English Teacher Janie

Summer intensive courses in the comfort of your holiday accommodation. You can study English online with me whilst relaxing on holiday. Providing you have a good wifi connection, classes offered on Skype or Zoom. Happy holidays!!

If you’re new to Skype there is nothing to fear! It’s the same as any other one to one lesson; just no actual, physical contact. First you download Skype onto your P.C., after making sure that you have quite a strong Internet connection, generally at least 25 Mbps. You can do a speed test using OOKLA. I send any materials that we’re going to use in class by email a few days before to give students time to print, if necessary. Students can either make notes during the lesson of any new things that come up. I write notes in the Skype text box, which students can refer back to. The student can also record the lesson either with audio or video, which the student can always refer back to and could be especially useful for practicing pronunciation. Give it a try!
Hope it helps!

A quick way to practice your English (or L2) every day is to write all your shopping lists and ‘to do’ notes in English. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know all the vocabulary. Try to use the words you do know to describe what you want say. For example, if you don’t know ‘curtains’ in English, you could write ‘made of material and cover windows to keep out the light’. Once you’ve finished your list, you can then check in a dictionary. You will then have your definition and also the word. This way you increase your vocabulary and use words you already know.

Hope it helps! 😊

Vocabulary for your individual needs

Visualizing the word as a picture or a scene is often an effective way to retain it in your memory. Picture dictionaries can be useful, but often they can be full of pages that might not be relevant to you. A solution could be to find an old photo on your phone, or a scene on Google images that represents a situation where you were at a loss for words, e.g. it could be at a host family meal the last time you did a course in the U.K.

Print the image and write the words/phrases onto the relevant parts of the picture e.g. salt and pepper, water carafe etc. You can also look up phrases which could be useful next time, e.g. ‘where would you like me to sit?’ and add these to your picture.

You can then take a photo of it with your phone and then take five minutes each day memorizing them for a week. The following week, choose another situation.

After a few weeks you’ll have started to build up your own essential vocabulary/phrases list that you can refer back to when you need it.

Hope it helps.

Thinking in English to improve fluency

What often what slows us down when speaking in a second language is the translation time (which is bad news also from the point of view of making mother tongue grammar mistakes – some things just don’t translate word for word).

One way to get round this is to start to think in English. You can do this by thinking of a specific and real situation, e.g. the last time you ordered your meal in a restaurant. Think of phrases you could have said:
‘I’d like a table for one, please.’
‘May I have a menu, please?’
‘Sorry, I’d prefer that table near the window, if that’s ok?’
‘I’m ready to order now, thanks.’

Then you can compare your visualization of the phrases you came up for the situation, with videos on ‘Youtube’, etc. When watching the videos, write down useful phrases for you, also the replies of the waiter, as clearly you need to understand what’s being said to you.

Keep a record of the phrases and practice saying them out aloud with your voice recorder, comparing your pronunciation with phrases that you recorded from the Internet etc.

If you build up a collection of different scenarios, you can begin to feel more confident the next time you travel or communicate with people from abroad.

Hope it helps!

For all of you struggling with listening in a foreign language here are some tips😊

First day of a bit more freedom in Italy! Enjoy but stay safe!
Quite a few of my students have problems with 'as' versus 'like'
Here is a little chart as a handy reminder, hope it helps
😊

A way to increase fluency and confidence in a second language:
Something I found to be useful is when you are in a foreign country and you want to practice the language (for example) on holiday/a business trip – try the following:
Ask a stranger a question that you already know the answer to.
This way you are confident what the answer will be, and if you hear any new words/phrases thrown in as well, often you can guess them from the context.
It’s a confidence-booster as you already know the answer, so half the stress is already removed.
Examples could be directions to your hotel, which platform for your train, what time the hotel finishes serving breakfast.
Once you acquire confidence hearing the answers you already know, you can move onto to asking questions about stuff you don’t know the answer to.
The good thing about asking strangers is that if you make a mistake, it doesn’t matter. My experience most people appreciate you trying to speak their language.
Hope it’s useful!

Hi there,
something that can come as a surprise to some students is that in English, adjectives follow a strict word order.
I post a useful little chart on it. Hope it helps.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007bbw

The above is a link to a radio 4 programme on the subject with the famous actor/comedian Stephen Fry.
It's not available at the moment, but you can have the programme delivered to your I-phone, and when radio 4 air it again, it's a delight to listen to! Enjoy and have a sunny Sunday😊

Hi there, a useful little chart for remembering irregular verbs.
Happy Labour Day, relax but don't forget your English!!!😀

Interview Questions
Tell me what you do in a typical day in your present job
Tell me about a time when you were faced with a specific problem and tell me how you resolved it
When you have to work with a difficult colleague how do you manage the situation?
What qualities do you think you will bring to this organisation?
Tell me about your boss and what kind of a relationship you have
Do you prefer to work individually or as part of a team?
Tell me about a teacher who really influenced you
Tell me about your last training experience
Describe the qualities of an outstanding manager
How has your sector changed over the last five years?
How do you keep up with the latest technology required for your position?
How much are you able to cope with a meeting carried out only in English?
How soon can you start?
Why our company and not others?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?

For those of you preparing for a job interview in English (either for a new job or for promotion in the same company), the document attached contains some useful, generic questions that might be asked. You can prepare your answers and either practice with a friend/your teacher or failing that, record your answers using a voice recorder (on your smartphone) and listen and see how you can improve your performance.

For all you language learners, I've just discovered a free tv channel, which you can access on the Internet. It's called Arte and you can access it in 6 European languages, including English. It has many different kinds of programmes, so worth checking out. Here is the link:
https://www.arte.tv/en/
Enjoy!
thanks Janie

ARTE, the European culture TV channel, free and on demand Magazine shows, concerts, documentaries, and more: the European culture channel's programmes available to stream free of charge on arte.tv.

Hello there, this is a chart which could be a handy reminder for the uses and constructions of conditionals. Hope it helps!
thanks
Janie

Graded readers are a great way to get into reading in a second language when you are elementary/pre-intermediate level. You can find some really good ones on Amazon, and they generally include exercises to improve on your vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension. you can get modern classics in graded readers too, which make for good choices for getting to know the culture too.

While we're under lockdown it could be a good idea to brush up on your English by having lessons on Skype. I'm available.

Advice for students who are a bit overawed at watching films or reading books in the original version: to make it easier, begin with films, books etc that you have already seen/read in your own language. This makes it easier to understand the story so that you can follow it better and enjoy it more in a second language.

I really recommend bbc radio 4 for improving English skills and immersing in British culture
https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7j

BBC Radio 4 FM - Schedules This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC Radio 4 FM