1" üzərinə tıklayın və təlimatlara riayət edərək tapşırıqları yerinə yetirin 4 - İndi həmin videonu alt yazıları ilə izləyin

Sunggyung Hong has provided us with the Korean translation

Real English를 이용하는 방법
1. http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp로 가서 원하는 수업을 고른다.
2. 자막 없이 상단의 비디오를 본다.
3. "Excercise 1"을 클릭하여 지시 사항을 따라 연습문제들을 푼다.
4. 자막으로 다시 한번 비디오를 본다.

Narine H. has provided us with the Armenian translation (May 6, 2013):

Ինչպե՞ս օգտվել Real English®-ից

Գնացե՛ք http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp հասցեով և որևէ դա՛ս ընտրեք:
Դիտե՛ք վերևում տեղադրված տեսանյութը` առանց ենթագրերի:
Հարվածե՛ք «Վարժություն 1»-ին: Հետևե՛ք ցուցումներին: Կատարե՛ք բոլոր վարժությունները:
Իսկ այժմ դիտե՛ք տեսանյութը` ենթագրերով:

Here is the translation in Serbian by Lora Biele:

Kako da koristite Real English®
1 - Idite na http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp i izaberite lekciju.
2 - Pogledajte video na vrhu, bez titla.
3 - Kliknite na "Exercise 1". Pratite uputstva.Uradite sva vežbanja.
4 - Sada odgledajte video sa titlom.

Best regards,
Lora (Valjevo, Serbia) Biele

Ilse Bielen from Belgium has provided us with the Dutch translation:

Is jouw taal hier? Nee? Wil je dit dan vertalen voor je taalgenoten die ook Engels willen leren:
1.Ga naar http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp en kies een les.
2.Bekijk de video bovenaan, zonder onderschriften.
3.Klik op "Exercise 1". Volg de instructies. Maak alle oefeningen.
4.Bekijk de video nu mét onderschriften.
5.Problemen? Stel je vraag op deze pagina of op de Real English Facebook Page.

Slovenian by Anja

Kako se uporablja Real English®
1 - Pojdite na http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp in izberite lekcijo.
2 - Oglejte si zgornji video, brez podnapisov.
3 - Kliknite "Exercise 1". Sledite navodilom in naredite vse vaje.
4 - Sedaj si oglejte video s podnapisi.

Slovak by Sona

Ako používať skutočnú angličtinu...
1 - Choď na http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.a vyber si lekciu.
2 - Pozri si video hore, bez titulkov.
3 - Klikni na cvičenie 1- "Exercise 1". Riaď sa podľa inštrukcií. Sprav si všetky videá.
4 - Teraz si pozri video s titulkami.

Romanian by Gabriela

Cum sa folositi Real English

1. Intrati aici: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp si alegeti o lectie.
2. Vizionati videoclipul din susul paginii fara subtitrare.
3. Dati Click pe Exercitiul 1. Urmati instructiunile. Efectuati toate exercitiile.
4. Acum vizionati din nou videoclipul cu subtitrare.

Latvian by inara

Kā lietot Real English®
1 - Aizej uz adresi http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp un izvēlies mācību stundu.
2 - Noskaties pirmo video versiju bez subtitriem.
3 - Uzklikšķini "Exercise 1" (pirmais uzdevums). Izpildi visus uzdevumus pēc instrukcijām.
4 - Visbeidzot, noskaties otro video ar subtitriem.

Note from Inara:
"... My Latvian isn't perfect, it can be understood but I'm sure someone can improve the sentence construction and make some words more precise..."

French by Mike Marzio

Comment utiliser Real English®

1 - Rendez-vous ici: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp

Choisir une leçon.

2 - Regarder la vidéo en haut de la page, sans sous-titres.

3 - Cliquer sur "Exercise 1". Suivez les Instructions. Completer tous les

exercises.

4 - Regarder la vidéo avec sous-titres.

5 - Si vous avez une question, posez-la!

Finnish

Kuinka käytät Real English® sivustoa
1 - Mene sivulle http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp ja valitse oppimistehtävä.
2 - Katso ylimpänä oleva video, jossa ei ole tekstitystä.
3 - Napsauta "Exercise 1". Seuraa ohjeita. Tee kaikki harjoitukset.
4 - Katso sitten video, jossa on tekstitys.

Malaysian by The English Lounge

1 - Taipkan http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp dan pilih aktiviti yang dikehendaki.
2 - Tengok video dari mula tanpa senikata.
3 - Klik "Exercise 1". Ikut arahan yang diberi dan buat ke semua aktiviti.
4 - Sekarang. Tengkok video dengan senikata.

Vietnamese by Vũ Đức Tiệp

Hướng dẫn học Real English®
1 - Bạn truy cập vào trang http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp và chọn một bài học.
2 - Xem đoạn phim ở đầu trang, và không có phụ đề.
3 - Nhấn chuột vào "Exercise 1". Và làm theo hướng dẫn. Nhớ là làm hết các bài tập nhé.
4 - Bây giờ bạn hãy xem đoạn phim cùng với phụ đề.

Danish by Anne Fox and her daughter

Hvordan anvender man Real English®
1.Tag hertil http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp og vælge en lektion
2.Se den øverste video uden undertekst
3.Klik på ” Exercise 1”. Følg vejledning. Lav alle opgaverne.
4.Se nu den anden video med undertekst.

Farsi by Azadeh

چطور از (Real English®)"انگلیسی به روز" استفاده کنید.

وارد آدرس (http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp) شوید و یک درس انتخاب کنید.
ویدیوی بالای صفحه رابدون زیر نویس ببینید .
روی تمرین شماره ی 1 کلیک کنید. از دستورالعملها پیروی کرده و تمام تمارین را حل نمایید.
حالا فیلم را با زیر نویس آن دوباره ببینید.

Arabic by Mona

هذه كيفية استخدام موقع (Real English®) ( الأنجليزية الحقيقية )

1-     انتقل الى (http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp) واختار الدرس

2-     شاهد الفيديو الموجود فى الأعلى بدون نصا حواريا مكتوبا على شاشة العرض

3-     اضغط على رقم التمرين اعلى الفيديو "تمرين1" واتبع التعليمات .قم بمتابعة التمرين كاملا.

4 -     الآن شاهد الفيديو متضمنا ظهور نصا مكتوبا به الحوار على شاشة العرض .

Japanese by Aka Ken

これが「Real English」の使い方です。
１（ww.xxx）をクリックしてレッスンを選んでください。
２トップにあるビデオを字幕なしでみてください。
３ Exercise 1をクリックして指示に従ってすべてのexerciseをしてください。
４次に字幕付きでビデオを見てください。

Bulgarian by George Alex

Как да ползваш Real English®
1 - Иди тук http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp и избери урок.
2 - Гледай видеото в горната част на екрана, без субтитри.
3 - Кликни на "Exercise 1". Следвай инструкциите. Направи всички упражнения.
4 - Сега гледай видеото със субтитри.

Ukrainian by misha Misha

Як користуватися Real English®

1. Зайдіть сюди http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp і виберіть урок
2. Перегляньте відео зверху без субтитрів.
3.3. Клацніть на "Exercise 1". Дотримуйтесь інструкцій.
4. Тепер прогляньте відео з субтитрами

<== Back Home

Russian also by misha Misha

Как использовать Real English®

1- Пойдите сюда http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp и выберите урок.

2 - Посмотрите видео сверху без субтитров.

3 - Нажмите " Exercise 1". Следуйте за инструкциями. Сделайте все упражнения.

4 – Теперь посмотрите видео с субтитрами.

