This is Marikosan from Japan. She is studying English to improve her speaking and conversation skills. She has started writing a one-line diary: she writes one line every day and then reads her diary to me. We check her grammar, vocabulary pronunciation and I ask her some further questions to encourage conversation.
This lesson teaches:
- Practice pronouncing ordinal numbers for saying dates: 21st, 22nd 23rd
- Pronunciation of these words: 'stomach' and 'headache'. The pronunciation of these words was new for Marikosan as she had only every seen them written down, and never heard the correct pronunciation. She learned the correct pronunciation and began using it immediately.
- Q&A: After Marikosan reads, I sometimes ask her a question for further conversation. This is good listening and conversation practise for her.
Marikosan is progressing steadily and the reason is that she works hard on her own as well as in her lessons. She spends time writing in her diary every day. It only takes a short time every day but the regular routine and the independent study gives her focus and motivation. She is excited to talk about her diary then with me in her lesson and because she has already prepared, we make great use of the lesson time.
In order to progress, it's important to use material that is important to you. Every student is different and so it's important to find what this material is. What you learn should be relevant to your every-day life, then you can see a connection between your lessons and your real-life progress. For Marikosan, this is her diary. She talks to me about things that are important to her. This helps her to enjoy her lessons, to look forward to them and to remember what she learns and practices in her lessons.
Please note: student's video is off for privacy.
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]]>Have you ever wondered what other students are doing in their 1:1 lessons? How are they using this valuable lesson time? What are their goals in learning English and how are they taking steps to achieve them?
Since I started teaching 1:1 lessons online in May 2020, I have taught over 100 students from countries including Brazil, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Turkey, Morocco, India, Kuwait, S. Korea, China and Japan.
There are some patterns, for example I usually find that Russian students want to really perfect their grammar and Spanish students usually struggle with the pronunciation of ‘y’ as in ‘yellow’ often pronouncing it as ‘jello’. But the most important thing I have learned is that every student is different. Each student has their own motivations, learning styles and goals. It takes time to learn what they are both for the student and for me, and we take the journey together.
Learning and improving English, like every learning process, is a step-by-step process. Your brain is building new neural pathways, and this takes time. Some steps are harder than others, but try to enjoy every step. It's on the hardest steps that you are progressing most. It’s amazing that you can speak a 2nd language and some of you a 3rd and 4th. I am with you on your journey and we must work together to match your goals to your steps. To give you an idea of the journeys that are taking place in the café at the moment, here are the profiles of some students I am currently working with.
Student from: Italy 🇮🇹
Goals: To improve general fluency and conversation skills. To improve writing for work emails. To improve pronunciation. To improve listening.
Motivation: To be able to understand and communicate fluently with work colleagues, local people in Ireland and other countries.
Level: Intermediate - Upper Intermediate
Lesson types: Listening, Conversation, Writing, Grammar, Discussion
Journey
At the beginning we were doing quite structured listening lessons using authentic materials from Irish tv and radio, where the student would listen to a piece and answer questions about it. We moved on to focus on certain grammar points as they arose through our conversation and the student also brought grammar questions to our lessons that came up for him in his every day life, for example how to use ‘to suppose’ and ‘supposed to’. We have started focusing on reading comprehension using interesting articles and books in order to improve vocabulary and accuracy in writing. We are also having a lot more discussion as the student grows in confidence and is expressing himself more and more fluently. This student is very dedicated, works very hard and is improving gradually from every direction.
Student from: Japan 🇯🇵
Level: Beginner
Goal: To learn and remember new words and be able to have a conversation in English comfortably.
Motivation: To be able to communicate with English speakers where she lives and when she travels.
Lesson types: Grammar, Vocabulary, Conversation
Journey
In her very first message to me, this student said that she wanted to start from scratch. She said that she hadn't studied English since Primary school and she wanted to be able to learn and remember new words and to be able to have a simple conversation in English comfortably. We have had about 15 lessons now and we have covered a lot, including language for daily routines. We do grammar exercises and relate what she learns to her every-day life. We spent a couple of lessons on telling the time, it’s quite different between Japanese and English, and we are having more and conversation. We’ve worked a lot on using the present simple and continuous tenses, and the difference between them, and we’re currently working on using the past tense. She is learning step-by-step, making good sentences and building good habits. This student enjoys talking about her day and telling me about her work and her two sons. She is progressing steadily and beautifully.
