Things Argentinians say
Six months ago, I wrote about what I had learnt from Argentinians. After spending a year in Argentina, I have finally stopped eating dulce de leche every day, I use un par to describe...
Tagged: English
Dangerous Topics: A guide for English students to not offend anyone
I always tell my students not to be afraid; that the only way to learn is to make mistakes from time to time. This is something that is equally, if not more important for...
Interesting Word Origins
Most words are very old. Even though English (in the way we speak it today) has only existed for around 300 years, the roots of most words can be traced back for thousands...
How to be polite in extreme circumstances.
Admit it. Sometimes, you want to tell a customer how annoying they are. You are only human, and your urge to point out stupidity is a completely normal human response. However, you...
“I was fast asleep with the window wide open!” Single-use intensifiers.
While I was teaching an English class recently, I described a car as being “brand new”. A student asked me what “brand” means in this context, and I said “Very”; like “very new”....
New Years Resolutions 2018
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people make New Year’s Resolutions; a promise to oneself to stop or start a habit for the month of January, or, hopefully, a lot longer. People quit smoking,...
Christmas food in six continents
Last week we looked at some special Christmas traditions from all over the globe. Today, we will examine in more detail one thing that most people would agree is an important part of Christmas...
Some common useful expressions
One of the hardest parts of learning a language are ready-made expressions. Those expressions are even more difficult when they don’t make any obvious sense! To help, I have made a collection of some...
How to Sell Yourself
Whether you are writing a CV, an application letter to a potential employer or an internet dating profile, you have to know how to sell yourself. Coming up with something interesting, unique and fresh...
Ladies, Gentlemen, and common people! When to use formal and informal language.
Excuse me sir, would you care for a game of football? Hey, mate! Wanna play footy? As an English teacher, I occasionally hear my students use words or phrases that are either too formal...
