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pesic87

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Everything posted by pesic87

  1. There are loads of those that really make me smile sometimes. Some of these are certainly : lose vs. loose Ex. He never wears a belt. His pants are always loose around the waist, which often means he loses them from time to time. Weird vs. wierd Their/There/They're Your vs. you're - like every time I visit some social website The same with a possessive pronoun Its and a shorter version of It is - it's A lot vs. (the non-existent) alot And something I saw on Facebook the other day: Shoplifters will be prostituted. Shcool, Homewerk, and my favorite Huge Me (hug me) I hope you liked the last few because I just find them so silly.
  2. The common issue with starting teaching anyone any language especially the one you do not speak is the teaching method you could use to teach. I am sure that someone who wants to learn English, for instance, coming from Japan, already knows at least something in English, like general understanding, if they choose Skype as a learning method. You, as a teacher, need to maintain the professionalism, and not forget to smile. No one likes a grumpy teacher, let alone someone who shows fear. I am of the opinion students are afraid, even more than teachers, when it comes to learning a language, especially on Skype. Also, you have to have at least one lets say free of charge lesson, in my opinion, because you want to make sure you know which level of English the student in question has. Also, about the teaching method, you can always see about that, after you have that initial lesson with your student. The more you know about a person that you teach, the more effectively you will spread your knowledge. The connection with your students is also very important. You have to maintain some professionalism, as I stated, but you also have to show you are human as well, to lower your expectations, and to always be kind when they make mistakes. Good luck with teaching, and learning.
  3. It is very easy actually. When you think about the Simple Present Tense third person singular formula, which is IT IS, and you learned that the shorter version is It's, then you know that the apostrophe standing there is actually where it is as a replacement for the 'i' omitted letter. On the other hand, ITS is just a possessive form for the third person singular, and you can't find any apostrophe there, because there is not a letter, which is omitted. Mine, Yours, His, Hers, Its, Ours, Yours, Theirs. - called Possessive Pronouns, used to avoid repeating any information that is already known, or clear. The example someone mentioned above is great, but here are some more: It is (it's) nice to meet you.I need to help my school maintain its website.It is (it's) quite a nice garden you have there.The garden he has been working on is outstanding. Its flowers boom with colour.
  4. Hello Administrators, English language is my second language, and I think this is a great idea that you came up with to help us, non-native speakers, get the hold of the language in a better way, being corrected by people whom English language is their native language. I am looking forward to learning more about colloquial language, and slang from native speakers. I hope people will take notice of my comments and correct me on my grammar, choice of words,etc., so that I can improve. Thank you again for the opportunity. It is nice to know someone has us, non-native speakers of English, in mind sometimes.
  5. i downloaded Duolingo and I started learning Spanish, but as someone of you mentioned above, it usually gives me some words out of context so I end up not really being sure how to use them in a sentence or such. Then, I have to use Google to try to learn more. However, it is a fun application, allows you to compete with other learners and has a lot of pictures that can really visualize the words, phrases and such for a learner. I will definitely search for some other sources to learn Spanish, but I will not remove Duolingo from my phone.
  6. Yes it actually is easier. Once you got the idea of how to acquire a language, and the process that follows the language acquisition, the mechanisms involved, the time consumed, the small and bigger ways and options in language learning that work best for you, the sources you could use when setting yourself on the path of yet another language learning; it can be rather easier, than it would have been if you were just introduced to another foreign language. I know this to be true, because when first i was introduced to English language, as my second language, I was pretty much in a fog. Quite lost in the whole aspect of how I would acquire some other language and how long will it take. One has to understand that language is never learned and you may never say: 'Oh, now I know the language'. It is a very tiresome, pretty much a life long process of learning a language, due to the very simple fact that each and every language is alive, spreading, widening, and improving, every single day. But, once you get the ideas that I mentioned above, every next time you decide to pick another language you will not be in a fog any longer, because you would know which sources to pick in order to learn a chose language. Of course, you would always need some guidance, and a lot of help, too; but, It would be much more easier than learning a second language. Also, it depends on the will, the motivation and the learning abilities of the learner.
  7. You have just made my day. Thank you so much for lovely words. I have put a lot of effort, and lot of years, plus my parents put a lot of money in me, invested almost everything they had; it often used to happen they did not have any food in the fridge just because they sent all their money to me in another town, to finish my studies. In the end, I got a degree, and now I have been searching for a job for 4 long years, almost 5...I have had some jobs here and there, but seeing how much my country is being corrupted and everyone and everything revolves around money, just makes me sick in my stomach. Often, there are some kids coming to have some English lessons with me, telling me that their teachers of English did not explain anything to them. They often say what they would do was they would come to the class, tell them to open their books and read, taking turns. Then, they would go to a grammar section, the teacher would write the content from the book on the blackboard, they would copy/paste that in their notebooks, without any questions asked, or any time provided for any questions. Then, when they get to do the homework, they would come to me completely clueless..I am not sure what to say here, other that I have been utterly disappointed...
