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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast Today's lesson is about common mistakes, but first I want to say one thing: Please don't let the fear of errors stop you from speaking English! It's MUCH more important to communicate and practice your speaking, even if it's not perfect. However, one of the fastest ways to correct your English errors is to focus on avoiding the most common mistakes - and I'll teach you 5 in this lesson. In my years of experience as an English teacher, I've heard many of the same errors very frequently, so I crea...
Dec 18, 2019•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you have difficulties in listening to and understanding English, you're not alone. This is one of the most common problems for English learners. It's frustrating and embarrassing when you can't understand, but in this lesson I'm going to explain why it's so difficult and teach you how to improve your listening skills. You can also improve your listening skills by joining my Listening Course , which has 45 lessons with exercises that help you understand more and more. The audios in this course...
Dec 11, 2019•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today I’m going to explain the difference between LATER and LATTER. These words are only different by one letter, but they have different meanings and they're pronounced differently, too. That’s all for now! If you want more, you can find lots of great explanations inside my 600+ Confusing Words E-Book. Thanks for joining me for today's lesson, and I'll talk to you later :-)...
Dec 04, 2019•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast After last week's lesson on common informal phrases, a lot of students e-mailed me saying, "please make more lessons like this!" So today I'll teach you more: You'll learn informal spoken expressions like "No hard feelings," "Join the club," and "Just my luck!" (that last one might be different from what you expect...) Let me know if you have any questions about these phrases - or if you have another phrase that you're not sure what it means or how to use it. One of the best ways to learn real p...
Nov 27, 2019•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are lots of little phrases that native English speakers use in daily life. But if you don't live in an English-speaking country, then you don't have the chance to hear these expressions - except maybe in movies or TV shows. So today I’ll teach you 8 common informal phrases that you might not find in textbooks - and I'll give you examples of situations in which we use them. Do you want to learn more conversational English? I’d like to invite you to join my Everyday English Speaking Courses ...
Nov 20, 2019•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's lesson is all about the expression "gonna” and when you CAN and CAN'T use it. I'll also tell you about "gonna go" - is this correct? Listen to the lesson to find out. I hope this lesson has been helpful! If you want to learn more from me, come check out my courses , where I can teach you about conversational English, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, phrasal verbs, idioms, business English, and more....
Nov 13, 2019•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's quick pronunciation tip involves a very common verb: the word "say." You might be surprised that there's slightly different pronunciation in the different forms of this word. In this lesson I’m going to ask you to repeat after me, because the best way to practice pronunciation is for YOU to say the words and sentences out loud, not just watch me say them :-) You can get a LOT more pronunciation training inside my courses called American English Pronunciation and Shadowing with Shayna. In...
Nov 06, 2019•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Students often ask me if we can use idioms and slang in professional situations - and the answer is "it depends." Some expressions are not appropriate for the workplace, but there are many that you can use in conversations among co-workers and less formal emails. Today you’ll learn 15 English idioms & phrasal verbs you CAN use at work. There are several more lessons about business idioms inside our Business English Course. This course also teaches you essential words and phrases for professional...
Oct 30, 2019•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The words experience and experiment might be the same in some languages... but in English they are different, and I often see students confuse them. Both of these words can be both nouns and verbs. Let’s see how exactly they are used. Want more? Check out my e-book, 600+ Confusing English Words Explained , for lots of lessons that will help make these differences clear to you. Also, if you are confused about some English words, reply to this e-mail and let me know, so that I can create future le...
Oct 23, 2019•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today I want to answer a question that is important for everyone who is studying English. Many of my students say, "I study grammar a lot and I understand it in theory. But when I speak, I can't think of the grammar in the moment, or it takes too long to remember the rules. So how can I use grammar correctly when speaking English? " This is a great question! It's true that when you're speaking there's really no time to think about grammar rules and to analyze each sentence. But what if the gramm...
Oct 16, 2019•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast When you're studying English, I recommend focusing on learning phrases and not just individual words. When you only study individual words, it's hard to put them together into a phrase - but when you study phrases, then it's much easier for you to use the whole phrase when speaking. The problem is that sometimes you might hear or see a phrase that doesn't seem to make sense. This often happens with idioms and informal expressions. My students ask me about phrases all the time, and today I’ll exp...
Oct 09, 2019•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today I'll teach you about some common English-learning mistakes that I’ve observed among the hundreds of students whom I’ve worked with. This lesson is going to be a little different because it’s not about fixing specific words or phrases; instead, it’s about correcting typical problems that language learners tend to have in the way they approach studying. In some ways, these are the most important errors, because these habits or thoughts or attitudes are at the foundation of everything you do ...
Oct 02, 2019•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s lesson is all about spelling mistakes involving adding an extra letter to a word, or accidentally removing a letter from a word. There are so many words in English where these errors can happen, but again I’m going to focus on the most common ones. If you are looking for a quick way to check and correct your spelling and grammar, I recommend Grammarly - it's a free online tool! If you want to get personal correction from an English teacher, then I recommend joining our Advanced English G...
Sep 25, 2019•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Remember that mistakes are an opportunity to learn - and today you'll learn from the mistakes of other students like you. Today's lesson focuses on errors that I and my teaching team have found frequently when correcting students’ homework. Maybe you've made some of these errors in the past, and now you know how to avoid them! But maybe you're making different mistakes, and you want someone to check your English to see if anything is incorrect. You can get correction from a teacher inside these ...
Sep 18, 2019•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this lesson we’re going to look at 7 common pronunciation mistakes in words with confusing combinations of letters.. A lot of students ask me about rules, like how do we know when the letter e sounds like ee vs. eh, or when the letter g sounds like juh (general) vs. guh (get). Although there are some trends in English spelling / pronunciation, there are so many complications and exceptions that I’d encourage you NOT to focus on remembering rules. Instead, when you learn new words, always look...
Sep 11, 2019•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast This month I'm going to teach you about some common errors in English. These are mistakes that I've observed and corrected frequently during my years of helping English learners improve their skills. Today's lesson focuses on common errors with adjectives and adverbs. Do you want to get correction on YOUR English? Join one of our courses that includes teacher feedback! Here are the options: Advanced English Grammar Course + Feedback on writing Reading Course + Feedback on writing Vocabulary Cour...
Sep 04, 2019•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here in the U.S., we’re in the middle of summer - the hottest part of the year! Today you’ll learn some English vocabulary related to summer and hot weather, with pictures to help you remember the words. Expanding your vocabulary is so important because the more words you know, the better you can express yourself in English. Inside my Vocabulary Builder Courses , you'll learn and practice 1000+ useful words. The lessons include lots of pictures to help illustrate the words, and there are also qu...
Aug 28, 2019•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast A gerund is a word that looks like a verb, but functions as a noun in the sentence. Gerunds are formed by using the -ING form of the verb - reading, swimming, studying, etc. - but when it comes to grammar, they act as nouns. Here are some common ways to use gerunds in English - and some practice sentences so you can use them yourself! You can study grammar for hours, but can you actually use grammar well? It's very important to create your own sentences with the grammar you are learning - this w...
Aug 21, 2019•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast The word spot has a few different meanings in English.The word spot has a few different meanings in English. Here are the three most common: as a noun, a spot is a mark that is a different color.A leopard has spots. as a noun, a spot is a place, location, or area.This is a great spot for camping. as a verb, spot is an informal way to talk about seeing or detecting.He spotted an eagle in the sky. Today we'll focus on definition #2 - spot meaning a place, location, or area. There are many common c...
Aug 14, 2019•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