<== Back to the Lessons

Hindi by Namrata Arora

Real English® कैसे प्रयोग करें
1- यहाँ जाकर http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp एक पाठ चुनना
2- ऊपर की ओर, उपनाम बिना वीडियो देखो
3- "Exercise 1" पर जाएं। निर्देशन का पालन करें। सारा अभ्यास करें
4- अब उपनाम के साथ वीडियो देखो

Argentinian by Pablo E. Pittaluga

Cómo usar Real English®
1 - Entrá aquí http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp y elegí una lección.
2 - Mirá el video de arriba, sin subtítulos.
3 - Hacé click en 'Exercise 1'. Seguí las instrucciones. Completá todos los ejercicios.
4 - Ahora mirá el video sin subtítulos.

Why is there a separate entry for Argentinian, in addition to Spanish? Pablo explained:
"Argentine Spanish is a variant of the Spanish language unique for its features about intonation, person conjugation and word construction, and is internationally known as Rioplatense Spanish; it is spoken across the whole of the Southern Cone (namely Argentina, parts of Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, together around 60 million people), and at different degrees intermingled with the forms of Peninsular Spanish."

"People entering the site from any of those countries are likely to click on the Argentine link more than on the Spanish one; the language is fresh, informal, and used when addressing anyone with confidence."

And this also made a lot of sense to me because I live in a part of France where the "Laungue d'Oc" (Provençale) is still spoken: "The Rioplatense Spanish is somewhat the case of Quebec French, Cape Dutch (Afrikaans), Gaelic languages in Britain, or Langue d'Oc in France."

<== Back Home

Mongolian by Nyambayar Turbat

1. Манай http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp веб хуудас руу орж хичээлээ сонгоорой.
2. Эхлээд хадмал орчуулагагүй видео хичээлээ үзээрэй.
3. "Дасгал 1" дээр дарж зааврын дагуу ажиллана уу.
4. Одоо хадмал орчуулгатай видео хичээлээ үзнэ үү.... See More
5. Хэрвээ танд ямар нэгэн асуулт байвал манай Facebook болон Real English блог вэб хуудсанд үлдээгээрэй.

<== Back Home

Turkish by Kürşat Durmaz

1. Buraya gir: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp ve bir ders seç.
2. Üstteki videoyu izle, alt yazısız.
3. "Alıştırma 1'i " tıkla ve açıklamaları takip et. Tüm alıştırmaları yap.
4. Şimdi videoyu alt yazısıyla birlikte izle.
5. Eğer bir sorun varsa lütfen sor! ( Burada Facebook'da yada The Real English Blog'da)

Polish by Małgorzata Majewska

Jak korzystać z "Real English"
1. Wejdź tu http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp i wybierz lekcję.
2. Obejrzyj wideo od góry bez napisów.
3. Kliknij na "Ćwiczenie 1". Postępuj zgodnie z instrukcjami. Wykonaj wszystkie ćwiczenia.
4. A teraz obejrzyj wideo z napisami.

<== Back to the Lessons

German by Ingrid Braband

Wie Sie "Real English" benutzen können:
1. Gehen Sie zu http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp und wählen Sie eine Lektion aus.
2. Schauen Sie sich das Video oben auf der Seite an, ohne Untertitel.
3. Machen Sie die "Exercise 1" (Übung 1). Folgen Sie den Anweisungen. Machen Sie alle Übungen.
4. Schauen Sie sich jetzt das Video mit Untertiteln an.

Students of German can perhaps benefit by comparing these 2 versions.

German by Marian Heddeseimer

So benutzt man "Real English".
1 - Gehe zur Website: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp und wähle eine Lektion.
2 - Schaue dir das Video am Seitenanfang ohne Untertitel an.
3 - Klicke auf "Excersise 1" und folge den Anweisungen. Führe alle angegebenen Übungen durch.
4 - Nun, schaue dir das Video mit Untertiteln an.

Czech by Luboš Milařík

Jak používat Real English®

1 – Pojď sem http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp a vyber si lekci.
2 – Sleduj video nahoře bez titulků.
3 – Klikni na „Cvičení 1“. Řiď se instrukcemi. Udělej všechna cvičení.
4 – Nyní sleduj video s titulky.

<== Back to the Lessons

Traditional Chinese by Benna Lin:

如何使用真正的英文
第一：到這個網站http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp 並點選任一門課。
第二：先看最上面沒有字幕的影片。
第三：點選練習一(在最上面的Exercise 1)，照著指示完成全部的練習題。
第四：做完之後，現在請再看有字幕的影片。

Simplified Chinese by Benna Lin:

如何使用真正的英文
第一：到这个网站http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp 并点选任一门课。
第二：先看最上面没有字幕的影片。
第三：点选练习一(在最上面的Exercise 1)，照着指示完成全部的练习题。
第四：做完之后，现在请再看有字幕的影片。

Hungarian by Robert Musits

1 - Nyisd meg a http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp internetes oldalt és válassz ki egy leckét.

2 - Nézd meg a felső, feliratok nélküli videót!

3 – Kattints az 1. feladatra (Exercise 1)! Kövesd az utasításokat! Oldd meg az összes feladatot!

4 – Nézd meg a videót feliratozva!

<== Back Home

Calalan by Joan Rubíes

1- Entra aquí: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp i tria una lliçó.

2- Mira el video de la part superior, sense subtítols.

3- Clica a "Exercise 1".Segueix les instruccions. Fes tots els exercicis.

4- Ara mira el video amb subtítols.

Italian by Paola Rosetti

"Come usare Real English"

1 - Clicca qui: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp e scegli una lezione.

2 - Guarda il video in cima alla pagina, senza sottotitoli.

3 - Clicca su " Esercizio 1". Segui le indicazioni. Fai tutti gli esercizi.

4 - Ora guarda il video con i sottotitoli.

5 - Se hai qualche domanda, chie...di qui su Facebook o sul blog di real English.

<== Back to the Lessons

Many thanks to these volunteers who posted their translations of the instructions on our Facebook site.

Portuguese by Tiago Catelam

1 - Acesse http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp e escolha uma das aulas disponíveis.

2 - Assista primeiro a versão sem legendas do vídeo.
3 - Clique em "Exercise 1". Siga as instruções. Faça todos os exercícios.
4 - Agora assista a versão legendada do vídeo.

Spanish by Gloria Arboleda

1. Entra a http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp y escoge una lección.

2. Mira el video de la parte superior, sin subtítulos.

3. Haz click en "Exercise 1". Sigue las instrucciones. Haz todos los ejercicios.

4. Ahora mira el video con subtítulos"

5. Si tienes alguna pregunta, puedes recurrir a Google Friend Connect, al blog de Real English o a Facebook"

Greek by Christiana Tziortziou

1 - Πηγαίνετε εδώ http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp
και επιλέξετε ένα μάθημα.
2 - Παρακολουθήστε το μάθημα στο πάνω μέρος της σελίδας, χωρίς υπότιτλους.
3 - Κάντε κλικ στην εντολή "Exercise 1". Ακολουθήστε τις οδηγίες. Κάνετε όλες τις ασκήσεις.
4 - Τώρα, παρακολουθήστε το βίντεο με υπότιτλους.

<== Back to the Lessons

<== Back Home

Please contribute your translation of the English version into your native language:

How to Use Real English®
1 - Go here http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp and choose a lesson.

2 - Watch the video at the top, without subtitles.

3 - Click on "Exercise 1". Follow the instructions. Do all the exercises.

4 - Now watch the video with subtitles.

Post your translation here, as a comment, or post on The Real English Facebook Page which I just began yesterday February 1st.

