Not by Way of a Textbook

Unlike what many educational institutes, schools and companies will tell you, you cannot learn a language through a book. I cannot teach you to speak English through using a book. You have to learn to speak and listen in English the natural way, not the way of books. You don't grow up speaking your language from a book. That is impossible.

The best way to learn speaking skills is by listening to a native speaker, and answering questions from the speaker, repeating what the speaker says, and trying to use the words and concepts used by the speaker. I listen to my students and correct them when I hear mistakes. I often text or IM them the correct way of saying what they want to say. This is an excellent way of learning via phone or Internet.

Don't let anyone persuade you into buying an English textbook with the hopes that you will become fluent in English. That is not going to happen. Books are only good for going deeper into the language and learning grammatical structures, vocabulary, and to practice reading skills. Most of my students want to be able to converse and listen in the English language, not read or write it, although, they learn that too. Learn by doing, not by opening a book to a page and studying that page. Hahaha. Nobody learns that way. We are not robots.

For my Skype or phone lessons, I use an interview approach to teaching English. I ask students a series of questions. The questions are related to a topic. Students answer the questions and I make corrections as necessary. I use questions based on the level of the student. I use the same topic but for advanced students they receive advanced questions on the topic. For beginning students, I use simple questions related to the topic.

Some of the topics include:
Advantages and disadvantages of living in your city
Transportation problems
The crime situation
What you do on your time off
How you celebrate holidays
Why people learn languages
Questions from a news topic
A practice job interview
The Generation gap
Sports
Jobs and occupations

Dealing With Conditionals in Conversation

So, here is the deal with conditionals in our communication. There are three specific rules and they are easy to remember. Really! Now, I am not in favor of promoting a grammar approach to learning another language. People do not speak like grammar books. People communicate as appropriate within their cultural context, and it all works out harmoniously. Language is flexible, and expansive. No, I did not say, expensive. Some of those language books and programs are expensive, however. Now, here we go. Contitional 1: This is the real, pure conditional language form, because real or possibly real situations are presented. When an event or condition occurs we use conditional 1. We often use the word, "unless" in conditional 1. "Unless he does something about the cockroach problem in his home, nobody will want to visit him." "If there continues to be a problem with bugs in the home, nobody will go see him." The use of the present simple tense in the "if" clause, followed by a comma will result in this conditional, but a comma is not always needed depending on how the "if" clause is arranged. Conditional 2 This conditional is called the unreal conditional because a situation is not likely to occur. It is not a possible situation. It really will not happen. The verb "to be" is always conjugated as "were." Examples: "If I were in charge of the project, I would..." "If he cleaned the kitchen better, there would be fewer ants." However, based on his personality, and history, it is improbable that he will do a better job cleaning the kitchen. "If I had more money, I would travel to Europe." Or, you can say, "I would travel to Europe if I had more money." The use of the past simple in the "if" clause is used in the unreal conditional. Conditional 3 This is the past conditional because it deals with what happened in the past. It is common to beging a conditional 3 sentence with, "If he had..." "If I had..." If you had..." "If she had stayed in New York, she would have been hired by that company." In this conditional pattern the past perfect tense is used. That means the verb "to have" in the form of "had" is used.

I Love Trees

In English, we use the word, "love" so often, and in many situations. "Love" is always stronger than "like" and we English speakers always say "we love" when we really, really like something. When we are passionate about something, and our heart is really into it, we use the words, "I love." Here are some things that I love:

I love growing a vegetable garden. I love it because my heart is really into it. I feel passionate about growing some of my food. I believe strongly in health eating. I love eating the tomatoes grown in my garden. I love it very much.

I love taking long walks along the beach. I like walking in general and observing nature, the sky, and people. However, I love walking along different beaches. I do this because I really, really, want to. I am passionate about visiting beaches. My heart is really into it. I not only like exploring the beach, I love it. I love it so much.

I love trees. I more than like trees. I like trees so much, that I love them. I love to see the many shades of green on the trees. I love to walk among the trees, and see the different forms, sizes, and colors of the trees. I love nature in all is glory, and the trees are a big part of nature.

I love being with my family. I like everyone, but I really like more than everything else, being with my family. I love my family, and I love being with them.

Your assignment: to find things, places, events, and people that you really love. and make sentences using, "I love..." You will be a good English speaker when you master the pronoun and verb phrase, "I love."