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“I’m a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they’re interested in.” ~Bill Gates (1955- ) American business...

“Habits change into character.” ~Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE), Ancient Roman poet Which is correct: fireman or firefighter? The answer is both! But one has been gaining traction lately, along with many other gender-neutral terms for occupational titles. Here’s why: Many...

  “No matter under what circumstances you leave it, home does not cease to be home. No matter how you lived there – well or poorly.” ~Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), Russian-American poet & Nobel Prize winner   What’s the difference between a house and...

Declining EPI attributable to lack of exposure “French students report lower levels of exposure to English in everyday life than any other Europeans polled. Exposure to a foreign language has been found repeatedly to be one of the strongest contributors to increased fluency.” -EF...

Emergence of ELF unites people, brings praise, and generates discussion on English student needs “I’m a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of...

How to approach pronouns in English class “The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it.” ―Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) American journalist How unfortunate it is that English has no gender-neutral pronoun, one to use when saying “he...

Why it is so important for English learners to tackle homophones in the classroom “For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.” ―Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), German writer English remains an often confusing and difficult language to learn (and teach!)...

Explore the benefits of using Skype to tutor English learners around the world. “A conversation can be made easy. Just ask a question and then listen.” ―Robert Bly (1926- ), American poet and author As millions of English-learners across the globe take advantage of new...

What three tips would offer new a ESL/EFL teacher? Hall Houston, author of Provoking Thought: Memory and Thought in ELT, posed this question to several prominent English language trainers and teachers last year. Sean Banville, Russell Stannard, Chia Suan Chong, Nik Peachey, Scott...

English emerges as a lingua franca “[English] is the powerful language of resistance—it is the dialect of common sense.” -Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet English has rapidly become the international language for business, as a lingua franca. “That is to say, it...