Kids and English

Hello buddies!

Do you have children?Do you want them to learn English, or improve it?

So here is the thing: I'm going to give some help with this issue, and also show some options for teachers and kids in how to improve their English through some resources on the internet.

PBS/Games

Here there are some games for children, but all in English. You can also choose some games by the topic as Math, reading, spelling, vocabulary and others. Even if your kid has just started learning the language, you can help him to play the games to motivate him in learning the idiom.

Learning Planet

This one is good as well for its games ans resources. You have the topics for each game as logic, math, memory game and others. The students can play according to his grade level: kindergarden, 1st to 3rd grades on.

LearnEnglishKids

This is such a good site, for both students and teachers. For students, they can practice with games, listening exercises, reading and videos but I think it's good for those ones who have already contact with the English language. There's a part of the site designated for the teachers explaining the options they have. But there are lots of printable activies with songs, videos and vocabulary.

That's all for now!See ya!

Verbs Make x Do

                  

The most common problem for the students from the English language is to define the differences between these verbs, mostly when both have the same meaning like make and do. The secret to understand these verbs is not to think of them as in Portuguese, but to memorize them as a word or expression that you learned before. When I say "memorize" I'm not suggesting you to decorate a list of expressions with them, it's just the contact with the language through magazines, books, songs, movies and etc that will make you assimilate these words.

Actually,there are no rules for the use of them, but usually do means to "perform" or "complete an action" and it is used with nouns referring to jobs connected with the home, while make generally means "to create, manufacture, prepare" and it is used with nouns referring to:

- plans: arrangement, choice, decision, plan

- traveling: journey, tour, trip, visit

- talking and sounds: comment, enquiry, noise, promise, remark, sound, speech, suggestion.

But remember that these nouns are not exactly a rule for the usage of make and do, but they are usually conected with them.

Well, that's all! ;)

Talk to strangers!

 Have you ever used a chat room before?But in English?

Well, this is a good hint for those who want to improve their second language and also meet new people through the internet.

Actually, chat rooms are kind of weird today, specially if we say it here in Brazil that we have "Uol chat rooms, Terra, IG "and others that I don't even know. But there are some english chatrooms that they are a little bit different. You have people from almost all the places over the world and you can talk to them using your knowledge. You can increase your self confidence by talking to a stranger on the internet in English.

Well...Is this safe?

I recommend it if you don't take it so serious, if you know what I mean. There are bad people and bad things everywhere, and it depends on you to handle these communication tools correctly. But it's good to use as a pastime for yourself.

These are some sites to practice:

Omegle.com

This is a website where you don't need to registrate, use a nick name or anything else, you just go into a chat with a stranger without names or pictures, but if you want to have a little bit of contact you can choose a video chat if you have a webcam.

Chatroulette

To participate you must have a webcam. This chatroulette is more for fun, you'll talk with foreigners but through a webcam and a chat like messenger (MSN). You may find the brazilian version, but if you really want to use what you learn, I advise you to use the american version.

Facebook

This is such a good social networking website, and similar to Orkut. But what facebook provides, is more contact with English (if you use the English version) through news or informations about your favorite famous artists or writers, and you can have information about events, movies, TV shows and a lot of things in English and it gets more interesting if you have an American friend, or even a cousin or relatives abroad. You can post photos, have a profile and share things with everyone.

Twitter

If you have twitter you may know that it's used not only for Americans but also for Brazilians, so it's a very good way to communicate with a native speaker and to know more about their "informal" way to speak, which is an important knowledge too. For those who don't know anything about it yet, this is a website where its aim is: sharing information in a very fast way and for everyone. If you want to be connected with your favorite artists and with what they are doing, you just need to create an account and you'll be able to see what the other people are doing and vice versa.

You can learn more about twitter and how to use it on the articles below. They are in Portuguese, by the way.

Twitter: What is it?How to use it?

Learn how to use more Twitter at the utmost

Another options

Well, if you want to talk in English with a friend, a relative or somebody else with a webcam of microphone through a program installed in your PC, I reccomend you:

MSN messenger

Skype
This one is similar to MSN messenger, and you can also create a free account (just to use with webcam,video and microphone) or you can pay it to make calls in a cheaper way. I've never tried to pay it before, but it seems trustworthy.

If you want to study but with a little help from other people, you should try:

Live Mocha
It's a good option for who wants to learn not only English, but also another languages by himself through the internet. This website is full of resources and very helpful even for the ones who are fluent or in an intermediate level. The website offers you free basic classes for beginner learners, a deepen content that is paid for a more completed course, and one of the most interesting resources, a community of users from the site where is possible to help the other students mutually. You have to create an account and indicate the language that you want to learn and you'll start with basic lessons, but to go further you need to pay a tax.

Travlang

This is a famous and old site that is focused on teaching expressions and vocabulary for those who want to travel, what can be helpful on your trip for another country. To use this website you need to pay attention because it's a kind of messy to look for an specific topic or something. If you find the language that you want, a guide will be opened for you with some expressions and vocabulary as money, numbers, time and dates etc.


Well, that's it!:D

Online dictionaries

Online dictionaries and Phrasal Verbs dictionaries

Helllo!