Googling for ESL Students and Teachers

2014-01-05T04:40:00.000-08:00

I just posted this on the Real English® Facebook Page. It's so important, in my humble opinion, that I am also including it here, as is.

*****IMPORTANT FOR ALL STUDENTS and TEACHERS*****

Last month, I posted twice about the importance of learning how to search using the ENGLISH VERSION OF GOOGLE:
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en

I receive about 50 questions from students and teachers every week, usually about grammar or nuances of vocabulary.

Eight or 9 times out of 10, the answer could easily be found by the student or teacher without my help, so instead of giving the answer, I explain how the answer can be found without my help. (In some cases, I know that it would be too difficult to google the answer, so in those cases, I give the answer to the student or teacher "on a silver plate", requiring no effort from them).

How is ENGLISH GOOGLE different from GOOGLE IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE? The results are not the same, very simply! The most efficient way to find your answer is to work in English!

Thankfully, many students appreciate the fact that I SHOW THEM HOW TO FIND THE ANSWER THEMSELVES. They feel empowered, which is the main reason I insist on this. They learn a VERY VALUABLE NEW SKILL, and hopefully pass the new knowledge on to others.

This is going to be a long post, but I think it's really important, so now I will give an example:

Question from student/teacher:
"i am in a serach of a complete stuff of prepositions . "

The questions I receive are often all-encompassing like this one. And half of the time, no single web page will give us "complete stuff" on any subject. We sometimes have to consult several of our search reuslts to find our complete answers.

He later refined his request a bit, saying ".i want the definations , rules and regulations of all them".

So I replied:

"Please go back to :
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en

Type
esl preposition rules

Look at the first result.
It is excellent for your purposes! Do you need more information?
If so, look at the other results on the first page!

*****Note: Begin your search with "esl" to tell Google that you are searching something about English as a Second Language (ESL) and

*****type "prepositions" because you are interested in prepositions.

*****Type "rules" because you are interested in the grammar rules for using prepositions.

Sometimes the best result for YOUR needs are
1 - all in the first result,
2 - in another result under the first one,
3 - in a combination of several results of your search.

In your case (".i want the definations , rules and regulations of all them"), since you want ALL of them, you will probably have to look into several of the results after looking at the first result.

Finally, it is VERY important to ask questions if you do not understand anything that I have written here!" (end of conversation).

Good searching techniques are a skill which require practice, just like learning Engliqh takes practice. But it can be learned very quickly if you do it regularly, whereas learning English will take a lot more time!

For example, sometimes you must change your search terms if you do not find what you are looking for right away.

Also, BE CAREFUL of the "first results". Sometimes they are advertisements, almost always UNRELATED to your search. You can tell the difference between an "ad result" and a "real result": the "ad result" begins with the word "ad" in very small print, and the background is not pure while like the others. It is slightly "off-white", but if you are not careful, you can easily click on the ad by mistake!

According to the objectives of any learning situation, the best teachers often show students HOW to find the answers for themselves. They don't always give them to students on a silver platter.

I made the first comment myself, having forgotten to mention an important point:
***IMPORTANT COMMENT***
After I receive a question from a student or teacher, and BEFORE I suggest the search terms to use, and BEFORE I send them out on their search, I google the search terms MYSELF to make sure that the student or teacher will find what they are looking for, if they follow the instructions.

I finally figured out how to help online ESL students to help themselves.

2013-11-28T09:37:00.001-08:00

For some reason or other, the Real English® Facebook page has gone slightly viral, with an average of 9,000 new likes per day over the past 6 weeks. It's a high quality page (he said modestly), but I have noticed that there are also mediocre ESL pages which suddenly go viral - with many more new likes per day than my own. I would google the phenomenon, but it would take too much time. Moreover, the title of this post is based upon the need to manage time more effectively.

When I noticed an increase in traffic on my main site a few weeks ago, I noticed that this increase always took place the day after posting a few choice tidbits, including original quizzes and other interactive activities on the FB page, so I began to take Facebook more seriously.

And then the problems began. I was suddenly spending many hours on the FB page, and didn't even find time to edit my new cool video footage to make new clips and then new lessons. The time was spent wisely on the FB page only in the sense that I was giving personal attention to almost every member who had a request, i.e. they loved the personal attention. But from the point of view of time management, it had become disastrous.

Disastrous in the sense that hundreds of students were asking me questions which showed that they didn't have a clue about helping themselves to the free information available on the web.

I was stunned at first. I thought that the kids knew how to use the web better than old guys like myself. In any case, I changed my strategy, simply by giving the following type of advice to students who ask for specific info. In this case, the definition of a simple word:

"Hello ____ , it would be a very good idea to learn how to use online dictionaries. First of all, to get useful results more quickly, students of English should use the ENGLISH GOOGLE search site at:
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en
For definitions, type "free dictionary" in the search box. Look at the results. You must choose the first result at the top:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ Then type [the word you are looking for]".

Despite the relatively natural language of my replies, students understand the written word much more easily than the spoken (of course!), and are able to find what they are looking for on their own. I now have 6 models of replies which I copy and paste, covering about 80% of requests for different types of information, and only have to write truly personalized replies to approximately 20% of the students who contact me on Facebook. Today I was able to take care of all the FB business in only one hour, leaving me free to continue video editing for the rest of the day.

I honestly don't know if this is all terribly obvious to all online teachers, or if someone might benefit from my observations and new practices.

Interactive Lessons Based on Original Video

2013-10-06T09:23:00.001-07:00

What Is Real English®? How Does It Work?
How Is It Created?

Real English® is the organization and exploitation of spontaneous speech for learning English as a second or foreign language. It has existed in the form of CD-ROMs and is currently available in the form of DVDs with workbooks & an instructor's guide and most notably, two web sites: our traditional site and a new mobile site for all smartphones and tablets.

The natural and unrehearsed language is collected in the form of filmed street interviews. We have so far filmed in 5 countries were English is spoken as a native language, especially the US and UK.

Students who take the necessary time (5 to 10 minutes) to discover how the Real English learning site works, tend to come back regularly. It is not a site for truly advanced students who already have extensive experience interacting with native speakers of English. In fact, Real English prepares beginners and intermediate students for the exact same experience.

Typical interviewee (individual frames) - Heather's interview

The videos are engaging on a personal level which is difficult to explain. Learners seem to enter into the interviewees' personalities and experience their feelings. This might be due, in part, to the fact that we are very selective about which interviewees are chosen for the final edits which are used for the lessons.

The exercises about the videos are not designed for testing students. Beginners and all students in the wide Intermediate range seem to feel good about understanding people who speak naturally. The Lessons are designed to make it easy for them to understand the spontaneous speech. In other words, Real English presents us with hundreds of people speaking normally, which seems fast to all learners. They're simply not used to it, and Real English represents an interesting way to make progress in this real world of the spoken word.

Both American and British English,
without forgetting our many Irish
interviewees in addition to
non-native speakers of English

Let's begin by defining a couple of key terms which I use when speaking about the video and its interactive environment.

A Real English® lesson is a collection of interactive exercises for a main video. An exercise is based on a small portion of a main video. For example, a typical main video might be 4 or 5 minutes long, but the exercise includes a video extracted from the main clip which lasts only 5 to 30 seconds, allowing us to concentrate on a limited number of lexical items at a time.

You can follow the explanations right here, or better yet, refer to this typical online exercise used here as an example, at the same time.

