Elephant English

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Lots of my students ask about how to improve their accent or pronunciation. It's usually the most difficult thing to change.

And I almost always respond in the same way: Slow down! Don't talk so fast. You will definitely improve your intelligibility by speaking just a little bit slower.

Just now I had a misunderstanding in a cafe that could have been avoided if the lady taking my order had spoken more slowly (and more clearly).

I ordered a small cappuccino.

She said: Small cappuccino, with or blah blah blah?

And I said: Yes, a small cappuccino. (I had no idea what she said to be honest.)

And she repeated what she had said before, and I still didn't understand. (And I can understand a lot of accents.)

A queue of people starting building up behind me.

I said: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

And in a very exasperated voice, she said, very slowly as if I couldn't hear "Do you want chocolate on your cappuccino?"

If she had spoken more slowly, I would have understood "with or without chocolate". But I didn't, and in the end, she had to do a lot of explaining for me to understand her message.

So... take your time and speak slowly if your "accent" is strong, and you will ultimately get your message across faster!

If you have ever wondered about how English evolved, this is a great explanation, with lots of good visuals.

25 maps that explain the English language From Beowulf to Wikipedia, here's how English grew, spread, and changed.

I saw a GREAT film last night, and I wanted to let everybody know about it.

It's called "x+y".

It's a bittersweet love story about a young boy who is a maths genius and is also on the spectrum.*

It is easy to understand and will be great practice for your English. I highly recommend it!

Here's the synopsis:

"When I am around her my brain works differently."

Preferring to hide in the safety of his own private world, Nathan struggles to connect with people, often pushing away those who want to be closest to him, including his mother, Julie.

Without the ability to understand love or affection, Nathan finds the comfort and security he needs in numbers and mathematics. Mentored by his unconventional and anarchic teacher, Mr Humphreys, it becomes clear that Nathan’s talents are enough to win him a place on the British team competing at the highly revered International Mathematics Olympiad. Being part of a team and one which has a real chance of winning seems like it could change Nathan’s life forever.

But when the team go to train in Taiwan, Nathan is faced with a multitude of unexpected challenges, not least the new and unfamiliar feelings he begins to experience for one of the Chinese competitors, the beautiful Zhang Mei.

From England to Taipei and back again, this inspiring and life-affirming story follows the unconventional and hilarious relationship between student and teacher, whose roles are often reversed, and the unfathomable experience of first love – when you don’t even understand what love is.

* ON THE SPECTRUM: Sometimes “autism” really means “autism spectrum disorder” When people use the term autism, it can mean one of two things. They may actually be referring to autistic disorder, or classical autism. But autism is often used in a more general sense to refer to all autism spectrum disorders.
Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfFjzOjsSMo

X + Y - Official UK Trailer Watch the first official UK trailer for X + Y, coming to UK cinemas 13 March 2015. Directed by Morgan Matthews X + Y features Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, an...

Are you taking the Cambridge First in July or August?

Would you be interested in doing a couple of FREE online speaking classes to practice the Speaking Paper with another student?

If so, please send me a private message on Facebook or send me an email: [email protected]

--- Criteria for participation ---

1. You must be registered for the Cambridge FCE in July or August.

2. You must have availability on at least two of the following days:
Friday 27 May 12:00
Tue 7 June 12:00
Thu 9 June 10:00
Tue 21 June 12:00
(All times are London times.)

3. You need to have a solid understanding of the parts of the Speaking Paper.

Here is a good video from Cambridge TV and a link to the examiner's script and comments.

Watch Victoria and Edward doing the FCE Speaking Paper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdeZp0n0JHw

Examiner's comments:
www.cambridgeenglish.org
CAMBRIDGEENGLISH.ORG

Cambridge English: First (from 2015), Victoria and Edward Read examiner's comments herehttp://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/173977-cambridge-english-first-speaking-test-examiner-comments.pdf This includes comment...

I say all of these things all the time. I had no idea they came from Shakespeare!

My friend Mary Kavanagh and I are starting up a free English language learning website, with a focus on listening and Irish culture. Each episode consists of two interviews with fun, interactive activities to complete after you listen.

Some episodes will feature a conversation between Mary and me in which we focus on a specific aspect of Irish culture - history, travel, food, or pubs...

In other episodes our conversation will focus on an idiomatic expression or a tricky phrasal verb.

And then there’s the very best part!

Most episodes will also feature an interview with a student who is in Ireland learning English. We’ll be asking them all kinds of questions and hearing what they have to say about living in Ireland!

