LearnEnglishNow

  THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITING IN LEARNING A LANGUAGE Writing is an essential skill when it comes to learning a new language. While speaking and listening are undoubtedly important, the act of writing has numerous benefits that can greatly enhance your language-learning journey. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced learner, here are some compelling reasons why writing is crucial for mastering a language: 1️⃣ Reinforcing Grammar and Vocabulary: Writing allows you to solidify your understanding of grammar rules and expand your vocabulary. When you write, you actively engage with the language, selecting appropriate words and structuring sentences correctly. This process reinforces your grasp of grammar concepts, helps you internalize vocabulary, and promotes accuracy in your language usage. 2️⃣ Enhancing Communication Skills: Writing enables you to express yourself clearly and effectively in a foreign language. As you practice writing, you develop the ability to articulate ...

   ENGLISH EXPLAINED When we are learning a new language, we often worry about our "accent" and how it will sound. Don't. You see, in any language you may be learning, there are always several accents that are present, including among the native speakers. There are more important issues that should be learned and which will help you be understood when you use them well. Two of them are PRONUNCIATION and ENUNCIATION. Let's look at them. PRONUNCIATION   can be defined as how a particular word should sound when spoken aloud. Pronunciation focuses on the sounds a speaker should use for each part of a word and how they should be put together. Proper pronunciation can be challenging because it’s not always possible to tell how a word should be spoken simply by looking at the way it is spelled.   Multiple Pronunciations and Spellings It’s not unusual for words in the English language to have more than one pronunciation, even though there is no difference in spelling. Some w...

     ENGLISH NOW LLC A NEW BEGINNING. It has been a while (!!?) since I had a chance to present new pages on this blog. This time has been spent building up a page on another medium and this page now reaches almost 15,000 followers. Recent events have made me understand that sometimes believing in one medium only is a dangerous proposal since one is at the mercy of the interpretation of an “AI” censoring machine as well as those who are behind those machines, but who never actually respond directly as a problem solver. Nonetheless, I look forward to having many followers of our Facebook/EnglishNowClasses page join us here as well. This is our first return foray into the blog world, and it will be a short one. I will endeavor to publish at least two items per week and will follow the same format as I have on the FB page: a combination of educational as well as motivational entries. I hope you will enjoy it as much as those 15,000 followers have enjoyed it. For no...

The best laid plans and all that… Towards the end of this past year a little idea began to take hold in the back of my head, or mind, if you prefer. It has been for some time now that I have taught ESL ( English as a second language ) in 3 different cities and to hundreds of students, possibly well over a thousand. I have always done this on behalf of a learning institution; mainly because my primary work had been in the field of life insurance and the teaching had been, well, non-primary. Kind of like a productive hobby. That changed when I underwent my cancer episode some years back, with the subsequent treatments and the two hip surgeries that followed ( nothing to do with the cancer and, yes, I can still dance!! ). My work in insurance diminished and pretty much disappeared, and once the spark went out, it was very difficult to rekindle it. I tried, to no avail. I did find myself gravitating to the ESL teaching, and this became a primary interest, taking since then most...

Aprender inglés, para muchos, se convierte en una agonía. Sobre todo, las personas que vienen a este gran país ya de adultos y quienes nunca tuvieron la oportunidad de aprender algo del idioma. No es fácil dejar atrás toda una vida de costumbres, de pronunciaciones, de manejar sonidos familiares para, de pronto, tener que cambiarlo todo y adaptarse a empezar de nuevo. La persona se siente desvalida, despojada de habilidades de toda una vida, al no poder comunicarse o hacerse entender. Le añadimos a esto una fuerte dosis de “pena ajena” al no saber pronunciar las palabras de este nuevo y bendito idioma. En el que todo es diferente y nada es igual. Alguien se ríe y estamos totalmente convencidos de que, aunque así no sea, se están riendo de nosotros y de nuestra dificultad de pronunciación. La percepción es una maestra brutal y despiadada. A mis estudiantes, siempre les digo al principio: “Acepten que cometerán errores y, a veces, horrores”. Esto es cierto. Ud. Está apr...

Este es el primer blog de English Now. Supongo que debería ser contundente o memorable en su totalidad, pero más que nada, prefiero que sea informativo e interesante. Llegué a este gran país sin hablar muy bien el idioma, a pesar de haberlo estudiado en mi natal Cuba; entiendo más que bien la frustración que se siente al no poder comunicarse en el día a día. Cosas tan sencillas como tener hambre y dinero y no poder expresarse bien en el restaurante. Empuñando el menú como una gran cubierta protectora y usando el dedo índice como un apuntador que indica, esperanzadamente, la selección correcta que queremos comer… A veces apuntaba equivocadamente, o entendía mal, y terminaba con una sopa cuando quería una hamburguesa. Sí, puedes sonreír, porque estoy seguro de que a muchos les ha sucedido algo similar. Si hemos escogido vivir en los EE. UU. hablar inglés, o por lo menos dominar algo del mismo, es verdaderamente una necesidad. Muchos vivimos en áreas en las que el español ...