Real ESL

Should you say ‘fewer flowers’ or ‘less flowers’?
Fewer flowers.
Should you say ‘fewer makeup’ or ‘less makeup’?
Less makeup.
Should you say ‘fewer items’ or ‘less items’?
Fewer items.
Should you say ‘fewer ice cream’ or ‘less ice cream’?
Less ice cream.
If you had a problem with any of these, watch the following video blog! Below the video, I have written a partial transcript (all key phrases) and a vocabulary explanation.

Transcript/Vocabulary Explanation

A lot of native speakers do it wrong, so you can laugh at them once you know.
once = when

‘Fewer’ needs a countable noun and ‘less’ needs an uncountable noun.
a countable noun - something that can be counted; you can put a number in front of it
(three dogs, a pen, two books)
an uncountable noun - something that can not be counted directly; you must put it into something to count it
(a slice of pie, a tube of lipstick, two gallons of gas)

It’s kind of like a liquid; you have to put it into something to be able to count it.

A tube of lipstick = a container lipstick is put in

Some people say… there are less flowers over there…. but that’s wrong.

Go ahead. = Do it.

Find things that are countable and add fewer to them (in front).

Find things that are uncountable and add less to them (in front).

Randall’s ESL Blog is an excellent site to practice English.

Randall writes short posts and asks provocative questions (provocative = causing discussion). These questions can help you practice your English. If you are trying to learn English throughout your day in quick bursts (in quick bursts = in short time periods), you can go to this site for five minutes and practice.

I like the following post in which he questions the value of moving to an English-speaking country to learn English.

http://esl-lab.blogspot.com/2008/04/learning-english-more-than-living.html

If you read/watch my blog, you know that I get frustrated with the textbooks that teach people to speak in a way that would make native speakers laugh. I like the following post in which he talks about a natural way to start a conversation.

http://esl-lab.blogspot.com/2008/04/conversation-starters-what-would-you.html

I thought it would be fun to look at some of our famous ESL speakers around the world. The first person I’m going to evaluate is Vladimir Putin.

He has a speech in English about the 2014 Winter Olympics. He’s a real guy with a busy life, like a lot of you, and he has a lot of people around him who can ensure he speaks perfectly (ensure = make sure). However, he does not.

Vladi, I have to tell you that you need some help with your pronunciation!

I’ve worked with a lot of Russian speakers and Vladimir Putin is very hard to understand compared to many of my students. However, his biggest problem is very common for Russian speakers. His mouth and tongue muscles are too tight. He’s got to take it easy (to take it easy = to relax). Because he’s over-pronouncing everything, he doesn’t stress important words more than unimportant words and he makes every syllable too strong.

The other big problem is his pronunciation of vowels, particularly the soft vowel sounds for i, a, u and o. Look at his soft ‘i’ sound. He says it like eeee. How can he correct this? His mouth stretches as it does if someone smiles wide. For the ‘i’ sound, you shouldn’t move your mouth much. Try to say ‘beach’ and ‘bitch’ - these should sound very different or you may have some problems. For ‘beach’, your mouth stretches and makes a smile. For ‘bitch’, your mouth should barely move (barely = almost not).

For ‘a’, he doesn’t open his mouth enough, but I suppose it is closer to a British soft ‘a’ sound than an American soft ‘a’ sound, which requires quite a big mouth.

For ‘o’, he uses the hard ‘o’ sound when he should be using the soft ‘o’ sound. In other words, he pronounces it as ‘oa’ instead of ‘ah’.

He doesn’t make many grammar mistakes. He has a good speech writer. However, he says, “Would you believe it?” He should say, “Can you believe it?”

Here he is. Learn from his mistakes and maybe you will be the President of Russia one fine day (one fine day = sometime in the future).

Do you like to exercise? Do you wish you exercised more? Are you getting out of shape in America?

In this video lesson, I talk about my students’ number one complaint about America: it’s made them get fat!

I understand totally. It’s tough in this culture (tough = difficult) to stay in shape (to stay in shape = to have a strong, athletic body).

Watch and learn! Below, I have the vocabulary explanation.

Vocabulary/Transcript:

Oh my Gosh. - Oh no, Oh God

I’ve gotten so out of shape. - My body is getting fat.

It’s no wonder. - It’s not a surprise. It’s not shocking.

You’re going to gain weight. - You’re going to get fat.

to stay in shape - to keep your body strong and healthy

I find it’s a great way to get a feeling for the culture - I think it’s a good way to understand the culture.

