The Cambridge English Corpus recently collated 1 billion words of written English and 75 million words of spoken English. The language is more fruitful now than ever before, yet native English speakers have an increasingly poor use of grammar. These
When learning English, some teachers advise that students should avoid using their native language and interact primarily with those who speak their target language. The idea is that by practising total language immersion and by avoiding contact with your native tongue, you will
Learning a language is often thought of as the preserve of the young, the adventurous, children at school or travellers looking to broaden the mind by journeying to exotic new destinations. But language is a special part of being human
The call for immigrants to learn ‘proper’ English is commonly heard from natives wanting to help preserve their country’s linguistic heritage. But what is proper English? The language of English is rich in borrowed words and foreign phrases, and the
Amazon has recently published a Cornish language children’s e-book after pressure from Diglot Books, one of a number of small publishers fighting to preserve minority languages. There are an estimated 7,000 languages in the world and 40% of them are in danger
Using bingo to teach English might sound like a strange idea. However, using games in EFL lessons is a great way to make classes more fun and keep students entertained. Games are useful for introducing vocabulary in context, in an
Happy St Patrick’s Day! This special day is celebrated every year on 17th March and it is a great time to present some new vocabulary relating to Ireland and Irish folklore. Our St Patrick’s Day lesson includes interesting words and phrases
Are you intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated when it comes to language learning? Everyone studying English has their own reason for learning the language. Maybe it is for work, to pass an exam, to communicate more easily when travelling: there
The President of Germany, Joachim Gauck, last week called for English to become the official language of the European Union. He insisted that, as English is the most commonly shared language across the European community, more effort should be put into
The glitz and excitement of The Oscars is upon us again! The 92nd Academy Awards will take place on February 9th 2020 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. We can’t wait to see who will walk away with the coveted