August 31, 2013

Weekly Finds: August 31, 2013

A Man With Magnifying Glass by digitalart
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING


English Sounds

In this section listen, watch, sing and dance with Sam and Pam. Discover English phonemes with fun and interactive action songs. All of the songs are based on the UK phonics programme Letters and Sounds. Have fun while you learn to read and speak in English!

READING


Lex appeal: Does size matter?

How many words do most English speakers know?

WRITING


HOW DEEP SEA FISHING PREPARES YOU FOR WRITING

Linda Greenlaw, the swordfish boat captain made famous in The Perfect Storm, has carved out a second career as an author. With the release of her ninth book, she discusses the rules that govern life at sea and at the keyboard and how hauling lobster traps primes the creative pump.

SPEAKING


Twictionary: 15 Hilarious Twitter Buzzwords For Social Marketers [Graphic]

Are you “attwicted” to Twitter? If so, you’re not going to want to miss out on the hilarious Twitter buzzwords, Twitter speak and Twitter jargon in this fun infographic from Marketo. The infographic rounds up fifteen of the most ridiculous Twitter-related “words” out there, complete with definitions, examples and illustrations. Twitter Lingo FTW!

GRAMMAR


Who or whom? The great debate…

Although whom is certainly on the wane in informal situations, there are enough grammar websites devoting screenfuls of advice about how to use who and whom correctly to prove that many English-speakers still care about such things.

VOCABULARY


Are You a Spermologer? Find Out With 18 Obsolete Words That Never Should Have Gone Out of Style

Just like facts and flies, English words have life-spans. Some are thousands of years old, from before English officially existed, others change, or are replaced or get ditched entirely.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT


How to improve your grammar without hardly trying

Learn the author's tips on how to get started.

August 24, 2013

Weekly Finds: August 24, 2013

A Man With Magnifying Glass by digitalart
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING


Why Sound Matters: Exploring “A” and “An”

Using “a” or “an” incorrectly can distract careful readers and prevent your writing from achieving its potential impact.

READING


What Is Social Networking Doing to Language?

A study finds that Twitter users are separating into communities.

WRITING


A writer’s cheat sheet: 10 useful reminders

From AP style to ‘that versus which,’ these simple tips will help you avoid errors in your writing tasks, blogs, press releases, and more.

SPEAKING


Do You Smile Enough? It's Essential for Effective Presentations!

Do you smile enough? Facial expressions are an essential element of effective presentations. Here's why.

GRAMMAR


English Grammar in Use: Present Continuous & Present Simple (Part 2)

The Cambridge University Press compares the present continuous and present simple tenses.

VOCABULARY


What is the longest English word?

The Oxford Dictionaries Online lists down their long word entries of the English language.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT


7 Things Not to Say, and 7 Things to Start Saying

Find out how your everyday language is currently affecting your moods.

August 17, 2013

Weekly Finds: August 17, 2013

A Man With Magnifying Glass by digitalart
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING


How to pronounce difficult words in English

Listen to some difficult multisyllable words in English. Learn how to pronounce them too.

READING


Teaching Toddlers New Words: A Hands-Off Approach Builds Vocabulary (STUDY)

When it comes to learning words, a hands-off approach may be in order. New research suggests toddlers pick up words better when they figure out their meanings rather than being told.

WRITING


Improving your academic writing: My top 10 tips

Check out the author's tips on improving his own writing.

SPEAKING


THE FIRST IMPORTANT STEP TO CONFIDENT SPEAKING

The author shares this awesome tip: STOP VIEWING WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE AS A FLAW.

GRAMMAR


Getting Tense: Understanding Past, Present and Future

The author shares some tips from the Purdue Online Writing Lab on the three basic tenses.

VOCABULARY


6 Confusing Words: fun & funny, famous & popular, surprise & shock

New English speakers often confuse these 3 pairs of words. Learn how they are different!

SELF-IMPROVEMENT


Expanding word knowledge: two strategies

The author shares two tips for vocabulary improvement. Check them out.

August 10, 2013

Weekly Finds: August 10, 2013

A Man With Magnifying Glass by digitalart
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING


How to pronounce difficult words in English

Learn how to pronounce difficult multisyllable words in English - with a video and lots of pronunciation practice!"

READING


Learning a 2nd language at a young age

The key to be fluent in second languages is to make sure they start to learn when they're still in diapers.

WRITING


Organising ideas

Here's an article that discusses how to organize your thoughts when writing.

SPEAKING


Reading aloud: Reading directions aloud

Reading aloud is shown to improve confidence and understanding. These activities have been designed to help you practise your reading and speaking skills in an authentic way. You will focus on the language used and different aspects of pronunciation.

GRAMMAR


3 Types of “Not Only . . . But Also” Errors

The sentences in the article, accompanied by discussion and corrected versions, demonstrate three categories of mistaken sentence construction.

VOCABULARY


Lights, camera, lexicon: the language of films in the OED

Film scripts form an important element of the Oxford English Dictionary’s reading programme, and the number of citations from films in the revised OED multiplies with each quarterly update.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT


5 examples of how the languages we speak can affect the way we think

A look at the ways that the construction of language can have implications for the way we think, act and parse the world around us.

August 3, 2013

Weekly Finds: August 3, 2013

A Man With Magnifying Glass by digitalart
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING


How to pronounce ‘H’ in English — not ‘A’ or ‘R’!

Learn how to distinguish between words that begin with A, R and H!

READING


A Figurative Battleground: 'The Language Wars: A History of Proper English'

Language is battlefield and, like it or not, we're all soldiers.

WRITING


Why most academic writing sucks

Here's a funny way to describe what academic writing is.

SPEAKING


How to inspire people every time you speak

The author shares the power behind telling stories.

GRAMMAR


How Texting and Instant Messaging (Techspeak) Hurt Your Grammar

A study has revealed that the more students, the more it may impact their grammar – students who use techspeak a lot, may have trouble switching back to traditional grammar when needed. Research suggests the use of abbreviations, word substitutions, acronyms, and emoticons, are all major contributors to this decline.

VOCABULARY


20 Words We Owe to William Shakespeare

Endlessly imaginative and not overly concerned with grammatical convention, Shakespeare’s scripts contain over 2200 never-before-seen words—a diverse collection of loan-words from foreign languages, compound words from existing English terms, nouns turned into verbs, and creatively applied prefixes—many of which have entered into everyday language. Here are 20 examples of words we can thank Shakespeare for.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT


Feeling Anxious? Think Again.

A team of psychological scientists has been exploring the interplay of thinking, attention and physiology in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Jeremy Jamieson of the University of Rochester, Matthew Nock of Harvard and Wendy Berry Mendes of UC -- San Francisco designed two studies to sort out these aspects of the disorder and, beyond that, to test a simple intervention that might diminish the unpleasant symptoms of social anxiety.