This is Joe, the first interviewee in Lesson 29, a relatively "upper" intermediate clip. Joe’s interview is 32 seconds long. However, a total of 6 exercise pages (including 19 questions) are necessary to cover the essential vocabulary and grammar he uses during those 32 seconds. Click on play:

Like many of the interviewees who make it to the final cut, he's a friendly, conversational type of guy. His answer to the question "What do you like to do for fun?", which is also the title of this lesson, takes him a long time, i.e., 32 seconds, providing us with interesting vocabulary and new grammar to exploit in the upcoming exercises immediately after this one.

Note that the audio file beneath the video provides us with a 4-second audio "helper file" (explanatory images are also "helper files"):

Audio files like this one are used in most exercises, for a great variety of reasons. In this particular case, it is used to provide a summary of what Joe said in the video, i.e., a short summary of his much longer, "conversational" reply.

By this time, a student who has arrived at lesson 29 has learned to listen to these files because they often contain clues for helping him find the answer to a quiz.

In this particular case, we listen to the teacher after clicking on the play button: "He likes hiking in the mountains, going to the movies, and socializing", which is also one of the 3 choices in the MC quiz. You can listen to Joe's
"long answer" in the video above and compare it to the audio-only summary.

We often give the answer away, so to speak, in the form of this audio clue. Once again, the objective is to give the student good reason to listen as much as possible, regardless of his final score, which is a meaningless objective when compared to the process of listening and learning. We also want him to get the answer right thanks to his own efforts, by giving him lots of opportunities to figure it out on his own, which also seems to improve motivation.

An interesting detail on the same exercise page: Look at the pictures next to each possible answer to the MC quiz. I photoshop such pictures, replacing the original head with the interviewee's head, simply to put the interviewee in context whenever possible, in an effort to perfect the illustration of the meaning of the corresponding text.

(We met Joe on W. 57th Street in New York City, not while hiking in the mountains).

Let's have a look at Joe's final appearance, in Exercise 5. Once again, we give away the answer in this exercise, in the spoken form only, of course.

There are 6 basic types of exercises in Real English®. This is my favorite, a hybrid quiz. It starts off as a typing exercise. If the typed answer is wrong x times in a row, the exercise transforms itself into an easier multiple-choice quiz. I specified just one time wrong for this question, but sometimes I have good reasons to let the students try 4 times or more before it transforms itself into a Multiple Choice.

I think the advantage of this type of quiz is obvious. Any student who makes an effort is never lost.

---

I am trying to keep this post short, for the same reason I like to keep the exercise videos short: to maintain interest to the very end! However, you can have a look online to see other typical and very useful techniques used throughout the lessons:

Well-illustrated definitions combining pictures and text within exercises,

Fun ways to illustrate British/American differences,

Multiple videos on a single page for hybrid exercises,

Making listening comprehension fun. A constant quest to encourage the learner to listen many times to the video and audio files.

Lessons for real beginners: simplicity in the combination of video with
audio, pictures, the record-compare applet, and the quiz itself.

Small videos for Drag & Drop exercises,

Grammar in context. We never ignore grammar, but we don't often begin with it either. When the video contains a noteworthy grammar point that comes as a surprise to us, it is at least illustrated. In other cases, there are even grammar exercises based on what the video has suggested.Course organization is turned upside down to a certain extent. Despite our outline of essential items to include in Real English® - following our list of questions each time we go out filming - the spontaneous speech actually gathered in our street interviews ultimately determines what is covered in Real English®.

Note: Java is necessary for the record-compare applet found on all the exercise pages, enabling the students to repeat what they hear in the lessons, and then to compare their pronunciation to native-speaker sources (both from the videos and the audio-only files). However, when you arrive at any exercise, you will see an unnecessary Windows message implying that Java could be dangerous for your computer. This is not true. It is safe and must be regularly updated, just like Windows itself.

Questions and comments most welcome!

Official logo image, representing our Trademark in 39 countries.

2013-05-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

Simple Instructions for Using the Real English® Site
Thanks to recent translations from Sunggyung Hong and Narine H., we now have Korean and Armenian translations of the instructions for using the Real English site, in addition to 38 other languages.

Real English® Mobile

2013-03-12T02:42:00.003-07:00

Screencast / Brief Demo of
Real English® Mobile

It's a bit early for me to be presenting the new Mobile version of Real English®. Only a quarter of the Lessons are finished. On the other hand, the numerous videos and quizzes which have been completed provide beginners and pre-intermediate students on the go with at least 40 hours* of fun work.

Besides, it will take me until the end of the year to finish the job. More importantly for myself and other social-oriented content creators, a minimum of general feedback seems essential in order to continue the longish job with relative confidence concerning the final outcome.

Moreover, in a case like mine, the job will be interrupted by new filming in the streets, as I make brand new videos, and then new edits and finally new lessons for the new clips (BTW, a "lesson" is a collection of interactive quizzes for a small portion of a main video). So the job is never completed, really. It will only be finished the day I stop filming and make a lesson for my last good clip.

So here she is in demo form:

If you just spent 6 minutes watching this entire clip, I hope you'll leave a comment, or try it out on your own mobile device before making a comment.

Concerning feedback, I was very lucky to learn that this site works pretty much the same way on Windows and Android phones. Android devices are especially important since their market share is increasing much faster than Apple's iDevices at the present time.

So I tried to find someone to try it out on an Android device, and I simply googled "Mobile ESL" and within minutes I succeeded in contacting David Read, who surprised me with a screencast showing me how it looks on his Samsung Galaxy Note 2. David has created a Google+ ESL Community which he continues to develop and which is definitely worth a detour. His screencast, below, inspired me to find a way to do the same for the iPhone. He had a look at the Alphabet Lesson (Lesson 3).

I have made improvements to Lesson 3 after carefully watching Dave's screencast, but I haven't found all the solutions yet.

The URL of Real English Mobile is http://realenglish-mobile.com/
Regular updates concerning Real English Mobile, on the tradional Real English site are here.

My next screencast will show you how the ProProfs Quiz Maker works. This is the application I have chosen for all the quizzes on Real English Mobile.

* It's impossible to make an accurate estimate of the time to be spent to complete the existing 21 lessons. Here I write "40 hours" and in the screencast, I say "80 hours". The latter estimate might be closer to the truth when speaking about a real beginner, starting with lesson 1, while also learning English with other tools.

2012-11-12T01:38:00.002-08:00

Real English Mobile Update

2012-10-21T00:59:00.001-07:00

This post is no longer relevant. The classic Real English sit
https://www.real-english.com/
has been compatible with mobile devices for years.

I have not finished the new Mobile site yet, but there are already 15 complete lessons up, with quizzes (about 80 hours of work for real beginners). You are more than welcome to use it now, while it is still under construction.

I have added most of the videos (58 videos already up), and I will soon go back to add the quizzes with the short individual-interview clips, which allows the learner to do quizzes based on very short extracts from the main video of each lesson.

Making these short clips for the quizzes is the longest part of the job, but it makes the learning experience much more effective, and especially more user-friendly.

"Old" quizzes already exist for lessons 1 to 12, including the 4 lessons in unit 8, giving us a total of 15 complete interactive mobile lessons as of October 22, 2012. I update progress on a weekly basis at the traditional Real English® site at http://www.real-english.com/mobile-info.asp

The URL of the new mobile site is http://bit.ly/real-english-mobile

Hope you like it. And it's definitely going to get better in the very near future.
PS: I bought my first iPhone yesterday October 21! Up until yesterday, I was testing the new site using Mobile Device Emulators like this one, on my computer, with Safari. They are good for essential testing, and their most important advatage is that they allow one to test not only the different iPhones, but also Android phones such as the Galaxy, as well as tablets, and certain Blackberry phones as well.

