It’s that time of year again — time for small town festivals!! Throughout the U.S. during the spring and summer small town communities celebrate a variety of things such as flowers, fruits, vegetables and important historical events. During these celebrations, the local community hosts a wide variety of fun events, including parades, carnivals, games, parties […] Read more »
Podcast Episode 58 – Household Budget
In this new episode, I talk about what is included in a household budget. You will learn vocabulary related to the types of income and expenses you might have and the typical things are that you must include in your household budget if you live here in the U.S. – like rent, utilities, groceries and […] Read more »
Podcast Episode 57 – Junie B. Jones
Reading easy chapter books is a great way to improve your understanding of everyday English and learn a lot about American culture. In this episode, I introduce you to one of the feistiest American kindergartners – Junie B. Jones. Junie B. Jones is the main character in the series of books of the […] Read more »
Reading Lesson – The Cost of Paying Attention
Hi Students! This past Saturday I taught a reading lesson to a group class on Verbling. Together we read through an opinion piece from the New York Times entitled “The Cost of Paying Attention” by author Matthew Crawford. I really liked the article as I think it discusses an important and timely issue. The author uses […] Read more »
Podcast Episode 55 – Talking About Your Day
In this episode, I give you some pointers on how to talk about your day. I teach you some useful phrasal verbs and use them a lot in the example I give, in which I talk about one of my typical days. Learning how to talk about your daily routine is a useful skill for […] Read more »
Podcast Episode 54 – Talent is Overrated
Hi Students! If you have gone through my “7 Strategies for English Fluency” course and/or you have listened to some of my podcasts, then you probably know by now that one of my areas of interest is personal achievement and success. I am especially interested in how people learn and achieve mastery. As an English coach (teacher/tutor), […] Read more »
Understanding Lyrics
Hi Students! I was preparing some materials for a listening class this morning and I came across this great site for understanding song lyrics. It’s called Genius.com. It is a website where people annotate songs. This means they give you the lyrics of the song with explanations and examples, so you can understand the song better. One […] Read more »
Podcast Episode 52 – Traveling by Plane
Last month, my daughter and I traveled by plane from Washington to California to visit family and friends. I created this podcast episode to share that experience with you and to help you learn useful vocabulary and expressions related to flying in the U.S., and in general. By listening to this episode, you will also learn […] Read more »
Boston Blizzard of January 2015
Slow Speed (3:48) Normal Speed (2:20) (How to use this lesson: Listen to me read the blog post out loud. Repeat as needed to understand. Look up any words or expressions you don’t understand. Listen again. Advanced students can watch the videos and read the extra materials below.) As many of you know, […] Read more »
Seattle Seahawks Do it Again – Never Give Up!
Wow! I wasn’t even watching the game and I was feeling the excitement! The Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers were playing a playoff game today, to see who would get to go to the Super Bowl. (If you don’t know what I am talking about, listen to podcast episode #18 about American Football). […] Read more »