Confusing confusions

One of the most common remarks we hear from our students is how generally confusing English can be many times. “There are soooo many exceptions!!!”, they always say….”The pronunciation can be so strange at times!” is another common complaint…”Why sooo many irregular verbs????!!!”, is yet another favorite…

All true…

 We agree…

We apologise…

…but it really isn´t our fault…

The VERY BEST solution we can think of is also the simplest, most effective and definitely the CHEAPEST solution for ANYBODY: EXPOSE YOURSELF MORE TO ENGLISH!!!!

By this, we mean:

Read more English.

Listen to more English.

Only then will one be able to:

Speak more English.

That aside, we still DO agree that the language has its little areas of confusion. Like, you do realize that many verbs are also nouns, and vice-versa. The only thing that differentiates them and makes their role clear in a sentence is where the stress syllable is. Look at a few examples below. Can you tell the difference between the word used as a verb and as a noun in each sentence?

1)    The farm was used to produce produce.

2)    The dumpsite was so full that they had to refuse more refuse.

3)    The soldier decided to desert the army in the desert.

4)    It´s time to present the present.

5)    I did not object to the object.

6)    The insurance policy was invalid for the invalid.

7)    I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

Here is how each of the words in bold should be pronounced to make the sentence have any sense:

1)    The first “produce” is a noun which means “agricultural products, with the stress on the first syllable.  The second “produce” is the verb with the stress on the second syllable.

2)    The first “refuse”, with the stress on the second syllable, means to not accept, while the second “refuse”, with the stress on the first syllable, is just another word for trash or garbage.

3)    The first “desert”, with the stress on the second syllable, is a verb that means to abandon and stop supporting something, while the second “desert”, with the stress on the first syllable, is the noun used for a vast, arid place.

1. 4)    The first “present”, stress on the second syllable, is a verb which means to give something to someone in a formal way. The second “present”, stress on the first syllable, is another word for “gift”.

5)    The first “object”, stress on the second syllable, means to express a contrary idea in the form of a protest, while the second “object”, stress on the first syllable, is a noun that means a tangible thing.

6)    The first “invalid”, with the stress on “va” is an adjective that means “not valid”, while the second “invalid”, with the stress on “in” means a person suffering from a physical handicap.

7)    The first “subject”, stress on the second syllable is a verb which means to force or cause someone or something to undergo a procedure, while the second “subject”, stress on the first syllable, is a noun which means the person being described.

Then, there are also the dreaded Heteronyms, i.e. words that are spelled (spelt) the same but have different pronunciation as well as definition. Look at a few examples below. Can you pronounce each word in bold correctly and would you know the meaning of each?

1)    There was a row in the first row of the theater.

2)    The wind will blow very strong and the rooftops will wind up in the river.

3)    The tailor hired a new sewer who got drunk and fell into the sewer.

4)    The farmer fed his sow when he went out to sow.

5)    I saw a tear in her eye when she noticed a tear in her stockings.

Here´s how the words in these five sentences are supposed to be pronounced:

1)    The first row should rhyme with “now” and the second row should rhyme with “so”.

2) The “I” in the first wind should sound like the “I” in “sing”, while the second wind should rhyme with “dined”.

3) The first sewer should rhyme with “blower”, while the second sewer should rhyme with “newer”.

4) The first sow (which means female pig) should rhyme with “now” , while the second sow (which means to plant seeds) should rhyme with “so” .

5) The first tear should rhyme with “near”, while the second tear should rhyme with “there”.

So there. We hope this little bit helps!!!

Our classrooms are now ready for the new school year 2015 - 2016 ! Classes start on the 14th of September =)

A new school year is coming up and we at iSpeak are ready and eager to start! The new school year comes filled with new and exciting lessons that we can't wait to share with our students !

Summer Workshops at iSpeak...!

