Tell Others What To Do! (Practicing Commands)

Practice your commands and get a laugh as you do! Tell the subservient chicken what you want him to do and watch him bow to your every word!

How? Type in a command and submit and then just watch. Here are just a few to use:

• roll over
• bend over and touch your toes
• dance
• jump
• scratch your head

Try a few of your own!

Not a fan of the chicken suit? (I admit, it could be a little cuter!) There is a cute little dog waiting for your instructions at I Do Dog Tricks. The dog can't do as much as the chicken, but it's fun anyway, and maybe you'll learn some new vocabulary! Try these commands with the dog: dance, beg, bark, jump, sit, stand, etc.

Are you a higher level learner? Try the Family Friendly Simon Sez Santa, where the commands understood are greater and new ones are being added.
If you are there to practice your English, be sure to choose English as your language. If you're there just to have a little fun, there are a lot of languages to choose from. An added feature here is that some fun commands appear at the bottom - ideas for you to try!

Enjoy!

PS I saw these on Larry Ferlazzo's blog, although I'd seen the dog web site before. Check out his blog if you're an English teacher looking for ideas!

Trip vs. Travel: Revealed!

Yesterday we asked you to think of the difference between trip and travel. If you looked at our examples, it was probably rather straightforward: trip is used as a noun (in this context) and travel is a verb. It's as easy as that!
So, let's see how you do with a few practice sentences. Fill in each blank with trip or travel.

1. We're going to take a ___ to Tena this weekend. My mom and dad will be ___ with us, but my younger sister couldn't make it because she is going on an end-of-the-school-year ___ with her friends.
2. My father ___ a lot for his job. He usually ___ by plane, but for his Chicago ___ he'll be ___ by bus, since it is only a few hours from here.
3. To make the most of your ___ , be sure to ___ lightly. Don't pack more than you can carry, since once you arrive to the camp you'll be ___ mainly by foot and will have to carry all of your belongings with you.

Answers:

1. trip, traveling, trip
2. travels, travels, trip, traveling
3. trip, travel, traveling

Trip vs. Travel

Trip and travel - two words that create confusion for many English language learners. So what is the difference? Why do students get confused?

Have a look at the examples below and see if you can figure out the difference for yourself. Come back tomorrow for the answer and some practice.

• Have a nice trip!
• Travel with us again soon.
• I am taking a trip this Sunday.
• I am traveling to Cuenca this Sunday.
• We plan to travel soon.
• Let's go on a shopping trip next week!
• After she graduated from high school, she spent a year traveling all over Europe.
• Is there going to be a school trip this year?
• I travel to work by train.
• The trip from Chicago to Minneapolis takes about 8 hours by car.
• I thought I might take a trip to the Amazon river basin sometime this year.

Picture from www.destination360.com.

Practice Vocabulary and Help End World Hunger

Does studying English all day make you feel selfish sometimes? Maybe you don't have the time to spend with your family because you are running off to English class. Maybe you cancel plans with your significant other because you have to spend the weekend preparing for the TOEFL exam. But now there is a way to practice your vocabulary and help feed the needy by going to the Free Rice web site. Here you will be given a word and asked to choose its meaning. If you are correct, they will donate 10 grains of rice to the poor through the United Nations.

It may seem like a little, but you can "play" all you like. Yesterday, for example, 48,720,340 grains of rice were donated. Watch your bowl fill as you play to give you an idea of the difference you are making.

Check it out, learn some vocabulary, and do something for you while helping others!

Online Crossword Puzzles

We've compiled a list of crossword puzzles for those of you who like to play games in English.

The human body: From the BBC "Learning English" web site. You can send them an email and request a crossword puzzle based on a theme you like, too!

Past tense verbs: Practice the past tense of common verbs. There are plenty more on this site, like Animal sounds.
Or try something a bit more challenging, like Phrases with Make or Collective Nouns.

Maybe you are into something Business related? Or short but difficult?

Want to try an authentic crossword puzzle (one made for English speakers and not students)? Here's the Washington Post's, USA Today's, and Newsday's.

Maybe a designer crossword? Here's one which features clues Martha Stewart wrote.

Or something that can satisfy not only your love of words but also your soul?

If you are serious about crossword puzzle solving, you may need a crossword dictionary. At the very least you could use an online dictionary to help out with those clues you don't know the answer to.