Collaboration
In Café Club last week, on the topic of Education and Study, we talked about collaboration. I always try to collaborate with my students. There are so many ways to learn English nowadays: take lessons in a school or privately, read books, use social media, socialise, listen to podcasts, watch movies and there is a wealth of material on the internet. Knowing how to approach your study can be overwhelming. I collaborate with students on their goals, motivations, and what lessons are best for them. I'm here to support you at every step. Most of all, I try to make learning English enjoyable, because life is to be enjoyed, not endured.
I will profile some more of my fantastic students next week.
Til then, see ya in the café!
Eve x
Every day teaching English brings a new set of learning points and fun moments. Teaching English is as much as journey for me as a teacher as it is for you as a student and I'm grateful to take the journey together. Here are some recent fun and inspiring moments from the Café.
1. Jokes: I've been suffering with hayfever this summer and the skin around my eyes became really dry and sore. I was telling my student in France about how I started swimming in the sea and how it is healing my skin in ways that no creams or medicine could. He said 'Eve, you are enjoying the healing powers of the phrarma-sea'. It's a little cheesy joke but it shows creativity and playfulness with the language. We laughed loudly and together.
2. Writing: My student from Italy, who is living in Ireland is excellent at speaking English, very native and natural. But she was struggling with her writing and wanted some help to prepare for IELTS. I read her writing samples and I knew immediately that she was using dictionaries and translators and putting a lot of pressure on herself to use high level vocabulary and grammar. It was difficult to read, difficult to understand, and it didn't make sense in the same way as her beautiful speaking. I encouraged her to put the translators away, to think carefully about what she wanted to write and then to write it honestly from her own head. I told her to trust her ability. She was reluctant to put away the supports of the translators and every lesson as I read her writing, I knew she was still using them. Her writing was unnatural and I could sense the struggle when I read it. Then, after 5 lessons, she sent me a piece of writing on the topic of virtual lessons. As soon as I read the first sentence, I knew there was magic there: I was reading her work, her thoughts, her honest ability and it flowed easily. It sounded great. She said 'Eve, I just sat down, trusted myself and began to write from my head, it was easy. I didn't even use the dictionary'.
The lesson here is to believe in your ability and keep it simple. Of course it's ok to use translators when you need to look up a word but don't start depending on them. You will be able to write more complex stories as your ability grows, but build it step by step. Work hard and believe in yourself.
3. Culture and Languages: I was talking with my student from Turkey about greetings in various languages. I told her that in Irish 'hello' is 'Dia Duit', which literally translates to 'God be with you'. The response to this is 'Dia 'sMuire Duit' which means 'God and Mary be with you'. Irish is a very spiritual language. She told me that in Arabic 'hello' is 'selamunaleykum' which can be translated to 'God says hi', which I think is so beautiful. And even better, the response is 'aleykumselam', which can be interpreted as 'Say hi back to God for me'. In Hindi, hello is 'Namaste' which means 'I see the divine in you'. What a cool thing to say to everyone you meet every day. There are similarities in these languages and it's interesting to make these connections. It is a privilege to connect with students around the world everyday and share language and culture.
Thanks for reading. More Café moments next week
Eve x
There are many ways to learn a language: you can go to school, you can get immersed in tv shows and movies, listen to podcasts, socialise in the language you are learning, read all round you, do exercises - it's overwhelming and it's hard to know where to start and how to focus.
As a language learner (Japanese) and a language teacher (English), here is why I believe that finding the right teacher that you can do 1:1 lessons with, is a great place to start.
