Pronunciation Listening Podcasts

If you want to practice your English pronunciation skills, you need to listen to words and sounds closely so that you can understand those little differences between similarly sounding words.  You can do this by listening to the radio, speaking with native speakers, or listening to pronunciation tapes.  Here you will find links to several pronunciation lessons that [...]

Idioms Crossword Puzzle

Do you like English idioms?  Do you like crossword puzzles?  Well, then you’ll love this English Idioms Crossword Puzzle!  This game uses 32 common idioms that are used in everyday English and places them in a fun and easy to do crossword puzzle.  Print out the pages, but don’t look at the third page because [...]

Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense form of a verb is used to express habits; repeated actions; general facts; and scheduled events that will happen soon.   A simple present verb will either not change (I sing); will have an “s” added (she plays); or have an “es” added (he catches).  This all depends on the subject form and what [...]

Using the Present Perfect

We use the Present Perfect to express an action that has happened at an unspecified or unknown time before now.  You can use yet, already, ever, or before with the Present Perfect because it is not a specific time.  You cannot use words like yesterday, last week, or when I was ten years old because [...]

The Imperative

You can use the imperative to give direct commands, instructions, or advice.  For instance, your teacher may tell you to “sit down” or “be quiet” or “open your book” or “raise your hand”.  These are all examples of the imperative. So, what are you waiting for?  Go practice! www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJbWW2kbRhM www.englishgrammarsecrets.com/imperative/menu.php http://esl.about.com/od/beginningenglish/ig/Basic-English/Imperative.htm

Identifying Adjective Clauses

Adjective Clauses are dependent clauses that modify a noun.  They are used to give additional or background information on the nouns they are describing.  Adjective Clauses always follow the nouns that they are modifying, but they are not necessarily used directly after the noun.  Most Adjective Clauses begin with a relative pronoun ”who, which, that” or a relative [...]

Creating Essay Writing Outlines

Whether you are writing an English essay for your class or for the TOEFL test, you will need to get organized before you ever put pen to paper.  Outlining your essay topic, no matter how big or how small, can make the difference between a passing grade and a failing one.  But putting together an [...]

NorthStar Audio Lessons

If you are using the NorthStar Listening and Speaking books, then you can access audio lessons that go with your book on-line.  You will first need to sign up for a password and then log in to the NorthStar audio page.  Choose the book number you are using, then the chapter you want to listen to, and you’re [...]

Prepositions of Time & Place

Prepositions of time and place include words such as: in, on, at, to, since, for, from, above, below, behind, under, over, near, and between…to name just a few. These prepositions are necessary to help describe the relationship between the other words in a sentence when expressing notions of time or establishing locations.  http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/bleasypreps.htm http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/01/ http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/prepositions.htm www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4jIC5HLBdM

Persuasive Essays

In order to help you write good persuasive essays, it is helpful to read other persuasive essays written by other authors in order to recognize specific essay writing styles.  Essay writing for academics is written in a very specific and well-organized way.  The standard essay for most academic tests that are common in the United States (TOEFL, GED, GRE) [...]

Learn Something New Every Day

ManyThings.org is a great ESL website that has “many things” for you to do to help with your English studies.  On their Daily Page, they have new things every day that you can use to practice your English.  Each day you will find a new slang term, grammar quiz, listening exercise, and pronunciation practice.  This is a great way to start [...]

What’s Up With Groundhog Day?

Groundhog Day is tomorrow and if you’re not from the United States, you’re probably wondering what this strange and bizarre American custom is all about.  Quite frankly, most American’s probably don’t even know how it started or why we celebrate it, so get a head start and learn all about this unusual custom. Also, if you have [...]