Words for Feelings: Beyond Happy and Sad
When I arrived in Sydney in 2005, I could say I was 'happy' or 'sad'. That was it. But feelings in English are precise — there is a difference between homesick and lonely, between overwhelmed…
Tag: A2
Countable vs Uncountable Nouns: The Rule Behind the Rule
"I need an information." I said this. In a job interview. The interviewer smiled kindly and said nothing. Information is uncountable in English — a fact that ruins sentences for speakers of almost every other…
Future Forms: Will, Going To, and Present Continuous
When my daughter was born, I thought: I will teach her everything I know. But Vanessa, more practical, said: I'm going to book her first check-up tomorrow. And our neighbour texted: We're coming round on…
Articles: A, An, The — The Rules Nobody Tells You
"I want a water." I said this on my first week in Sydney. The waiter stared. Water is uncountable — you don't say a water unless you mean a bottle or a glass. Articles were…
Daily Routines — What Do You Do Every Day? (A1/A2)
🎙 From the classroom: My morning in Réunion: wake up at 5am, drink coffee, look at the ocean, walk to the bakery. Every day, the same. Routines are where the Present Simple lives — and…
Speaking: The Information Gap — A Task That Actually Works (A2/B1)
🎙 From the classroom: My most successful speaking task in Brittany was simple: I printed two versions of a map of Réunion. Student A had the beach. Student B had the volcano. Neither could see…
-ed Endings: Three Sounds, One Spelling (A2/B1)
🎙 From the classroom: My Bengali students in Brittany pronounced 'worked' as 'work-ED', adding a full syllable. My Korean student said 'wok'. My French student said 'workt'. All three had learned the same spelling. None…
Word Stress: Which Syllable Is the Loudest? (A2/B1)
🎙 From the classroom: When I was learning French, I kept stressing the wrong syllable: CAfé instead of caFÉ. French has near-flat stress; English does not. In English, the wrong stress in a word can…
Feelings and Emotions — Beyond Happy and Sad (A2/B1)
🎙 From the classroom: The day I stood in front of my first class of twelve adults in France, I was — in English — 'nervous'. But nervous doesn't capture it. I was terrified, excited,…
Travel and Transport Vocabulary (A2)
🎙 From the classroom: My life has been a series of journeys: Chittagong to Sydney (plane, 13 hours, two suitcases, age 19). Sydney to Paris (plane, 23 hours, with Vanessa). Paris to Saint-Pierre, Réunion (plane…