1. You can have Conversation Lessons. Depending on your motivations and reasons for learning, it is likely that you would like to be able to converse well in the language that you are learning. A teacher can encourage you, ask you questions, tell you stories, you can chat about a good movie you watched, or what's going in your life and in the world. In short, everything that happens in a normal conversation, only it's focused on you and your ability to talk about these things in the language you are learning.
2. 1:1 lessons are totally tailored to you. Everyone's goals are different, everyone's journey is different. One week you might need help to explain what you thought about a book you just read, next week you might need help to understand a certain accent or natural fast-paced English, maybe you have a question about a strange idiom you heard. Your personal tutor will help you with all of these things, as you need them.
3. Corrections. This is a really important part of learning. Again, it depends on your goals with the language, but you should be aiming to reduce the amount of errors you make in speech. What is the best way to identify what these errors are? Have a conversation with a teacher, who will notice them and correct you in the right way. Not every mistake needs to be corrected, but making mistakes, identifying and correcting them is a fantastic learning opportunity. Embrace your mistakes and learn from them. Effective correction is a skill that experienced teachers have honed, and they will help you.
4. Pronunciation: Your accent is something you acquire as a child. It's very difficult to change in adulthood and would require intense pronunciation lessons. So you have to ask yourself, is it necessary? I'm not so sure. Your accent is lovely. I work with students to correct pronunciation errors that cause confusion or change the meaning of words. Many Italians need to work on the 'h' sound - one of my students told me yesterday that they liked my 'air'. Some Spanish students have trouble with 'y'. One student said to me 'The daffodils in my garden are a lovely bright jello'. These are the pronunciation issues I work with my students on.
5. Build a relationship: When I first moved to Japan in 2016, I struggled so much to learn Japanese. Then I met Momo and it all changed. We became friends and I wanted to talk to her about everything. We started spending so much time together, working together, hanging out, eating together, and my Japanese improved dramatically in a year. The way to speak a language is to talk, talk about things that matter to you with someone you trust and want to talk to. You need to find a teacher you trust and can talk to about things that matter to you. This also builds a positive association with the language and makes it a real part of your life, you want to speak it and you look forward to your next lesson.
Thanks for reading my 5 great things about 1:1 lessons. If you want to take a trial lesson with me and see if you would like to take my 1:1 lessons, fill in the form here.
More Café News next week.
Eve :) xo
Documentary: Life on our Planet, with David Attenborough.
Task: Watch, listen (without subtitles of course) and fill in the blanks.
Fill in the blanks.
1. Tonight we’ve got rather a __ _ for you.
2. I am David Attenborough and I am 93.
3. I've had the most ___ ___.
4. It's only now that I ____ how extraordinary.
5. The living world is a ____ and ____marvel.
6. Yet the way we humans live on earth is ____ ___ ____ ____.
7. Human beings have _____ the world.
8. We’re replacing the ___ with the ___.
9. This film is my ____ _____ and my vision for the future.
8. The story of how we came to make ____, ____ ____ ___.
9. And how, if we act now we can __ ___ __ ___.
10. Our planet is ____ __ _.
11. We need to learn how to work with ___ ___ _ __ ___ ____.
12. And I’m going to tell you how.
I also made a presentation to them about Ireland, they performed a Japanese old story for me and I told them an Irish fairytale.
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Last week I had the privilege of teaching four classes of Japanese junior high school students in Hyogo, Japan. Their teacher, Nanae, is my friend of 15 years. We first met in Ireland, where we studied together at University of Ulster and we have been like sisters ever since. Back then, she came to my home and met my family in Donegal, and I promised her that one day I would also visit her hometown in Japan. Which I did. I went to Japan in 2016, and I stayed there for four years teaching English. I came back to Ireland in May 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and I began teaching online.
When Nanae found out that I was teaching English online, she jumped at the chance of inviting me to join their classroom virtually on the big screen. Why hadn't we thought of this before?!
So last week, I dragged myself out of bed at 3:30am to begin teaching at 4:30am, four times! (5 if you include the test call that we did). I have to admit that it was difficult getting up while it was still dark and everyone still asleep, that is on this side of the world. Of course, over in Japan, it was lunchtime and the kids were busy getting ready for their lesson with me. And my sleepiness soon disappeared when I saw the bright eyes and happy faces of the wonderful students from this Junior High School in Hyogo.