However, using a real iPhone has opened my eyes. I see now that I must redo the quizzes in a different format (change of widths, especially, according to the nature of each quiz). Everthing else looks great! The videos are very crisp and clean, even better than the videos I see on the traditional Real English® website!

Two New Kids on the Block - A New Type of Spontaneous Street Interview for ESL Students

2012-10-09T13:13:00.003-07:00

Did you know that the slang word "sick" means cool? Neither did I until I discovered a brand new site and YouTube channel called "Slargon". I couldn't believe it. An old guy like me had to check out the Urban Dictionary to confirm it. The new "sick" is now being used as a near-antonym of the traditonal "sick". This young lady goes on to say that if something is "sick", it's something you really like.

The site has been and is being created by the Corbo Brothers, Stephen and Jimmy. They both have MA degrees and work in the New York City Department of Education as Speech Language Pathologists We're obviously not talking about the usual cowboys we often find in the world of ESL who throw up new sites on a wing and a prayer.

On the other hand, they learned how to make video and a site just like I did, without any training, learning by doing.

"Growing up in New York", Jimmy writes "we have been exposed to many different dialects of English and we are fascinated by the different ways in which people can use language. That is what prompted us to dedicate our video language library to slang, idioms and other peculiar language".

Their videos are all spontaneous steet interviews, just like Real English. No boring actors. You meet a lot of people filmed in different parts of New York City who agree to make a "language donation" as they call it.

The videos are very short - some less than 12 seconds. The longest clip I've found so far is 30 seconds. We're talking sound bites here, and it's really a hoot!

In some of the clips, we find classic idioms such as "the cat's pajamas", but in other cases we find cool everyday expressions which are widely used by native speakers but never, or almost never taught in the ESL/EFL classroom. One thing I learned that is very important when building a coherent language library based on the spontaneous speech of street interviews, is how to approach prospective interviewees, or "donators". I am lucky to have a friendly, attractive French wife who does this job. She puts people at ease and makes them want to give us an interview.
This is what Jimmy says about their approach: "Stephen tends to be the bolder brother but we do switch off approaching people to ask for language donations. We usually approach them with a short pitch about our project. "Hey, how are you? We are from slargon.com, and we're creating a video language library of slang, idioms and other peculiar language. We are looking for language donations... Do you have a word or phrase that you would like to contribute?"
They obviously make a good team. Jimmy told me "Slargon is something that has really grown from my brother Stephen's ambition to merge technology and language services... Once we decided that we would do the project together we hit the ground running. Stephen went to work building a website for Slargon and I went to work learning about Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects for the purpose of editing".He goes on to say "This is a mouthfull, so sometimes we spend an additional 15 minutes explaining our project, and sometimes people jump right in with a word or phrase, and other times we are completely blown off. All in all our general success rate is 50-70%".

I can't help comparing this figure to Real English. After our first filming campaigns in the US and the UK in the mid-90s, we got about the same success rate. The problem comes later when we have to decide who is "good enough" to include in our library. That was my problem 3 months ago when we filmed in my new favorite spot in South Beach, Miami. I thought everybody was great while filming, but in the end, we only used about 20% of our footage.

You will also find donators who speak English as a Second Language. You see a French girl below who explains the slang version of "J'adore" (i.e., without an object) which is not exactly the same as the literal meaning. Several foreign languages have already been included in Slargon's library.

And finally, Slargon's Web 2.0 clincher: "Generally speaking we have gotten a great response on the street, people seem to love the idea. Filming is a great part of the job but we are hoping that eventually users will make their own online contributions by uploading their videos to Slargon".

A word of caution in regard to young children learners. You will find some vulgar clips here too. In fact they have divided their clips into 27 categories so far, and that includes the "gross" and "lustful" categories.

Star Speller

2012-10-05T11:50:00.001-07:00

Hi Teachers! My friend, Ryan Detwiler, has just published a new iPhone/iPod App for children learning English. It's his 1st app:

Star Speller -- Reading and Spelling games for beginning English students. Great pronunciation practice too. Have a look!

He's a great developer. Here are the main features:
- Teacher developed content
- Reading Power and Spelling Power games
- 30 levels of game play (10 words per level)
- Track player's high scores
- Adjustable game speed ("Challenge Speed")
- Option to delete all current scores
- Option to turn audio instructions on or off
- Professionally recorded American English
- Flash Cards activity (read and swipe)
- Simple, easy-to-navigate interface design

Congratulations Ryan!

2012-09-23T01:07:00.002-07:00

It really warms my heart when I receive messages like this one.

Alex Rosas wrote the following message to me this morning. The simple fact that she is so obviously aware of what I try to do to facilitate learning English, is what makes her words so special to me. I'm not very good about explaining what I try to do, nor promoting my learning site, so I'm really glad when someone "gets it".

She wrote:

"I just watched the zodiac signs video, the one where you ask "What are (scorpios) like?" and I think it is awesome because I can ask my students to watch it, listen and write all the adjectives they hear, and then use those adjectives in other activities! Believe me, your videos are a great help and a very important way to practice for non native students/speakers!

Your videos not only help students to learn grammar,comprehend a real conversation and improve pronunciation but also realize the importance of interaction, how people interact in the different situations you present in your videos. I do believe you do a great job with your videos. I like that you take the time to edit with and without CC (closed captions) on separate videos because in that way you understand everything you did not understand in the video without CC. Thanks a lot Real English!!!!

Simple Instructions for Using the Real English Lessons in 34 Languages

2012-03-30T13:29:00.004-07:00

Reminder: these basic native-language translations of the instructions will help real beginners get started! Updates will appear at the top of this section of this blog. We now have 34 languages. If your native language (mother tongue) is not here, please contribute your translation of this text in English:

How to Use Real English®
1 - Go here http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp and choose a lesson.

2 - Watch the video at the top, without subtitles.

3 - Click on "Exercise 1". Follow the instructions. Do all the exercises.

4 - Now watch the video with subtitles.
5 - Problem, Question or Comment? Contact us on our Facebook page or write mike@real-english.com<== To the top of this blog post
<== Back to the Lessons

Lora sent me the Serbian translation on New Year's Eve, 2012-2013

Kako da koristite Real English®
1 - Idite na http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp i izaberite lekciju.
2 - Pogledajte video na vrhu, bez titla.
3 - Kliknite na "Exercise 1". Pratite uputstva.Uradite sva vežbanja.
4 - Sada odgledajte video sa titlom.

Slovak by Sona

Ako používať skutočnú angličtinu...
1 - Choď na http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.a vyber si lekciu.
2 - Pozri si video hore, bez titulkov.
3 - Klikni na cvičenie 1- "Exercise 1". Riaď sa podľa inštrukcií. Sprav si všetky videá.
4 - Teraz si pozri video s titulkami.

Romanian by Gabriela

Cum sa folositi Real English

1. Intrati aici: http://www.real- english.com/new-lessons.asp si alegeti o lectie.
2. Vizionati videoclipul din susul paginii fara subtitrare.
3. Dati Click pe Exercitiul 1. Urmati instructiunile. Efectuati toate exercitiile.
4. Acum vizionati din nou videoclipul cu subtitrare.

<== Back to the Lessons
<== To the top of this blog

French by Mike Marzio

Comment utiliser Real English®

1 - Rendez-vous ici: http://www.real-english.com/new- lessons.asp

Choisir une leçon.

2 - Regarder la vidéo en haut de la page, sans sous-titres.

3 - Cliquer sur "Exercise 1". Suivez les Instructions. Completer tous les

exercises.

