Every ESL student struggles to comprehend English grammar and its application. Understanding 12 types of verb tense (I go to the store; I went to the store; I am going to the store;  I have gone to the store; I will go to the store; I will have gone to the store; I was going to the store; I had gone to the store; I will be going to the store; I have been going to the store; I had been going to the store; I will have been going to the store) and the subtle differences in their

Most ESL students that I’ve worked with start conversations with me during our consultation with “I need to improve my English speaking,” and then proceed to explain in detail and with complete coherence their issues at work that require them to speak better English. It is a strange situation when people whose language fluency is impressively good reach out for tutoring because they perceive their fluency to be poor.  Speech requires confidence, so students should practice bu

One way that I like to teach reading and writing skills is to assign ESL students (or really any student type - children, teens, post-secondary learners) different readings so that they can learn to write in that category genre.  There’s a variety of writing categories and genres that are part of them. Fiction as a category breaks down into short stories/flash fiction, novels/novellas, plays, comics/graphic novels, and poems (I may have missed something, but let’s say those a

Learners can use podcasts or saved radio recordings to improve their English. These are usually not captioned and don't have visual cues to help learners understand information. Choose an easy to understand podcast to start and work your way up, using Google and Google translate to support listening comprehension as you go along. Reddit can be a great source of information. Check out this thread for some podcast ideas - https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasts/comments/qi4shj/podcas

One fun way to improve listening skills, comprehension and appreciation of the English language is by listening to music. Listening to music with and without written lyrics is a fun, engaging way to learn new genres, improve attention. Just listen to a song, find lyrics online, and try to analyze them with Google's help. Example: Sail on Sailor ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx6dgEgbMNU ) Lyrics: https://genius.com/The-beach-boys-sail-on-sailor-lyrics Activity Listen to th

One way to prepare for English listening tests or study English is by using listening tests for IELTS or TOEFL on certain websites, YouTube or sites like https://elllo.org/english/levels/index.htm or https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening-intermediate.php which have collections of speech samples for learners to listen and answer questions about. These are great for honing a learner's sense of attention and teaching new vocabulary.

One way to improve English listening comprehension is to media. News, documentaries, science fiction and fantasy films, and others are sources of cultural knowledge that can enrich a learner's appreciation of English and the culture in which the language is spoken. Media exposes a learner to idioms and ideas at the same time as it builds listening comprehension. Watch media and take notes, watch it with and without captions, go over sections that you don't understand and use