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English Now Bilingual educator, business consultant, and storyteller—helping people and companies communicate with clarity, grow with purpose, and thrive with resilience.

"WE DON'T SEE THE WORLD AS IT IS,
WE SEE IT AS WE ARE"
Anais Nin Mr. R.J. Alcazar came to the USA following the government change in his native country, Cuba. After serving in the US Army in the 1960s, he began a sales and marketing career. First within the pharmaceutical industry and then went on to a long-term career in the insurance industry. Starting as an agent, he went on to manage his agency. After, he was asked to join an International Life Insurance Association, where he became a VP of International Markets and acted as a market consultant and sales trainer. He covered 48 countries around the globe. In 1985 he was contracted by a banking consortium to start a retirement insurance company in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On returning to the USA, he created a consulting agency and worked with several Latin American life insurance companies. His start as an ESL Tutor was in 1972, in New York City. Although this was a part-time situation, the "ESL bug" stayed put. After a few health issues that called for a lifestyle change, he returned to ESL training and tutoring in 2006, leading in 2017 to the creation of "English Now LLC" an English teaching and tutoring service dedicated to students who need that "extra" push to improve conversational and writing fluency.

10/19/2026

BEYOND THE LANGUAGE
Part One: Why We Begin
People learn a new language for many reasons. Some do so because they want to. Others because they have to.

For some, it is an opportunity for professional advancement. For others, it is a matter of survival, of finding employment, providing for their families, or learning to function in a society whose language and customs are unfamiliar.

But beneath these practical reasons lies something we do not always recognize.
We communicate because we want our needs to be understood. But we also communicate to let others know who we are, what we believe, what we have experienced, and what we hope to accomplish.

Through communication, we attempt to open the world within us to the world around us. We want to share our experiences, thoughts, and aspirations with others and, in turn, discover and understand the world they have to share with us.

And when we cannot do that, something important is missing.
Not necessarily from who we are, but from our ability to share that person with the world around us. We may begin to feel diminished, questioning our abilities, our confidence, and even our capacity to move forward.

Yet our inability to express ourselves does not diminish the value of what we have to say, or the experiences and knowledge we carry within us.

As important as communication is, understanding why it matters so much to us personally is just as important.

What drives our desire to learn? What do we hope to accomplish? What opportunities, relationships, or possibilities are we trying to reach?

Before we can fully commit ourselves to learning another language, we should understand what we hope that language will allow us to become.

FINAL NOTES:
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English Now Group LLC | Beyond the Language

10/10/2026

If we are unhappy with our lot at some point, we should never ask the “Why Me?” question.
Why? The answer is more than simple:
I am where I am today (wherever that may be) because at some point I knowingly made the decisions that brought me here.

10/10/2026

Welcome to our “Thoughts and Quotes” corner.
Directly from our English Now home to you.

The most valuable real estate you’ll ever come across is called “Room for improvement?”

Why?

It’s your capacity to grow! We don’t improve by accident. We improve on purpose. “Room for improvement” isn’t a criticism; it’s a compass.

It points to the next small, specific upgrade you can make -not someday- but today. Skip the grand reinvention. Make one extra effort, practice pronunciation for five minutes, walk ten more minutes, ask one better question.

Progress loves clarity. Pick one skill. Define one metric. Set a tiny daily target you can’t wiggle out of. Track it -publicly, if possible.
When you miss a day, don’t write a dramatic excuse; write a dot on the calendar and start again.

Consistency beats intensity because improvement compounds. Ten steady steps outrun one heroic leap followed by a long nap.

Also, upgrade your environment. Put that book you want to finish next to your coffee cup. Lay out your walking shoes, ready to be worn and used. Keep the script on your desk. Make the right action the easy action; you don’t need permission to get better. You need a plan you’ll honestly carry out.

Start small. Start now. Then show up again tomorrow. That’s how an “empty room” fills up with “results.”

Ask yourself … What’s your 1% improvement for today?

Drop it in the comments.

FINAL COMMENTS
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10/09/2026

Learning to say “NO” when this is the right answer, not to give up, not to be afraid of failure, and not to be afraid of what others will say if we fail, are probably some of the most important lessons we can learn in life. And, the earlier we do, the better we will be.

10/07/2026

BEYOND GRAMMAR #10
THINKING IS THE FIRST LANGUAGE
Before we speak English, Spanish, Tagalog, French, or any other language, something else happens first.

