Singing along with music is a very good way to practice your English pronunciation. Here is a large collection of songs on a website called esl-bits.net. Many of the songs are slow, and easy to sing with. Each song has a separate page, with the music and words (lyrics), so that you can listen and sing too.
Note: On some smartphones, you may have to close the music window so you can see the words.
Don’t say:
– I need go home.
– I needed buy a new car. – or – I needed bought a new car.
– She wants speak better English.
– I want find a good job.
Say this:
– I need to go home.
– I needed to buy a new car.
– She wants to speak better English.
– I want to find a good job.
Need and want are not the only verbs like this, Here’s a list of others.
— Thanks to Laurie for this article —
Volunteering is a great way to meet people in your community, practice speaking English and use your skills to help others. You decide when and how often you can help. Below are some of the many ways you can lend a hand in Framingham. If you don’t live in or near Framingham, there will likely be similar organizations in your own community that can use your help.
A tongue twister is a set of words that are difficult to pronounce together – especially when you try to say them quickly. They are fun to try to speak, and can help improve your pronunciation.
For example, try saying this (slowly at first, and then faster):
Rubber baby buggy bumper
Or this one – to practice the TH sound:
Theopolis the thistle sifter thrust a thistle through his thumb.
Here is a collection of many more tongue twisters – easy, medium, and difficult.
— Thanks to Ekaterina for this article —
Two regional high schools have started registration for evening English classes for the Spring 2017 semester.
You Know you LOVE THEM!!
Here is information about visiting, including hours and prices. Some libraries in our area, including Natick, offer museum passes for discount admission.
— Thanks to June for this article —
Last week there was an article about Regular Verbs and Their Spelling. The main spelling rule is that the past tense of all regular verbs ends with -ed.
However, the -ed ending is pronounced differently in different words…
worked – sounds like workt (just one syllable)
cleaned – sounds like cleand (just one syllable)
started – sounds like startid (2 syllables)
Monday January 16th, is the Martin Luther King Day holiday. Martin Luther King spent his life working for equal rights for African Americans, and all Americans. He was an important civil rights leader and minister whose work helped lead to new laws against racial discrimination.
King’s most famous speech was at a protest rally for equal rights – in front of 250,000 people in Washington DC in 1963, which became known as the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Here’s a link to the entire 17 minute speech on YouTube.