The word diphthong (also spelt dipthong) comes from the Greek δίφθογγος meaning with two sounds, or with two tones. To see what we mean, try saying these words out loud and concentrate on the sound of the vowels and the shape of your mouth when you say them....
EAP – English for Academic Purposes
English for Academic Purposes (or EAP) is usually concerned with teaching English to students who are involved in higher education at an English speaking university or college. EAP students are usually current higher education students or they are hoping to go on to...
Hot Potatoes (CALL Software)
Hot Potatoes is a suite of 6 applications which allow a user to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the internet. The software has recently been made freeware. The suite consists...
Capital Letters in English
In English every sentence starts with a Capital Letter (or Uppercase) and usually ends with a period or full stop. For example these are all wrong: * the film has finished. * where is she? * in 1492 Columbus sailed off into the sunset. * an asterisk at the beginning...
Intonation in English
Intonation is the system of rising and falling levels, as well as variations in pitch sequences, when we speak. People don't talk in a monotone (unless they're very boring) but instead there is rising and falling in what they say. In other words, intonation is the...
Demonstrative Pronouns in English Grammar
A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun used in place of a noun to demonstrate (= show; indicate; point) where something or somebody is in reference to the speaker. There are four demonstrative pronouns in the English language: thisthesethatthose For example: Did you see...
Conjugation in English
Conjugation refers to the different form of a verb depending on how it is used and who uses it. Unlike many other languages, English conjugation is fairly straightforward and presents few problems. Regular Verbs This is the conjugation of a regular English verb,...
Teaching English in Taiwan
Speaking good English for many Asian people is an excellent plus when it comes to apply for work or placement in prestigious national universities and Western schools. As a result, there is a multi-billion dollar ELT industry and a huge demand for English teachers...
Authentic TEFL Material
Authentic Material is material used in the TEFL classroom which was originally created for native speakers of English. The reason we use authentic material in class rather than material specifically written for learners is to provide more variety and authenticity to...
Second Language Acquisition or SLA
The way in which someone learns a second language is known as Second Language Acquisition or SLA. Overview SLA is often regarded as mimicking the way in which native speakers acquire their first language (or Mother Tongue (MT)) and it is often felt that imitating...