Hi
I just recently moved to Vietnam and I am curious. Is italki popular with English learners in Vietnam? I don't see a lot of Vietnamese members in here....
If you have any advice/information about Vietnam, it would be great :)
To all of my students who will celebrate Easter this Sunday, I would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter!
What are your plans?
Hi!
This is a quick post to let you know, that I am organising a free live stream for Students of English, who would like some extra practice time in a live environment.
I usually only do this for my own italki students but in true festive spirit, I have decided to offer an invitation to anyone on italki who would like to join us for some real, live and interactive English practice (with a native English speaker).
We will discuss everything (in an interactive way) related to learning English (IELTS and exam preparation, general English conversation, strategies, Q&A etc).
Participate, chat or even just watch...this is an event for everyone!
You can join here: https://discord.gg/eTfAEx5
Season's Greetings!
Neil =)
Do You Want to Learn English Vocabulary Faster and More Effectively?
# Did you know, that if you have only 1000 words in your second language, you should be able to recognise approximately 75% of what you read? Add an additional 1000 words and it increases to 80% (non-fictional texts).
# With comprehension of 2000 words in total, you should also be able to understand 90% of what you hear. *
A good way to improve your current vocabulary and save yourself a lot of time, is to focus on the most important and useful words first. Words that are used frequently everyday and in the most common scenarios.
If you don't have it already, I highly recommend the book "A Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary American English." I have both this one and the Spanish language edition.
<ul style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1px; margin-left: 18px; padding: 0px; list-style-type: none; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><li style="list-style: none; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Author: Mark Davies</li><li style="list-style: none; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (15 Feb. 2010)</li><li style="list-style: none; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Language: English</li><li style="list-style: none; word-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">ISBN-10: 0415490634</li></ul>If you really don't want to buy the book (it's about $25 on Amazon) here's a frequency list web page that might be useful for you:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists#English
A word of warning though, the book is much better than any of the online lists I've seen. I'd go with the book if you're serious.
So...What Now....?
So now you've got a book containing 5000 of the "top" words in the English language. You also know cool stuff like, the #1 word in English is the word "the" and it appears every 25 words....(even less in this paragraph...lol).
Yes....but how do I integrate this wonderful tool into my study program?
I don't have any more space in the post to get into it here. I might make a follow up post later with a helpful plan of action.....if anyone is interested. This post is already long enough as it is :P
I just wanted to highlight this great resource, in case students were not yet implementing it yet. I've been using it with my own students and also for my personal language learning. It works!
You can always send me a message on italki if need some clarification on this post and I'll try my best to reply ;)
Good luck with your studies :)
*I'll be adding citations to this post later
You know, the ones with millions of views all over YouTube at the moment. Some of them are selling for up to $100.
I suppose they are the new Rubik's Cube/Yo-Yo.....(Duncan Gold Yo-Yo owner back in the day....).
What's your opinion?
* Anybody have students bringing these new fidget spinners to the classroom.....? How's it working out for ya..... :)
Here is a list of the most frequent words used in English (American).
The list includes the rank number of the word (#1= highest). It also shows collates, which are ranked by highest frequency too. The bullet points show where the word should be placed (before or after ).
I think this will help greatly with your sentence construction, vocabulary building and overall fluency. My suggestion is to use these words (and the connected collates) to create your own sentences. Using a frequency list is a very efficient way to study.
This is a just a sample. Contact me if you would like me to send you the full list (difficult to post a large list here).
<table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="3" rules="NONE" border="0"> <colgroup><col width="86"><col width="86"><col width="86"></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td width="86" height="17" align="LEFT"><font size="1">1 the a</font></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT"></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT"><font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">of, first, year, most, •world, over, •same, day, end,</font></td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT">
<font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">between, •United States, next, during•</font>
<table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="3" rules="NONE" border="0"> <colgroup><col width="86"><col width="86"><col width="86"></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td width="86" height="17" align="LEFT"><font size="1">2 be v</font></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT"></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT"><font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">there, if, many, •able, long, always, likely, since, never,</font></td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT"><font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">sure, often, •available, •aware, afraid</font></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="3" rules="NONE" border="0"><tbody><tr><td height="17" align="LEFT"><table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="3" rules="NONE" border="0"><tbody><tr><td height="17" align="LEFT"><font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">
</font></td>
<td align="LEFT">
</td>
<td align="LEFT">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></td>
<td align="LEFT">
</td>
<td align="LEFT">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td> <td width="86" align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT"><font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">her, their, other, up, between•, •then, both, back, over,</font></td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT">
<font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">year, down, off, family, friend</font>
<table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="4" rules="NONE" border="0"> <colgroup><col width="86"><col width="86"><col width="86"><col width="86"></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td width="86" height="17" align="LEFT"><font size="1">4 of i</font></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT"></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT">
</td> <td width="86" align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT"><font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">out•, because•, front•, instead•, terms•, way, top•,</font></td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT">
<font face="ParisineClair-Bold--Identity-H" size="1">ahead•, outside•, favor•, place, charge•, light, spite•</font>
<table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="3" rules="NONE" border="0"> <colgroup><col width="86"><col width="86"><col width="86"></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td width="86" height="17" align="LEFT"></td> <td width="86" align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="17" align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td><td align="LEFT"></td><td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> <td align="LEFT">
</td> <td align="LEFT">
</td></tr></tbody></table>
During the part 3 discussion, the examiner will ask you further questions related to the topics you had on your part 2 topic card. In reality, you will be doing most of the talking. The questions will be about more abstract ideas and issues and the duration of the discussion will be 4-5 minutes.
This is the part where you need to be good at giving your opinion on a wide variety of topics.
Part 2 Topic Card:
Describe something you own which is very important to you.
You should say:
Where you got it from
How long you have had it
Explain why it is important to you
Part 3 Discussion:
What kind of things give status to people in your country?
Let’s talk about the role of advertising.
Do you think advertising influences what people buy?
You can see that the part three discussion questions are an extension of the topics covered in part two of the speaking test.
Coming up next......All the topics usually covered in the IELTS speaking test and how you can learn to discuss them proficiently.
See if you can take a guess.....before running off to Google it! :)
A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every morning he takes the lift down to the bottom and goes to work. When he comes home from work in the evening, he gets into the lift and if there is someone else inside it, he travels back to the 10th floor. On rainy days he goes all the way to his floor. On other days, he travels to the 8th floor and walks up the two remaining flights of stairs to get to his flat.
Why?
