Preposition: AT

We are all fairly familiar with the basic prepositions: on, in, under, behind, in front of, next to. 

But what about 'at'?

'At' is used fairly often when you speak about places: at the store, at home, at the movies, at the airport.

Other important prepositional phrase to memorize are: at the top and at the bottom.

Examples:

My room is at the top of the stairs.
I left my book at the top of the hill. 
These pictures were taken at the bottom of the ocean. 
Clean up that mess at the bottom of the stairs.

*Remember that these two phases only work for locations that have a top or bottom.

Bonus Phrase - At the end 

'At' can also be used with locations that have an end.

Examples:

His car is parked at the end of the street. 
We left at the end of the movie. 
He made a winning last minute shot at the end of the game.
At the end of the date she kissed him goodbye.
The Marvel comic book movies usually have a teaser at the end of the credits.
No one knows what exists at the end of the universe.

'At' with the pronoun 'my', 'his' and 'her'

'At' is typically paired with the article 'the' for 'at the ___', yet is also used with the pronouns 'my', 'his' and 'her'.

Examples:

I received a lot of presents at my birthday party. 
We had a final test at my school today.
I like to write at my leisure.  

He lost at his soccer game today. 
They all ate dinner at his favorite restaurant. 
He still lives at his mother's house. 

She always stays late at her job.
We took a lot of fantastic photos at her wedding.
She rarely cooks at her house. 

Work on including 'at' prepositional phrases into your everyday conversations. If you have any questions or comments please email or leave a message in the comments box below.

Speak Bravely,

Chromatic English Communication

Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

Idiom: Playing Hooky

The other day my friend mentioned, "I'm too tired to go to work, so I'm going to stay home tomorrow." In which I replied, "Playing hooky."

Playing Hooky is to stay home or skip work, school or activity where your attendance is mandatory without being sick, holiday or having an excuse.

Common playing hooky activities include:
going to the movies; going to a sporting event; going to the beach for swimming, surfing or other beach activities; going to a party; staying home to sleep, read or other relaxing activities.

How often do you play hooky? What do you do when you play hooky? Let us know in the comments or you can send us an email at chromatic.english@gmail.com.

Speak Bravely!
 
Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

The Sentence: The Appositive

The appositive is a sentence function used when we want to repeat the subject.

The two children, Tom and Kate, went to the library.

The subject: two children; the appositive: Tom and Kate.

When we state the subject in the sentence then repeat in more detail we are using an appositive.

Mary, my neighbor, is very lovely.

The subject: Mary; the appositive:  my neighbor.

The appositive is often used with the pronouns: I, you, he, she, they, we, it, who and whoever.

Three of us from school - Ben, Daniel and I - are going out for hamburgers.
The band, we who are on stage, plays once a week.

The appositive phrase is the very similar but acts more of a description of the subject.

The two children, with dirt on their faces, went to the library.

The subject: two children; now the appositive describes them as; with dirt on their faces. 


It's not terribly important to know the appositive for English communication, but it is a cool grammar point to know and now you can impress your friends at your next cocktail party!

Please comment or email me your appositive examples on this blog or at chromatic.english@gmail.com.

Happy Learning!

Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

3 Phrase Diet: Keep it going!

Dear Learners,

I hope you have been sticking to your 3 phrase diet! We've been busy over here at Chromatic English and haven't been able to provide you with new phrases for a couple of weeks. It is our hope that you don't need us to provide more phrases for you to learn. Hopefully you have taught yourself to pull 3 phrases from a book, newspaper, magazine or other source to study each week.

We will make a collection of each of the phrase we provided over the past few months with some bonus phrases for you to add to your rotation. Of course we will still provide great English learning content for you to enjoy.

If you need any help, anything at all, please contact us and we will be available to assist you with keeping your 3 phrase diet going.

Thank you,

Chromatic English


Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

Idiom: Don't Be a Stranger.

Don't be a stranger. 

What is a stranger? A stranger is a person who you do not know.

Why would we say this to someone we know?

Sometimes in life a friend, acquaintance or business college looses touch due to family obligations, job obligations, moving house or other reasons. That person slowly starts to become a stranger to us. A person we don't keep in contact with any longer.

When having an interaction with a person like this at the end of the conversation we would say, "Don't be a stranger." to remind the person to stay in contact and not become a stranger.

So Chromatic learners, don't be a stranger and send us an email at chromatic.english@gmail.com to let ask a question or leave some feedback.

Speak Bravely! 

Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

Idiom: Color Me Shocked

"Color Me Shocked!"

In English we use this idiom to express the idea that we're not shocked after being told something that may or should be shocking.

A: The Indiana Pacer lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

B: Color me shocked. 

When we hear or read emotional news and have no reaction to the news or emotional state being set upon us because it was expected or unsurprising.

A: Someone leaked a slide of a NSA presentation that proves they have direct access to our email, facebook, skype, and other website information. 
B: Color me shocked.

As in a coloring book with white pages, you color the picture the correct or appropriate color for the object, we color our expression the correct or appropriate adjective. 

A: You burped so loudly everyone heard you.
B: Well, color me embarrassed.


Speak Bravely!

3 Phrase Diet: Week 11

Welcome to Week 11 of the 3 phrase diet! How many of you have made it this far? I'm still waiting to hear from you about phrases you've studied or just your favorite English phrases. Don't be afraid to share with us!

3 Phrases:

Take a Peek
If your friend or co-worker is showing pictures of their recent trip to Turkey and you would like to have a look, you should say this phrase, "May I take a peek?" To peek means to look and is often used in a game with babies called Peek-a-Boo. 

Scared silly

When something or someone scares you so bad that you scream and loose control of yourself. In this phrase 'silly' may have the same meaning as 'crazy' or 'hysterical' or 'mad'. We use the word 'silly' because from an outside point of view you look silly. This phrase is typically used in situations where the thing that scared you isn't very scary at all.

Examples:
      When the clown jumped out at the end of the hall I was scared silly.
      I get scared silly at the sight of cockroaches.

Within Walking Distance

When your looking for something (store, park, etc.) and you want to know "How far is it?" the phrase "Within walking distance." means that it's close enough that you'll be able to walk to your desired destination. 


Hey gang! You can send us email at chromatic.english@gmail.com or follow us on twitter or facebook by clicking the buttons in the sidebar. Subscribe to this blog to receive posts in your inbox by clicking the link below.

Happy Learning and Speak Bravely!

Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

Discussion: Reasons

Hopefully you've been studying our previous posts on Discussion. We talked about:

The 3 parts of Disscusion: Opinion, Reason and Examples

and

The differences between opinion, preference and facts. 

Now let's look at Reason:

Reason is the 'Why' something is the way it is. We often use 'Because' to tell our reason for something.

If you have an opinion: Chocolate makes you fat. You need to tell your listener 'why' chocolate makes you fat: because chocolate is made with saturated fat that sticks to your fat cells and is harder to burn during exercise. 

Let's practice!

Here's a list of categories to form an opinion and think of a reason that fits with that opinion.

Sports
Food
Books
Animals

Some Examples

Sports: Baseball is a great sport because it takes a lot of skill to hit the ball and that makes it very exciting.

Books: Fiction writing is very interesting because the writer is free to create a world full of unusual characters, surprising events and imaginative landscapes. 

For these 4 categories give us your opinion about a specific aspect in that category and include the reason 'why' you have that opinion. Leave your sentences in the comments or email us at chromatic.english@gmail.com.

Happy Learning and Speak Bravely!


Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

3 Phrase Diet: Week 10

Welcome to June and week 10 of the 3 phrase diet!

I missed you on weeks 8 and 9. I hope you've been keeping up with your phrases.

Here's 3 phrases for this week:

We had a lovely time

After going to a party or having a dinner at the end of the night you can say, "We had a lovely time."

To the best of my knowledge

In a conversation you say this when your unsure about the amount you know about a subject or an event, "To the best of my knowledge the movie starts tomorrow."     

As I see it

When having a discussion and asked your opinion you can open or close with this phrase, "As I see it, the US government should provide healthcare to its citizens."

Happy Learning and Speak Bravely!


Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

3 Phrase Diet: Week 7

Well we're rolling along in the 3 Phrase Diet. For this week your homework is to find your own 3 phrases to study. Find 3 phrases much like the ones from previous weeks. Phrases you heard on a TV or radio show, read in a book or magazine, or anywhere you find phrases.

Once you have your 3 phrases post them in the comments or email them us at chromatic.english@gmail.com

Also, you can post them on our Facebook, Twitter or Google+ pages.

We look forward to hearing from you!!

 Speak Bravely.


Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

3 Phrase Diet: Week 6

Welcome to Week 6 of the 3 Phrase Diet.

Our 3 phrases this week....

Now you're cooking with gas
When talking or usually during an activity when you start to get in a rhythm we could say this phrase. When you add gas to a fire it really cooks the food so when, say, your playing basketball and you start to hit every shot you shoot its like adding gas to a fire. 

I've got to go home and get my beauty sleep
When it gets late and you want to go home you would say this phrase. Sleeping is good for the eyes and skin that give us a beautiful complexion. 

Wake the dead

When its late at night and people are sleeping and you say or do something very loudly your friend may respond with this phrase.

A: <CRASH!>
B: What are doing in here? Your loud enough to wake the dead!


Don't forget to send us your 3 phrases at chromatic.english@gmail.com. Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter in the sidebar. To receive Chromatic English posts in your inbox Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email.

The fun of adding 'S' at the end of verbs (Revised with Audio)

We all know verbs can be tricky especially with people or nouns and pronouns he/she/it.

Noun + simple present verb 's'

That 's' can be very thin when listening to native speakers. But to get it just right we should do some exaggeration exercises.

Sleepssssss
Tastessssss
Playsssssss
Eatssssssss
Runsssssss

Pronunciation Tip: Say each as if you were a snake, sssssss!

A simple present sentence would look like this,
It eats fruit.

But works well when we add a prepositional phrase:

in the dark
good in summer.
at school
on the grass

Now practice them in a sentence:

Jane sleeps in the dark.
A watermelon tastes good in summer.
He plays soccer at school.
She runs on the grass.

As an exercise try making sentences with these indoor activities

use the computer
study
write an email
practice the piano
take a nap
do a puzzle
play video games
cook lunch

Don't forget to include the prepositional phrase and to be creative!

Ex. He takes a nap in the tree.

Post your examples in the comments.

For more help sign up for lessons at Italki.com by visiting:
http://www.italki.com/T010344483.htm


Happy studying.

Joshua

3 Phrase Diet: Week 5

Welcome to Week 5 of the 3 phrase diet.

To the best of my knowledge

This is a phrase we use when we have knowledge of a subject, event or person but not a significant amount of knowledge about the subject, event or person.

A: How will the weather be tomorrow?
B: Sunny to the best of my knowledge.

That's about the size of it

This phrase is used to sum up a story, problem or situation.

A: My writing project needs to be about 600 words and contain references and citations from the text. I also need to include my opinion and examples to support that opinion.
B: Is there anything else?
A: No, that's about the size of it.

Once and for all

This phrase is used to indicate a final declaration complete an action or argument.

I've been playing this video game for 2 years! I'm going to finish it once and for all.

Speak Bravely!

Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

Verbs to Describe Change

 Everyday things are changing. Here is a list of verbs to describe or depict change in the everyday.

Present                                 Present Continuous                      Past

Become	Becoming	Became
Begin	Beginning	Began
Change	Changing	Changed
Decrease	Decreasing	Decreased
Get	Getting	Got
Grow	Growing	Grew
Improve	Improving	Improved
Increase	Increasing	Increased
Lower	Lowering	Lowered
Rise	Rising	Rose

Examples (in Present Continuous)

The weather is becoming warmer.
It's beginning to feel like spring.
I like the changing of the seasons.
My nervousness to speak English is decreasing.
By speaking bravely my English is getting better.
More flowers are growing everyday.
Reading Chromatic English has been improving my English.
The temperature is increasing.
Lowering my expectations is not a good idea.
My knowledge of English is rising.

Happy learning and Speak Bravely!

Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email
Also don't forget to visit us on Facebook by liking our page in the side column.

3 Phrase Diet: Week 4

Here our your phrases for Week 4 of the 3 Phrase Diet!

 

Second Rate

Something you buy that is cheap or not of the best quality
Ex. I bought a second rate car to save money.

Were you born in a barn

This is a phrase commonly said when someone leaves the door open and the cold air blows inside.

That's a new one on me.

When you learn something new such as a word or phrase that you didn't know before. I say this a lot to my Australian friends when they use slang or expressions from Australia.

Happy learning and Speak bravely!


Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email

3 Phrase Diet: Week 3

We missed you on Week 2 and we are sorry about that. Hopefully you came up with your own 3 phrases for week 2, if so please share them by emailing or posting them in comments.

