LRNGO ESL EFL User Posts

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International Student Housing in the US

Tracy Donahue

2015-08-14

Everyone who’s ever moved can relate to the term ‘home away from home’- that sweet, comfortable space that with the right decorations and colors (blankets too) somehow recreates the warmth of familiarity. Everyone who’s ever moved will also tell you that this magical place is hard to find. Let’s be honest, there’s just no place like home. Still, thousands of prospective university students flee from their nests, or places of residence (however you’d like to call ‘em), each year in order to pursue a degree in the United States, and it sure can’t be easy to leave home for the first time.

‘Where will I sleep? What will I eat? How will I move from place to place?’ are just a few of the many questions and concerns that skyrocket into alarm when moving dates approach. However, there’s nothing to fret about. A very high percentage of the time, colleges themselves will take it into their hands to locate students into safe, student-populated facilities, meaning international stude...

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Comedy: the Secret to Practicing English

Nickolas Horn

2014-07-30

Many people who are trying to learn English will watch as much American television as possible, read a ton of books written in English, etc. I want to make the case that instead of watching television to learn English, that you should instead read a few jokes. “What!?” You say. “I don’t really see the value in that.” Here are a few reasons why I see jokes as an incredibly valuable way to learn English:

Reasons to use watch/read comedy to Practice English.

Jokes and comedy sketches employ a part of the English language that no book will teach you- and that part is English slang. Listening to comedians and reading written jokes will help you grasp these often difficult expressions.

Each joke, each part of a comedy routine, becomes essentially a little mini quiz that offers instant feedback. Let me put it this way: when you understand why the joke was funny, when you laugh, you have accomplished a number of things. For example, you know ...

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Learning How to Type English

Rob Gardner

2014-07-29

If you are transitioning to English from a language that does not use a keyboard similar to the Standard English QWERTY keyboard, it is likely that you will need to become better at typing as part of your studying of the English Language. Not convinced that learning how to type in English is really necessary? In this digital age, the vast majority of jobs now require some interaction with a computer. It is incredibly important that you be able to interact with the digital world effectively and efficiently. In fact, I would go so far as to say that having a fast typing speed is almost like having another form of literacy.

General tips:

It will probably take about three months of constant, daily practice to be able to type at an efficient speed. This means that you have to be patient. Do not worry if you feel that you are not making progress in leaps in strides. Despite what some websites claim, it is the type of skill that can only be gradually acqu...

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ESL Grammar Lessons and Worksheets Online

Rebecca Dane

2014-07-29

Knowing how to use English grammar is essential for mastering the English language. The grammar aspects of a language consist of tenses, morphology, sentence structure, semantics, and phonology. Knowledge of these components is necessary to be able to read, write, and speak English or any language for that matter. The easiest and most cost efficient way to learn English grammar is through using online resources and by practicing. The following sites are the best resources online for English grammar lessons and worksheets.

EngVid - https://www.engvid.com/
EngVid is a site that has over 700 video lessons dedicated to teaching all aspects of the English language including grammar. The topics of these videos include everything from prepositions to punctuations. A good feature about this site is that each video is ranked beginner, intermediate, or advanced. This way you can pick videos and learn topic...

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Learn English with El Chavo App Review

Carson Eads

2014-07-28

Learn English with El Chavo is a free new mobile app that focuses on teaching English to Spanish speakers. More specifically, the app targets Hispanic children living in the United States with low academic performance due to poor English speaking skills. This education initiative was launched last year by Televisa Foundation, a non-profit organization whose vision is to help millions of Latin children reach their full potential through innovative cultural and educational programs. According to the the Director of Televisa Foundation, there are about 5.5 million children that do not speak English and of which 75 percent are Hispanic. The makers of the app aim to help these Hispanic children learn English with a familiar face, El Chavo.

El Chavo is a cartoon character from the animated television series El Chavo Animado . It features the adventures of El Chavo, who is a poor eight-year-old orphan, and his friends. The animated series itself was based on a live-a...

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Learning English with Video Games

Merle Boon

2014-07-28

I am sure you have heard the standard advice to watch movies in English in order to immerse yourself in the culture, get acclimated to hearing English, etc. However, you might not have considered using video games as a way of practicing a language. Now, at this juncture, it is important to say that playing video games is not a perfect substitute for other forms of language practice. Do not, for example, abandon a language partner or stop reading grammar books. Video games are simply another way to immerse yourself in the English language.

Reasons to Consider Playing Video Games

Video games are fun. In fact, they are so entertaining that the video game industry is now bigger than Hollywood. If you are able to immerse yourself in the digital world of a video game, learning the language will not only become easier. It will also become more enjoyable, and that is half the battle right there.

If you watch movies, you are not interacting w...

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How To Learn English Slang

Jessa Brassington

2014-07-25

A huge part of English cannot be learned in textbooks. That part is slang. What do I mean by slang? I mean abbreviations; I mean colloquial expressions. These are the words such as “cool”. At one time “cool” was simply another word for “cold”. Now “cool” describes something that is in fashion, something that everyone likes. If you want to be able to successfully navigate the English language, if you want to be “fluent” in English, you will need to do your utmost to learn these commonly used expressions.

In order to begin learning slang, you could begin looking at sites like https://www.manythings.org/slang/ , which are essentially dictionaries filled with slang words and phrases. But this immediately presents a problem. For example, in the first page listed, they have the supposed slang expression “Your ideas about politics are all wet”. I have never heard this expression before, and I imagine if I heard ...

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Cartoons: The Secret Weapon for Learning English

Rufus Goodwin

2014-07-24

Children’s Cartoon Television Series

Watching children’s cartoons is perhaps one of the easiest and most efficient ways to immerse yourself in the English-speaking world. You now ask, why cartoons? Why not other forms of television entertainment? I see two reasons why children’s cartoons are a good choice.

They are simple- Most cartoons have very basic storylines. This is an element of cartoons that cannot be stressed enough. One of the issues with more complicated forms of television is that, without the help of language, you will have trouble following the story. This in turn has a negative impact on your understanding of the language itself. Let me put it like this: you have two elements to consider: the story and the spoken words. It is possible to understand the story without understanding the spoken words in the following sense: I see a robber. He is going into the house, he is stealing the television, but I do not understand what he is talki...

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