What are the most overused words in English?

Some of the most overused words and expressions in day-to-day conversation, particularly by the younger generation are:

1. “Like”: Often used as a filler word or to emphasize a point.
2. “Literally”: Frequently used for emphasis, even when not meant in a literal sense.
3. “Awesome”: Used to describe something as great or impressive, often without much thought.
4. “Totally”: Used to express agreement or confirmation.
5. “Amazing”: Similar to “awesome,” used to describe something as remarkable or impressive.
6. “Basically”: Used to simplify or summarize a concept.
7. “I know, right?”: Used to express agreement or shared understanding.
8. “OMG” (Oh my God): An acronym used to express surprise or excitement.
9. “Epic”: Used to describe something as grand or extraordinary.
10. “Sick”: Used to describe something as cool or impressive.

These words and expressions are commonly used in informal conversations, social media posts, and everyday interactions, often without much consideration for their impact or original meaning.

Start speaking English like a fluent speaker in less than a year

Can you start speaking English like a fluent speaker in less than a year? To begin with, let’s find a logical answer to this question … Less than one year is probably not enough to get to a near-native level. Nevertheless, you can improve your English significantly even in a few months. The question is… how are you going to spend this period?

How do native speakers communicate? By listening and speaking – asking and answering questions, in conversations, giving suggestions, making presentations, taking telephone calls. By writing – e-mails, reports, texting on social media, and so on … I can continue this list, but, probably, you have already got my point.

So, now, why would anyone decide to spend these two months reading a grammar book, watching TED talks or BBC English, that you can’t really follow, or learning vocabulary with flashcards.

How does all this help you improve? It does only a little. Basically, it does not. And it never will. Until you start using your English.

Until you start speaking, listening and writing it every day. This should be the main part of your language practice, and not flashcards or books.

Now, the difficult question: How do I start speaking if I don’t have native speakers around? I did. Without any native speakers. In the pre-Internet era, I wouldn’t be able to do it. But once you have an Internet connection – yes, I was able to, and you can do it too.

Start speaking to yourself. Find people online to talk to. And not necessarily only native speakers. Start speaking English to your friends who are also dreaming about learning English. If they stop dreaming and start speaking, like you do, you will suddenly find yourself a partner to talk to.

Listen to real-life conversations in English. But don’t just listen – talk to them, ask them questions, rephrase what they are saying, agree and disagree with them. Everything you would be doing when you usually talk to people in your own language.

If you are already fluent in your own language, what really stops you from becoming fluent in a foreign language? Books? Yourself? Of course, as an English learner, you might have a hard time communicating in English because of the language barrier. Don’t worry—here are some tips you can use if you want to understand (and be understood) better.

• Create opportunities. Practise with conversational partners and keep talking.
• Make sure you’re understood. Repeat what you’re told and ask clarifying questions.
• Use the Internet. It has practically everything you’ve ever wanted
• Become an engaged listener. Improve your listening skills every day: films, music, podcast, radio, YouTube, BBC news, TED talks, etc
• Read aloud and focus on pronunciation. Record yourself.
• Learn sentences instead of words. A good idea is to start learning collocations and expressions. And get it checked.

To sum up, no, it is not possible to become fluent in a few months. But you can, and you should be fluent in less than a year. If you start using English for most things you do every day.

The most important thing is to realise that the more you get into reading and listening, and not speaking English, the further you are from fluency in it. Use your language to communicate in a useful manner. Use the language as a tool for communication and learning.

Hope this helps and keep in touch on your learning progress.

Language-Learning Apps for Teachers and Students

The best language-learning apps can help you build a vocabulary in your target language, develop proper grammar and eventually become fluent through lessons that are easy to digest and retain. They’re also economical, especially when compared with formal schooling with a language expert. Many have features like speech recognition, which is key to ensuring you have proper pronunciation. Others offer several language options, which is ideal when you want to pick up multiple languages.

Gone are the days when learning a new language would require physical resources that were not accessible to everyone. Today’s web technologies and mobile applications have tremendously facilitated the way people pick up new tongues. You can now engage in intensive language learning courses right from the comfort of your coach. The collection below features some of my favourite resources that you and your students can use to start exploring new languages. 

