Welcome to my English Stuff Blog

Well, this question was very hard to answer many years ago. People used to say we needed a certain period of time to learn English. False! It´s been almost ten years since I started to study English and I can tell I still have so much to learn. Our life is our best school.

I have to confess I had to teach English to really be into it. I had a lot of fun. Every class made investigate and improve my pronunciation and teaching skills. This was one of the best ways to keep my goal of learning English.

Television

Do you have cable TV at home? You are lucky! . Let me tell you, if you do not take advantage of this tool, it would be a shame. This helped so much. The news, in English! , Entertainment, in English! Music, in English! Everything must in English. CNN, ABC, MTV, CBS, BBC and so many others helped to improve my listening.

By the way, do you know what CC means on TV?
This system is a powerful tool to practice your reading and listening. I still use it. can you believe it?

A question, how will I speak a language I cannot understand very clear? The best way to understand the spoken words is by listening. We must learn HOW to listen. It is not a matter of hearing. I can hear people talking, but I wouldn´t have a clue of what they are talking about. You know this point.

Music

Music helps me a lot. When I listen to a British singer, wow!!! or someone from Australia. It is a challenge! I don’t feel disappointed when I do not understand their accent very well. It is the opposite. I have to face new things. Of course, I am not saying we have to listen every noise. I mean some crazy music in the modern life.

Internet

I am subscribed to several newspapers, blogs and forums. These are good tools to practice our reading and reading comprehension as well. What if we find an unknown word or slang? Are we going to write it down and put it on a list? That is OK. I use an offline monolingual dictionary. Just click on it and that`s it.

Using Youtube.com to learn English

(To be continued)

You can bookmark my URL,  Thanks

For many years I have been using a nice tool. This is a monolingual Dictionary. That is what we need !!! If we are learning English, then, we must understand all new vocabulary in English. Don’t you think ?

It is not easy at the beginning, but the key is we do not want depend on our native language.

Here’s a screenshot for you.

As you can see, it has many features . What I like the most is the explanations in the same language. You can also see the difference between a noun and a verb for the word you are looking up.

JUST CRTL + W on a word

From their website:

WordWeb is a free English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows, and can be used to look up words from within almost any program in just one click. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Features of the free version include:

You can visit their Website. Remember you can use the free version.

Free^*. No SpyWare. No AdWare. No viruses. Works off-line.

THIS IS THE LINK : http://wordweb.info/free/

Present perfect & past simple; have & have got; irregular verbs.

1) BrE sometimes uses the present perfect while AmE use the past simple:

BrE: Have you eaten all those biscuits?
AmE: Did you eat all those cookies?

BrE: Have you ever seen the film, Casablanca?
AmE: Did you ever see the movie, Casablanca?

2) BrE uses have got while AmE tends to use have:

BrE: Have you got new training shoes?
AmE: Do you have new sneakers?

BrE: I’ve got some wellington boots you can borrow.
AmE: I have some rubbers you can borrow.

BrE: I haven’t got time for a holiday this year.
AmE: I don’t have time for a vacation this year.

3) There are some differences in irregular verbs between AmE and BrE. Two major differences are:

BrE: dive - dived - dived She dived into the pool.
AmE: dive - dove - dived She dove into the pool.

BrE: get - got - got The baby has got a lot bigger.
AmE: get - got -gotten The baby has gotten a lot bigger.

Improving your English vocabulary is not as difficult as you think. You just need to become familiar with useful English words, phrases and expressions. This post will help you with telling someone that you agree or disagree with their opinion.

Agreeing

“I think you’re right.”
“I agree with you.”

Strong agreement

“I couldn’t agree with you more.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“I agree entirely.”
“I totally agree.”

Agreeing in part

“I agree with you up to a point, but…”
“That’s quite true, but…”
“I agree with you in principle, but…”

Disagreeing

“I’m not sure I agree with you.”
“(I’m afraid) I don’t agree.”
“(I’m afraid) I disagree.”
“(I’m afraid) I can’t agree with you.”
“(I’m afraid) I don’t share your opinion.”

Note that when you disagree with someone, you can often sound more polite by using a phrase such as “I’m afraid…”

Disagreeing strongly

“I don’t agree at all.”
“I totally disagree.”
“I couldn’t agree with you less.”

A: In my opinion income taxes are too high.

B: I agree with you.

A: I think alcohol is just as bad as marijuana.

B: Well, I don’t know about that.

A: The ads encourage children to eat junk food.

B: I can’t go along with you on that point.

A: Do you agree with my opinion?

B: Yes, I do.

A: Do you think this will work out?

