Groundhog Day

February 2nd is a small, fun/silly holiday called Groundhog Day.  You may see it mentioned on the news – especially during the weather report.  According to legend:

  • If the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb 2nd, there will be 6 more weeks of winter
  • If he doesn’t see his shadow, there will be an early spring

Did he see his shadow this year?   No, he didn’t see his shadow.  Here’s the ceremony  – in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

There’s also a popular romantic comedy movie called Groundhog Day that you might enjoy watching.

Study to Get Your High School Degree

UPDATE: The registration date has passed, but you can contact places in the area who offer HiSET/GED classes.  [Here’s a listing].

Take free reading, writing, and math classes – to prepare for your high school equivalency test (HiSET)

To register, come to the Fuller Middle School –  31 Flagg Drive in Framingham – at 6:00 PM on Thursday, January 24th

Classes meet every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30 PM

Classes offered by Framingham Adult ESL Plus (508-626-4282)

Note: This is registration for HiSET(GED) and Citizenship classes onlyNO English classes.

Using Dictation to Improve Your SPEAKING

Many people like to practice dictation (listening to someone speak and writing what you hear).  It helps improve your English listening and writing.  You can also use dictation to improve your speaking.

The website englishharmony.com has some suggestions for how to do this:

  1. Listen to a recording of someone speaking.  It’s best if …
    1. you can understand most of what they are saying
    2. they’re talking about something you find interesting
  2. Write down what you hear (pause the recording as needed) and – SPEAK the words out loud as you write them down.
  3. After you finish writing, read your sentence(s) out loud a few times
  4. Then play the recording again and try to read along – out loud – comparing your pronunciation to theirs
  5. Finally, try to tell (out loud) about what you just heard/wrote, looking at your writing as little as possible.  Do this a few times

You can start with some short dictation exercises that we have recommended.

Note: The Englishharmony website offers online training to buy.  Learning English in MetroWest does not make endorsements for any online training programs.

70 Ways to Improve Your English

 Lots of good tips in this updated blog post on UsingEnglish.com.  Suggestions include:

  • Read the lyrics to a song while you sing it
  • Read a book about a story you already know
  • Keep a diary in English, writing about your daily life
  • Change the language on your phone/computer to English
  • Have an English radio station on in the background while you work in your house

and 65 more.  The main idea: Find as many ways as possible to add English into your normal day.