The 3 phrases for Week 3 :

Have you heard the good news?
We say this phrase when we see someone and want to share the good news we've heard or have with that person. We ask this question first because if you know the same people then they might have heard it already.

The weather's getting warmer.
This phrase is a statement on the changing weather. at least for the Northern Hemisphere, if you live down south than you would say, "The weather's getting colder." The verb 'getting' has the same meaning as 'becoming' or 'changing', but you do not say "The weather's changing warmer."

Let's go on a picnic!
This phrase include 'Let's' that comes in front of any activity that we want to include or invite others to do with us. "Let's watch a movie.", "Let's play soccer.", "Let's go out for coffee.", etc.


Happy Learning and Speak Bravely!

My Favorite Things

Let's talk about favorites and the correct patterns of speaking about our favorite things.

We always get asked about our favorite things in this question:
What is your favorite food?

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite season?


We are taught to answer this question in this way:
My favorite food is pizza.

My favorite color is blue.

My favorite season is autumn.

In these answers we use My favorite as the subject with objects that are uncountable.

But what about countable objects?

What is your favorite animal?

My favorite animal is dog. Not correct.
My favorite animal are dogs. Not correct.
My favorite animal is dogs. Not correct.*

Why not?
Because the way the question is asked needs a single animal.

We can add the article 'the' to make it more correct.
My favorite animal is the dog.

If we change the question: What are your favorite animals?
My favorite animals are dogs. Correct.
And we can even add a list of favorite animals- dogs, cats and giraffes. 

Although this is the best solution we could also make the object our subject and say:
Dogs are my favorite animal.

This is my favorite answer!

Questions with a singular or plural answer:

What is your favorite dessert?
My favorite dessert is cake. [or] Cake is my favorite dessert.
Cookies are my favorite dessert.

My favorite dessert is fruit.
What's your favorite fruit?
My favorite fruit is strawberries. (Not correct) Strawberries are my favorite dessert.

What's your favorite music?
My favorite music is jazz.
Jazz is my favorite music.

What's your favorite drink?
My favorite drink is orange juice.
Orange juice is my favorite drink.

What's your favorite time of day?
My favorite time of day is the afternoon.
The afternoon is my favorite time of day.

Special Note: I like ____.
When asked a "What's your favorite ____?"  if you are unsure how to answer (with plural, singular or the) you can always use "I like dogs." as your answer.

In Conclusion
To use this question and answer correctly the questioner has the responsibility to ask the question correctly with singular or plural usage 'is/are' for the responder to know which usage to use to form a correct answer. 

*My favorite animal is dogs. is a sentence I've labeled as Not correct for the purpose that 'is' is a singular verb and 'dogs' is a plural noun and grammatically shouldn't be used together. Although, if you were to say this sentence as an answer to the question the sentence would be understood. 

If you have any questions, comments, advice or corrections with the content of this posting please do not hesitate to send an email or leave a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you and starting a discussion on how to answer this question clearly once and for all.

Also, feel free to share with us a list of your favorite things including animals, flowers, food, English words, countries, vacation locations or anything else you like.

Happy Learning and Speak Bravely!

The 3 Phrase Diet: Week One

Our 3 phrases this week:

Is anything going on?

This phrase is used to ask a question about what's going on like an event, party or other social gathering. We can include time frames such as, Is anything going on this weekend; tonight; tomorrow etc.

I'm all ears.

This phrase is used to indicate that I'm listening.

Nothing to complain about. 

If asked 'How are you?' you can reply with this phrase meaning that everything is going well or 'I'm fine'.

Click the link to receive Chromatic English posts right in your inbox, Subscribe to Chromatic English by Email.

Speak Bravely!

Our new domain

We are now serving you at www.chromaticenglish.com Stay tuned for exciting new English learning content.

Idiom: Nature Calls

"Oh no kids! Nature calls."

This idiom came into my mind during one of my classes when learning nature vocabulary and I shouted, "Nature calls!"

Of course this idiom has a totally different meaning than introducing vocabulary cards.

Can you guess?

'Nature calls' refers "to the need to go to the restroom".

A: Are you alright?
B: I drank too much water this morning.
A: Nature calls.
B: Exactly! I'll be back.

Happy Learning!

Do you have a favorite idiom? Send us your idioms at chromatic.english@gmail.com or post them into the comments.

Discussion: Opinion, Preference and Fact

In the previous post about Discussion we looked at the 3 most important parts of a discussion.

Do you remember what those were? You can go back and read the post about Discussions, but let's do a quick review,

Review

A discussion is a detailed conversation on a topic. The purpose of a discussion is to learn as much as possible about the topic.

3 important parts of a discussion:

Opinion - A belief about a topic. An opinion is hard to discuss by itself so we need reasons and examples to help explain our opinion.
Reason - The 'why' of it all is important to any opinion. Reasons will help your partner understand your opinion.
Example - Examples are necessary to connect opinion and reasons to reality. Examples also help your partner understand your opinion.

Opinions in more Detail

An opinion is what you think of something. Opinions used for discussions is one that someone can disagree with.

Examples:
Smoking is unhealthy.
Smoking is relaxing.
Chinese pollution is causing health problems in Japan.
The Walking Dead is the most exciting show on television right now.


Preference

A preference is an expression of personal choice; likes and dislikes are expressions of preference. I like dogs is not a fact but an opinion. Although its not useful for a discussion.

(Not a discussion)
A: I like dogs.
B: No, you don't.


Making a preference into an opinion for discussion adds a reason why you believe. Use adjectives like playful, friendly, dangerous, healthy, good, bad etc.

(A discussion)
A: Dogs are friendly.
B: No, they're not.

This starts a discussion using examples and reasons why dogs are friendly or not.

Examples:
Pizza is my favorite food.
I like to read mystery novels.
My hobby is writing.

Fact

A fact is a statement accepted by people as being generally true. "The Earth goes around the sun" is a fact. Facts are used in discussions to persuade people to believe their opinion.

Examples:
The Indians are the baseball team in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tokyo is the largest city in Japan.
Mario Bros. is an arcade game developed by Nintendo in 1983.

Test Your Understanding:

Read each statement and determine if it's an Opinion (O), Preference (P), or Fact (F).

O P F: I like to sleep.
O P F: Tokyo is the capital of Japan.
O P F: Snakes are good pets.
O P F: I would rather eat bread than rice.
O P F: English is too difficult.
O P F: Chocolate is a food produced from the seed of a cocoa tree.
O P F: Chocolate is delicious.

