“A sculpin is any of a family of spiny, large-headed, broad-mouthed, often scaleless bony fishes.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * […]

[Read more →]

I was in a Spanish department store today and I saw one of of these - a genuine jamón bag. This led me to thought for the day: Have you ever noticed that when you say ‘handbag’ in English, you actually say ‘hambag’?
It’s all a question of elision followed by assimilation.
First of all the ‘d’ […]

[Read more →]

El otro hermano de mi amante
El amante de mi otro hermano
El otro amante de mi hermano
El hermano de mi otro amante
Translate these lines into your students’ mother tongue. Then ask them to translate them into English for a tongue twister:
My lover’s other brother
My other brother’s lover
My brother’s other lover
My other lover’s brother
How fast can you […]

[Read more →]

Like many teachers, I love expressions and sayings in the classroom. What I like about an idiom such as “The grass is always greener on the other side” is that it offers us such good value for money. Some possibilities:

Find out if students have an equivalent saying in their language
Ask […]

[Read more →]

I found this photograph the other day and thought my students might like it - especially the ones that think that English spelling is difficult. Can you spot the mistake?

I remember finding this sign one day when I was out for a walk with my dad (that’s him in the photograph). Perhaps whoever wrote ‘Fishing […]

[Read more →]

I love these road signs that you see all over England:

I have been using these images to bring to my students’ attention the two different pronunciations of ‘ow’ (slow and down, know and now, crow and crowd, own and town, etc).
Try getting them to make tongue twisters with the following items:
The ‘hit your thumb […]

[Read more →]