The summer heat has already been beating down on us lately, (well, except for the unseasonable temperatures we´ve had these past couple of days)  the ice cream parlours are in full swing, and some community swimming pools have already opened. It´s SUMMER WORKSHOP TIME!!!

We realise that, especially for all of you that have been buried in books all year long, the LAST thing you want to do is sign up for more classes....Which is why we´ve designed English courses that don´t feel like English courses--for kids and adults alike, these workshops are guaranteed to make you have fun AND hone your English skills at the same time.

First, the Children´s Workshops.
These are 4 workshops designed to run 5 days each for every week in July. During each of the weeks the activities will center on a different theme. Each session will last one hour and a half and participants can choose to attend from the following workshops:

July 6 - 10 -- The Animal World
July 13 - 17 -- Our Planet
July 20 - 24 -- The Home and Family
July 27 - 31 -- Nutrition, Health and Your Body

Price per week: 60€

The children will also be divided by age groups:

9:30 - 11:00 -- 6 -7 years old
11:00 - 12:30 -- 8 -9 years old
12:30 - 14.00 -- 10 - 11 years old

You may choose to attend one, two, three or all four workshops. The choice is absolutely yours to make as you see fit...!

And for the "not so kids" we´ll be having daily classes centered on conversational topics where the student can hone their English grammar skills. We will be discussing various topics based on selected videos, news articles, and other literary excerpts…all oriented towards improving fluency, listening and reading comprehension skills. In the same way as the Children´s Workshops, here the student can choose to enrol for a minimum of one week or as many weeks as they wish in the month of July. Groups will be divided by levels and are as follows:

10:00 - 11:00 -- minimum level required: B1

11:15 - 12:15 -- minimum level required: B2

12:30 - !3:30 -- minimum level required: C1

Price per week: 60€

So, drop by anytime during academy hours...we´ll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have...

See you soon!

Real or fake?

Here is an interesting photo, what do you think? is it real or is it fake?
Try to speculate a little, try using "in my opinion", "I think", "I believe that", "it's possible that ", "I don't think", "perhaps ", "on the other hand", "maybe" , " I would say that"...

Title: Great white shark attacks helicopter!

 Answer: It's fake.

Extra large dog for sale, real or fake?

Answer: It's real.

For more pictures like this, check out our new page in the blog " picture prompts ".

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth day everybody!

 At iSpeak we recycle, yes, the plastics on one side, the papers on another, ( and God knows we use lots of these! ) not much organic or glass  but what little we have, it does get recycled... but we try our best to do our share to help our beloved planet Earth. Do you?

Here is a link to 8 surprising facts and misconceptions about recycling:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/63240/8-surprising-facts-and-misconceptions-about-recycling

Our new door sign!!! or should we say "dog sign" !

                                                Aqui sí pueden pasar!

Here at iSpeak, we love dogs. This is why, the door to our academy now has a new sign letting people know that they are free to come in with their dogs. We don't like seeing them tied up outside longingly waiting for their owners to come out.

So if you are planning to visit us and have a dog, please, bring it in!

Our new page.

We have added a new page to our blog to help you increase your vocabulary.


http://ispeakenglishacademy.blogspot.com.es/p/vocabulary.html

Parts of the face.

Most basic English speakers know the basic parts of the face; eyes, nose, mouth... but here are a few that might not be that familiar to you.

Writing prompts

Here are some pictures that  we hope will inspire a few creative stories from you. You can try to use them individually or put two pictures together to create a story. We have done a few of these exercises in our classes and they have worked really well.

Now look at these four characters, can you imagine their individual stories? Now what if they all formed part of the same story, what would it be?

Also, check out our new page on Writing Prompts, we are sure you will find more than one source of inspiration here to get those creative juices flowing !

Writing Prompts :
 https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4679050568714929909#editor/target=page;pageID=442841054379857798;onPublishedMenu=pages;onClosedMenu=pages;postNum=0;src=pagename

Irregular verbs fun???

