Hi Rosco,

To be able to speak you need

Sometimes people have a great receptive vocabulary (they recognise and understand the words when they see them) but aren't able to use them in conversation. Your brain needs to develop enough neuron connections between the concept that you want to communicate and the vocab and grammar that you need to use to express that conept.

People often make the mistake of learning language by translating. If you learn with translations then your brain is much slower as you will go from the concept, to the English and then to the fragmented French. You need to learn french vocabulary in contextualised sentences and then you need to practise summarising and elaborating upon the subject that you were reading about or listening to. If you often review vocabulary by making your brain practise the process of finding and putting together suitable language to communicate on a subject you will gradually become more fluent.

So the real question is, what is your main weakness? Vocab, Grammar, Pronunciation or Topic?

A teacher can't exactly 'teach' you how to speak. They have to give you suitable situations that provide opportunities for you to build your vocab and grammar into workable sentences and then they need to be able to correct you and answer questions when appropriate.

There is so much more to say on this subject but those are a few of the basics!

Waiting for an order

Dear ___. / To Whom It May Concern,

A few weeks ago, I placed an order for scheduled work which should be received before Friday.

I have just checked out your website and see that the current order status is: “my order isn´t packed yet”.

For a current project it is essential that we receive the goods in the period from Monday (13)th to Thursday (17)th, at the window in my factory, as we have work scheduled for Friday May 18th.

If there are any problems with the stock, or these materials are out of stock, please let me know as I will have to reschedule the work .

I look forward to hearing from you.

Going to the visitor center

-Hello

-Hello

-I have to go to the training room for a safety training. Do you know where it is?

- Is it you first day here? Is it a meeting for safety information<s>s</s>?

- Yes

-So I can show you on this map: we are here and you have to go here, at the visitor center in yellow.

Go out of this building by the little door on the left. Turn to the right and take the stairs <em>at</em> this building. Pass along the cafeteria this way. You will see the door with a paper(notice/sign/board) saying/labelled ' safety training room'.

-Thank you!

- You can keep the map. Have a nice day.

at is not for movement. to is normally for movement (i'm at work = my current location)

Good work :)

Good question Waleed!

I think Teaching is like any job. Some people can be naturally good at parts of it but with more training, practice and effort anybody can become better or professional.

An amateur artist can still create beautiful work but a professional artist would be more reliable and know how to enhance a greater variety of pieces.

An amateur sportsman/sportswoman can have great successes but a professional will have far more experience in dealing with stress, maintaining fitness and utilising a wider array of techniques.

Some students want a way to practice and develop their conversation because they've already done lots of grammar and vocabulary study and just want to become more fluent. For them a native speaking friend is fine.

Some students need to know how to identify and work with their errors, and set realistic stages toward goals. They want clear explanations on aspects of the language and somebody who can help them to find a path through the jungle of language. An experienced teacher will be able to help a larger number of students to succeed.

So yes, anybody can become a teacher but there are different levels of teacher. I hope that I can get better and better every day.

Nuance

I think that the English has fine nuances. For instance, “Bleak”, is it same as “hard” or “tough”? Furthermore, I have no idea about the differences of guess and deduce and speculate. My English learning prospects look rather bleak. But it will tie to how well I can speak English.

Describe the experience of returning to work after such a long break.

I have been working from home for the past two months. I find that there is no big difference for me to work at home or work at the office. Frankly speaking, I didn’t miss anything important because all activities which were supposed to be held <s>in</s> this year have been canceled. Life in the company goes on as normal except that we are encouraged to wear masks at the office. However, my attitude towards the current job has been changed. I think I should work hard to keep my current job. I didn’t expect that the coronavirus would have such a big impact on the economy. Many small and middle sized businesses have gone bankrupt, big enterprises keep downsizing. More and more people are unemployed and it’s hard to find a new job. Someone even have (someone has even/ some people have even)committed suicide because of financial pressure.

Apparently, everyone is affected in different aspects. Many people are pessimistic about the future. However, life will go on and I hope everyone can pull through all difficulties.

Summary of a play

While the 84-year-old Maurice is sitting at the counter, he remembers the people that have meant something to him. He wears polished shoes and a white shirt beneath the pullover which his wife gave him before her death. Glass after glass the past becomes alive, his family, his childhood, the house that he has sold, his beloved dog, that is now looked after by his charlady.

It’s not a coincidence that Maurice sits in this exact hotel bar. He knows Emily, the boss, well.

He has a plan that will turn the evening upside down.

These are some phrases from a summary of a play that I've written. I am not sure whether the use of tenses is correct here.

Thanks in advance for your help.