Put your answers in the comments below or email them to us at chromatic.english@gmail.com.

Happy Learning and Speak Bravely!

The 3 Phrase Diet

Listening to Chris Brogan on the Human Business Works podcast he had a very innovative idea called "The 3 Book Diet". In this 'diet' he proposed the idea of reading 3 books, just 3!, for an entire year. Reading and re-reading each book to learn deeply the information out of each book you chose.

Well, unfortunately Chris gave up his '3 book diet'. To his credit he runs a business podcast with a lot of guests who write books and he needs to read those to conduct good interviews. Also, I never even started my '3 book diet'!

But, I've been thinking about his idea a lot and for teaching English was inspired to create the "3 phrases a week diet"!

3 Phrases a Week Diet (a.k.a 3 Phrase Diet)

Every week for the whole year write down 3 English phrases (or sentences) that you want to learn.

Every day find ways to say each phrase or just study each phrase for 10 minutes.

By the end of the week you'll of learned each phrase Deeply! You'll know the meaning of every word and understand the grammar structure.

I'm Here to Help

On our blog I'll post 3 phrases or sentences for you to learn each week. Plus, on my Vine page [what's vine?], Chromatic English, I'll record each phrase for you to hear, shadow and practice each phrase.

If you have any questions or comments please email us at chromatic.english@gmail.com.

Speak Bravely!

Rock Paper Scissors

In a discussion about the order of how we declare Rock-Paper-Scissors or Paper-Scissors-Rock or Scissors-Paper-Rock or Paper-Rock-Scissors........

When you search this online Rock-Paper-Scissors comes up more often than others but some others are still out there. Although, on the Wikipedia entry for this it's titled Rock-Paper-Scissors so I'm inclined to go with that one.

One word that came up was Roshambo as an American English alternative to Rock-Paper-Scissors and said as 'Ro-Sham-Bo' and uses the same rock, scissors, paper hand gestures.

One variation on the game came from China, which is reported being played around 200 A.D, where you use the thumb as 'frog', the small finger (pinkie) as 'snail' and the long finger (index/pointer) as 'snake'. In this version winning is as follows:

Frog beats Snail
Snake beats Frog
Snail beats Snake

In the popular U.S. television series The Big Bang Theory they come up with Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock, Watch:

A lizard is reptile animal and Spock is a famous television character from the show Star Trek.

In another not so popular animation series on the Cartoon Network, Regular Show, the characters are in a heated Rock-Paper-Scissors battle and the character of Pops refers to the game Quartz-Parchment-Shears. Watch:

Quartz is a type of rock, Parchment is an old English word for paper and Shears is another word for scissors but are usually larger and used to cut bushes or hedges.

How do you play Rock Paper Scissors in your country? What order do you go in? Leave your answer in the comments or shoot us an email.

Happy Learning!

March Newsletter

2013 March Newsletter

The Coming of Spring
by Joshua Wood, Manager and Teacher

In Japan and most of Asia spring is the start of the year. In America it's Autumn and in January for Australia, but they're in the Southern hemisphere so January is summer and July is winter. In spring we celebrate the rebirth of nature after the long cold winter. It's a time when we celebrate new beginnings and new opportunities in life. Especially in Japan we celebrate this idea with the viewing of the cherry blossoms. The beautiful pink and white flowers that only bloom once a year and if your lucky last for about 3 weeks.

It's also a time for spring cleaning! That time of year when the weather gets warm and you open your doors and windows and get rid of the stale air and dust that has accumulated over the winter months. It's also a good time to start new goals and activities. In the west we have our New Year's resolution yet it's hard to achieve new goals when it's just so cold outside. So that is why I like to adopt the Japanese idea of spring as a new beginning of the year. With the warm weather, blooming nature and a freshly cleaned home it's a good time to start those things you've been wanting to accomplish.

What is it that you hope to achieve this spring? I have many things on list and I hope you do too! Let's achieve them together.

Chromatic English Featured Articles

Passive Voice: by zombies!

A while back I read about using by zombies at the end of a sentence to help with identifying the passive voice. I tracked down the source to Rebecca Johnson and put together some examples and explanations from her brilliant idea!

Independent Speaking Task #4

In this exercise from the TOEIC speaking exam you'll answer three questions on the topic of travel. Use the Voice Thread to record and share your answers. It's setup as if you were taking the actual exam with 15 seconds to answer the first two questions and 30 seconds for question three. Good luck!

Events

Saturday, March 30^th 1:00pm-3:00pm

Meet Chromatic English Teacher Mr. Joshua Wood. Questions or concerns about taking lessons with Chromatic English School? Let's meet up on Skype and have a chat about learning English online. It's safe, secure and free!

Don't have Skype, go to www.skype.com to sign up and join for free today.

If you would like to make a reservation email us at chromatic.english@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!

Promotional Discount
Sign up for online lessons with Chromatic English School by April 1^st and receive a 1 hour lesson FREE!

Subscribe 
New free English learning content is being added daily. Sign up to receive Chromatic English post in your inbox. In the subscribe box on the right type in your email and click submit. In your inbox you'll find a confirmation email. Click confirm and start receiving our posts as soon as they're published.

Also email us at chromatic.english@gmail.com and schedule your free 30 minute trail lesson to decide for yourself if Online English learning is for you!

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!

Our Teaching Material: Textbooks

Here at the Chromatic English School we use a diversity of textbooks and pictures to teach English and help building your speaking and listening skills.

Here's a photo of some of the textbooks we use:

Of course if you have a textbook you would like to use we can study with that too!

Please share your textbook photos with us! Take a photo of your textbook you use to study English and post it in the comments. We would love to see how you study!

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!

Idiom: I hoofed it!

In the previous post we talked about commuting. A not so much said idiom I heard on the Freakonomics podcast about commuting the host said "I hoofed it." in regards to how he went to work that day.

A hoof - a foot of a four legged animal; some animals with hooves include a horse, pig, sheep, camel, giraffe.

to hoof it = to walk

Normally we will say:

I walked to school today.
I went to went to work by foot.

With the idiom:

I hoofed it to school today.
I went to work by hoof. This one we don't say.

To hoof it almost implies a quick walking, not jogging but not just walking.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts and the places you like to hoof it.

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!

Study Tip: Commuter School

A commuter is a person on there way to or from home, school, work, supermarket or other daily errand that you have to do.

A school is a place where we learn and study about a subject or subjects (hopefully) that interest you.

