When your students keep mixing up borrow vs. lend, they’re not just being careless—it’s actually a language pattern. Many languages—such as Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Mandarin—use one word to mean both “borrow” and “lend.” So when students speak English, they’re not guessing… they’re translating. Once I understood this, I stopped…
The 30-Day English Challenge is designed to improve your speaking, writing, vocabulary and reading, and boost your confidence and fluency. By completing a simple language task every day for 30 days, you’ll be on your way to better English… fast! Can I really improve my English in 30 days? Yes,…
If you teach ESL in the U.S., you’ve probably seen the headlines about Florida’s new English-only driving test requirements. The driving test is now English Only — no translations, no interpreters. Newcomers and immigrant learners don’t just need conversational English. They also need functional, practical language-something they can hook their…
As if you needed another reason to love the fab four… Here’s one more: Beatles songs are a gold mine for teaching grammar. The lyrics are simple yet powerful, with clear pronunciation and catchy melodies. Beatles songs for ESL can take your sad grammar… and make it better! The Beatles…
You've probably seen it lurking in words like enough, through, and sigh. You might try your best to pronounce it, or, you might avoid it completely. Through? Furlough? Cough. Ugh. What is that sound?!
You may be surprised to learn that even advanced students make mistakes with basic pronunciation. What about you? In this post, we’ll review 10 basic English words that you might be mispronouncing in ESL. Ready? Let’s go! Too Many Syllables Learning English can be tricky—especially when it comes to pronunciation.…
The prepositions in, on, and at are some of the most confusing words in English. Even advanced learners mix them up because they don’t always translate directly from other languages. The good news? They aren’t random. There are clear patterns you can follow. When you organize prepositions by topic —…