ESL Advices Blog: Best Way To Improve Your English

IELTS Example Topics For Speaking Test

2006-12-13T00:25:00.000-05:00

1. Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women?2. Are famous people treated unfairly by the media ? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives?3. Should developing countries concentrate on Improving industrial skills or should they promote education

Best Tech Videos On The Net

2006-11-16T20:44:00.000-05:00

If you like to attend technical conferences, if you like to listen to smart people, if you like to study new technologies and, of course, if you like to learn English, I'd like to welcome you to my new site: "Best Tech Videos" which is dedicated to hi-quality media content about different technical topics like Web 2.0, AJAX, Web Services, Operation Systems, Databases, etc, etc. So, welcome to my

Idioms and Expressions: "Politically Correctness"

2006-11-15T12:48:00.000-05:00

“Politically correctness” is a term used for language that we use that is least likely to cause “offense,” or cause other people to be angry with you. We talk about being politically correct or “PC” most often when we are talking about racial or cultural groups in the U.S., but it can be used with any group. Most people see being PC as a way to give groups respect so that groups can get along

Idioms and Expressions: “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin

2006-11-04T19:27:00.000-05:00

Benjamin Franklin is one of the most important people in American history. He was one of the “Founding Fathers,” or one of the men who signed the original documents to form the United States and who were leaders in making the U.S. independent of Britain. He was an important “diplomat,” who represented the U.S. in other countries, and shaped how people saw the U.S. through his political activities

Idioms and Expressions: “Take my wife – please!”

2006-10-22T11:48:00.000-04:00

This is a joke from a famous U.S. comedian from the 20th century, Henny Youngman. Youngman’s jokes were usually “one-liners.” A one-liner is a joke that is just one sentence, and often uses an expression that has more than one meaning. Youngman’s most famous one-liner is this one: “Take my wife – please!”The expression “take my wife” can have two meanings. One meaning is “consider my wife” or “

Idioms and Expressions: “There’s a black sheep in every family.”

2006-10-20T05:42:00.000-04:00

The expression, “black sheep,” is commonly used to describe a member of a family who is a “disgrace,” or who does bad things or is a failure. If there is someone in your family who has been in trouble with the police or who gambles and loses all his or her money, you may hear someone say of that person: “He (or she) is the black sheep of that family.”The color black, in the U.S. and in other

Two Ways To "Know" Language

2006-08-27T00:15:00.000-04:00

There are two different ways you can “know” a language. One way is “learning.” Learning is conscious knowledge of a language. This includes knowing the formal rules of grammar, for example, such as the rules for using the present progressive or knowing the difference between a prefix and a suffix. This kind of knowledge is what you usually get from studying in a class or from a grammar book.The

Reading and Listening Are The Keys To Unconscious Communications

2006-08-25T03:11:00.000-04:00

Many English learners believe that they must memorize all or most of the rules of English grammar in order to be able to speak it correctly. Some students and teachers even think that studying grammar is a “shortcut” or faster way to improve someone’s English. Unfortunately, this is usually not true, especially for speaking and listening. When you are speaking or listening, you usually don’t have

Using Voice Of America Podcasts to Improve Listening and Speaking Ability

2006-08-22T23:49:00.000-04:00

Listening to podcasts is a good way to improve your English listening and speaking ability. Some Internet news websites provide special programs for people who are trying to learn English. One of these is called Voice of America’s (VOA) Special English. VOA’s Special English uses easy vocabulary to talk about different news stories in the United States and in other countries. These stories are

"Narrow Listening" - Effective Method of Listening Comprehension Improvoment

2006-08-21T10:46:00.000-04:00

One of the best ways to improve your comprehension of English is to listen to things you can understand. But what should you listen to? Many people believe that they should listen and watch programs about many different subjects to build their vocabulary. It is possible to do that, but there is a problem with this method: the vocabulary is different for each new topic, and you never get to hear

Closed Captioning is an Excellent Way To Increase Comprehension

2006-08-20T13:42:00.000-04:00

Most American television shows and movies on DVD have closed captioning. Closed captioning means that you can read the words that are spoken as you watch the program or movie. The “captions” or words can be seen on the screen. This is an excellent way to increase your comprehension if the speakers are speaking too fast or not clearly enough for you to understand them.There are a few ways to use