A commuter school is the activity of learning and studying while commuting in the car, on the train or bus, riding a bicycle or walking.

With the exciting new world of personal electronic devices (smartphone, tablets, micro PCs, etc.) we can travel anywhere with them and study anytime with digital audio and text.

So are study tip for you is: Go to commuter school! 

While you are commuting turn on an English language podcast, read a blog (this blog perhaps), a digital book, flip through your flashcard app, go on to Voice Thread or however you like to study on the go.

How do you like to study in commuter school? (With what devices, with what material, etc.)
Write in comments below.We love to hear from you!

Happy learning!

Idiom: What a Week

This is an English idiom you use when we've had a tough week usually from one of the following:

• Hard work schedule
• Sickness or illness
• An accident
• Relationship strain
• Bad luck
• Good luck
• Trouble with the car, computer or other device

When these occur within a day we would say 'what a day' to start into a list of things that happened. When they occur within a series of days we say 'what a week' to start our list.

A: Wow, what a week I've had!
B:Really? What happened?
A: Well on Sunday I started to have a sore throat but I went to a teachers' conference anyway and ended up staying out late having dinner and chatting with some of my teacher friends. On Monday my sore throat got worse and I had a pounding headache and went to teach a class. I went to bed early that night and on Tuesday I felt better and had a 5 hour training for my new job and then did a 6 hour training day on Wednesday that started at 9am. This new job is very physical so my legs hurt a bit. I had my part-time teaching job on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I was suppose to work on Sunday, but I got a call and it got cancelled so now I can stay home and get some rest and do my laundry. 
B: Yeah. What a week!

How about you? Did you have a 'what a week' this week? Tell us about it in the comments or send me an Email. We would love to hear from you!!

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!

English Tip: Practice speaking quickly

One of the best ways to learn English fluency is to practice speaking quickly. Practicing quick speech keeps the lips and tongue supple and prevents mumbling. It also helps with the thinking process and breaks you out of those unwanted ummm.., uhhh, well moments that we all experience.

Here are three ways to help with your speaking quickly practice.

1. Recite a passage from a book as quickly as possible.

"Anyway, the sound I heard was just like that time. There aren't any little kids living next door, so it's weird to hear something shatter so loudly, and the whole thing was kind of alarming. Maybe a burglar broke in. My heart beating like mad, I listened carefully but didn't hear anything else. Total silence."

2. Tongue twisters are another useful tool for enunciation.

I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

The thinkers thought of how they three thinkers were thirsty on that Thursday.

3. Try singing or reciting "The Major General's Song" from "Pirates of Penzance"



Do you have any other ways to practice speaking quickly? Please share your book passages, tongue twisters or songs that you use to practice speaking quickly.

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!

Discussions: Three Parts of Importance

A discussion is a detailed conversation on a topic. The purpose of a discussion is to learn as much as possible about the topic.

Discussion Parts

First: Opinion
A belief about a topic. An opinion is hard to discuss by itself so we need reasons and examples to help explain our opinion.

Second: Reasons
The 'why' of it all is important to any opinion. Reasons will help your partner understand your opinion.

Third: Examples
Examples are necessary to connect opinion and reasons to reality. Examples also help your partner understand your opinion.

Creating a Discussion

Opinion: I believe that plastic bags are bad for the environment.
Reason: Because plastic bags are rarely recycled and take about 450 to 1000 years to break down if put in a landfill.
Examples: Plastic bags that are breaking down in landfills release toxic materials into the ground that contaminates water and soil. Some plastic bags make their way into rivers or oceans and entangle fish or are eaten by other water animals.

Give us your Discussion ideas. Make sure to include your opinion, reason, and examples.

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!

Independent Speaking Task #4

In this exercise, you will answer three questions. For each question, begin responding immediately after you hear a beep. No preparation time is provided. You will have 15 seconds to respond to Questions 1 and 2 and 30 seconds to respond to Question 3.

Imagine that you are at a travel fair. A travel agent asks you about you experience and your interests in traveling.

Questions

1. In the past six months, have you taken any trips?
2. If you could go anywhere in the world-expense free, where would you go?
3. What trip do you consider one of the best trips you ever took?

 Example Answers

     1a. Yes, I have. I went to the United States and visited with my friends and family for two weeks. It was a 12 hour plane ride, but it was so much fun to see everyone.
     1b. No, I haven't. I have been busy with work and haven't been able to go anywhere.

     2. I would go to Italy. I love eating Italian food such as pasta and pizza. I would really love to go to Italy to eat real home made Italian cuisine. Plus, they have lots of exciting historical sites to see.

     3. I consider my trip to the Niagara Falls in Canada one of the best trips I've ever taken. The waterfall was so beautiful and majestic. We went on a boat ride underneath the falls and even took a helicopter ride above the falls which was amazing! It was a family trip we took when I was around 12 years old and I don't remember everything, but I can remember a lot about it. I hope to take my own family there one day to show them how beautiful it is and to create a wonderful memory for them.

Use the Voice Thread to record your own answers to the speaking task. These questions actually come from the TOEIC speaking test. Please share with us your travel experience and do your best to follow the testing guidelines.

Speak Bravely and Happy Learning!!

English Tip: Better Listening=Better Speaking

Recently, I've been reading and listening a lot to Seth Godin, a great resource for any business English learners out there or just for anyone looking to develop their work or life into art.

Godin wrote this post last week on How to Listen; please go and it read it now!

Are you back?

I want to use his words to help us listen and speak English better. (not in the order he wrote them)

"The hardest step in better listening is the first one: do it on purpose. Make the effort to actually be good at it. The listener has nearly as big a responsibility as the speaker does."

Listening is the easiest and hardest thing to do. When you speak I can hear you, but am I listening? Especially in a foreign language when you need to hear, understand then produce a response. In a conversation it's alright to repeat the words back to the speaker to show you were listening and get confirmation that you understood correctly.

"Play back what you hear but in your own words, using your own situation. Building on what you just heard but making it your own. Take what you heard and make it the foundation for what you are trying on as your next idea."

If your teacher is telling a story pay close attention to how they frame that story and use that framing to tell your own story.

Teacher: One day while I was at the park I saw many families flying kites. Everyone was having a lot of fun.
Student: One day while I was at the park it started to rain. Everyone was running to get home.

"If listening better leads to better speaking, then it becomes a competitive advantage."

Listening to the tone and phrasing of the words is just as important as the words themselves. Anyone can learn to say 'please' and 'sorry' but better listening allows us to make them our own, put them in the right mood and in the right situation say them with true sincerity.