Once you get good at the puzzles, why not try and create a few of your own?
This crossword puzzle creator is user-friendly and free! This one allows you to save PDF files of your creation (you have to register to the site). Here is another.

Have fun exploring these sites. Happy "puzzling"!

Cambridge English Readers for Beginner and Basic Students

Reading for pleasure is one way to learn more vocabulary and practice your English. Cambridge University Press publishes original English Readers by level. Here are a few of their titles, with a blurb about the plot:

Ghost Story
The Girl at the Window by Antoinette Moses

For Grace, a ghost in a haunted house, the arrival of a young mother with a baby stirs the memories of the man and child she lost so many years before. But then danger threatens the baby girl and Grace must act decisively.

Murder Mystery
A Death in Oxford by Richard MacAndrew

When Dr Leighton is murdered Inspector Frank Williams and Sergeant Kate Miller set out to track down her killer. Was it her husband, her son or her colleague? All had reasons to hate her but which one killed her?

Comedy
What a Lottery! by Colin Campbell

Rick Drummond is a music lover without a job who dreams of making it big in the world of music. The people around him think he's just a dreamer, or a loser. When his wife walks out on him it seems the real world is falling around him. But then his luck changes when he wins the lottery. Is this really a change of fortune for Rick or is he about to lose again?

Science Fiction
Let Me Out! by Antoinette Moses

Nolan is a robot created by a lonely electronics expert, John, to run his home, cook and do the ironing. but Nolan is not content; he wants to be human. When he realises that this is not possible, he turns against John, who finds there is no escpe from his malevolence.

Thriller
The Penang File by Richard MacAndrew

Secret agent, Ian Munro, is dispatched to Penang to stop an assassination attempt on the Prince (a member of the British Royal Family who is there on a state visit). Munro tracks down the assassin, identifies where and how the "hit" will take place, but can he foil the assassination attempt in time?

Dirty Money by Sue Leather

Joe lives in Canada, in a beautiful, quiet place. His peace is interrupted one day by the noise of bulldozers excavating near his house. He is told that it's a diamond mine. Joe is a journalist for a local newspaper and his neaighbours soon come to ask him to write about the awful noise and destruction. Joe becomes suspicious when his boss won't let him write about it. He starts to invesitgate the mine, but gets himself in harm's way.

English News Web Site for English Language Learners

Practice your listening and reading skills, as well as increase your vocabulary, by reading and listening to articles at Simple English News. This web site offers a variety of news in simple, easier language than that found in a regular English newspaper. There are unusual news features, words in the news, entertainment & sports news, and even polls asking opinions for everything from "Would you like to travel in space?" to "What kind of cola do you drink when you are thirsty?".
Have fun exploring the site!

More about Phrasal Verbs

• Understanding phrasal verbs provides a key to a large amount of other English vocabulary
• Contrary to popular belief, many other languages also have vocabuary that is very similar to English phrasal verbs.
• Phrasal verbs , and the nouns and adjectives derived from them, are generally thought of as part of the Germanic component of English vocabulary, but inf fact we find very similar combinations in vocabulary that is derived from Latin and French too. In this case the order is particle + verb, and the spelling is always a single word.
• It is often said that, in formal contexts, single-word equivalents are more appropriate than phrasal verbs. this advice may sometimes be useful but it is an oversimplification, and if it is followed too closely, it can sometimes lead to unnatural or over-formal language.

Excerpts from Macmillan's Phrasal Verbs Plus Dictionary.

That said, see if you can think of the single-word equivalent of these common phrasal verbs: (Answers at the bottom of this post.)

1. leave out
2. go back
3. look for
4. put on
5. call off
6. bring up
7. put up with
8. give up
9. decide on
10. get out

Which of these phrasal verbs are probably a better choice than their single-word counterpart? Why?

Answers:

1. omit
2. return
3. search
4. don
5. cancel
6. raise
7. tolerate
8. quit
9. choose
10. leave

Phrasal verbs: Spelling

Once you learn phrasal verbs, you learn other English words as well. Many nouns and adjectives are formed from phrasal verbs. For example, hand out means to give things to different people in a group, while the corresponding noun handout refers to the piece of paper with information on it that is given to this group of people (generally students in a classroom). Or, look at the phrasal verb speak out (to state your opinion firmly and publicly about something), and notice its relationship with the adjective outspoken (expressing strong opinions very directly without worrying if other people are offended).