We think.
We form an intention.
We recognize an idea.
We connect it to something we already know.
We decide what we want another person to understand.
Only then do we reach for words.

This is why learning another language cannot ultimately be reduced to vocabulary lists, grammar rules, and translations. Those things are necessary. They give us the structure and the tools. But they are not the destination.

A learner may know the definition of every word in a sentence and still misunderstand what the speaker means. Another may make a grammatical mistake and communicate the idea perfectly.

Why?
Because language is not simply the transmission of words. It is the transmission of thought.

That is also why fluency begins to change when we stop asking:
“How do I say this in English?”
and begin asking:
“How would this idea be expressed in English?”

The difference seems small. It isn't. The first question begins with another language and searches for equivalent words.

The second begins with the idea itself. And that is where real communication begins.

Over the past nine principles, we have talked about vocabulary, context, translation, concepts, grammar, listeners, communication, and culture. But all of them ultimately lead back to the same place:

Thought comes first. Language gives it form. Communication gives it life.

That is why the goal of learning English should never be simply to speak English correctly. The greater goal is to think clearly, understand deeply, and communicate meaningfully.

Because before English...
before any language...
before grammar...
before words...

Thinking is the first language.
It generates clarity.
It is the only language for effective communication.

English Now
English Beyond Grammar™


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God Bless!

09/30/2026

Recognizing that the past may inform us but cannot fully explain the present fosters intellectual humility. It reminds us that knowledge is partial, experience is limited, and certainty should be treated with caution.

In the end, wisdom may not consist of knowing many answers.

It may come from understanding the many answers we do not yet have.

09/28/2026

YOU MAY KNOW MORE ENGLISH THAN YOU THINK.
For the past several weeks, we have been talking about something that has been at the center of the English Now approach for some years: Learning English is about much more than learning words and grammar.

And that raises an interesting question:
What happens when you already KNOW English... but still have difficulty USING it?
• You understand English.
• You know vocabulary.
• You know grammar.
• You can read it.
• You can probably follow most conversations.

But then someone asks you a question ... and suddenly you are searching for words, translating in your head, or trying to construct the perfect sentence before you answer.

Sound familiar?
The problem may not be how much English you know. The problem may be the distance between the English you know and the English you can use naturally.

That is the idea behind something we have been developing at English Now:
ENGLISH BEYOND WORDS™

A different approach for people who already have a foundation in English but want to move beyond translating words and sentences toward understanding and communicating ideas and concepts.

We have also developed a short EBW Communication Check to help identify where that gap may be occurring.
• It is not an English test.
• No grammar exercises.
• No right or wrong answers.
• Just a few questions about how you actually use English.
WORD → SENTENCE → CONCEPT → COMMUNICATION

Interested in taking the Communication Check?
Send me an email with “EBW” to

If you live in the US, let me know from which state you are answering or from which country, if you do not live in the US, and I will send you the EBW Communication Check.

English Beyond Words™
Moving beyond knowing English toward communicating in English.

09/25/2026

There are many things we discuss in class. Including the question...
How do you know when you are ready to start something?

GUESS WHAT ...
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE READY TO BEGIN
We always question whether we are truly ready to “make that move” we have wanted to make for a while. Perhaps it relates to a goal we have, a desire, a wish.

How many times have we, instead of acting, preferred to sit back and wait a bit longer, just to make sure that everything is perfectly in place? As this happens, time keeps going forward, and we keep falling further behind.

The opportunity moves on, without looking back in our direction.

But what does “being ready” mean? Probably something different to each of us. Can anyone be -ever- truly and fully prepared to enter an unknown road? There will always be variables, changes, unforeseen issues and obstacles, as well as welcome unasked-for help.

Is readiness a state of mind? Or is it an illusion that eases our fear and our hesitation to take on what we may believe is an unattainable goal, or at best a very difficult situation?

If we have the needed knowledge and the desire, many of the practical handling issues will be resolved as we go. Why? Because with every step we take forward, that unknown becomes increasingly familiar, and the decisions made become more and more certain.

Professional experience comes to us in the same manner. Confidence grows with every bit of experience acquired, with every difficult situation faced, with every mistake made, with every moment in which a decision must be -and is- made.

Choosing to change directions as a professional presents the same challenges. This change -with very rare exceptions- begins to happen gradually. No one wakes up one morning and decides they are now a teacher, a consultant, a leader, a business owner.