4 - Regarder la vidéo avec sous-titres.

5 - Si vous avez une question, posez-la: mike@real-english.com or our FaceBook page

<== Back to the Lessons

Finnish

Kuinka käytät Real English® sivustoa
1 - Mene sivulle http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp ja valitse oppimistehtävä.
2 - Katso ylimpänä oleva video, jossa ei ole tekstitystä.
3 - Napsauta "Exercise 1". Seuraa ohjeita. Tee kaikki harjoitukset.
4 - Katso sitten video, jossa on tekstitys.

<== To the top of this blog

Malaysian by The English Lounge

1 - Taipkan http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp dan pilih aktiviti yang dikehendaki.
2 - Tengok video dari mula tanpa senikata.
3 - Klik "Exercise 1". Ikut arahan yang diberi dan buat ke semua aktiviti.
4 - Sekarang. Tengkok video dengan senikata.

<== Back to the Lessons

Vietnamese by Vũ Đức Tiệp

Hướng dẫn học Real English®
1 - Bạn truy cập vào trang http://www.real- english.com/new-lessons.asp và chọn một bài học.
2 - Xem đoạn phim ở đầu trang, và không có phụ đề.
3 - Nhấn chuột vào "Exercise 1". Và làm theo hướng dẫn. Nhớ là làm hết các bài tập nhé.
4 - Bây giờ bạn hãy xem đoạn phim cùng với phụ đề.

<== To the top of this blog

Danish by Anne Fox and her daughter

Farsi by Azadeh

چطور از

(Real English®)"انگلیسی به روز" استفاده کنید.

وارد آدرس (http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp) شوید و یک درس انتخاب کنید.
ویدیوی بالای صفحه رابدون زیر نویس ببینید .
روی تمرین شماره ی 1 کلیک کنید. از دستورالعملها پیروی کرده و تمام تمارین را حل

نمایید.
حالا فیلم را با زیر نویس آن دوباره

ببینید.

Arabic by Mona

هذه كيفية استخدام موقع

(Real English®) ( الأنجليزية الحقيقية )

1-     انتقل الى (http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp) واختار الدرس

2-     شاهد الفيديو الموجود فى الأعلى بدون نصا حواريا مكتوبا على شاشة

العرض

3-     اضغط على رقم التمرين اعلى الفيديو "تمرين1"

واتبع التعليمات .قم بمتابعة التمرين كاملا.

4 -     الآن شاهد الفيديو متضمنا ظهور نصا مكتوبا به الحوار

على شاشة العرض .

Japanese by Aka Ken

Bulgarian by George Alex

Как да ползваш Real English®
1 - Иди тук http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp и избери

урок.
2 - Гледай видеото в горната част на екрана, без субтитри.
3 - Кликни на "Exercise 1". Следвай инструкциите. Направи всички упражнения.
4 - Сега гледай видеото със субтитри.

<== To the top of this blog

Ukrainian by misha

Misha

Як користуватися Real English®

1. Зайдіть сюди http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp і

виберіть урок
2. Перегляньте відео сверху без субтитрів
3. Клацніть на "Exercise 1". Слідуйте за інструкціями. Виконайте усі вправи
4. Тепер прогляньте відео з субтитрами

<== Back Home

<== To the top of this blog

Russian also by

misha Misha

Как использовать Real English®

1- Пойдите сюда http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp и выберите урок.

2 - Посмотрите видео сверху без субтитров.

3 - Нажмите " Exercise 1". Следуйте за инструкциями. Сделайте все упражнения.

4 – Теперь посмотрите видео с субтитрами.

<== Back to the Lessons

<== To the top of this blog

Hindi by Namrata Arora

Real English® कैसे प्रयोग करें
1- यहाँ जाकर http://www.real-english.com/new-

lessons.asp एक पाठ चुनना
2- ऊपर की ओर, उपनाम बिना वीडियो देखो
3- "Exercise 1" पर जाएं। निर्देशन का पालन करें। सारा अभ्यास करें
4- अब उपनाम के साथ वीडियो देखो

Argentinian by Pablo E. Pittaluga

Cómo usar Real English®
1 - Entrá aquí http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp y elegí una lección.
2 - Mirá el video de arriba, sin subtítulos.
3 - Hacé click en 'Exercise 1'. Seguí las instrucciones. Completá todos los ejercicios.
4 - Ahora mirá el video sin subtítulos.

Why is there a separate entry for Argentinian, in addition to Spanish? Pablo

explained:
"Argentine Spanish is a variant of the Spanish

language unique for its features about intonation, person conjugation and word construction, and is internationally known

as Rioplatense Spanish; it is spoken across the whole of the Southern Cone (namely Argentina, parts of Chile, Paraguay and

Uruguay, together around 60 million people), and at different degrees intermingled with the forms of Peninsular

Spanish."

"People entering the site from any of those countries are likely to click on the Argentine link more than on the Spanish

one; the language is fresh, informal, and used when addressing anyone with confidence."

And this also made a lot of sense to me because I live in a part of France where the "Laungue d'Oc" (Provençale) is still

spoken: "The Rioplatense Spanish is somewhat the case of Quebec French, Cape Dutch (Afrikaans), Gaelic languages in

Britain, or Langue d'Oc in France."

<== Back Home

<== To the top of this blog

Mongolian by Nyambayar Turbat

1. Манай http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp веб хуудас

руу орж хичээлээ сонгоорой.
2. Эхлээд хадмал орчуулагагүй видео хичээлээ үзээрэй.
3. "Дасгал 1" дээр дарж зааврын дагуу ажиллана уу.
4. Одоо хадмал орчуулгатай видео хичээлээ үзнэ үү.... See More
5. Хэрвээ танд ямар нэгэн асуулт байвал манай Facebook болон Real English блог вэб хуудсанд үлдээгээрэй.

<== Back Home

Turkish by Kürşat Durmaz

1. Buraya gir: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp ve bir

ders seç.
2. Üstteki videoyu izle, alt yazısız.
3. "Alıştırma 1'i " tıkla ve açıklamaları takip et. Tüm alıştırmaları yap.
4. Şimdi videoyu alt yazısıyla birlikte izle.
5. Eğer bir sorun varsa lütfen sor! ( Burada Facebook'da yada The Real English Blog'da)

<== Back to the Lessons

German by Ingrid Braband

Wie Sie "Real English" benutzen können:
1. Gehen Sie zu http://www.real- english.com/new-lessons.asp und wählen Sie eine Lektion aus.
2. Schauen Sie sich das Video oben auf der Seite an, ohne Untertitel.
3. Machen Sie die "Exercise 1" (Übung 1). Folgen Sie den Anweisungen. Machen Sie alle Übungen.
4. Schauen Sie sich jetzt das Video mit Untertiteln an.

Students of German can perhaps benefit by comparing these 2 versions.

German by Marian Heddeseimer

So benutzt man "Real English".
1 - Gehe zur Website: http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp und wähle eine Lektion.
2 - Schaue dir das Video am Seitenanfang ohne Untertitel an.
3 - Klicke auf "Excersise 1" und folge den Anweisungen. Führe alle angegebenen Übungen durch.
4 - Nun, schaue dir das Video mit Untertiteln an.

<== To the top of this blog

<== Back to the Lessons

Czech by Luboš Milařík

Jak používat Real English®

1 – Pojď sem http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp a vyber si lekci.
2 – Sleduj video nahoře bez titulků.
3 – Klikni na „Cvičení 1“. Řiď se instrukcemi. Udělej všechna cvičení.
4 – Nyní sleduj video s titulky.