B: I doubt it.

A: I think all we have to do now is cut down on our expenses.

B:  I agree with you.

A: Let me get down to the main business.

B: Okay.

A: Are you for or against this plan?

B: I’m for it.

Activities:

1) Practice with a partner.

2) New vocabulary and expressions

You can practice this with your classmates, friends and family. Enjoy !!!!!!

• What is the most dangerous thing in your home? How can it be made less dangerous?
• What is the most dangerous thing in your home for a child? How can it be made less dangerous?
• What is the most dangerous thing in your home for an elderly person? How can it be made less dangerous?
• What dangers can be found in the kitchen that can cause accidents?
• What can be done to prevent kitchen accidents?
• What can a parent do to childproof a kitchen?
• What dangers can be found in bathrooms that can cause accidents?
• What can be done to prevent bathroom accidents?
• What can a parent do to childproof a bathroom?
• What dangers can be found outside the home in the yard that can cause accidents?
• What can be done to prevent yard accidents?
• What can a parent do to childproof the yard?
• What other dangers can be found in a home in bedrooms, laundry rooms, garages, and living areas?
• What can be done throughout the house to prevent accidents?
• What can a parent do to childproof the different rooms of the home?
• Where at home would you put your first aid kit? What would you have in it?
• Where are these items found in a house, why could they be dangerous, to whom could they be dangerous, and what could someone do to lessen the danger they present?
  • hot pan/pot
  • hot curling iron
  • knife
  • window
  • iron
  • medicines
  • gasoline
  • pool
  • insecticides
  • natural gas
  • balcony
  • toilets
  • staircase
  • stove/oven
  • stool/ladder
  • yard tools
  • fireplace
  • cellar /attic
  • bathtub
  • bad dog
  • tall pieces of furniture
  • swing set / playground
  • very clean glass sliding door
  • electronic equipment
  • cleaning supplies
  • lake/retention pond
  • loose carpet on slippery tile floor
  • glass table or sharp edged table
  • hairdryer
  • bric-a-brac
• What do you need to do if…
  • you cut your finger preparing food?
  • you fall down and can not move a limb?
  • your child drinks a poisonous liquid? (discuss syrup of ipecac)
  • the toilet is flooding the bathroom?
  • a pan on the stove is on fire?
  • a neighbor’s dog is growling at you?
  • our child falls off a chair and is bleeding?

  Thanks to Susan N. Hughes who suggested this topic and contributed the first 40 questions in January 2005. iteslj.org

A: Can you help me? My car has run into a ditch.

B: Oh, you’re bleeding a lot. I’ll phone for an ambulance.

A: Police Department.

B: Hello. A gun fight is going on here in the Owl Cafe.

A: What’s wrong?

B: I’ve got to report a car missing.

A: Police Operator 117. (you can use your country emergency phone numbers)

B: I want to report a fire.

A:  Where is it?

B:  McLeod factory on Meridian Street. ( use known places )

A: He’s absolutely boiling!

B: Bring him right into the examining room.

A: How did it happen anyway?

B:  I was checking the city map at the corner and I slipped and fell.

A: What’s going on?

B: I’m not sure, but there seems to have been a traffic accident.

Activities:

1) Practice with a partner.

2) New vocabulary and expressions

¡Profesor! , ¡Tradúzcame esto al español! Por favor. Dice el estudiante. ¡Profesor! ¿Puede traducirnos esta canción al español?

El profesor le dice a toda la clase: “El próximo domingo me traen traducida esta lectura al Español”

¿Cuál es el problema? Primero, preguntémonos. ¿Estamos estudiando para ser traductores o es que queremos hablar Ingles? No podemos depender de un idioma para aprender otro. Cuando nosotros comenzamos a hablar nuestra lengua materna, verdad que no necesitábamos antes haber estudiado otro idioma, ósea no dependíamos de otro, para aprenderla.

Lo mismo pasa ahora, en muchas escuelas los profesores de Ingles yerran al dar la clase de Ingles en Español. ¿Pueden creerlo?

Yo soy de los que opinan fuertemente que para aprender un nuevo idioma, como el Ingles. No deberíamos depender todo el tiempo de nuestra lengua materna. Es un grave error. ¿Por qué?

Bueno, ¿Qué pasa si con el pasar de los años, seguimos pensando en términos de nuestra lengua materna, antes de proferir algo en Ingles?

¡Estaríamos dependiendo siempre de ella y no debe ser así!

Saludos y disculpas por escribir esto en Español. Sigamos con el Ingles.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=0W1VY4b9IQQ]

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

 :)