An occasional newsletter about learning English in Taiwan. You can read the newsletter here, or sign up to receive it by email from your profile.
This is not a 'normal' newsletter, it doesn't tell you about how to learn more vocabulary or where to find useful resources and stuff. There are plenty of other sources that do that. This newsletter is designed to tell people things they have never thought about before. It should be full of surprises! I want the readers to learn something new and to understand what the cause of their problems is.
Feel free to leave a comment on any article that takes your interest.
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One of my colleagues asked me to read a poem in her class recently. She
was aiming to compare British and American English, so she wanted me to
do the 'authentic' accent for the piece from Shakespeare she had
chosen.
Sadly, I had to inform the class that a) Shakespeare is so old
that the language isn't 'authentic' any more and b) the accent that is
closest to the English of Shakespeare is now found in Virginia, USA: The original settlers from England arrived before Shakespeare died, and
in the following century everyone else changed the way they pronounce
many vowel sounds. This is why Shakespeare rhymes "moan" with "gone".
So I couldn't provide an authentic Shakespearean acccent, but I did
my best and I think they enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too, so the natural
question is "what modern poetry can I share?" And the piece that came
to my mind immediately is this one:
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Read more...
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The first issue of the "Learning English" newsletter was delayed because we all got very excited while discussing what to include, and the list of topics just kept on growing. We've decided to limit it to just "Myths About Learning English" - there are plenty of them in Taiwan and we have lots to say on this topic. For starters, read the statement below and decide what you think:
"The education system in Taiwan is not very good and local teachers don't speak good English. Taiwanese people can usually write good English, but don't speak well and are afraid to try because we don't have much chance to practise. And we do badly in international tests because they always talk about subjects we don't study. The tests are created for people from a European background. I need to find a foreign teacher who will correct my mistakes and teach me more vocabulary so that I can produce better English sentences. Good English sentences are long and use lots of idioms. If I know lots of slang my English will be more like a native-speaker."
Most Taiwanese people agree with most of what is written above, but in fact it's all untrue. In the next few weeks we will be sending you short articles that will PROVE this. It will be interesting to see what you think, and what your friends think, so please tell everyone you know to sign up for the newsletters!
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