Present Simple vs Present Continuous — The Key Difference
💬 A student once told me: "I am loving this city!" She'd arrived in Sydney two hours earlier. The feeling made perfect sense — but English grammar didn't agree. Let me show you why.
Blog
Every lesson, essay and journal entry, newest first. 726 published posts.
- English Teaching 678
- Resources 20
- Travel Journal 17
- Philosophy & Mental Health 14
- Photography & Software 9
- Career & Professional Development 4
- Writing & Books 1
Task-Based Learning: Teaching Through Doing
My best lessons during my 120 supervised teaching hours were the ones where learners were so busy doing something real — deciding, debating, creating — that they forgot I was teaching them language. That is…
Intensifiers: Very, Really, Absolutely, Utterly
One of the things I noticed moving from hospitality English to academic English is that 'very tired' felt wrong in writing. In speaking, it is fine. But the more precise you are — 'utterly exhausted'…
Describing Graphs and Data: The Language of Numbers
When I rebuilt my professional history from years of email records, I had to describe trends: 'email volume increased sharply in 2014', 'it declined steadily after 2018', 'it remained stable throughout'. The language of data…
The Writing Process: Draft, Revise, Edit
When I started writing formally — appeals, job applications, eventually blog posts — I tried to write perfectly on the first attempt. I couldn't. No one can. The best writers I know treat the first…
Prepositions of Time: At, On, In — Get Them Right
'I arrived in 2005.' 'I work on Sundays.' 'The restaurant opens at noon.' These three prepositions — at, on, in — govern time expressions in English. Bengali doesn't use prepositions the same way. French is…
Conjunctions: Connect Your Ideas Clearly
My daughter is 18 months old. She already knows 'no' — but she doesn't yet know 'however'. That one word, 'however', is the difference between a child's logic and an adult's argument. Conjunctions are the…
The Language of Apology: Saying Sorry Professionally
In hospitality, apologies are currency. A well-timed, sincere apology saves a table. A badly phrased one makes it worse. I've said 'I'm sorry, sir, that shouldn't have happened' a hundred times. But I've also heard…
Prefixes and Suffixes: Build Your Vocabulary Fast
When I was working towards French C1, I noticed I could guess words I'd never seen by breaking them apart. The same works in English. If you know that un- means 'not' and -able means…
Adverbs of Frequency: How Often Do You Do Things?
When a French customer at the Ivy asked me how often I worked nights, I said 'I work night always.' The look on her face told me something was wrong. The correct order is: subject…
Collocations: The Words That Go Together
When I was working as a barista, I noticed that English speakers didn't say 'do a coffee' — they said 'make a coffee'. Not 'take a decision' but 'make a decision'. Not 'do progress' but…
Academic Discussion Language: Agreeing, Disagreeing, Hedging
At the immigration office in France, I once politely disagreed with an official — in French — and managed to change a decision. The key was not what I said but how I said it.…
Body Language and Communication: What You Say Without Words
In hospitality, a guest's body language told me more than their words. Arms crossed? Not happy yet. Leaning in? Interested and engaged. Looking around? Waiting for something. Understanding body language — and knowing how to…
Numbers and Time: Tell the Time in English
Asking and telling the time is one of the most useful things in English. In Sydney, I had to be on time for every shift — and I had to understand when customers asked me…
Colours in English: More Than Just Red and Blue
Colours are some of the first words we learn — and some of the most useful. But English has lots more than just 'red' and 'blue'. Let's explore!
Action Verbs for Kids: Jump, Run, Swim, Fly!
Verbs tell us what someone does. Action verbs are easy — they describe movement and activity!
Lesson Staging: A Lesson Has Stages, Not Just Activities
One observation feedback I received during my 120 supervised teaching hours stayed with me: 'The activities were good, but I couldn't see why they were in that order.' A lesson is not a pile of…
Error Correction: Fix It Now or Let It Go?
I made errors in French every day for three years. The best teachers let me talk first and corrected me after. The worst interrupted mid-sentence and I'd lose the word, the idea, and the confidence.…
Eliciting: Teach It Without Telling It
The best moment in any class I taught was when a learner produced the language I was trying to teach — before I had written it on the board. That is eliciting: drawing language from…
CCQs vs ICQs: Stop Asking ‘Do You Understand?’
My trainer said it in week one and I've never forgotten: 'Do you understand?' is the least useful question in a classroom. The only honest answer is 'yes' — because 'no' is embarrassing. You want…