  8. Subtitles helped me with learning Spanish when I was younger. I can understand Spanish now thanks to watching too many telenovelas and following subtitles. But, I failed to learn how to write in Spanish, and even to read some particular words, though I am pretty intermediate when it comes to reading. As for English language, in the beginning, the language acquisition was for me based on watching movies, thus being at least somehow exposed to a language. I used subtitles to learn the meanings of the words. Later, I studied the language in school. And about that time, I began reading books in English, and as someone mentioned above, it helped me immensely. It is one thing to watch a movie and learn the everyday spoken language, but it is an entirely different thing to read literature, and see what the written poetic words are like.
  9. Hello and welcome! It always makes me ponder over people who speak Japanese or Chinese or any of the Asian speaking languages. For me, they seem to be so hard to learn, but more and more people are turning to speaking Japanese, mainly. Great job Natalie. I wish I could be as motivated as you are.
  10. Yes @anna3101 repetition is very useful especially if you teach a foreign language to kids in primary school. We have the saying in my country that 'repetition is a mother of all the knowledge in the world'' or in latin ''Repetitio mater studiorum est''.
  11. Yes @anna3101 Bronte sisters! I have recently finished reading WUTHERING HEIGHTS, the novel by Emily Brontë, for the 3rd time in my life, in English. I am so in love with that book. It was not certainly the first one I read from English literature, but it is among my favourite ones. Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire is depicted in such a morose, melancholy, and dark way, along with Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine just amaze me, and Nelly who is there throughout the novel, as a narrator and a viewer, has seen and experienced a great deal of the two families depicted, so she could give a good account on the matters to Lockwood, who happened to rent a place at Thrushcross Grange as a place for recuperation and rest. Lovely novel, that I would read again and again.
  12. You are welcome @BWL ! Yes, you are correct, everyone of us turn to the way that works best for our personality or way of learning, when it comes to learning any language. I understand your friend perfectly and it is a great motivation to see that one thing in life can lead to another. Great job for your friend-Chinese seems too hard for me though,but I guess not impossible. One more thing that can motivate you to turn to another language is certainly a situation where you fell for a person coming from a different/foreign country, speaking different language, etc. Once I started learning Icelandic language because I was head over heals about one boy from Iceland. I was so enthusiastic about the language, but once he broke up with me, unfortunately, I lost both my motivation, my teacher, and my will to move on with language acquisition. That made me sad, but I just could not find any reason to go on. Sad, but true...
  13. Hi @BrianL it is great to see that someone is so much interested in languages and that languages work awesomely for you. You have got me inspired, and motivated to turn to some more languages other that my native language and English, as my second language. I have learned Greek, French and Russian in my life, but without much success, mainly since I was not exposed to those languages as much as I should be, or because I have not had any particular reason to speak them, thus improve the knowledge of them, too. I am not trying to find any excuse here for not brushing up on them more. Maybe it was because of my other preoccupations that took hold of my life. However, I will make sure I revise at least Greek so that I can know some expressions,etc. one day when I finally pay Greece a visit.
  14. With all that technology may offer nowadays, one can get the hold of everything that may help in language acquisition. However, just think back for a second, go back to the times of your parents and grandparents. They did not have the luxury of having anything like we have today, like gadgets, applications, online dictionaries, tools for learning a language, etc. All they had were books, and teacher who used just their book, head, imagination and a blackboard to teach anything, and everything. And learners acquired languages as well as they have today, without any of the tools I have mentioned above. I am of the opinion that any gadget like that should not be a primary tool in language learning, but should be its asset. The more you are exposed to any language, the better.
  15. My first and so far my favourite English novel I read was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I was infatuated by the book, the style and choice of words. I love the way Austen writes, how she depicts the time they lived in and how much she pays attention to characters and details.
  16. Yes, I remember while I was teaching English to 10 to 15 year old pupils in school, including some private tutoring at home, I used to play these sort of games a lot. Usually what I would do was distribute some flash cards with a long word written on them, after I had made groups of four pupils, directing them toward the rules of the game. I would tell them that they would have some time to work as a group and write as many singular nouns as possible from that one word. It was a fun game, and I made it a kind of a competition game, where afterwards we would be writing all the possible words that each group came up with, on the blackboard. In the end we picked a winner. The kids loved it and yes it is a very interesting and educative game, and it helped kids with many things, including what it was like working as a team, thinking about the vocabulary they have acquired so far, implementing some of the words they have already known and trying to play with letters, finding as many words as possible.
  17. My dictionaries are all very big and very hard to carry around, but I still use paper dictionaries while I work at home. For everyday usage I usually use some mobile phone applications - dictionaries of some kind, or else I have some e-dictionaries on my laptop that I can use too. Even though the technology is moving forward and everything seems to be going towards electronic versions, making the paper versions seem very retro, old and not appreciated any longer, I still love the smell of paper, the way it makes me feel, and the pleasure it gives me from flipping through pages.