Learning English With Comics And Graphic Novels

2006-08-18T20:39:00.000-04:00

Pictures can often help you understand what you are listening to or reading. One good way to improve your everyday English is to read stories with pictures, such as comic books and graphic novels. (Graphic novels are longer books, often for adults, which have pictures and words like a comic book.) Comic books and graphic novels are not just for children, and they are not “too easy” for many

Use Speaking Exchange Technique To Improve Your Spoken English

2006-08-15T00:16:00.000-04:00

One good way to improve your English is to use a conversation or language partner. A language partner is someone who is trying to learn your native or first language, and who speaks the language that you want to learn or improve. When you have a language partner, you both speak one language for a certain amount of time (for example, 15 minutes), then the same amount of time in the other language.

Be an Actor and Learn Language Fast

2006-08-14T13:08:00.001-04:00

To be a good language learner, it helps to think of yourself as an actor. A British writer, Julian Symons, wrote that an actor is someone “who is not embarrassed and awkward on the stage, but finds it the easiest thing in the world to speak words that are not his own.” (1990. Dearth’s Darkest Face. New York: Penguin.)When you’re speaking English, it may sometimes feel like the words are strange

How to use podcasts and other audio records effectively

2006-08-12T23:41:00.000-04:00

How many times should you listen to a podcast or other audio recording? Is once enough? Twice? Three times?Listening to the same recording more than once can be helpful if there are things in the recording that you don’t understand. After listening one time, you get a general idea of what is happening. This helps you understand even more the second time you listen. A third listening may help you

Reading it the key to good grammar, spelling and writing

2006-08-12T01:26:00.000-04:00

Most people know that reading is a good way of improving your vocabulary. But did you also know that reading can help you with your grammar, your spelling, and your writing? When we read, we “acquire” or pick up a lot of information, even information that we are not consciously aware of. Doing a lot of reading in English will also improve your listening comprehension, because you will know more

Relax and your pronounciation will be better

2006-08-11T10:28:00.000-04:00

Many people find pronunciation to be very difficult when speaking another language. One of the most important things is to be relaxed, to stay calm. If you get nervous or excited when you are speaking English, your pronunciation will usually get worse. Do something to relax yourself before speaking, such as breathing in and out a few times to calm yourself down. If you have to give a presentation

Reading Is The Key to Good Writing

2006-08-10T17:43:00.000-04:00

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to do a lot of reading. We know from many years of research that good writers are almost always good readers. Most of what you need to write well – good grammar, organization, spelling – come mainly from reading.Writing isn’t just a result of reading, of course. There are some hints and tips that can improve your writing, and there are skills you

English As A Second Language (ESL) Podcast Resources for Studying English

2006-08-09T01:59:00.000-04:00

Today I decided to write about some of my favourite podcasts which I'm using for improving my English level (listening comprehension). All of these resources are specialized ESL (English as a Second Language) podcasts hosted by English professionals and native speakers. First of all, I want to introduce EslPod.com site. This site and its podcasts are created by the Center for Educational

Educational Podcasts of Universities: MIT and Harvard

2006-08-09T01:57:00.000-04:00

In one of my previous posts I've described interesting podcasts directory on Berkeley University site.After that link was posted on the Digg.com, some new links to educational podcasts from MIT and Harvard Universities has beed posted there in comments: MIT: MIT IS&T: Podcasts at MIT Harvard: Computer Science E-1: Understanding Computers and the InternetOf course, using this resources are not

Berkeley lectures as podcasts

2006-08-09T01:52:00.000-04:00

Last week I've found very interesting podcasts directory on Berkeley University site. There are full lectures podcasts for IT, technical, history and other courses of this university.Most interesting for me (I have subscribed to them) there are CS courses for Computer Science students: CS 162 - Operating Systems and System Programming CS 61A - The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

What kind of American English Do You Speak?

2006-08-09T01:45:00.000-04:00

Do you know, what kind of American English do you Speak? I know :-) 70% General American English 15% Dixie 15% Yankee Midwestern 0% Upper MidwesternWhat Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Welcome To The ESL Advices Blog!

2006-08-08T00:06:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to the ESL Advices Blog! I'm Alexey Kovyrin and I want to present to you my new blog about learning English.For many people around the world, learning English is very important. Unfortunately, there are very few useful, effective sources for learning English. Most people take English classes, which help them up to a certain point. This Blog is designed to help you continue to