Well, I'm back now to give some more hints about online dictionaries and some about phrasal verbs.
I recently got a website about phrasal verbs that I thought as being very helpful for us (students) to look up for them when we're reading or even writting.

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/

This website I found by chance when I was googling (a north american neologism to reseach using google site) and I got very curious so I started looking at it. After researching I realized that it's very useful. At the first page you have the explanation of what is a phrasal verb and you can also find them by typing only the verb (like "look") and the site will give you a list of phrasal verbs with this, or you can find by the preposition (like "up") or better, you can find by alphabetical order.

When you find the phrasal verb you want, you also have some examples and the explanation about the meaning.

If you don't feel confortable with an online dictionary, you can have a physical one, and you can find it in some bookstores close to you. This one in the link below is a good dictionary:

Livro - Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs

Well, about online dictionaries in general, I indicate you my favorite one, which is fast and simple. Check this out:

Word Reference online dictonary

The dictionary can translate the word to English-English (with the English definition), English-Portuguese or even to other languages. This is such a good dictionary to have a faster search.

Another one to have a faster search too:

Longman English Dictionary Online

For expressions and slangs, this is a good option, but it's English-English. It's a kind of wikipedia due the possibility that anyone can write there, but in a very informal way:

Urban Dictionary

Well, that's it. I hope that they'll be useful for you!

Are you listening?

Hello!What's up?Hoje vou falar um pouco sobre a importância de ouvir bem qualquer língua e treinar a habilidade de listening no aprendizado de qualquer língua.
As técnicas de aprendizagem variam muito, e geralmente torna-se quase individual a capacidade de cada um assimilar o conteúdo e de praticar o que absorveu. Muitos não precisam de muito treino, ou mesmo um processo de repetição, mas praticam de uma forma diferente, como por exemplo através de músicas, filmes e etc.
Entretanto, existem alguns fatores essenciais para novas palavras ou expressões fazerem parte do seu vocabulário, ou mesmo a aplicação das estruturas gramaticais aprendidas, e é certo que “decoreba” não é, nem de longe, o método mais eficaz de aprender qualquer coisa relacionada a línguas. Portanto, o que é realmente necessário na assimilação é:

Áudio, Contexto e Repetição

Estes três fatores são essenciais no aprendizado de qualquer língua.
Afinal...
Do que adianta aprender a ler e não saber falar?
Do que adianta ver palavras soltas, aprender muitas gírias e expressões mas não saber aplicá-las nos tempos verbais corretos, e não conseguir ligá-las ao contexto correto, com a realidade?
Ou ainda, ver uma palavra ou estrutura importante apenas uma vez e nunca mais lembrá-la ou utilizá-la?
Por isso vou postar daqui em diante na sessão post-it vários exercícios de áudio, além daqueles que vocês podem encontrar na lista de exercícios online aqui ao lado.


123listening.com


Este site contém vários exercícios de nível básico com vocabulário simples como roupas, comidas, materiais escolares, preposições, partes do corpo,etc. O site também dispõe de exercícios prontos, os quais você pode imprimir e fazer.


agendaweb.com


Esse site dispõe de várias "short stories" em que o aluno deverá ouvir e completar as "short stories" com os verbos ou palavras corretas. Bom para quem está no nível básico também.


http://www.agendaweb.org/listening/real-english-conversations.html


Também do mesmo site, porém um pouco mais difícil por envolver diálogos. Mas é muito bom para treinar pronúncia.


http://www.autoenglish.org/listenings.htm


Este é um bom site, tem artigos com áudio para você acompanhar e treinar pronúncia, muitos vídeos ou mesmo o arquivo em áudio como um diálogo ou entrevista e algumas questões que você pode baixar e responder sobre o mesmo. É dividido por níveis: básico e intermediário.


http://esl-lab.com/


Muito rico em estruturas e diálogos, o site dispõe de muitos arquivos de áudio e dividido por níveis desde o básico até um level mais intermediário nos temas gerais onde os assuntos é que determinam o nível do Inglês. Você escuta o diálogo e ao mesmo tempo treina sua compreensão auditiva e escrita, pois o site dispõe de exercícios de alternativas sobre o diálogo. Recomendo!


Well, that's all folks! I hope you enjoy it!

How Can I improve my English?

Essa é uma pergunta um tanto comum entre aqueles que querem aprender não só a língua Inglesa, mas qualquer outra. Procuramos por uma fórmula, um método perfeito o qual nos faça aprender cada vez mais rápido. Na verdade não há uma fórmula exata, nem mágica, e sim um método que cada um desenvolve para aprender. Como assim?
Segue no link um dos artigos muito úteis em um site no qual participo dos fóruns de dúvidas.Aqui vão as dicas de um expert no Inglês que respondeu a pergunta do título à um ouvinte em uma rádio.


This is such a common question among those who wants to learn not only the English language, but also another one. We're always seeking for a formula, a perfect method that makes us learn faster and faster. Actually there's no formula, not even magic, only the method that we develop by ouserselves to learn it. But how?
This link is for a website, which I make part of ,to solve some doubts.It's an article with some hints about the title of this column from an English expert who answered this question on a radio station:

Article in English
Article in Portuguese