  18. I am not a native English speaker, English is my second language, but I am a teacher of English as a second language. What I can say is yes there is a big demand for native English speakers, even in my own country, Serbia, like everywhere, I am guessing; however, a great number of these native speakers do not have any experience teaching anything, let alone a language to people in a foreign country. Not to mention most of them are not even familiar with culture, background, history, language of the country they are teaching the language in. Add to that the lack of any pedagogical training, methodological background and the pure principle of the idea how to share knowledge, and what you get is just a bad teacher. Yes, they may speak English fluently, having any of the English accents, and may seem very professional in a way just by sounding well. However, it is all on the surface. I am not saying all of the native speakers are bad, not competent enough to be teachers; what I am saying is that they are being put forward, in front of the people who have got a degree in linguistics, teaching, etc.due to the very obvious fact - that they come from the English speaking country. That seems a big unfair to all of the people from different countries that put a lot of effort, money, energy and love into learning a language, only to be put on the side, or rejected for the simple fact that they were not born in some of the English speaking countries.
  19. Oh yes of course. Translation is a way to TRY to convey the same meaning of the text from the source language to the target one, yet many factors are involved when it comes to translating a text. One has to have a good grasp, not to say knowledge, of both the source and the target language. Not only does one have to have good knowledge of the language,but also a fairly good understanding of the culture, background, history, behaviour, then a good idea of how to translate idioms and phrases, mainly sayings coming from ordinary folks, let's just mention villages, for instance here, in Serbia. Here, every single village has its own way of expressing thoughts and ideas, mainly using different proverbs, idioms, expressions, and sayings. Even hearing those in my own native language is hard to understand the meaning that lies behind them, or is incorporated in them. Therefore, one has to be a very skillful and educated, or at least pretty much familiar, person, so that they can, I say again TRY to use different ways to save the original essence of the texts or sentences translated from a source into a target language.
  20. Oh dear friends, when it comes to a teacher and their influence, I can tell you a story. I fell in love with English language, which is my second language now, at a very young age, when in my primary school, a teacher of English walked into a classroom, and started dedicating her time, effort, and energy, filled with love and a lot of CREATIVITY to us, pupils. I remember she was explaining the tenses in English by drawing a line across the blackboard and placing some small men on the line, explaining what is the present, the past, or the future. I just loved it. It was all new back then. It was filled with laughter, smiles, songs, repetitions and a lot of love, which all of us could have felt coming from the teacher. I am still in touch with the teacher that influenced me enough to enroll at the university and get my BA in English language and Literature. Thanks to her I am here with you now, understanding what you write, thinking for myself in this very language i am writing in now, and posting and sharing my stories with you.
  21. I am a writer myself and I know how tough it can be to translate something like poetry from one source language to a target language. I am also a translator, so for me, being a professional is always what i aim at. However, even being a professional does not mean that a poem could be translated into another language without losing its fluency, its charm, and sometimes its meaning. One has to turn to the poet in himself, try to find a lot of different synonyms for some words, know the culture and background of both the source and the target language, the period the poem was written in, etc. It is a very tough job to be done, but not impossible, With a lot of strain and a lot of effort, being clever and very resourceful, a good translator can do miracles.
  22. Serbian: лажи и клевета I know i am a bit late for this discussion; nevertheless, at least you can see these two words in a rather different language, a Slavic one. They are written in our native later, called Cirilic. In Latin, however, they would be: laži i kleveta
  23. Well, for me individually, English literature has had an immense impact, mainly considering the choice of words, language, and the purity of the wording. I just love Jane Austen, Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, etc. yet at the same time, I am pretty much in love with Edgar Allan Poe and his darkness and mysticism and mystery. And many many others. I guess it just depends on what kind of personality you have in you and what you are attracted to. I am more of a romantic soul, so I prefer poetry and prose coming from the Romantic period of English history.
  24. I was often in a situation of anger, and more often of sadness, when indeed I had a lot of trouble making an utterance. My tongue will twist and I would also get the impression that I was saying something but nothing was coming out of my mouth. Even in my mind I would get pretty much suffocated, meaning would get confused what or how to say something. I am not just talking here about my second language, which is English, but also in my mother tongue, Serbian. Maybe it has to do something with psychology of the mind, or else it is purely linguistical problem due to intense emotions. I bet some medical expert would have the answer. I would really love to know.
  25. Yes, indeed! I was lucky enough, to put it that way, to be introduced to telenovelas at my early age, when it was quite easier to pick up any language. Therefore, I acquired the Spanish language quite fast and now I can understand almost everything in Spanish, but unfortunately I am unable to say much. I am really looking forward to finding some Spanish language course in my surrounding area so that I can brush upon the language and learn how to write and speak, too.
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