Homonym, heteronym, homophone, what-in-ym? A dive into English language classifications

Same same, but different. Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash "English is sooo simple", said no student ever! This is what you get when a language begs, borrows and steals from other languages. So you end up with a jumbled mess that has words that sound the same but are spelt differently or words that are … Continue reading Homonym, heteronym, homophone, what-in-ym? A dive into English language classifications

Rule breaking: Why memorizing vocabulary lists is a waste of time

In our second post of the Rule Breaking series, we are looking at vocabulary and why memorizing lists of words is not only pointless, but a waste of your valuable language learning time.  Language is too intangible to be rote I have talked about this subject a few times in past posts, but it is … Continue reading Rule breaking: Why memorizing vocabulary lists is a waste of time

Rule breaking: Why teaching grammar rules doesn’t always work

I have been an EFL teacher for about four years now. In this time, I have had the privilege to teach a wide variety of learners, levels and needs, from 9–10 year-old beginners to 45 year-old advanced learners. I feel like “I’ve seen ‘em all.” I’ve also been pretty lucky to have been exposed to … Continue reading Rule breaking: Why teaching grammar rules doesn’t always work