Why Silent Letters Matter Over a month ago, Jessie posted on the ‘curious world of silent letters in English.’ I agree with everything she said but she left out one issue. I’m a native Canadian-English speaker now living in Bolivia. A lot of vocabulary in English and Spanish is similar or near similar, for example, the word ‘salmon,’ the salt water fish. If I go into a restaurant and order the special of the day and say ‘sa’mon’ the waiter won’t understand. But, when my wife repeats my requests as ‘salmon.’ I get what I wanted. Let’s move this event to my hometown, Vancouver, Canada. Whatever word you use, the waiter will get you an order of fish. But, if you asked for the ‘salmon,’ your server may ask “where you’re from?” Here's what jessie left out. The silent letters make English a secret code which let’s us native speakers easily identify the visitors among us. While that is a joke, there is a certain truth to it, especially if you are about to sit for a language level assessment such as the Duolingo, IELTS or TOEFL. If you are trying for the higher end of the IELTS, say 7, 7.5 or 8+, or the equivalent in the other two tests, you need to sound like a native speaker. This means you need to use the silent letters. Check out my profile. I’d be happy to give you a trial lesson to help with your speaking or writing.

Hi Last Friday I posted an explanation and example of "Flow Writing." People who are serious about improving their writing try to write every day for twenty minutes or so. Sometimes, they write a journal or diary entry and describe something interesting in their life in the past day. Sometimes, they add another twenty minutes to a longer story or essay their working on. Flow Writing is used when a person wants to spend time writing but doesn't know what to write about. This is not the time to walk away. If they do that, they finish the day not having written anything. So, to get started with flow writing, open a new computer doc or go old school with a pen and paper. I start with, "Today, I am going to write for (I paused) twenty minutes. (I paused) I have no idea what to write about. (I'm going to pause until I hear something and use that sound as what I write about.) I can hear a motorcycle coming nearer to my house. I wonder if it's a courier with a message or food delivery. (I focused on the message idea and imagined and wrote about who it might have come from and what it might have said. I got my twenty minutes of writing done. The flow technique helped me. If I had walked away with, I don't know what to write about, my paper would still be blank. If you need help with essay or creative fiction writing, message me your question or book a trial class so you can see how I teach creative writing. Cheers

Writing Improvement for Back to School Days One way to become a better writer is to writer something, even if it's short, everyday. What stops students young, old and native language writer is the common, "I don't know what to write about." This is very common for both language students and native writers. I want to share a solution with you called "Flow writing or Free Writing." This happened to me in a class for writers yesterday morning. The teacher gave us all a picture and asked us to write about it for 40 minutes. This is what the picture looked like: Imagine an Empress Seated on a Throne Empress with wings. In the right hand she has an eagle, in the left a scepter. She has a crown with 12 stones. Eagle as a symbol of soul and life. Feminine activity. Fruitfulness, goddess. This is what I wrote:10:40 I have nothing Eagle scepter crown Soul life and power power ( power and control) Fruitfulness the ability to supply through many seasons I don’t know what to write. But, writingn is supposed to create thought. So, I will write what I anything I think. Now I havve spelling mistake. Two. Arghhh. Mistaken soul mistaken life mistaken power and control Are there different kinds of mistaken souls or mistaken lives? If there are mistaken lives are there correct lives? What is it that makes a correct life? A purpose or goal. Purpose and goal guide us to achievement How many achievements? Can purpose and goal change? Is change a mistake? Is it a mistake not to change? How do mistakes give us purpose or goals? 11:07 In this example you will see spelling mistakes. This is not a grammar exercise but an idea one. This exercise was a success for me because I did not start with the idea of change being a mistake. My book has a chapter about a mistake. The things I wrote in this exercise with help me fix that chapter. Message me if you need help with writing.

