Happy New Year!
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Events at Your Public Library
There’s always something happening at the library – stories, music, and other activities for kids; movies and presentations for adults. Almost all are free, in English, and people are usually very friendly there. You can visit libraries in other towns too – not just the one where you live.
Check for events at these libraries:
Ashland, Boston (main branch), Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Marlborough, Milford, Natick, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sudbury, Wayland, Wellesley, Westborough
Other cites/towns – you can Google the [name of your town] and “public library events” (or calendar).
For example, in Google: Somerville public library events
Quizlet – House Vocabulary
Merry Christmas
10 year old Kaylee Rogers and school choir from Northern Ireland.
Here are the lyrics…
Continue reading
YouTube – Finding English Grammar Lessons
There are SO many videos on YouTube that can help you improve your English grammar (and much more!). Search for a video lesson about anything you want to study. You can start by searching for: beginner English grammar.
You will see many choices for videos. Which one should you watch?
Look at: 
- How much time the video takes – 5 minutes? 30 minutes? 2 hours?
- How many people watched (viewed) the video
(1.3M = 1.3 Million = 1,300,000)
(14K = 14 Thousand = 14,000) - When was the video put on YouTube – 2 weeks ago? 8 years ago?
If you have a problem with something specific, watch some lessons on that. On YouTube, search for English past tense (or ESL past tense); or ESL verb to be; or ESL auxiliary verbs; or quoted and reported speech (direct and indirect speech).
When you find a video you like, you can look for more videos by the same people. Many people have a “channel” – a group of their videos – that you can go to on YouTube. Examples of some good YouTube channels for English learners are: Jennifer ESL, EngVid, and Rachel’s English.
The Phrasal Verbs Machine
“Pick up”… “Break down” … “Come back”
These are all phrasal verbs. They are very common in English. The Phrasal Verbs Machine is a fun, free little app that helps you learn some of these on your smartphone or tablet.
Thank You For…
Don’t say:
– Thank you for help me.
– Thank you for come to see me.
– Thanks for let me know.
Say this:
– Thank you for helping me.
– Thank you for coming to see me.
– Thanks for letting me know.
Remember:
When you use “thank you for”, with some kind of action (doing something), use -ing.
Thank you for inviting me … dancing with me … not smoking … listening to me …
The Times in Plain English
Do you like to read the news? The Times in Plain English is a free website with newspaper articles that are re-written in easier English. You can translate stories if you need help understanding.