We started off with me doing a presentation about Ireland. I showed them my own pictures of our nature and landscape, the green fields and beaches, animals, food, drink and family events. I played some traditional Irish music and showed them clips of GAA games, including Michael Murphy's goal in the first few minutes of the All Ireland Final in 2012.
I explained what our flag meant: how the green represents Catholics, the orange Protestants, and the white being the peace between the two, long may it continue. I showed them the Claddagh ring (including my own), which is the symbol of love. I explained the meaning of the shamrock and how St. Patrick used it to explain Christianity and the Holy Trinity to the Irish people in the 5th century. I talked about the Irish pub; a place to meet people, enjoy music, dance and craic as well as of course, Guinness, which is very popular in Japan. There are also many Irish pubs in Japan, and I worked in one when I lived there. It was an amazing, special and unique place. Unfortunately Covid 19 and all the lockdowns in Ireland have affected the culture of the Irish pub and it's hard to know how things will go in the future when the restrictions lift.
Then we had Question Time, and there were many questions.
So what do Japanese junior high school students want to know about Ireland?
Well here is one of their questions.
Have you ever seen a fairy?
Next, they performed a beautiful old Japanese story for me called the Umbrella Jizo.The Jizo is said to be the guardian of children. The children told me the story of how a poor old man who had nothing was walking through Jizo pass on a cold and snowy night. He saw that one of the jizo did not have an umbrella and so he gave his own hat to it, to protect it from the weather. The next morning, the old man and his wife woke up to a feast of food and they were not poor anymore. As the students said, this story tells of the importance of kindness.
I then told them an Irish fairytale called Oisín and Tír na nÓg, (the land of eternal youth) which which is about a warrior called Oisin from long long ago, before the time of St. Patrick, who got carried off on a white horse across the water with a beautiful woman called Niamh Chinn Óir (Niamh of the Golden Hair).
It was a busy hour's lesson and they finished off with a sweet message to the people of Ireland.
Thank you so much to these fantastic students. Thank you for watching my presentation, for asking me great questions and for your wonderful performances. It was a pleasure to meet you and teach you. Take care, work hard in your studies and keep speaking English. As your teacher, Nanae-san says, the world is your oyster, embrace and explore it. I hope to teach you again soon and to meet you in person some day :)
]]>The days are getting longer, green shoots are starting to show, spring is in the air and the vaccine has started to protect people. It's a great time to feel positive in your life and in your goals.
If you are learning English, here are some of our Café moments to inspire you and give you a flavor of what happens in our lessons.
1. Grammar moment: However/Although - My student from Latvia is preparing for the IELTS exam and at the moment we are working on her writing skills. She wrote this sentence:
'Although regular exercise is not always the best way to improve health, at least it is not the only way towards the desired goal'.
It's easy to confuse although and however because they're both used to show a contrast between ideas. But they aren't the same kind of word. When you use Although at the beginning your sentence, you should have two parts, and the second part should contrast with the first part. While saying the first part of the sentence, try putting out your left hand, and while saying the second part, put out your right hand: there is a balance.
Although regular exercise can help you achieve your desired goal of improving your health, it is not always the best or only way.
Although it was freezing outside, we were warm and cosy inside in front of the fire.
When you use However at the beginning of your sentence, you should have a comma after it and it should also make a contrasting point but in a full sentence with a full stop. It's very similar to 'but' when used in this way. While saying it, try putting out your two hands together, and then put them down again at the end of the sentence.
However, regular exercise is not always the best way to improve health. At least it is not the only way towards the desired goal.
Can you see the difference? If you want to practice, there is an exercise here .