In America, we have this expression called the freshman 10 -
the freshman 10 - the 10 pounds students gain when they go to university for the first time

(***Note from Kim - Actually, in America, it’s the freshman 15. I got confused. In Canada, it’s the freshman 10.)

They are called Leggers (laleggers.org) and Roadrunners (laroadrunners.com).

It cost fifty bucks. - It cost fifty dollars.

You’re partnered with someone. - You have a partner. You have someone you can walk or run with.

I highly recommend it. - I think it’s great.

They all have walking groups. - You can walk with a group of people.

go running, go walking, go dancing

I got a cramp in my leg. - My leg became tight/in-pain

I got a bruise. - I got a black spot on my leg that hurts because I hit it on something.

I’m going to do some laps. - I’m going to go across the swimming pool and back.

You say, “Hey” or “How’s it going?” or “What’s up?”

It’s kind of a greeting. - It’s a way to say hello.

They’re gone. - They’ve left, They have not stopped.

You’ll feel like a tool. - You feel stupid, You feel like a nerd/a loser.

….”that you can live with” is an expression that means that maybe it’s not easy, but it will work in your life. People often say, “I can live with that.” “That” refers to an agreement, a compromise, a change. So, if you want your significant other (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife) to clean up his/her mess, but that person is too busy to clean all the time, he/she might suggest that he/she will do one big cleaning with you on the weekend. It’s not exactly what you want, but it’s okay. You say, “I can live with that.”

So, when I’m talking about forming a studying schedule, you’d probably prefer to learn English without studying at all, especially if you are a busy person with a real life - a job, a relationship, kids or a busy social life (social life = time spent with friends). However, this is not going to happen. If you want to improve your English, there will be some work. But I’m going to make a suggestion that I think you can live with.

No, it does not involve studying for three or four hours at the end of the day. Not even if you want a high TOEFL score.

For this schedule, you need to study five to ten times throughout the day in five to ten minute chunks and write in English for half an hour at the end of the day. This works best if you live in an English-speaking country and you’ve stopped speaking your language, but it can also work for people who are living in other countries.

You need to be willing to tear out pages in your grammar book, notebook or dictionary because you stick these pages around your house in locations where you spend more time and you need to put at least one in your pocket for times when you have to wait for people.

To start off, for this schedule, you study in the shower for ten minutes in the morning. Yes, in the shower! You should always have a vocabulary list on the dry wall of the shower. Then, you study for five minutes while you are on the toilet. You study for two minutes while you brush your teeth - yes, you have vocabulary or grammar sheets around your bathroom. The English talk radio station should be playing all morning at home and in the car.

At work, if you can, take a minute or two to read English news or ESL blogs a couple times. Listen to English podcasts or radio in the car/bus/subway (podcast = shows you can download on the Internet). Study for five minutes in the line-up at the grocery store or wherever you go after work if it’s possible.

At home, watch American/British television. Before you go to bed, write about your day or issues in the news for half an hour, trying to use some of the grammar and vocabulary you learned throughout the day. If you do this, you will learn English very quickly.

Maybe you still speak your language now and then (now and then = sometimes). Add an hour of English studying on to the end of your day for every hour of your day you spend listening to or speaking your language. That’s how much you need to do to balance it.

Good luck with your English goals. I believe in you!

If you are invited to go out for dinner at someone’s home, what do you bring? Food? Dessert? A bottle of wine? Flowers? A present?

Answers: Yes, Yes, Yes, No, No!

Check out the video to learn more (check out = look at) and look at the vocabulary explanation below for any words you didn’t understand.

Vocabulary:

My friend is apparently making us - My friend told me she is making us a fancy Turkish meal, I heard my friend is making us..

apparently - I heard, someone told me
* ‘apparently’ can also go at the beginning of a sentence.

fancy - very nice

If someone asks you for dinner - If someone asks you to come to his or her house for dinner

zerbert, raspberry - the name when someone sticks out his/his tongue and blows

So, to continue… - So, let me go on, So, let me continue, So, now I’ll continue…

An appetizer - the food you eat before the main meal

That’s pretty weird - That’s quite strange.

Maybe my cooking sucks - Maybe my cooking is bad, Maybe I can’t cook.

You can’t arrive empty-handed - You can’t arrive with nothing in your hands.

