A lot of students complain that the English language pronunciation is too confusing, because the same letter can have a variety of different sounds. And since they do not use accents, it’s difficult to predict these different sounds. Unfortunately, this is very much true, as English is not phonetic – which means words are not […]

Muitos alunos têm dificuldade ao usar o “used to”, porque muitas vezes querem usá-lo com a idéia de presente, falando de algo que costumam fazer. O “used to”, na verdade, se refere apenas a hábitos do passado, coisas que costumávamos fazer repetidamente, mas não fazemos mais. Sempre temos um verbo na sua forma básica depois […]

Oi, pessoal. Estou de volta! O meu curso foi puxado, mas muito interessante e construtivo. Valeu muito a pena! Vocês podem estar estranhando eu escrever em português aqui no blog, mas gostaria de compartilhar algumas coisas interessantes que aprendi por lá e acho que quanto mais alcance tiver, melhor. Hoje quero falar um pouquinho sobre […]

Hi guys, This will be my last post from Brazil, but I hope to update the blog from Canada, too! Here’s a video of my school in Canada, click on the link: ILAC Toronto

Let’s study these two verbs today? The first meaning of lie is probably the one people know better – mentir. When lie means mentir, it is a regular verb: lie – lied – lied She lies about her age. You can see from his face that he is lying. The second meaning of lie is […]

Time for more slang! Check out some with the letter “D”: Diddly: nada, zero, necas She doesn’t know diddly about computers. Ela não sabe nada sobre computadores. Dork: pessoa chata e/ou cretina, panaca His brother is a real dork! O irmão dele é muito panaca! Dough: dinheiro, grana I need some dough for the shopping. […]

Many verbs in English, just like in Portuguese, are followed by a preposition. Today, let’s see some verbs and phrases that are followed by the preposition FOR. Jane blames her ex-husband for the failure of their marriage. Don’t be late for your first day at work! Brazil is famous for its beaches. I’m going to […]

Hi guys, Today, I’ve decided to post some pictures that I use in class to encourage students to speak and discuss some important topics – depression and junk food. As the title of this post says, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but even though these two have a clear message, somehow they still […]

I really enjoy some courtroom shows, like Law & Order, so I realized that I was already familiar with a lot of this vocabulary – and you might be too! In the United States, reality courtroom shows are also common. People take their real cases to TV and a judge helps them work things out. […]

Since the destination is Canada, here are some differences between American and Canadian vocabulary. We can see the British and French influence in many words. AMERICAN CANADIAN take an exam write/take an exam grades grades or marks round-trip (two-way ticket) round-trip or return subway metro or subway studio bachelor or one-and-a-half apartment (Quebec) fire station […]