In a Bangor Daily News article by Sam Schipani, Acadia Center for English Immersion Director Brian Boyd offers advice on how to learn vocabulary in context and stay motivated in your independent language learning.
Posts Tagged: reading
Learn English Prepositions with Photos
Who is the English language student’s enemy number 1? Prepositions. Prepositions are small but pugnacious, refusing to fade into the background. Prepositions laugh at translation (that’s laugh at, not laugh with, because it’s not a friendly laugh). Depende de in Spanish. De = of or from in English. So, it depends of the context, right? Wrong. It depends on… Read more »
Comic Strip English – Doonesbury
A great way to practice English is to read the comics – they’re short and funny, they feature everyday English vocabulary that you can really put to use, and like movies they give you plenty of visual clues to what’s going on. A classic American comic strip is Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury. in circulation since 1970 and featuring such… Read more »
Want to Expand Your English Vocabulary? Read.
The best way to learn new words in English is to read something challenging. Read articles in an online magazine like Slate, or choose a book that interests you – probably non-fiction unless your English level is very advanced. Avoid getting frustrated by the difficulty of the reading by following these steps: 1) First try to understand… Read more »
Business English: How to Learn Business Vocabulary
What is the best way to improve your knowledge of business English vocabulary? Read. And I don’t mean read business English textbooks, which can be useful in a classroom setting. Read business newspapers, magazines, and websites. Choose articles that interest you and are related to your business. If you work for a bank, read the… Read more »
Film Notes: Invictus
The second in a series, this article provides a preview of a movie you might like to see along with a vocabulary lesson for intermediate to advanced English learners. The selected vocabulary words are in bold and followed by succinct definitions. Sherlock Holmes was the previous article in the series – check back soon for… Read more »
How to Learn Phrasal Verbs
Students of English often complain about the difficulty of learning phrasal verbs. Simply put, a phrasal verb is a combination of a verb (an action word like look, take, set) and a preposition (a short connecting word like up, out, over) in which the preposition gives the verb a new meaning. In this sense, we can say that the meaning… Read more »
Take it Easy
For intermediate and advanced English students, one of the best ways to learn new vocabulary in English — and get a better understanding of how native speakers put words together — is to read an article that expresses an opinion on a topic that interests you. The nice thing about an opinion article — such… Read more »