You may be charming - You may be funny/nice/interesting.

And, by the way, don’t bring flowers - And, since we’re talking about this, don’t bring flowers.

That’s it - that’s all, that’s the end.

My question for you today is:

Would you rather have a lot of friends from your country or speak perfect English, increase your earning potential and make a lot of money in your future career? (earning potential = the amount of money you can make in your job)

If you answered the second option, then watch the video! Check out vocabulary below!

Vocabulary/Transcript – in order

All of my students, without exception – every single person

They started engaging in the culture – They started interacting with Americans

They took community classes – They took fun classes at community centers.

They did yoga classes. – They did classes to learn yoga.

They went out partying – They went out to bars and nightclubs.

Top-scoring students – Students with the top scores/marks

Really eager student – a diligent/hard-working student

That is the trick – That is the secret, that is the key.

It will take you half as long (if you stop speaking your language).

You will save a ton of money. – You will save a lot of money.

Be ruthless. – Be tough, Be selfish.

It is not worth it. – It doesn’t have value. Making a lot of friends from your country won’t help you.

You will not have achieved your goals. – You will not have reached your goals, you will not have learned to speak English

Go for your goals. – Try to get your goals.

Are you afraid of writing? Don’t be. Have a little fun. Think of it as a kind of lying (lying=not telling the truth) that you’re allowed to do.

For some people, writing anything in English, especially a TOEFL essay, makes them break out in a cold sweat (to break out in a cold sweat = to get scared, to get nervous, to be afraid quickly). Fortunately, it’s not as hard as you might think (hard=difficult).

Vocabulary:

Verbally – by speaking
Standard – normal, average
A good listener – someone who knows how to listen well and cares about what others say
To be fired from your job – when your boss says he doesn’t want you to work there anymore
Options – possibilities, choices, future paths
To come over – to come to someone’s house
It was a mess – it was very dirty

To Review:

You can start the first paragraph with a hook if you can think of one. A hook pulls the reader in (to pull the reader in = to make the reader want to read more). The word ‘hook’ comes from fishing – if you are fishing, you have a hook on the end of your fishing line, you put bait (bait = food to feed the fish) on the hook and the fish bites. You want your reader to bite. Some good hooks are a quotation from someone famous or someone you know (you can lie about this), a shocking statement and a question. After the hook, your first paragraph must introduce your basic opinion/thesis and your two main points or your two main reasons.

In your second paragraph, you need to write your first main point in a new way. You can give one extra line of explanation, but then you need a detail. This is very important. Many people forget the details. There are four main kinds of details: a personal story, a detailed example (just like a personal story, but you aren’t claiming it happened to you), a statistic or scientific study. The first two are the easiest because you can make them up (to make something up = to create something, to lie about something).

In the third paragraph, you do the same thing as you did in the second paragraph with your second main point.

In the fourth paragraph, you repeat your main points in a new way and come to a conclusion about what that means for you.

In the above video, I give you an example of this. You can practice the basic structure and ideas for a TOEFL essay by speaking.

The Basic Elements You Need For Your TOEFL Essay – Example:

Question: What are the most important qualities in a best friend?

Paragraph One – A best friend must be a good listener and a kind person.

Paragraph Two – A best friend must know how to listen. If you are fired from your job….

Paragraph Three – It’s important to choose a best friend who is kind. When my grandmother died, my best friend came over with flowers, she made me camomile tea and cleaned my kitchen….

Paragraph Four – Having a best friend who thinks about my feelings and knows how to listen is important …. (Summary)

Do you want to save money?
Do you want a new job?
Do you want a new life?

If you have any big goals, this is the perfect tense for you. You can set a goal with a deadline. A deadline is a time or date you must achieve/accomplish/do something in your life.

The big question in this clip is, “By this time next year, what will you have achieved in your life?” Will you have saved some money by this time next year? Will you have gotten a new job? Will you have learned how to speak English fluently?

Watch and practice!

People ask you about what you did in the past all the time, so it’s important to know how to explain all the details of what happened in the past. Someone might ask you what you did yesterday or what you did last week. Do you know how to answer? Here’s a video lesson on the simple past. After you watch, think about what you did this weekend and answer it out loud. (to say s.t. out loud = to say s.t. so that people can hear, not to yourself)

One more note: If it’s early in the week, you ask, “What did you do this weekend?” If it’s later in the week, like Thursday or Friday, you ask, “What did you do last weekend?”