Today I'm sending you a special class all about compound words! Compound words are when two or more words are put together to form a new word with a new meaning - like notebook, mother-in-law, and post office. Sometimes compound words are easy to understand: a bookstore is a store that sells books; a dishwasher is a machine that washes dishes. But others might not be so obvious, for example: brainstorm – an intense process where you think of many different ideas scapegoat – someone who bears the...
Jun 10, 2020•28 min
My recent videos were all about staying motivated when learning English ... ...but what's MY secret to staying motivated when teaching English? There are some days when I feel sad, lazy, and discouraged. Sometimes I don't have the energy to prepare new lessons, and I don't want to turn on my video camera. Yes... even your English teacher lacks motivation sometimes! But here's how I get motivated again: I visit a page on the Espresso English website that you might not know about... it's called "S...
Jun 04, 2020•4 min
I'm sharing my tenth and final tip for how to stay motivated to learn English. This one is really interesting and fun, and it can really help you keep up your motivation and desire to make more progress in your English. Tip #10 is Challenge Yourself, Then Reward Yourself When You Reach Goals Sometimes when you're studying English by yourself, it can be discouraging because there's nobody to say "Nice work!" or celebrate your successes. But if you give yourself challenges and rewards, it can give...
May 31, 2020•4 min
Today's tip for staying motivated is Find A Partner Or Join A Community Scientists have discovered that one of the most effective motivators is "peer pressure" – that's encouragement or expectation from people who are similar to you.
May 28, 2020•3 min
today's tip for how to stay motivated to learn English is very important. It's so simple, but it will make a big difference in your English learning experience. Make Learning Enjoyable You don't have to study the exact same way every time! Try to have some variation, to keep things interesting. Here's another tip for making English more fun – find material in areas of your interest. Finally, learn from a teacher who you like!...
May 25, 2020•4 min
Hi there! Today I'll share my seventh tip for how to stay motivated to learn English, and that is: Plan For Breaks, But Also Plan To Come Back If you have a very busy day, it's OK to skip your studying – just make sure to come back to it the next day. If you're going on vacation for a week, it's OK not to look at English. Relax and enjoy your vacation, then resume your studies afterwards. The key is always to come back to English – don't let yourself get so busy that you forget to study for week...
May 22, 2020•4 min
Hello students! I'm back with another tip for how to stay motivated to learn English. This tip is for you on those days when you really have low motivation and you feel lazy, and you just aren't very interested in studying English. When You Feel Lazy, Just Take A Baby Step A "baby step" is a very small action.
May 19, 2020•4 min
Today I'm giving you tip #5 on how to stay motivated when you're learning English. This is something very practical and if you do it, you will find it very helpful and encouraging. Keep A Record Of Your Progress (Success Journal) It's very motivating to keep a record of what you've accomplished. Get a notebook, and after every study session write down the date and a summary of "what I learned today." This results in three benefits....
May 16, 2020•3 min
Hi students! Are you ready to learn tip #4 for how to stay motivated to learn English? This one is something you can put into practice every time you sit down to study. Visualize The End Goal, And Know That Every Bit Of Time You Invest Is Bringing You Closer! Do you know WHY you want to learn English? Whatever your reason is, try this simple exercise: when you sit down to study English, spend a couple minutes visualizing (imagining) reaching your goal. Then, tell yourself that EVERY study sessio...
May 12, 2020•3 min
Hi there! I'm back with tip #3 on how to stay motivated when learning English, and this is a big one – it is: Don't Take Mistakes So Seriously/Personally MISTAKES – they have the power to make you afraid to use your English… they can also make you feel humiliated when someone corrects you… they represent your failure to know the rules of English… right? WRONG! Mistakes only have all that power if you allow them to have such power. Remember that making mistakes does NOT mean you are stupid. Choos...
