A while ago on the World of Words, I mentioned studying before you go to sleep so you can dream in English. What about if you prefer to study during the day, though? Why not take a nap after you study? Just a short nap of 20 minutes can leave you feeling refreshed and make …
I saw a really interesting article on the BBC News website this weekend. It claims that exercising for five minutes in a green space such as a park can improve your mental health. In their experiments, the researchers also found that it improves mood and self-esteem. If you have better self-esteem, you’ll feel more motivated …
One of the most common things people ask me about every day is how to practise English. My opinion is that there’s no single best way to practise English. How you should practise English depends on your personality, what kind of learner you are, and how much time you have available. When you are choosing …
It’s Friday again, already! That means it’s time for a quiz. Remember, if you want to see the answers in context, click the links on the final page of the quiz. Good luck, everyone. Have a great weekend!
Edinburgh is a beautiful city and certainly an inspirational place to study English. Although some learners find accents from certain parts of Scotland difficult to understand, the Edinburgh accent is very clear and the intonation is beautiful. There is a very well-respected university in Edinburgh and lots of independent language schools to choose from. Of …
After yesterday’s tips on how to organise your English reading material, today let’s continue the reading theme and look at some English expressions and idioms with ‘read’: to read someone like a book Meaning: to be able to work out someone’s intentions even if he is lying Example: Sam says he doesn’t like Sally but …
If you’re like me and read a lot of blogs, sometimes, following all of them can get a little confusing. It’s difficult to know when they are updated and can be a chore having to open lots of different windows in your web browser. I’ve found the best way to avoid this is to use …
How to use RSS to organise your English reading material Read More »
In English, we have different names for animals and their meat. For example, a cow is still a cow when it’s alive but when it’s been killed and is ready to eat, we call it ‘beef’. The same for ‘pig’ and ‘pork’, ‘sheep’ and ‘mutton’, ‘deer’ and ‘venison’, and so on. The reason for this …
Why does English have different names for animals and their meat? Read More »