"Pay back the person who's speaking with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm shown by the expression on your face, in your posture, in your questions."

Effective listening requires attention free from distractions. In my own listening I fall in this trap all the time relating what the speaker said to my own situation or forming questions too soon without hearing parts that are important and answer those questions. It's good to have a pen and notebook near by to jot down thoughts and questions so you're not holding on to them in your head getting distracted by trying to remember them. Writing things down shows enthusiasm as well.

"The best way to honor someone who has said something smart and useful is to say something back that is smart and useful. The other way to honor them is to go do something with what you learned."

When your listening and learning from your teacher showing enthusiasm, asking good questions, and building on your knowledge to craft your speaking ability your teacher will take notice and start to improve their lessons by preparing more interesting topics, activities and assignments. But remember the opposite is also true. The teacher will only put in as much effort as you do.

This is also true for your social life. If your making foreign friends engage them with smart and useful words and questions not just the same old 'Where are you from?' question they've been asked a million times. You'll find that making friends is easier if you do so.

"Good listeners get what they deserve--better speakers."

Happy learning and remember to Speak Bravely!

Adverbs of Frequency: The Missing Manual

In the previous post about Adverbs of Frequency we learned about the basics; always, usually, sometimes, rarely, never.

Now let's at some lesser known frequency adverbs but almost probably used just as much as the others.

The Grammar
Noun (pronoun) + adverb + verb

Almost - Very closely completed but not completely.
She almost made the winning goal.
The pie almost got burnt.

Probably - Seems true, likely to happen  or expected.
They probably got lost.
Books probably make the best presents for students.

Just - Very recently or by a small amount of time.
I just ate.
He just missed the the bus.

Other Usage
After a 'special' verb; Noun (pronoun) + 'special' verb + adverb + verb
A 'special' verb is a verb that can be combined with 'not', can make a question by coming before the subject or makes a question tag. Please read this great post at MyEnglishBook for more details on 'special' verbs.

Be
He's just completed the exam.
You're probably walking home tonight.
The cake is almost done.

Have
I have just arrived.
It has probably closed.
They have almost finished.

Can
I can just imagine.
We can probably go now.
It can almost start.

Could
The police could just arrest you for suspicion. 
She could probably use my bike.
Fried cheese could almost be the worst food to eat.

Need
The team needs just one more point.
We need almost everyone.
*need probably doesn't work

Might
It might just be the perfect gift.
They might probably need a doctor.
I might almost finish on time.

Will
They will just take a taxi from the airport.
My parents will probably call on Friday.
The pizza will almost be here.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments or contact me by email. Also, please share your own examples in the comments as well.

Happy learning!

My Financial Life

Our financial lives can be somewhat difficult to manage especially if we don't know the language. Let's learn some Finance vocabulary to better balance the books on our English financial future.


Finance vocabulary

Nouns

Bank
A financial institution that holds and gives money.

Save
To keep money.

Income
The amount of money you make from working or investments.

Expenses
The amount of money you spend on food, rent or mortgage, clothes, utilities, etc.

Budget
Based on income and expenses a planned amount of money set aside for food, clothes, utilities, entertainment, savings, etc.

Debt
Amount of money you owe to others from credit or a loan.

Check
A special piece of paper paid to a business or individual for goods and services for an amount of money taken out of a checking account. Typically not used very often anymore.

Debit
An amount of money taken out of an account usually a checking account with a debit card.

Credit
An amount of money your allowed to borrow but have to pay back commonly used through a credit card.

Loan
An amount of money borrowed from a bank or individual for buying a house, opening a small business or to go to school that is paid back.

Interest
To earn money on top of money based on a percentage of the total value usually in a savings account; or in credit or a loan the amount of money owed based on a percentage of the total value added to the balance.

Rent
Amount of money paid every month for an office, house, or apartment. Sometimes you can rent furniture or a car and might be referred to as a 'rental'.

Mortgage
A special loan given to buy non movable property such as a house or land.

Profit
Total income after expenses for a goods and services business.


Verbs

Banking
A verb used when we're doing money activities.

Savings
An account for money that is saved.

Checking
An account for money that is often spent using a check or debit card.

Spend
To pay, buy or give money for goods and services.

Invest
To spend money into land (real estate), stocks, bonds or other goods that may gain value over time such as art, antiques or other valuable collectables in the hopes of making a profit.


Idioms

Balance the Books
To add up all your income and expenses and to make sure all is accounted for.

In the red
To be in debt or to not make a profit.

In the black
To make a profit.

Bounce a check
To write a check in which you don't have the amount in the checking account.

Spend some time studying these words to understand the world of finance better. Who knows maybe there will be a quiz later!!

Happy learning!

How often? The Adverbs of Frequency

When asked the question: How often do you...? We answer with a frequency adverb; always, usually, sometimes, rarely, never.

Here's a basic lesson on how to use The Adverbs of Frequency:

To give an amount of how much we do an activity or an action.

The Grammar
Noun (pronoun) + adverb + verb + (prepositional phrase).

Frequency Adverbs:

Always - 100%
I always eat breakfast in the morning. 

Usually - 80%
She usually comes home at 5:00.

Sometimes - 50%
They sometimes go to the movies. 

Rarely - 30%
It rarely snows in February.

Never - 0%
He never plays tennis after work.

Usually = Often
We often watch the game on Sunday.

Rarely = Seldom 
You seldom wash the dishes.

Happy learning!

The Self-Introduction

Previously at the Chromatic English School we posted 3 Podcasts Worth Listening to. On that list was the Grammar Girl whose English tips for better grammar in writing and speaking are a great resource for improving your English. The Quick and Dirty Tips website has a lot of valuable learning resousces and the one I've been listening to a lot lately is The Public Speaker.

Listening to The Public Speaker Podcast Quick and Dirty tips for improving your communication skills I came across the How to Introduce Yourself to a Group or to a Class episode. Click on the link and go check it out now. I can wait till you get back...

OK, finished? Pretty helpful. What do you think?

I used this with my class today to help one of my students with her introduction for when she visits an American school in the spring.

Here is an outline of how I taught my class using the tips from The Public Speaker and somethings I added for the ESL learner.

Introduction

1. Say your name
Say your first name then say your name again with your last name. Say it slowly and pronounced so everyone in the room can hear it and remember it.

My name is Joshua, Joshua Wood. 

2. Say where you are from
Say the country you are from.

I'm from the United States. 