We all know that one of the most difficult things about learning a language is memorizing all those irregular verbs, but how about learning them with a bit of rhythm attached to it ... Hope you enjoy this next video! Btw, there are about 370 official irregular verbs!!! the good news is that ONLY about 200 are commonly used =)

Before and Now...

No this post isn't going to be a post about verbs and their tenses, we just wanted to share with you this article about life some years ago as compared to now and how it has changed.

Do you think it has changed for the better or for the worse? Have our lives improved? How about the quality of life ?

Here is the  link:

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/02/19/11-pictures-that-compare-life-today-with-how-it-used-to-be/

The History Behind Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

This video from the website history.com provides us with some interesting facts and the story behind this worldwide celebration.

We hope you enjoy it!

http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day/videos/bet-you-didnt-know-valentines-day

Here is another informative video:

Our students

We find the profile of our average student here at the academy to be very interesting. When iSpeak first opened just a few months ago, we were expecting our average student to be the typical student that needs help with his English class at school. Torrelodones is surrounded by several public and private bilingual schools plus a number of other schools. A lot of young families, a lot of children. It was however, not an unpleasant surprise, that our average student should turn out to be, a working adult with an average age between 30 to 50 years old.  Interestingly, some of the students  in these groups are teachers. There are also some groups formed by university students. 

It is interesting how our students comment to us, that now a days, some kind of minimum level of English is required of them at the office. Our young university students, have also become aware of the fact, that English will one day play an important part in their job search. 

Of course we cannot forget our youngest students, those who have no choice and have the very 

" dreaded "  English subject in school. To them we say, chin up! English can be fun to learn, study and rise up to the challenge! we are here for you !!                                                                                                  

We at iSpeak are now enjoying the challenge of preparing our dear students for Cambridge exams, helping them to do good at school, and to  excel and stand out at their work place.    

How English sounds to non-English speakers ... really?

I often wonder what I sound like to my students, I know that they may not understand every word I say but I am sure that they do understand a few words.

Watch the video, and try to write the words that you pick up. Can you guess what they might be talking about? What story does the video tell us? Remember, to understand better, observe the expressions and gestures of the speakers. Keep in mind, that in the video, very few words are  actual English words, most of the words are not real!

New Year Resolution, Learn English!!!

So here we are again, starting a new year and how many of us have made more than a couple new year's resolutions that we will keep, if we are lucky, for a week.....What are some of the typical new year's resolutions? Lose weight, c'mon, this is a common one and haven't we all just overdone the turron and the roscon this Christmas season??? And what will reaching our ideal weight mean? more confidence, we will look better, it will be easier to find clothes our size, we will be healthier...How about this next common resolution; Quit smoking! Yep, here's another beauty, quit smoking, and we are lucky to make it to noon time of January 1 and not reach for that pack of cigarettes that we were so reluctant to throw away... but then again here are a few good reasons to quit that filthy habit: better health; you get to save money ( in some cases a small fortune ) ; your breath will smell better too! and if for that reason alone, one should stick to this resolution. Exercise more, so here we are, January 2, we are up bright and early on this cold winter morning but, we are determined to go for a run... ok, so we only got past the first corner but it was a good effort...now, can we keep this up? Maybe I should just enroll in a gym? Ok, collective exercise is more our thing but after a couple of days we start to think of excuses...maybe, I should sleep later this morning, maybe exercise everyday is not that good, three times a week should be enough...twice a week maybe? Oh what the heck, my bed is too warm and cozy... 

Now here is our proposal: LEARN ENGLISH!!!   and although we highly recommend and suggest that you enroll at iSpeak, since we can guarantee good results, there are other ways you can improve and learn English. The advantages? so many: better job opportunities, better grades at school and these are just two of the most obvious ones. And just like many other important resolutions, this one  too, you should stick to, the advantages are nothing but positive. 

Come and visit us and see how here at iSpeak, we can help you stick to this one!