<== Back to the Lessons

Simplified Chinese by Benna Lin:

如何使用真正的英文
第一：到这个网站http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp 并点选任一门课。
第二：先看最上面没有字幕的影片。
第三：点选练习一(在最上面的Exercise 1)，照着指示完成全部的练习题。
第四：做完之后，现在请再看有字幕的影片。

Hungarian by Robert

Musits

1 - Nyisd meg a http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp internetes oldalt és válassz ki egy leckét.

2 - Nézd meg a felső, feliratok nélküli videót!

3 – Kattints az 1. feladatra (Exercise 1)! Kövesd az utasításokat! Old meg az összes

feladatot!

4 – Nézd meg a videót feliratozva!

<== Back Home

Calalan by Joan Rubíes

1- Entra aquí: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp i tria

una lliçó.

2- Mira el video de la part superior, sense subtítols.

3- Clica a "Exercise 1".Segueix les instruccions. Fes tots els exercicis.

4- Ara mira el video amb subtítols.

Italian by Paola Rosetti

"Come usare Real English"

1 - Clicca qui: http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp e

scegli una lezione.

2 - Guarda il video in cima alla pagina, senza sottotitoli.

3 - Clicca su " Esercizio 1". Segui le indicazioni. Fai tutti gli esercizi.

4 - Ora guarda il video con i sottotitoli.

5 - Se hai qualche domanda, chie...di qui su Facebook o sul blog di real English.

<== Back to the Lessons

<== To the top of this blog

Many thanks to these volunteers who posted their translations of the instructions on our Facebook site.

Portuguese by Tiago

Catelam

1 - Acesse http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp e escolha uma das aulas disponíveis.

2 - Assista primeiro a versão sem legendas do vídeo.
3 - Clique em "Exercise 1". Siga as instruções. Faça todos os exercícios.
4 - Agora assista a versão legendada do vídeo.

Spanish by Gloria Arboleda

1. Entra a http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp y escoge una lección.

2. Mira el video de la parte superior, sin subtítulos.

3. Haz click en "Exercise 1". Sigue las instrucciones. Haz todos los ejercicios.

4. Ahora mira el video con subtítulos"

5. Si tienes alguna pregunta, puedes recurrir a Google Friend Connect, al blog de Real English o a Facebook"

<== Back to the Lessons

Greek by Christiana Tziortziou

1 - Πηγαίνετε εδώ http://www.real-

english.com/new-lessons.asp
και επιλέξετε ένα μάθημα.
2 - Παρακολουθήστε το μάθημα στο πάνω μέρος της σελίδας, χωρίς υπότιτλους.
3 - Κάντε κλικ στην εντολή "Exercise 1". Ακολουθήστε τις οδηγίες. Κάνετε όλες τις ασκήσεις.
4 - Τώρα, παρακολουθήστε το βίντεο με υπότιτλους.

<== Back to the Lessons

<== Back Home

Please contribute your translation of the English version into your native language:

How to Use Real English®
1 - Go here http://www.real- english.com/new-lessons.asp Choose a lesson.

2 - Watch the video at the top, without subtitles.

3 - Click on "Exercise 1". Follow the instructions. Do all the exercises.

4 - Now watch the video with subtitles.

Post your translation here, as a comment, or post on The Real English Facebook Page.

What's this blog for?

2012-03-08T09:15:00.007-08:00

I don't use my blog very often. I used to use it for Real English® activities almost every day. Facebook has replaced this blog for this essential function.

Today I will use it for a personal post: http://wapo.st/yVDWT9

When there are so many blogs already posting exactly what I think myself, I would only reproduce, albeit in my own words, what others have already expressed more elegantly than I would.
The Republican Party used to be relatively reasonable. Even Reagan made sense in a relative way, and you had to give him a little bit of respect, however reluctantly, and espite the fact that the country started going way south beginning with this actor.
But nowadays, it's sheer insanity. The GOP is a horrible joke. Its past is so much better than its present. Just read Gore Vidal's classic "Lincoln" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_%28novel%29 or http://www.amazon.com/Gore-Vidals-Lincoln-Sam-Waterston/dp/B00028G75C to get an idea of what this party used to represent.
He's a million miles away from today's GOP. And they haven't got a clue.

Trying To Understand Google Plus

2012-02-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have been using 2 social tools on the Real English® site - Facebook and Google Friend Connect. Now Google has decided to retire Friend Connect. Normally, this would not be a problem since the Facebook page has been working very well as a forum for students and teachers who use the Real English videos and lessons.

Google Friend Connect, which will be dead on March 1st (except for Blogger blogs, according to a rumour) has been more limited in its usefulness, but apparently essential in the sense that students and teachers sign up for either Facebook or Friend Connect, but never both. I wish everyone would simply sign up on my FB fan page. Instead, this old dog has to learn a new trick, namely Google Plus.
Right below, we see the G+ badge which I have added to my site. I wish I could see it as a user, instead of the person trying to create it. If anyone could leave me a comment here, by clicking on the reg "g+" button, and telling me if they see posts similar to those on my Facebook page, I would be very grateful!

Do You Want to Hang Out?

2011-11-16T02:59:00.001-08:00

I am available for "Hangouts" with students on the Real English Google Plus.

How to Use Real English - Our 31st Translation: Slovenian

2011-10-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Anja, we now have the translation of the instructions in 31 different languages. Thank you Anja, and all the other contributors!

See Anja's translation at the top of this post:

http://the-original-real-english.blogspot.com/2010/02/instructions-for-beginners-for-using.html

Anja wrote:
Kako se uporablja Real English®
1 - Pojdite na http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp in izberite lekcijo.
2 - Oglejte si zgornji video, brez podnapisov.
3 - Kliknite "Exercise 1". Sledite navodilom in naredite vse vaje.
4 - Sedaj si oglejte video s podnapisi.

Andrew and Andy - Rolls off the Tongue

2011-04-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

Rolls off the Tongue

Thanks to The English Blog, I discovered an excellent site which deserves additional observations.

The idea is simple and inspired. Look at a cartoon, and then try to figure out which idiom is illustrated by it.

Instead of looking for existing pictures to illustrate meaning like I am constantly doing, the site is made by 2 artists who make original drawings, which are a lot of fun in themselves.

This is not only for students of English. On the contrary, it's made for anyone interested in idioms and a quiz to go along with it. It's over the heads of most English learners, but that's not the point. The ones who are really good at quizzes will find the idiom! Everyone else will simply click on the answer button, or on the button giving more complete information, such as this for the cartoon above:

Idiom: ON A ROLL
Meaning: To be very successful over a period of time
Usage: Informal, spoken general English
Origin: Gambling – rolling dice as in craps. When you continually roll winning combinations. Also based on the idea that an object in motion continues in motion.
Sample Sentence: The hot dog couldn’t shut up; he was really on a roll!

The mind blowing aspect for me was to see that both the literal and figurative meanings were illustrated, and that a multiple choice quiz is even provided. This would help teachers in classes where everyone is stumped.

There's also a Hint button for generating more classroom activity.

Hats off to Andrew and Andy.

From Newsweek: Finland's Educational Success? The Anti-Tiger Mother Approach

2011-04-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

Excellent article:

The "Tiger-Mother" approach to education is common in South Korea, Singapore, and China for example, meaning "work VERY hard to to be the best" while in non-competitive Finland, this type of motivation is completely absent, while Finland nevertheless remains at the top of global testing results along with the "tiger mothers".

This article attempts to explain why.

