Every lesson, essay and journal entry, newest first. 726 published posts.
💬 Why native speakers sound fast: When I arrived in Sydney, Australians didn't sound like my English teacher. They sounded like one long blur of sound. They weren't speaking faster — they were connecting words.…
💬 The sound hiding in every sentence: When I was preparing for my French C1 exam, my teacher told me: "Your English schwa is excellent — use the same logic in French." I didn't even…
💬 The word that confused everyone: A student asked for the menu at a restaurant — but said "DESsert" for "desSERT" (the sweet course). The waiter heard "DEsert" (the sandy place). Same letters. Different stress.…
💬 The email that cost me a meeting: Early in my career I wrote an email starting "Hey, just wanted to check in..." to the CEO of a hotel group I was trying to work…
💬 The chain of ideas: When I first wrote essays in French, my teacher said: "Les idées sont là, mais elles ne se parlent pas." — The ideas are there, but they don't talk to…
💬 The essay mistake I made at 30: Writing four connected sentences is not a paragraph. A paragraph has a job. It makes one point, proves it, and tells you why it matters. This 3-part…
💬 True story: I once described arriving in Sydney — airport, 3 am, no money, no phone signal — to a group of A2 students. They listened for ten minutes straight. No grammar was corrected.…
💬 My first week in France: I was waiting for a meeting to start. Eight French colleagues. Silence. In Australia, we'd have talked about sport, weather, weekend plans. I had none of those reference points.…
💬 Cambridge speaking exams test this: Simply saying "I think..." every time makes your language sound flat. Examiners — and real people — want variety. Here are the phrases that move you from B1 to…
💬 The politeness problem: In a staff meeting in Sydney, someone proposed an idea I thought was terrible. I said: "That's wrong." Silence. Frowns. I was right about the idea. I was wrong about how…
💬 From real life: My first week in Australia, a colleague said: "Just get on with it, mate." I nodded. I had absolutely no idea what "get on with" meant. I spent the afternoon pretending…
💬 The word that changed everything: In a job interview in Sydney, I was asked "How are you feeling about the role?" I knew the grammar. I didn't know the vocabulary of feelings. I said…
🍽️ Welcome! Food words are the first vocabulary every English learner needs. Whether you are 6 or 60, you need to order lunch, read a menu, and tell someone what you love eating. Let's go!
💬 Grammar that sounds smart: Instead of writing two short sentences — "This is the student. She won the prize." — you can say: "This is the student who won the prize." One sentence. More…
💬 My first year in Sydney: I was not a native speaker. I read a lot. But articles — a, an, the — still tripped me up daily. A colleague once gently pointed out: "It's…
💬 Imagine: If I had a time machine, I would go back to 2005 and tell myself to learn French immediately. — That's the second conditional. Imaginary. But it makes grammar beautiful.
💬 Real life: Learning French as an adult, I told myself: "If I practise every day, I will reach C1." I did. Five years later, I passed the Diplôme. Conditionals are not just grammar —…
💬 From the classroom: A student once wrote "You must to go now." The to after modal verbs is one of the most common errors at A2–B1. You can fix it in one rule.
💬 True story: Working in hospitality, I once told a VIP guest: "I will get your table" — as if I'd just decided. It was booked for weeks. The right sentence was "Your table is…
💬 Story: A student wrote: "When I arrived at the party, everyone went home." — This means he walked in, and then they left. The real story was they'd already gone. One tense, completely different…
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Sourov Deb EI · SIRET 106 764 061 00011 · Saint-Pierre, La Réunion