Hi, In my classes, I especially enjoy conversations about travel and culture and learning things about your countries. The story below is from Chapter 8 of my coming book, The Long Road Home. The story is true and takes place in my second year of teaching in the Czech Republic. Jitka became my first wife. "...The Chemopetrol managers I teach are upper intermediate or advanced. The latter spot the sexual innuendos in the short stories I take.” Jeff stared at me after looking round the room. “It’s not that there’s sex in the stories, but rather there are bits that if taken out of context could be sexual. This one’s not but take the sentence: I had a friend for dinner. Do you understand that I served him dinner or that I ate him?” Jitka gasped, “What?” “Yeah. English is hugely context based. Words don’t have a fixed meaning. Take one sentence out of a conversation and it could mean a number of things. I think Hannibal Lector uses that line in Silence of the Lambs.” The lesson today is when you read and see a new word, look it up in a dictionary, but take the meaning that most closely fits the context of the paragraph, not always the first meaning. Check out my podcasts. Two discuss different chapters of my book. I specialize in teaching teens and adults critical reading, creative and academic reading. Book a trial. Let's chat.

I've started writing a book about my teaching career and cultural experiences living and working in seven countries over the past 30 years. I've posted podcasts where chapter one and two others get discussed. Chapter one introduces how I thought about changing careers to teaching when I was working in purchasing. Check them out, I hope you enjoy them. If you like talking about culture, travel or whatever, check out my teacher profile. Book a trial. Let's meet. Cheers

What hobbies do you have? Do you enjoy reading or writing? I enjoy writing. I write about my experiences living in different countries and cultures. I'm going to share a story about meeting my current wife while living and teaching in Saudi Arabia. "Love or Bust" Taken from my coming book, Expect the Unexpected. Part 5 (25 Aug 2023) Feel free to comment below. … “Give me a minute to answer the door.” “Okay.” Opening the door, I’d find it was often the same guy. “What’s happ’nin, Irish?” “I and some others wanted to know if you wanted to join us for tea. If you’re coming? We’re waiting downstairs.” “Yes, but give me 3 to 4 minutes.” “Make it three.” So, I’d go back to the computer and enquire, “Hey Jules, you still there?” “Yup.” “I’m goin' fer tea with the guys. Gotta say goodbye.” “Tea, eh? Message me when you get home so I know you’re safe. Talk next weekend?” “You bet.” As we chatted a bit on and off and then more regularly, April slid into a steamy … and effortlessly sweat inducing … - Now don’t, don’t be going an’ gettin’ ahead of me here - not the sultry Turkish bath sort of steamy, oh, dear no - but the plain old hot and humid Saudi rising 40s C early May. Summer 2008 in Vancouver raced by as I alternated between dating women, meeting aging chums in bars, and driving back and forth the five-hour route from central Vancouver to Princeton, BC where I had a cabin. However, as with all seasons, summer eventually succumbed to the passage of time. I returned to teaching writing to a surprising number of engineering management students at King Mohammad University in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

What hobbies do you have? Do you enjoy reading or writing? I enjoy writing. I write about my experiences living in different countries and cultures. I'm going to share a story about meeting my current wife while living and teaching in Saudi Arabia. "Love or Bust" Taken from my coming book, Expect the Unexpected. Part 4 (24 Aug 2023) Feel free to comment below. March drifted into April and one afternoon I had a message from a game I had joined. Julia, a chestnut brown-haired, bright-eyed, woman had responded to one of my profile pics entitled ‘survivor from a marriage with too much criticism and not enough intimacy’ with ‘sounds like my marriage.’ What I didn’t know was that she was in Bolivia and not Vancouver, where I was trying to meet women. In the early days, our messaging each other would only last three to five minutes and go something like this. Julia would send a short attention-getter to see if I’d respond. “How’s it goin’?” “Not bad,” I’d answer. “How’re you?” “Happy. Talkin’ to you. Whatcha doin'?” “I’m grading essays that explain some feature of Saudi culture. Most of them chose to write about Capsa.” “How’re they looking? How many do you have left to grade?” “Not bad. … and, 25” “Uh-huh. How many did you start with?” “35” “You have 35 students in a class?” “No. Two classes: 17 and 18.” “And you gave the same topic to both classes? Hahahahaha. Aren’t you a fool for punishment?” “Hold on there. I asked them to write about culture. How was I to know most of them would write about food? More to the point about the same meal. Capsa. What’s up?” “Nothin’ really. Just wanted to make you talk.” “Humph.” “Okay, last week you hadn’t bought your tickets yet. Have you now?” “Yeah. Bahrain to Heathrow, Chicago then to Vancouver.” “When do you leave?” “Just over five weeks.” “That’s about the same time I head out for Virginia.” We got interrupted by a knock on the door.