What are the spelling rules for these kind of verbs? Unfortunately, there are no clear or set spelling rules. Sometimes they are two words, sometimes hyphenated (-), sometimes combined as one word. Here are some guidelines that you can follow:

• verb + particle (phrasal verb) = two words: make up, look over
• particle + verb (verb) = one word: download, overlook
• verb + particle (nouns) = one word or hyphenated: make-up/makeup, carryout/carry-out
• particle + verb (nouns) = one word: input, downloading
• verb + particle (adjectives) = hyphenated: jazzed-up, made-up
• particle + verb (adjectives) = hyphenated or one word: ongoing, off-putting

From Macmillan's Phrasal Verbs Plus Dictionary.

Fun with phrasal verbs

Most students cringe at the dreaded phrasal verb - a verb that, when combined with a specific preposition (called a particle), changes meaning. English is tricky this way - instead of having more words, words simply get put together to mean different things. Some verbs, like get and set, have 2-3 pages of combinations in the dictionary! Daunting, to say the least. But students shouldn't fret. With a little planning and 5-10 minutes a day, these verbs can be easily conquered!

• Invest in a Phrasal Verbs dictionary. Macmillan has a good one.
• Keep a phrasal verb notebook. Have a page for each letter of the alphabet. When you run across (there's a phrasal verb!) a phrasal verb, write it down. Occasionally go back to your notebook and make connections between the verbs.
• Read, read, read! The more you read, the more vocabulary you learn. This is not just advice - if you want to successfully learn the language, reading is essential. As you read, underline or mark off the phrasal verbs (or verbs you suspect are phrasal verbs). At the end of the chapter, go back and look up the verbs in your new dictionary. Record them in your notebook.
  
• Go through your notebook and choose a phrasal verb at random. Try using it during the course of your day, even if it is just in your head.

100 New English Words

Just when you thought English couldn't get any harder - now Merriam Webster has announced that they will be adding close to 100 new words to the English language by the end of this year. So what are some of these words: Bollywood (the film industry in India), sudoku (popular number puzzles, similar to a crossword), and ginormous (a cross between gigantic and enormous).
You can read the short article, as well as hear someone read it aloud, here, at Simple English News.

Music Videos for Kids (and Beginners!)

Little kids will get a kick out of these videos made especially for them! Beginner adults may also like them. Best of all, there are Mac and PC versions. You can save the podcast on your own computer, too. Learn about colors, parts of the body, greetings, and the names of countries in English.
Have fun!

Online Dictionaries

Dictionaries can be expensive to buy. They are heavy, cumbersome, and inconvenient at times. But there are a number of online dictionaries that you can use.

• dictionary.com: a free online dictionary complete with thesaurus, games, and even featuring languages other than English
• Merriam Webster Online: click on the speaker icon next to the word and hear the correct pronunciation, play a word game, do the daily crossword, or learn a new word each day. Lots of stuff here!
• Cambridge Dictionaries Online: Here you can search the various Cambridge University Press dictionaries, including the Learner, which has graded language and clear examples of how the word is used.
• Yourdictionary.com: get links to dictionaries for other languages, as well as an acronym finder
• alphadictionary: play word games, find instant translators, sign up for the word of the day, take your chance at a virtual spelling bee, learn the most common false cognates in English, learn where the slang you hear is coming from, read a funny language joke, and much more.

Online Vocabulary Quizzes

"Without grammar, little can be conveyed. Without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed."
-D. Wilkins

Vocabulary is essential to communication. Try these vocabulary quizzes - great for beginners and low-intermediate learners.

Good vs. Well

Native speakers of English often confuse good and well, and it is common to hear good instead of well, especially in speech. So, what is the difference?

Good is an adjective, and thus modifies a noun. It can also be used after linking verbs such as be, feel, taste, look, smell.

• This coffee tastes really good.
• Rebecca is known for her good behavior.
• Fred does a lot of good deeds. He belongs to three or four charities.

Well, on the other hand, is usually an adverb. It modifies a verb.

• She did well in practice yesterday.
• She speaks French well.
• Karen cooks very well for a third-grader.