1- Duolingo and Duolingo for Schools

Duolingo is by far our favourite in this list. Duolingo was featured last year by Google as the best language learning app in Google Play Store. Duolingo turns language learning into a game to make it more fun and effective. Students can learn languages for free while earning points for correct answers, racing against the clock, and leveling up. Duolingo has recently launched a new platform specifically designed for teachers and educators called Duolingo for Schools. With Duolingo for Schools, teachers can easily track their students’ progress, run in-class activities and assign homework. Learn more about Duolingo for Schools from this guide.

Watch my others post about DUOLINGO:

Duolingo for Schools created for Educators

Using DUOLINGO as a Fun Summer Assignment

Making English Learning Fun

2- Busuu

Busuu is another great web platform and mobile app for learning a new language. Busuu offers language courses created by educational experts that cover the four major language learning skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The courses range in difficulty from beginner to advanced intermediate levels.Additionally, Busuu allows learners to practice their language skills directly with native speakers from all around the world through its huge community that comprises over 50 million users. Learners will receive personalized feedback on their exercises, talk to native speakers via an integrated chat and get to know people from all over the world.

3- Memrise

Memrise provides quality courses in more than 200 languages enabling students to learn new languages in a fun and joyful way. Memrise brings language learning to life using a wide variety of multimedia materials that include videos, audio, mnemonics, etymologies and many more more. As a teacher, you can use Memrise to create your own courses and materials using rich multimedia flashcards. You can also create groups and keep track of your students progress. Memrise is available for the web, Android and iPad.

4- Open Culture Language Links

Open Culture has this page featuring a number of interesting websites where you can learn over 40 languages including Arabic, French, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mansarin and many more.

5- YouTube Language Channels

This is a collection by Educatorstechnology of some of the best YouTube channels that offer free language learning content. Most of these channels are run by language teachers or experts in language teaching.

Sources: Educational Technology and Mobile, CNET Insider newsletter, Duolingo, Memrise, Open Culture, Busuu and Youtube Channel.

Learning from Words of Wisdom in Education

A number of common sayings, quotes and proverbs give advice and inspire you to learn from them. As we reach the end of the year and the beginning of a new year, it is a great time to make resolutions. The new year gives us a “clean slate”, a fresh start, another chance after wiping out past mistakes or problems. It is time to set goals for yourself and learn from these words of wisdom.        

Let these practice quotes remind you of the importance of improving and taking action or developing habits to be the best we can. I hope you find them encouraging. So learn all you can!

1.- “Practice makes perfect”. People are “creatures of habit”, things become much easier when you develop a habit. Moreover, regular exercise of an activity or skill is the way to become proficient in it.

2.- “It takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb that means that an entire community of people must interact with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment. It takes all the people involved in the life of a child to give their best in doing their part in the raising of a child. This is the key to the concept of Total Education.

3.- “Be a lifelong student”. The more you learn, the more you earn and the more self-confidence you will have in today’s work climate. Lifelong learning paves the way for current and future success. It involves not only studying new topics but also developing an open-minded, positive attitude about the dynamic nature of the world. Personal development continues alongside professional development.

4.- “Mistakes are the stepping stones to learning”. Failures are the stepping stones to success. It is those mistakes which make us a better person and strive hard to our dream destination. Our mistakes teach us what went wrong and how to correct them. Each and every human has come across a phase in their life which they thought was their hardest part of their life. However, this particular phase taught them to become bigger and better. Time and experience have proved to be the best teachers they can be. Every wrong or bad decision we take has a life lesson that we learn.

5.- “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” means that it is not enough to simply mean to do well, one must take action to do well. A good intention is meaningless unless it is followed by a good action. Many people have a conscience that tells them what the right thing to do is, in a given situation, but they give in to laziness or selfishness and do not follow through. Another interpretation of the proverb means that trying to do something good often has unintended consequences which make things worse.

6.- “Where there’s a will there’s a way”. Determination will overcome any obstacle. If one is motivated enough to do something, one will find a way to do it. Willpower will defeat any difficulty and strong determination can conquer any problem.

7.- “A word to the wise is enough”.  Wise people do not need long explanations. If you are willing to understand, a little word is enough to make things clearer. I like this proverb because we are constantly communicating with other people, sometimes being understood sometimes not. After all, it depends on the person with whom we are communicating and a word to the wise is enough. I learned this proverb from my grandfather.

