Language Blog

iPhone English: Words With Friends

Following my post on crosswords last year, I thought I’d share another recent addiction of mine with you. I have recently discovered a word game available on smart phones or online. It’s called Words With Friends ® Zynga

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What to do in the IELTS exam

Since the beginning of January I've been preparing a mixed nationality class for their IELTS exam. 'IELTS' stands for 'International English Language Testing System', is recognised worldwide and has two versions, Academic and General. The Academic IELTS exam acts as an entrance test for non-native English speakers - like my students - wishing to attend university in predominantly English-speaking countries - in this case the UK. In this post I'll be giving you some advice on how to improve your score.

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War, what is it good for? Idioms!

The news that HMS Dauntless is to be deployed to the Falklands this year reminded me of the war there 30 years ago. This got me thinking about the language surrounding war and I realised that there are lots of idioms and expressions that relate to war and conflict.

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The Social Programme: Ice Skating

At both of our schools we run a number of social events which give our students the opportunity to get to know each other better, have some fun and practise their English outside the classroom. There is always a member of staff present at all events, and this week Howard went ice-skating. Here’s his take on the night.

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iPhone English: Freerice

In this week's post we're looking at a great website which not only helps improve your English, but also helps feed hungry people all over the world. If you want to do both of those things (and why wouldn't you?), then read on.

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Covering Letter Collocations part 2

Here are the answers to my post on covering letters in December. I hope you managed to find some of the collocations. Using collocations such as these can help you to sound positive and are they are an effective way to describe your character and abilities.

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Words you wish you'd known before!

Hello! This week I want to check that you’ve remembered and understood the adjectives for people from my last two posts. So, have a look at the words below and choose the best set of synonyms for them:

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Rough or smooth?

This week I’ll be introducing seven words which are used literally to describe physical properties and metaphorically to informally describe different types of people. Again, they’re all words which my non-British friend wishes she’d known before moving here! But a word of warning – none of them is very complimentary!

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British Pantomime

I’ve just been to Portugal for a few days of winter sun and was amused when I saw these holiday makers dressed as Santas. It reminded me that with Christmas just around the corner, all over Britain people will be dressing up for pantomimes. In the festive season, the pantomime, or ‘panto’ as most people call it, is performed in theatres everywhere. So, what is a panto? In brief, it’s a fun show aimed at children. It apparently originated in Italy and came to England in the 17th Century, we immediately took it to our hearts and it has remained a quintessential part of British Christmas ever since.

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Covering Letter Collocations

I haven’t posted for a while, but as the global financial crisis is still having an impact on people’s work and some people are losing their jobs, I thought I’d write about covering letters. A covering letter is a letter which is sent with your CV when applying for a job. I’ll write a bit more about what to include in covering letter and how to write them in my next post but for this post I wanted to focus on language and in particular collocations. In the following 2 covering letters can you find:

• Verb + adjective + noun collocations

• Verb + adjective + adjective + noun collocations

There are12 in total. I’ll give you the answers and explain covering letters in my next post.

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