In this exercise you can think of it like this:
Although = In spite of
However = But
2. Vocabulary moment: Smart-working. Many things are 'smart' these days: smartphone, smart car, smartTV and lots of smart home technology that enable you to control your heating or even your coffee machine from your phone. Smart devices are electronic devices usually connected to other devices or networks by a wireless connection such as bluetooth. My lovely student from Italy and I were talking about working from home, which many people are doing these days and he creatively called it smart-working, which is how they refer to it in Italian. In English we usually call it 'remote-working' but I think 'smart-working' is a fantastic new word and you will probably hear everyone using it soon. Add it to your vocabulary :)
3. Culture moment: My lovely student from Japan was telling me about her hobby iajitsu. As I am not too familiar with Japanese martial arts, I wondered is it similar to kendo. It is similar, but my student explained a crucial difference. Iajitsu is the practice of drawing your sword, developing the skill of always being prepared and drawing your sword skillfully and at precisely the right time. Kendo, on the other hand is the act of sword fighting. It was an interesting cultural learning point for me. Can you explain a culture point like this? I would love to hear it.
4. Tv moment: If you want to understand dry British humour, look no further than Richard Ayoade in Channel 4's tv show Travel Man. His biting wit combined with a pin-sharp intelligence makes for lots of laughs as he tours popular cities around the world. He is unapologetically verbose, which sometimes is a little uncomfortable to watch, for example when he is interacting with tourism staff who don't speak English as a first language, and there are many 'lost in translation' moments. But he makes no attempt to be understood, he is just completely 100% himself. One of my beautiful students from China loves this show and we had fun as I tried to explain some of his humour to her. Here is the episode in Barcelona . How much can you understand?
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I had five great lessons today with students from Russia, India, Spain, Turkey and France. The fun of teaching students from all over the world is that every day is varied and interesting and there are all sorts of learning points to be had. Here are some learning points and fun moments from today's lessons.
1. Past tense. It is a very common mistake, even with high level students, to forget to use the past tense when telling stories and making longer sentences. My student, when talking about the past said:
'We want to try living in a different culture so we decide to move to a new country'.
Take care to use the past tense for all verbs when talking about an event or experience that is in the past.
Correction: We wanted to try living in a different culture, so we decided to move to a new country.
2. Teaching children. It is such a privilege to work with children. I teach but I also learn so much from them. In a lesson today, a 7 year old girl, who is learning English as a second language, spontaneously recited her 2 times table, that she had just learned at school, from start to finish. She recited it perfectly, flawlessly, smiling all the way. I was amazed at her confidence. It would be difficult for adults to do this on the spot, to think on your feet like this. We should learn this pure confidence from children, it is beautiful.
3. Vocabulary recall: My student was talking about his parents-in-law, who are...'not unemployed', but he could not think of the word. I knew that he knew the word so I gave him a clue. I wrote Re- in the message box. He thought for a moment and began saying it out loud, 're, re, re'.
I began acting it out: I started to mimic a yawn and rubbed my eyes.
'Re-sleepy... no that's not right' he said.
I stretched my arms up over my head and yawned like a cat.
'Ah - Retired!' He got it.
4. Legends of rainbows
We were talking about the weather, and although the weather in Ireland in winter is tough, we have beautiful skies, especially on cold frosty mornings. And lots of rainbows. In Ireland, the legend goes that if you get to the end of a rainbow you will find a pot of gold. Only it will be guarded by a wily leprechaun, and to get the gold, you must outsmart the leprechaun.
In Turkey, it is said that when you cross a rainbow, you change your gender! Girls become boys, and boys become girls. I hadn't heard this one before, it's an interesting piece of Turkish folklore!
5. Using netflix in lessons
In my fifth lesson today, I used an episode of the British crime drama Marcella. It was a very short clip, just 2.5 minutes long and I had prepared questions in advance about the piece, for my student to answer. Watching tv shows is a great way of improving your listening skills and to learn natural language. We came across two good idioms in this clip:
*To get a foothold in a new market = To get a good position in the market, a place from where you can progress.
*It's a long way down = You will likely fall hard from your high position.
A bit of an ominous and threatening phrase, it was a bit of a tense scene actually!
Thanks for reading and check back for more Café Moments next week :)
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