8.- “Think twice act wise”. Consider a course of action carefully before embarking on it. This piece of advice is the one that I repeat the most to my students. I often use this idiom as a warning, as in “Think twice before asking or doing that!”

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9.- “Slowly but surely” used for describing definite but slow progress. In other words: it does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Aim for the sky, but move slowly, step by step, enjoying every step along the way. It is all those little steps that make the journey complete.

10.- “The sky is the limit”. A lot of students ask me if they can improve their English and if they will be able to speak fluently. The truth is if you put in enough time and effort, the sky’s the limit, which means that if you spend enough time and enough effort on your English, then you can learn as much English as you want.

Learning gives you knowledge and preparation and both together give you opportunity. Continuous learning prepares you to take advantage of opportunities and is a key to success in life. From these words of wisdom, you can grow as a person and find out what it takes to better yourself and climb the ladder.

A2 Key for Schools

A2 Key, formerly known as Cambridge English: Key (KET), is one of  Cambridge English Qualifications. This basic-level qualification is a great exam to take if you’re new to learning English, or if you are a young student. The exam tests all four English language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking.

An A2 Key certificate shows that you can:

• understand and use basic phrases and expressions
• understand simple written English
• introduce yourself and answer basic questions about yourself
• interact with English speakers at a basic level.

A2 Key and A2 Key for Schools overview of changes Download

Video resources

Taking the A2 Key for Schools Speaking exam. See what happens in each part of the exam.

A2 KEY for Schools sample papers. Download a sample Test

Making English Learning Fun

Duolingo is the world’s largest online language learning platform. Duolingo for Schools is a platform created exclusively for educators, allowing them to access and keep track of each learner’s Duolingo progress. I’ve been using this amazing tool for our students in order to brush up and keep up their English language for over three years with encouraging results.

Duolingo turns language learning into a game to make it more fun and ef­ective. Students can learn languages for free while earning points for correct answers, racing against the clock, and leveling up. 

With this aim our student “play and learn” with this app that runs on every device, from smartphones to desktop computers (browsers Chrome, Firefox …), including Android tablets, Chromebooks and Ipads.

Duolingo for Schools allows teachers to track their students’ language learning in one place and gives them special access to parental controls and Duolingo activities designed specifically for the classroom. Teachers can also activate classroom-exclusive lessons specially tailored for students, based on the average student level of that class.

Always learning !!!!!

Google Classroom built specifically for education

This is the fourth year I’m using G Suite for Education, but the first year with my 5th graders. I can see a lot of potential working with online documents, as I can easily provide feedback and comments. I can now send all my important messages and reminders there, plus assign homework and classwork. My students are all in one place, each neatly organized in a class.

It was a bit challenging at first as there were too many instructions for creating and sharing documents. Now all they have to do is go to Classroom and see what work they need to do. All the information they need to access is in one place.

Google Classroom is simple to setup and since it was built specifically for education, there are instructional benefits to using it with students. For example, you can use Classroom to send specific assignments to individual students instead of the whole class. This feature allows teachers to provide students with the resources they need when they need them. Classroom also provides the flexibility for group work too. Teachers can promote collaboration and assign work to groups of students using Classroom so learners can work together to complete projects.
Use Classroom to send messages, assign, collect, and grade work, and share learning materials in one single place.

Click on each card below to get started.

Create an Assignment in Classroom

Add Links, Videos, and Files to Classroom Assignments

Add Drive Files to Classroom Assignments

Viewing Assignments

Share a Resource Folder in Drive

Make View-Only Documents for Students to CopySmarter Assignments for All

The Impact of Technology on Teaching. G Suite for Education and Google Classroom.

Think about the impact of technology on your life. Has technology saved you time and made you more efficient? How it might affect or is actually already affecting your teaching.

The role of rote learning has decreased as students have instant access to the world’s knowledge. Students can take ownership of their learning. Additionally, technology helps cater to individual student needs: resources can be personalized for students and teachers can offer digital feedback. Accordingly, technology is a tool to support teachers in their efforts to increase student learning.