Every conversation or interview will have an interactive transcript, so you can read along while you listen and click on words you don't know to see what they mean.

These are podcasts that we are writing and recording ourselves, so we welcome suggestions and requests!

Our first episode is now available (text and audio) at

www.juiceboxenglish.com

Check it out, share it with your friends, and please send us your feedback.
If you are interested in learning English as a foreign language for free, or know anyone who is interested, please like and share our page:

https://www.facebook.com/juiceboxenglish/

Juicebox English Improve your English with Juicebox English videos giving tips on grammar and vocabulary.

A great opportunity to learn about Irish history and practice your listening and reading skills at the same time...

As I am sure you know, the 100-year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising is almost upon us, and over the next few weeks, I encourage you to make an effort to seek out information and learn as much about this pivotal moment in Irish history as you can.

Tonight I've just finished watching Part 2 of the three-part documentary on the 1916 Easter Rising, produced by RTE.

Narrated by Liam Neeson and simply titled "1916", the documentary gives an overview of the events of the Easter Rising, examining its impact on Ireland and around the world.

Part 1, which aired last week, is now on RTE Player and will be available for the next two weeks. I imagine Part 2 will be up shortly, and I think Part 3 will air on TV next week.

You can find Part 1 here:

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/1916-30003868/10528888/

Part 2 (which is the only part I've watched so far) focuses on the actual events of the 6-day battle in late April, 1916. It does an excellent job of capturing the emotion of the battles, and it has provided me with a much better understanding of how events unfolded around the city during those fateful days.

By mixing footage of modern Day Dublin with historical photographs, recorded interviews and maps, you really get a sense of how, when and where things happened, and who the people were and how they felt. Tomorrow, when I am out and about in Dublin, I have a feeling I will view the city with different eyes. I highly recommend watching it.

You can also learn more about the Rising online. RTE have done an outstanding job building a beautifully-designed website that is dedicated to exploring the Rising. It's visually stunning and full of interesting information, with links to video, audio, maps and clearly-written articles.

You can find it here:

http://1916.rte.ie/

There will be exhibitions and talks all over Dublin (and around the country, I imagine) in the coming weeks and months. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the history of your adopted country, a history that is still very fresh and very present, and all around us.

I'll be interested in hearing what you think, and as always, please feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested.

Kind regards,

Brandon

PS: BTW, this is a very good example of how to write a REVIEW at the C1/C2 level.

Watch 1916 Season 1, Episode 1 online New series. Landmark documentary giving an overview of the Easter Rising, looking at its impact in Ireland and around the world, and the crucial role played by Irish America.

Hi guys,

This is important.

I’m seeing a lot of people struggling with question formation.

Pam Evans commented about this in response to a recent post, I wrote about it a couple of months back, and I thought it was worth posting as its own topic.

Let’s fix this, once and for all!

In a nutshell, if you are a Spanish speaker and you want to say: “Alguien tiene…?” or “Alguien sabe…?” this is how you start these questions.

DOES ANYBODY HAVE…?
DOES ANYONE KNOW…?

DO ANY OF YOU HAVE…?
DO ANY OF YOU KNOW…?

Here are some recent examples, with corrections below. I’ve marked incorrect questions with an asterisk.

1. *Someone has the vocabulary book for B2?
>>> Does anybody have the vocabulary book for B2?

2. *Somebody knows some website to watch series with subtitles in English?
>>> Does anybody know any websites to watch series with subtitles in English?

3. *Someone knows how I can check my exam when I am practising all the parts except speaking and writing since I can't check them myself.
>>> Does anybody know how I can check my exam…

4.*Anybody have exercises about the passive and the conditionals??
>>> Does anybody have exercises about the passive and the conditionals?

5. *Any of you lives in Peru?
>>> Do any of you live in Peru?

If you are having trouble with Question Formation, I would highly recommend revising this until you "have it down pat." It's basic, it's necessary, and it will plague you for the rest of your English-speaking life if you don't correct it now. The most accessible book is Raymond Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use (A1/A2 - with the red cover).

Units 43-48 offer a good revision of question formation, as do many of the earlier chapters which focus on specific verb tenses. Don't be ashamed of using an A1/A2 book. Use it to "brush up on" question formation, and always double-triple check your questions for the correct word order.

I’ve also uploaded two PDFs to my public folder on Dropbox. These give really clear examples of how to form questions with all the major verb tenses.

You can download my PDFs here. Feel free to share them!

http://bit.ly/1QIKbJO

Question formation Shared with Dropbox