CNN News for Students - April 5 - with Transcript and Questions

2011-04-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Watch the first 3 minutes of today's CNN News for students

Then:

do the 4 Multiple Choice Questions and
read the Transcript made by CNN. I will try to improve the transcript since it was made in a rush.

Students try to answer the questions BEFORE reading the transcript.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The important point about the first news story concerning 9/11 trials is that:
A- Obama has not kept his promise.
B - Most Americans want terrorist suspects tried in civilian courts, not military courts.
C - Most Americans don't want 9/11 terrorist suspects tried in the USA.

Key word: "try" in a court of law: To examine or hear (evidence or a case) by judicial process, in a trial.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Second news story concerning "Plane Investigation":
A - The Boeing-737 airplane is an old model
B - 79 people were hurt in the accident.
C - Southwest airlines has not found any other airplanes with cracks.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Third news story concerning "Air France Mystery":
A - The flight data recorder (the black box) is damaged.
B - The flight data recorder (the black box) has not been found yet.
C - If they find the black box, it will probably end the mystery.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Fourth news story concerning "Japan Radiation Fears":
A - The combination of a tsunami and earthquake is simply too destructive for an old nuclear plant like this one.
B - Japanese officials say they have several choices, but they prefer to dump millions of gallons of radioactive water into the sea.
C - Japanese officials say they have not yet used a great deal of water to prevent a meltdown.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

What to do: Type the 4 letters which are the answers to the 4 Questions, for example " C - A - B - A" as a comment to this post, and ask any questions or/and let me know if you find a mistake in the transcript :-)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Transcript:

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR:
You're locked in for 10 minutes of commercial-free news headlines! My name is Carl Azuz, it is Tuesday, April 5th and CNN Student News is up and running.

1 - First Up: Change in Plan

AZUZ: The Obama Administration announced yesterday afternoon, that five suspected 9/11 terrorists will get military trials at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Here's why that's significant: before he won the 2008 election, candidate Obama promised he'd close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. And his Justice Department said the terrorism suspects would be tried in civilian courts -- not by military tribunals. Most Americans didn't want those suspects tried in civilian courts. When Attorney General Eric Holder announced the trials at Guantanamo, he criticized Congress for restricting the Justice Department's ability to prosecute the five suspects.

2 - Plane Investigation

AZUZ: Hundreds of flights aboard Southwest Airlines have been canceled over the past few days. It's because one of its Boeing-737 passenger jets had a problem on Friday: this. A hole measuring five feet long and one foot wide. It opened up over passengers' heads on a flight from Phoenix, Arizona to Sacramento, California. The pilots made an emergency landing in Yuma, Arizona, and no one was seriously injured. Southwest grounded 79 of its planes to check them out afterward. The model with the problem is an older one. One that's not made anymore. Southwest found indications of cracks in three other aircraft while dozens of others have been inspected and returned to the flight line.

3 - Air France Mystery

AZUZ: It's not known exactly what caused the crash of an Air France jet two years ago, though. Flight 447 was traveling from Paris to Rio de Janiero, Brazil, when it went down in the southern Atlantic ocean. That was on June first, 2009. And until recently, large parts of the plane had not been found. On Monday, though, a French government minister said search teams located this: what's believed to be the wreckage of the Airbus 330 plane. The 228 people aboard were killed in the crash. And even if the flight data recorder is located, it's possible it won't be working anymore because of corrosion and water pressure. This area of the Atlantic typically has rough and quickly changing weather.

4 - Japan Radiation Fears

AZUZ: This is a shot of radioactive water leaking from one of Japan's damaged nuclear reactors. It's spilling into the Pacific Ocean. Japanese workers have tried a couple different methods to stop this leak; nothing has worked yet. But because so much water has been used to prevent a nuclear meltdown, Japanese officials say they have no choice but to intentionally dump millions of gallons, into the sea. They're hoping a planned silt fence will keep radioactive material from spreading into the ocean. This is just one of the major problems caused by Japan's March 11th earthquake and tsunami -- it killed more than 12,000 people; more than 15,000 are still missing. And Kyung Lah explains how concerns about nuclear contamination are reaching far beyond Japan.

A Must-Read for Teachers

2011-04-04T02:29:00.000-07:00

David Deubelbeiss of EFL Classroom 2.0 has some words of wisdom for all teachers, and not just for those involved in EFL.

Read about his 10 nuggets of truth, explained with his usual clarity and modesty:
"1. Teach students not the subject" to...
"10. There is a difference between “busy work” and “busy working’,"

You will find some of your own experience here, and will be reminded of the best paths to take for most every important teaching context.

It's all here and should simply not be missed!

Real English® News # 1

2011-03-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time reading and watching the news. I thougt it would be a good idea to share my favorite reports, while providing some vocabulary interruptions for students. This is for Upper Intermediate and Advanced levels.

This the first paragraph of the article:

New York Times - Published: March 27, 2011
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and KAREEM FAHIM

TRIPOLI, Libya — American and European bombs battered Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s most important bastion of support in his tribal homeland of Surt on Sunday night, as rebels seeking his ouster capitalized on the damage from the Western airstrikes to erase their recent losses and return to the city’s doorstep.
batter has a few definitions as a verb and a noun.
In this case, it is a verb of course: "to hit heavily and repeatedly with violent blows."
bastion: " A well-fortified position." is the best of several definitons in this case.

ouster: "removal" is a good synonym in this case.

A New Lesson for Beginners: Spelling Test

2011-03-09T03:22:00.000-08:00

The new spelling test for beginners starts here:

http://www.real-english.com/reo/3b/3b-1.htm

The other 2011 lessons recently added include

"Dream Job" and "Describe Your Loved Ones".
These two are for intermediate students.

Real English® is listening

Teach English in the USA - Get a Master's in TESOL or an ESL Certificate

Online Language Learning with Teachers andFree Conversation Exchanges in English & Other Languages

My ESL / EFL Colleagues - # 1: Rachel's English

Simple Instructions for Using the Real English® Lessons in 39 Languages - Updated March 14, 2014

Howard Burns has provided us with the Hebrew translation

כיצד להשתמש REAL ENGLISH ® באתר ולבחור בשיעור http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp עבור לכאן צפה בסרטון בחלקו העליון, ללא כתוביות לחץ על "תרגיל 1". עקוב אחר ההוראות. לעשות את כל התרגילים

Googling for ESL Students and Teachers

I finally figured out how to help online ESL students to help themselves.

Interactive Lessons Based on Original Video

Real English® Mobile

Screencast / Brief Demo ofReal English® Mobile

Real English Mobile Update

Two New Kids on the Block - A New Type of Spontaneous Street Interview for ESL Students

Star Speller

Hi Teachers! My friend, Ryan Detwiler, has just published a new iPhone/iPod App for children learning English. It's his 1st app:

It really warms my heart when I receive messages like this one.

Simple Instructions for Using the Real English Lessons in 34 Languages

What's this blog for?

Trying To Understand Google Plus

Do You Want to Hang Out?

How to Use Real English - Our 31st Translation: Slovenian

Andrew and Andy - Rolls off the Tongue

From Newsweek: Finland's Educational Success? The Anti-Tiger Mother Approach

CNN News for Students - April 5 - with Transcript and Questions

A Must-Read for Teachers

Real English® News # 1

A New Lesson for Beginners: Spelling Test

כיצד להשתמש
REAL ENGLISH ® באתר
ולבחור בשיעור http://www.real-english.com/new-lessons.asp עבור לכאן
צפה בסרטון בחלקו העליון, ללא כתוביות
לחץ על "תרגיל 1". עקוב אחר ההוראות. לעשות את כל התרגילים

Screencast / Brief Demo of
Real English® Mobile