May 09, 2020•4 min
Hi students! It's Shayna from EspressoEnglish.net and I'm excited to share with you my second tip for how to stay motivated to learn English. Tip #1, which we learned last time, is to be encouraged because your English is probably better than you imagine. Now let's consider tip #2, which is: Never Compare Your English Skills To Others'
May 06, 2020•4 min
Do you ever feel sad and discouraged about your English-learning progress? Do you sometimes find it hard to stay motivated, because learning English takes such a long time? Are there days when you just don't feel like studying? If you've ever experienced these emotions, then you will really enjoy the lessons I have for you this month. I'm going to teach you 10 practical ways to stay motivated in your English learning. Click here for tip #1! This is a special series of lessons that isn't specific...
May 03, 2020•4 min
Today I'm going to teach you an exercise for practicing the pronunciation of long, difficult multi-syllable words. Our example words for this exercise will be particularly and individualistic. But you can use this exercise with ANY English word! I hope you'll remember the tips in this lesson next time you see a long, complicated English word! When it comes to pronunciation, practice makes perfect. The only way to get better at English pronunciation is by doing it, by saying the words, and by tra...
Apr 29, 2020•6 min
Today you'll learn some common English expressions for talking about education. This lesson will also help you put these phrases into practice by asking you questions that use the expressions - so you can pause the video and say your answer, or write it down! And at the end of the lesson, I explain a very common error in English when talking about what you studied in school or college... make sure to watch or read to the end so that you can avoid this mistake. If you're following my lessons, it ...
Apr 22, 2020•8 min
In today's lesson you're going to improve your business English vocabulary by learning some interesting verbs that are used in the business world. If you work in an English-speaking environment – or if you want to do so – you'll encounter a lot of words that you might not have learned in English class. This video is going to teach you 10 business English verbs and how to use them. They're also used outside business, so you might also see these words in news articles, for example. If you're learn...
Apr 15, 2020•7 min
Did you know that there are at least four different ways to use the -ING form of verbs in English? You might already know one or two of these, but after this lesson you'll have a more complete understanding of when we use English verbs in the -ING form. English grammar can be difficult, but I try to make it easy for my students! To learn grammar from me, you can get my $1 grammar e-books - these cover basic and intermediate grammar. If you're a more advanced student, then check out my Advanced E...
Apr 08, 2020•8 min
If you frequently confuse the verbs SAY, TELL, SPEAK, and TALK, you're not alone – these are some of the most commonly confused English words! They seem like they all mean the same thing - and they are similar - but we actually use them differently in English. In this lesson, I'll teach you the difference between say, tell, speak, and talk , and help you avoid some common mistakes with these words. For more lessons like this, check out my e-book, 600+ Confusing English Words Explained . When you...
Apr 01, 2020•6 min
Today I want to answer a question from a student who asked how to pronounce words ending in -ILE, like the word "mobile." Words with this ending are a little tricky because there's a pronunciation difference between British and American English. I'm from the U.S., so I'm going to teach you the way we say these words in American English. We'll practice 20 words with the -ILE ending - there are two different ways to pronounce it (plus a couple of exceptions). Come check out my American English Pro...
Mar 25, 2020•6 min
"Time" is one of the most common words in English - but do you know all the different ways you can use the word time? In today's lesson, you'll learn 16 common collocations with the word TIME , such as: waste time, kill time, it's about time, stall for time There's also a quiz to help you practice the collocations in this lesson - you can click here to try it! One common problem among adults who are learning English is not having much time to study. Between work, school, family, and hobbies, it'...
Mar 18, 2020•7 min
This lesson is on one of the topics that's most requested by my students – it's all about phrasal verbs with the word "get." We have get off, get by, get along, get over, get back, and lots more… and some of these have multiple meanings! These 20 phrasal verbs with "get" are very common in everyday English, so you need to learn them. I'll make them clear with definitions and examples. Now you know 20 different phrasal verbs with "get" – but what's the best way to remember them all? Phrasal verbs...
