เรียนภาษาอังกฤษกับครูฝรั่ง

Do you know what a “Big Cheese” is? Or a “Big gun”, “Big Shot”, “top dog”?

Well they all have the same meaning and refer to someone in a high position or someone of importance.

Here are two examples.
“ After graduating from university he became a big cheese in the financial world.” Meaning he became an important person in finance.

“Who’s the big cheese around here” meaning who is the boss?

There are many, many other idioms that have a similar meaning but these four are probably the most used.

Learning the synonyms and antonyms of a word can help you to improve your reading and writing skills.
Synonym is a word or phrase meaning the same or nearly the same as another word.
Antonym is a word with the opposite meaning.

You can find useful information about the synonyms and antonyms of a word in a dictionary. Most dictionaries use the following abbreviations:
SYN = synonym (a word with a similar meaning)
OPP = antonym (a word with an opposite meaning)

The synonyms and antonyms of a word are always the same part of speech as the word itself. For example, if the word is an adjective, all its synonyms and antonyms will be adjectives, too

Some examples:
1 cheap (SYN) inexpensive (OPP) expensive
2 famous well known unknown
3 beautiful attractive ugly
4 old elderly young
5 quiet silent noisy
6 large big small

Be careful!
Some words, especially adjectives, can have more than one synonym or antonym. These words are often used in different contexts, so it is important to choose the correct synonym or antonym for the context.

For example: The following are opposites of the word “old” and can’t be interchanged.
ancient (= very old, from a long time ago)
historic (= important in history)

Here are some opposites.
new (book, idea, friend)
modern (art, architecture, life)
young (person)

Happy New Year to everyone.

Do you have any New Year resolutions?

I do. One of them is to update this page more often.

By the way: Notice that it is New Year "resolutions" NOT revolution as I heard the other day.

มติปีใหม่ - New Year Resolution. A resolution is a kind of promise to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad.

A "revolution" is something completely different. A revolution is an attempt by many people to overthrow a government and replace it with someone else.
Revolution - การปฎิวัติ

Today is 15 June 2022 or 15th June 2022 (both are correct).

Now, how do you say this date?
We use ordinal numbers when we talk about dates. Ordinal is when we talk about the position or number order of something.
So, we say FIFTEENTH of June, NOT FIFTEEN June
Say: November FIRST, not November ONE
As you can see from above we sometimes write 15 June and sometimes 15th June.

When we say the date “15 June 2022”, we usually add “the” and “of” to the sentence, so we say “Today is the 15th OF June” or we can say “Today is June THE 15th.”

When we say the year we use the work “oh” for 0.
1905 – Nineteen OH five.
1953 – Nineteen fifty three
For the years 2000 to 2009 we say Two thousand and one, two thousand and nine.
After that date we usually use “TWENTY”.
2019 - TWENTY nineteen.

Once again we have reduced the price of the popular "English for Job Interview Course" . Normal price 600 Baht Now 350 baht.
Are you going to have a job interview in English in the near future?
Are you worried about how to answer questions such as "Why should we hire you?"?
Then you should take a look at this self-study course "English for Job Interview".

English for Job Interviews - Learnenglishinbangkok.com Courses English for job interview. Learn to write a CV in English, introduce yourself in English, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and more.

The English language is constantly changing and every year there are many new words added to the Oxford English dictionary.

Here are just a handful of the latest additions and as you can see the Covid pandemic has had its influence on a few of the words.

Awe walk

Definition: Taking a walk outside and making an effort to look at the things around you
The word “awe” means a feeling of respect. So when someone says they will take an awe walk, it means they’ll notice – and feel grateful for – all the small things around them.
A recent psychological study, found older people who took awe walks felt more positive and less stressed over time.
Example: Today on our awe walk we noticed a tree we’d never seen before.

Doomscrolling

Definition: Reading the news on social media and expecting it to be bad – so much so that you become obsessed with looking at updates
Doomscrolling is when you become obsessed with staying up to date with bad news. It’s a combination of the noun “doom” and verb “scroll”. I think this is something that many of has done recently
Example: I was doomscrolling on Twitter today while reading about Covid-19 cases. I think it’s why I feel so anxious now.

Truthiness

Definition: something that seems true but isn’t backed up by evidence
This became popular when the American comedian Stephen Colbert talked about it on his show in 2005. At first it was meant to be a joke, but it soon caught on and was used by many people.
Example: In this class, you can’t speak truthiness and expect to get away with it.

WFH

Definition: An abbreviation for work (or working) from home

Obviously the pandemic meant that many people had to work from home and this word quickly caught on. It is an important word to know if you become part of an English-speaking workplace this year.
How to use it: I just received a message that he WFH again.

Happy Halloween
October 31 is Halloween or All Hallows eve. This is the time when children don costumes resembling ghouls, skeletons and goblins and play “Trick or treat”. They also play fun games like “bobbing the apple”.
Adults, on the other hand, tend to don more gory costumes when going to parties.
Whatever you are planning to do, I hope you have a great Halloween.
If you would like to know more and know the meaning of some of the above words then click on the link below.

Halloween - Learn English in Bangkok What is Halloween? In this article about Halloween, we will first look at what the festival is about and then look at the history of Halloween. Finally there is a list of Halloween related vocabulary. “When witches go riding, and black cats are seen. The moon laughs and whispers, ’tis near Hallo...

How to Remember New Vocabulary

I sometimes get asked about the best way to learn new vocabulary.
Well, there are many ways and some people prefer one way and some prefer another.
One method that I usually recommend is as follows:
1. Write the word down in your notebook.
2. Write the definition of the word. Preferably in English, but in Thai is ok.
3. Then write the sentence from the text you are reading.
4. Write another sentence of your own. Try to make it relevant to yourself.
5. Look at your notebook the next day and review what you have written.
6. Now try to make another sentence using that word.
7. Review again in a few days time, adding one more sentence.

Here is an example using the word “relevant” in this above.

Steps (1 and 2) Relevant – “closely connected or appropriate to what is being done or considered”.
Step (3) "Write another sentence of your own. Try to make it relevant to yourself”
Step (4)“Some people think that the new Covid restrictions are not relevant to them”

Try this method. I am sure some of you will like it and be able to remember new words more easily.

Are you going to have a job interview in English in the near future?
Are you worried about how to answer questions such as "Why should we hire you?"?
Then you should take a look at our new self-study course "English for Job Interview". This course is available for only 350 baht (normal price 600 baht).

English for Job Interviews - Learnenglishinbangkok.com Courses English for job interview. Learn to write a CV in English, introduce yourself in English, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and more.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.
I hope you all stay safe and enjoy the coming New Year.