3. Say a few of your interests
-One or two that you might share with the class or group
-One that's personal to you

Shared Interests
Interests that are open and not too specific

• Music
• Reading
• Writing 
• Cooking
• Movies
• Sports

Personal Interests
Interests that are specific 

• Playing the drums
• Computer programming
• Writing a blog
• Public speaking
• Hanshin Tigers baseball 

A shared interest can be made personal by adding details to it:
I like reading especially Japanese mystery novels. (If especially is a hard word to pronunciation you can change to, I like to read. I really like to read...)

Use the prompt
When I take a break from studying I like to...

When I take a break from studying I like to watch movies, reading and playing the drums.

Your main goal for your self-introduction is for teachers and classmates to remember who you are and feel like they have something in common with you.

Please post your self-introduction onto Voice Thread. We look forward to hearing from you!
Happy learning!

Sports: Super Bowl Special

Living in Japan I meet many people who the word football means soccer. To get around confusion we use the term American football to differentiate between the two sports.

On Sunday the main event of American football was played by the Baltimore Ravens and the San Fransisco 49ers.

Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens 

for winning the Super Bowl!!

This is a basics guide to the game of American football. 

The American football season is 17 weeks with each team playing 16 games and one week off, called a Bye week. The teams with the best record go into a single elimination playoff that leaves two teams to face each other in the championship game called the Super Bowl.

Play
Each game is played on a field, indoors or outdoors, of 100 yards. Each ball possession has 4 plays, called downs, to make 10 yards to earn a new series of 4 downs. Each time the ball is down by tackle or going out of bounds the play stops, the ball is set to the nearest yard line and the players reset their positions for the next play. The line where the ball sits is called the line of scrimmage. The line of scrimmage can't be crossed by either side until the ball is in play, the Center hikes the ball to the Quarterback. If a team doesn't score and it's 4th down then they have the option of punting the ball to the opposing team. Then each team switches its offense to defense or defense to offense. Each game is 4 quarters of 15 minutes each with a 15 minute halftime in between 2 quarters.

The Players
With only 11 players allowed on the field a typical play uses these player positions:

Offense
Quarterback: The player that leads the offense by calling plays, throwing or handing the ball to gain yards. He is allowed to run the ball himself, but usually doesn't for fear of injury. 
Running back: The Half back is handed the ball and runs for yards; The Full back is a bigger version of the Half back.
Wide Receiver: Players who are the primary catchers of the pass.
Tight End: Players who are able to catch the pass or block on running plays.

Offensive line
The line in front of the Quarterback in charge of keeping him safe from being tackled.
Center: Snaps the ball to the Quarterback then blocks.
Guard: A blocker
Tackle: A blocker

Defense
Defensive line:
The line in front of the Offensive line who try to tackle the Quarterback or Running Back.
Defensive Tackle: In the center of the Defensive line who rush the passer or tackle the Running Back in the center.
Defensive End: The players on each side of the defensive tackle who rush the Quarterback or tackle the running back at the end of the line.

Linebacker: Players who play behind the Defensive line who rush the Quarterback, cover receivers or tackle the Running Back.
Safety: The players who block the middle of the field and tackle the Running Back or block the Tight End.
Cornerback: The players who guard the Wide Receiver and try to intercept the ball.

Special Teams
Offense:
Kicker: The player who kicks a field goal and kicks off the ball to the other team at the beginning of the game or after a touchdown.
Holder: The player who holds the ball for the Kicker (hopefully laces out).
Punter: Kicks the ball in a dropkick style to move the ball down field so the opposing team isn't near their Endzone.
Long snapper: The player who throws a long hike to the punter.
Gunner: Players who run down the field to tackle the Kick or Punt returner.

Defense:
Kick returner/Punt returner: Player at the opposite end of the field to catch the kick or punt and run the ball for more yards. 

Scoring 
At each end is a goal, called the Endzone, and a goal post at each end. Each Endzone is 10 yards and if the ball passes through by the Offense is rewarded with 6 points.  If the offense scores a touchdown they're rewarded with an extra scoring opportunity of 1 point, the extra point, or 2 points, the 2 point conversion, decided by the coach based on need.

If the ball is close to the Endzone and it's a 4th down then the team uses the kicker to kick the ball between the goal posts, a field goal, to score 3 points. After a touchdown this is also how they score the extra point opportunity. The 2 point opportunity occurs if the team decides to run or throw the ball into the Endzone again after a touchdown starting at the 2 yard line.

If the offense is near their Endzone the defense can tackle the player with the ball in that Endzone to earn 2 points called a Safety.If the defense recovers a dropped ball, called a fumble, or catch a pass, an interception, they can run the ball into their Endzone for a touchdown.

When I was back in the USA for Christmas my parents bought us tickets to a football game for our hometown team the Indianapolis Colts.

In this picture each side is getting ready to set on the line of scrimmage.

In this picture the Offense, Colts, and Defense are ready to play.



















American football is an amazing sport. It doesn't have a lot of popularity outside of America and Canada and is often described as brutal. Well, it's no more brutal than Rugby in my opinion and all the players wear protective gear to prevent injury. Of course players still get injured, but that's a risk they take and get paid very well to take.

There are more rules and subtleties to the game that are easy to learn often by watching a few games to see how to rules are broken. Such rules include holding, passing interference, unnecessary roughness just to name a few.

If you have any more questions about American football or would like to talk sports, please schedule a lesson with the Chromatic English School Online!

Happy learning!

Passive Voice: by zombies!

A while back I read somewhere about how to use passive voice by adding 'by zombies' to the end of a the verb to identify the passive voice versus active voice.

I traced down the source to Rebecca Johnson, professor of culture and ethics at USMC, where she wrote this on her twitter feed:

I finally learned how to teach my guys to ID the passive voice. 

If you can insert "by zombies" after the verb, 

you have passive voice.

Check out her twitter tweet here.

It has since gone viral and just by typing 'passive voice by zombies' into Google will find many people using the 'by zombies' code of identifying passive voice in English.

What is the English passive voice?

Using the auxiliary verb to be or (sometimes) get with the past participle of the main verb.

Examples:

The moon is hidden.
He was forgotten.
My clothes get washed.

The passive voice puts focus on the receiver of the action rather than the doer of that action.

Add the prepositional phrase with the preposition by:

The moon is hidden by zombies.
He was forgotten by zombies.
My clothes get washed by zombies.

The preposition by names the doer of the action.

In the active voice these sentences would read:
Zombies washed my clothes.
Zombies forgot him.
Zombies hid the moon.