The confusion between the two words probably comes from the fact that, when talking about how someone feels or looks, we can use well (in this meaning it is used as an adjective).

• Sarah felt well enough to go to class today, but she didn't look well.
• Do you feel well?

EXERCISES
These are some good exercises to practice how well you understand the difference between these similar words.

1. Harry speaks ________ French, but he doesn't speak Italian very ________ .
2. The internet is a ________ place to get updated news.
3. Martha plays the guitar very ________ . She isn't a very ________ piano player, however.
4. Mary doesn't look ________ . Is she sick?
5. This cake tastes so ________ .
6. Jan dances so ________ that she was chosen to appear on a TV dance program.
7. My teacher is ________ , even though she couldn't explain the difference between good and well very ________ .
8. I feel ________ about my test. I think I did ________ .

Answers:

1. good / well
2. good
3. well / good
4. good
5. good
6. well
7. good / well
8. good / well

The Many Uses of the Verb Can

Can is a modal verb. It can be used in a variety of situations, depending on the context. Let's look at some of these meanings.

ABILITY: (to be able to)

• Can you drive?
• Can you play the piano?
• Can you speak French?

PERMISSION: (to be allowed to)

• You can park here.
• You can hang your jacket up in the closet.
• You can have dessert if you finish your peas!

REQUEST: (informal requests)

• Can you tell John that I'll pick him up at noon?
• Can you close the window, please. I'm cold!

POSSIBILITY: (possibilities in the present, not in the future)

• You can find the information in a dictionary.
• You can order a beer when you are 21.

OFFER: (polite offers of help)

• Can I help you with those boxes?
• Can I help you finish the project?

Courtesy of and adapted from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Exotic Fruit Translations

CEC students sometimes wonder how to say the names of their favorite foods. It can be difficult translating foods, since different regions name things differently, while other regions may not even know about the food in question! So, for Ecuadorian students, we have compiled a list of some of the translations for those more exotic and difficult-to-translate foods. This post will focus on FRUITS:

• tomate de árbol: tamarillo
• grosella: Tahitian gooseberry
• uvilla: cape gooseberry
• taxo: banana passionfruit
• achotillo: rambutan fruit (similar to lychee)
• guayaba: guava
• guaba: no translation found, I guess we have to call it guaba and try not to get confused with a guayaba!
• ovo: similar to a natal plum
• babaco: babaco or champagne fruit
• maracuyá: passionfruit
• naranjilla: naranjilla
• granadilla: sweet granadilla or golden passionfruit
• tuna: cactus apple or prickly pear
• capulí: black cherry
• guanábana: guanabana or prickly custard apple
  
• oritos: baby bananas
• maduro: sweet plantain (very ripe plantain)
• plátano verde: plantain
• chirimoya (cherimoya): custard apple
  

Practice Vocabulary at Home!

Do you need to learn more vocabulary? The best way to learn vocabulary is by READING. There are other ways, however, to improve your vocabulary and review words you see when reading or in class. Here are some tips:

• Make a vocabulary "flip pad." Put a verb on each page. Add words that you can use after it. (For instance: write the verb DO, and afterwards common words that follow DO, such as your homework, the dishes, some reading, etc.)
• Go to the drugstore and look at the objects on the shelf. Tell yourself the names of these objects in English. What helath problems are they for? Can you remember the names of the health problems in English?
• Label broken items in your house. Look around your house. Put the name of problems you see on a sticky note (Post-it) and put it on the object that needs to be fixed. Remove the notes when the problem is fixed.
• Find a fashion magazine and label as many of the different styles, materials, patterns, colors, etc. as you can in 15 minutes.

(Ideas taken from Touchstone.)

More on Listening Practice

CNN Stories Archive is a great place to test your listening and reading skills. You can read, listen to, or watch a clip of the news item. There are interactive activities to test comprehension. The story can be seen in its complete version or its abridged (shortened) version.

Do You Like Crosswords?

There are a number of crossword puzzles on the internet that you can use to learn new vocabulary and test your knowledge.

The BBC has a crossword puzzle for English language learners. Be warned, however, that it is a bit difficult!

Another one using VOA special English words. Some include picture hints, also.

Or - our favorite - check out the list of crossword puzzles at this web site. This one includes puzzles for all levels, including Beginners!

Keep a journal of the new words you learn. Practice using one new word a day.