Mar 11, 2020•13 min
If you want to speak fluent English, it's important to learn phrases and expressions - NOT just individual words. This is especially important when studying idioms. Why? Because it's often NOT possible to understand the meaning of the idiom by looking at the individual words... instead, you must learn the meaning of the entire idiomatic expression. In today's lesson, I'll explain 10 idioms for describing strong emotions . I guarantee you'll learn something new! We have so many interesting and co...
Mar 04, 2020•6 min
Today's lesson is a quiz to help you practice some English words that are frequently spelled wrong. These spelling mistakes are made by both English learners and by native English speakers. Can you spell all 10 words right? It's much easier to avoid mistakes in English when you know exactly what to watch out for! You can learn to correct the most common English mistakes inside my course, 200 Common Errors in English . These are the most common mistakes that are made by students who are learning ...
Feb 26, 2020•6 min
Today you'll learn 14 conversational English phrases about the weather . If you want to know how to talk about the weather in English, beyond the basic phrases of "It's sunny" and "It's raining," then this lesson is for you. As you can see, these are real English phrases that native English speakers use to talk about the weather – from hot weather to cold weather, good weather to bad weather – I hope you've learned some useful vocabulary and expressions today. To continue learning everyday Engli...
Feb 19, 2020•8 min
Today we're going to practice pronouncing some difficult English words that feature the letter R , like choir, drawer, rural, library, temperature, and more. Do you have a difficult word that you want to know how to pronounce correctly in English? If so, tell me about it, and I'll add it to my list for future lessons! If you want to continue learning pronunciation and practicing with me, come check out my Pronunciation and Shadowing Courses. They will help you learn to pronounce English words an...
Feb 12, 2020•7 min
We've just started the month of February, and I realized it's been a long time since I did an English vocabulary lesson with pictures – so in today's lesson, you're going to learn 10 vocabulary words starting with the letter F. In addition to learning what these words mean, you can also practice pronouncing them by repeating the words after me. That's just a small sampling of the many English words we have, starting with F. You can continue learning English vocabulary inside my Vocabulary Builde...
Feb 05, 2020•4 min
Today I'm going to explain the expression "hindsight is 20/20." It's now the year 2020, so I thought this would be an interesting phrase to learn! I don't want you to have regrets about your English learning. I don't want you to get to the end of the year and then to look back and say, "Oh, I should have studied harder, or I wish I'd taken that course, but I didn't, and so my English didn't really improve this year." Instead, I want you to take action! Practice your English every day. Join one o...
Jan 29, 2020•4 min
When you're learning a language, it's common to feel sad about your progress. You want to become fluent... but it seems like that goal is so far away! If you hear an expression that you don't know, or have difficulty understanding a fast conversation, it's easy to lose confidence in your abilities. You might think negative thoughts like "My English is so bad." You might wonder, "Will I ever become fluent in English, or is it impossible for me?" Let me tell you about my language-learning experien...
Jan 27, 2020•6 min
Do you often feel nervous when speaking English? Today I'm going to tell you my top tips for improving your confidence when speaking English. First, I'll give you three reasons why it's important to improve your confidence about your English. Then, I'll teach you three mental exercises and three physical exercises that will help you speak English more confidently! If you do these things, then your confidence will improve! I believe that YOU CAN learn to speak confident English, because I've seen...
Jan 22, 2020•10 min
Every year I like to teach a lesson on new words that have been added to the dictionary recently. The English language is always changing and evolving, and we're always creating new words or new meanings for existing words. Today you're going to learn 10 new words and definitions that were added to the dictionary in the past year. These are just a few of hundreds of new words that have been added to the dictionary in the past year, and I hope you found them interesting! It's really important for...
Jan 15, 2020•7 min
It's just a couple days away from Christmas, which is a major holiday in the United States. So in today's lesson I'm going to teach you about the difference between the words holiday and vacation. English learners often ask me about this, and it's a little tricky! Now put it into practice! What's your favorite holiday? Describe it in English. What did you do on your last vacation? Write about it in English. One common expression you'll often hear in December is "Happy Holidays!" - wishing someon...
Dec 23, 2019•5 min