The evolution begins with an idea, then it is nurtured with knowledge, interest, and with many small pieces needed to -eventually- have a fully formed image of what we can do and be. It is the process of completing that image, that which allows us to eventually become what we envisioned we could be.

Therefore, the important question isn't “Am I ready?”

The important question is:
“What can I begin doing now that will make me more ready to move forward on this chosen road?”

FINAL NOTES
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God Bless!

09/23/2026

BEYOND GRAMMAR – THE ENGLISH NOW PRINCIPLES

“CRACK THE WINDOWS???” 😳
Sometimes English gives you a lesson when you least expect it. This afternoon, one of my students, who drives Uber part-time, told me about something that happened during a ride.

Her passenger asked:
“Could I crack the windows a bit?”
My student immediately thought:
CRACK THE WINDOWS??

For a moment, she pictured exactly what the words seemed to say: actually cracking the glass! 😄

Of course, the passenger was simply asking for her permission to open the windows slightly to let some air in. And there, in one innocent Uber ride, was a perfect example of something we discuss constantly in class:
You cannot always translate words. You have to translate meaning.

The word crack can mean to break something:
“I cracked my phone screen.”
But in the expression “Crack the window,” it means: Open it just a little. The words did not change.
The context changed the message.

This is exactly why learning another language requires more than vocabulary and grammar. If we process every word individually and translate it literally, sometimes we understand the sentence...

…and completely miss the message.

Fortunately, no Uber windows were harmed during today's English lesson. 😄

Language carries ideas.
Context carries meaning.
Fluency begins when we learn to hear the message, not just the words.

FINAL NOTES:
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English Now Group LLC
Communication Is Power.

09/18/2026

WELL ... It is Friday ... again!

THE POWER OF FREE THINKING
This is not so much a quote as it is an outpouring that comes from the experience of many years of traveling around the world, meeting people in many different countries and under very different circumstances. It is also, I have no doubt, the product of having been deprived of my birth country, friends, and family at an early age.

The idea behind my parents’ decision to send me away was to give me freedom and an opportunity to, at least, try.

I don’t know whether this somewhat convoluted road I have called life has produced what they expected, nor whether I have achieved my “potential,” whatever that might be. Let’s just call it a work in progress. To the very end. Who is to say anything to the contrary?

Each one of us has the right, better yet, truly an obligation, to think independently, to believe, and to act upon whatever each chooses to espouse. Yes, with the understanding that harming others is NOT included in that freedom of thought and action.

I lived as a young man in a country where repression became the norm. I can also claim to have witnessed similar behavior in several countries I had the opportunity to visit, where people were not allowed to freely disagree with those who governed them.

I have also seen educational systems geared toward teaching young minds to follow rather than to question. This troubles me perhaps most of all, because when young minds are taught not to question, one or two generations can gradually lose the habit of independent thought.

If you were taught to think, teach your children the same. If you did not have that good fortune, then learn with your children and lead them by example. Teach them to trust their own thoughts, to question, to try, to experiment. Most of all, teach them not to follow blindly.

Teach them that it is OK to listen, process, question, and even go against the grain. Teach them to raise their voices and to do what they, after considering the circumstances and consequences,
believe is the right thing to do, even when others tell them it is not.

Does this mean their decisions will always be right? Certainly not.

But the working understanding should be that it is often better to err through action than to err through omission. A child who, with the guidance of the adults around him or her, learns to correct mistakes that come from trying will accumulate a much broader base of knowledge and understanding than one who, because of fear or repression, is never given the opportunity to make mistakes or simply to think differently.

Simple life math:
No mistakes = no learning. No learning = limited potential.

My intent is simple: we must provide an environment for our children in which they feel free to wonder and to try; where they are empowered to ask difficult-to-answer questions and develop ideas they can evolve into action; to err, to fail, to try again, and to regain their way.

To learn.

Growing minds must understand that it is not only OK to think freely and express their thoughts without fear; it is vital that they learn to do so. Their future lives, and the lives of those who will come after them, may hang in the balance.

And yes, we as adults must learn and grow alongside them. It is never too late to learn, practice, question, and evolve within our own parameters.

This state of mind, free from fear and falsely imposed limits, may be one of the greatest legacies we can leave those we love.

FINAL NOTES:
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Be Well! God Bless!

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28277

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