Why zombies?
We could easily say by me, by my mom, by vampires etc., but zombies are right now are a big part of popular culture right now from movies like Night of the Living Dead or the hit TV show The Walking Dead. So as an expression of humor we compose passive sentences using 'by zombies' to ease our fears from that thing that scares us.

**Warning**
The passive voice has more complicated grammar structures and this is just skeletal outline of how to identify, write and speak passive sentences that are read and heard by zombies!

Happy learning!

P.S. Don't forget to include your own passive voice 'by zombies' sentences in the comments. I look forward to reading them.

Some People Say That,

Let's look at a question type from the Eiken level 2 test,

Some people say that,
This phrase means that people have a specific idea, solution or opinion about a topic on:

• how to do something
• an answer to a problem
• a worldview 
• a criticism or feeling

Relating to culture, the environment, business, technology, entertainment or just about anything in our world today. To say some people means that on a topic many people agree on the same idea, solution, or opinion.

When prompt to answer about our own idea, solution, or opinion to the statement, Some people say that..., we our asked this question:

What do you think about that?*

Be prepared to:

• Agree; Yes, I agree. I think that...(your opinion)
• Disagree; No, I disagree. I think that...(your opinion)

*This is a common question not only in the Eiken, but in everyday conversations.

Example:
Some people say that, learning a second language becomes harder when you're an adult compared to when you're a child. What do you think about that?

Agree; Yes, I agree. I think that when you're a child your brain is still developing and open to learning new words easily in a second language. Children also have lots of time, the sooner they start to learn a second language the better chance they have to be fluent as an adult.

Disagree; No, I disagree. I think that no matter how old you are your able to learn a second language when you have the motivation and determination to do so. When you're a child you don't want to study or do things that are hard, but as an adult your able to find fun and enjoyment in them.

Question:
Some people say that, we should make use of rainwater in our daily lives. What do you think about that? 
Post your answer to Voice Thread. We want to hear what you have to say! Don't have a Voice Thread account? Check out my past post on How to Use Voice Thread.  



Happy learning!

How to: The Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is a cooking class based on an American classic The Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

It's a very simple recipe and very easy to follow.

Ingredients

• Bread
• Cheese
• Butter or Margarine 

Optional ingredients

• Tomato 
• Cucumber

 Steps

1.Spread the butter evenly across the bread.

3. Put the slice of cheese onto the bread in the pan.

4. Put the second piece of bread butter side up on top of the first piece.

5. Fry for up to 5 minutes or till browning occurs then flip the sandwich over. 6. Fry the opposite side for up to 5 minutes or till browning occurs then put onto a plate.

7. After cooling enjoy!

If you make this delicious American recipe please share photos of your creation.

Also, if you want to share your home countries easy made food recipe please share.

Happy learning!

Lost and Found

What do you do when you lose something? How can I find it once it's lost?
Let's learn some useful vocabulary and phrases for when you need a lost and found.

The normal meaning for a 'lost and found' is a place where you go to find an item that has been lost.
 
Lose and Find are irregular verbs that conjugate (present-past) as:

lose-lost
find-found

Easily lost items:

• Mobile phone
• Wallet or Purse
• Coat
• Glasses
• Keys

Example Sentences:
I lost my wallet on the train.
I lost his keys in my apartment.
I lost your coat last night.

How to Find lost items:

Where do I go?

• Security office
• Reception counter
• Manager's office
• Police Station
• Lost and Found

Once something is lost, after searching for it, you need to ask someone if it's been found.

Dialogue:
A: Excuse me, I was here yesterday and lost my phone.
B: Can you describe it?
A: It's a white iphone with a red case around it.
B: Let me check the lost and found. Maybe someone turned it in.
A: Thank you.
B: Here, this looks like what you described. Is it yours?
A: Yes, it is! Thank you!
B: Please be careful next time.
A: I will thanks.

Other ways to ask if someone has found your item is:

• Have you found any coats recently?
• Did you find a set of keys in here?
• I'm looking for a blue purse. Have you seen it?

We all have the experience of losing something and having that sick feeling in the pits of our stomach, but we have to remember to stay calm, retrace our steps and ask questions to find what you have lost.

This is not so different from:

Dropped: When you have something and it fell out onto the ground. Something dropped can become lost.
I dropped my wallet while walking in the park.

Left: Put it somewhere and forgot it there. Something left isn't lost because you have a clear memory of leaving it there, but will find it at the lost and found. I left my hat on the bus.  

Misplaced: When you remember having the item, but can't remember where you put it. This happens commonly in your home. She misplaced her movie ticket in her room.

Stolen: when the item has been taken and will likely not be returned. Something stolen should be reported at the police station. His bike was stolen in front of the supermarket. 

I hope you find this helpful the next time you need to find that item you've lost, dropped, left, misplaced or, hopefully not, stolen.

Please email or leave a comment if you have any questions, examples or stories you would like to share about anything you may have lost and found.

Happy learning!

The Video Newsletter

The video newsletter is here!! 

Meet me, Joshua Wood, the Chromatic English School Online teacher.

3 Podcasts Worth Listening to

Podcasting is more popular than ever with the new generation of smartphones. As language learners' we are in the perfect position to listen, study, and speak the language during our commute to school or work, while we cook dinner, before we go to bed or first thing when we wake up in the morning.

3 Podcasts worth listening to help with English learning

1. Culips ESL Podcast; Free
Maura, Harp and Jessie put together a podcast in Canada for English learners of all levels. Their focus is on everyday English with natural expressions, slang and idioms. To listen is free and if you want to go further for a small membership fee you can purchase show notes and transcripts to deepen your learning.

2. Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips; Free
Mignon hosts a podcast that provides you with short and friendly grammar tips to help you with English writing. Lots of these grammar podcasts can apply not just to writing but to speaking as well. She does a great job with presenting complex and difficult grammar rules in an easy to understand way. This podcast is for high beginner to advanced. 

3. On Being with Krista Tippett; Free
Krista interviews people at the top of their field doing very interesting and exciting research and development. Although Krista's guests are scientist, business people and artists she has the especially brilliant gift of making the content easy to understand without lots of technical vocabulary or jargon. This podcast is for intermediate to advanced learners.

Podcasts can be heard or downloaded on the show's websites or from the itunes store.

If you have any great podcasts you would like share with us please tell us in the comments section. We're always looking for great new shows to listen to. Who knows, maybe one day the Chromatic English School will be on that list one day. 

Happy learning!