G Suite for Education is a suite of tools that can help you increase opportunities for critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, all while supporting the learning objectives that you have for your students. These tools are free, ad-free, reliable, and secure. They are already used by millions of students in schools around the world. Of course, free is great, but the best thing is that these tools are relevant to students, easy to use, and open doors to many new ways to learn.

G Suite for Education also includes a number of Google products that promote collaboration among students and with their teachers. Students can work together, in class or at home, to complete assignments and group projects. All of their work is auto-saved, and they can even edit without WiFi.

• Google Docs: documents come to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs. Choose from thousands of fonts, plus add links, images, drawings, and tables
• Google Sheets: spreadsheets for analyzing, visualizing, and charting data
• Google Forms: quick & easy surveys to gather information
• Google Slides: a presentation tool that makes it easy to tell stories
• Google Drawings: Graphics and flowchart creation with shapes, text, and images

Additionally G Suite for Education includes tools that can be used to save you time and increase student engagement. These include:

• Gmail: Email, contacts, tasks, and communications
• Google Calendar: Scheduling, calendars, and appointments
• Google Hangouts: Live video conferencing and messaging
• Google Sites: Webpage creation and publishing
• Google Groups: Group communication and web forums

Most educators dread using printers and photocopiers, but they’re necessary when you need to make class copies of your documents. All this changes when you use the G Suite for Education. The great advantage is the concept of a live document: there is only one version of it and edits are made in real-time. When you (or someone you are collaborating with) make a change to the document those changes are all saved in the same place for everyone to see.

Communicating information to all members of your classroom community – students, parents and other teachers – is one of the most important yet time-consuming tasks you face as a teacher.

For help, click the icons below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Skills Will You Need?

You’re likely already sharing your students’ work with the wider community whether through parent / teacher nights or a display of student artwork on the walls. Communicating to this wider audience is not only important to keep them informed of the success you’re having in your classroom, but it also makes the students’ work more authentic and important:

Create a Google Site

You can create a Google Site by clicking NEW in Google Drive and then selecting More then Google Sites. Give your new file a name and it is automatically saved in your Drive. You can also visit the Sites homepage and click the red + in the bottom right corner.

LEARN HOW

Google Classroom is perfect for copying and sharing docs with your class. You can also use it to distribute and collect assignments effortlessly. Google Classroom saves you time, keeps you organized and helps you communicate with your students. Get started today, with resources, tips and tricks from educators like you.

Vocabulary Challenge

Vocabulary Challenge. A fun way to support research and UNICEF!

British Council Vocabulary Challenge is still open and a really worthwhile activity to encourage students, family members and friends to do as we get ready for the holidays.

The research project aims to find out which of 7,000 of the most common English words Spanish, German or Chinese learners of the English language know.

For every word attempted the British Council will make a donation to UNICEF.

¡Animo! and take the challenge here

¿Te has preguntado alguna vez cuántas palabras conoces en inglés? ¿Si eres un estudiante, estás aprendiendo inglés tambien en tu tiempo libre o usas el inglés como parte de tu diversión y aprendizaje? Si es así, ¡puedes intentar el Vocabulary Challenge del British Council para probar tu conocimiento de palabras en inglés!

Realiza el Vocabulary Challenge y ser parte de este proyecto internacional.

¡Prueba el VOCABULARY CHALLENGE ahora!

https://www.vocabularychallenge.org/

Cambridge English Qualifications tailored to young learners

Children between the ages of 6 and 12 can take the Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers exams to develop their language skills in a fun, practical and progressive way. 

Pre A1 Starters, formerly known as Cambridge English: Starters (YLE Starters), is one of  Cambridge English Qualifications. It is the start of a child’s language learning journey.

Pre A1 Starters test format (2018 update)

A1 Movers is the next step in a child’s English language learning. A1 Movers can help the student: understand basic instructions or take part in simple conversations and complete basic forms and write notes, including times, dates and places.

A1 Movers test format (2018 update)

A2 Flyers is the third of these fun activity-based English tests for children. The tests are written around familiar topics and focus on the skills needed to communicate effectively in English through listening, speaking, reading and writing. With the A2 Flyers tests, the student will be able to: understand simple written English, communicate in familiar situations and use basic phrases and expressions and interact with English speakers who talk slowly and clearly.

A2 Flyers test format (2018 update)