American English Language School

  Dining out in a new country is an exciting, but sometimes scary, experience. When coming to the U.S. to study, going out to eat with friends or family is a must. However, table manners differ across the world. You may come to the U.S. and find some things strange or even rude. Here are a couple of common behaviors to remember when going out to eat.     Utensils When you are eating your food with a fork or spoon, the utensil should be held with your right hand (or left hand if you are left-handed). However, when you need to use your knife to cut up your food, you move your fork to your left hand and hold your knife with your right hand. You can use your fork to hold your food with your left hand while cutting the food with your right hand. After you have cut up your food, put the knife down, and switch the fork back into your right hand. For most food, use your utensils, not your hands. However, there are exceptions with certain foods like chicken, unpeeled shrim...

Reading is a terrific way to improve your English. The more you read, the more you will improve your English reading skills.   It is good to challenge yourself, but if your book is too difficult, it can discourage you and set you up to fail. As we had talked about in previous blog posts, you need to set reachable goals to help motivate you. There are countless books to choose from, so you may wonder, where do I begin?   One way to start is to read bestsellers. These are the most popular books, and to be popular, they need to be entertaining and easy to understand to all readers. Reading best sellers will help build your vocabulary and help you to be able to discuss the books you read with others. Here is a list of well-known English books you can read to improve your English!   ●         Charlotte's Web by E.B. White Charlotte's Web is perfect to start with because it is a simple and well-known novel. It is about a pig n...

  As you are learning English, you will see many English phrases in your textbook. These phrases can help you improve your English and expand your vocabulary, but sometimes you find that when you use the phrases that you learned, native English speakers act surprised or confused. ­­Every language is always changing, so sometimes it may seem hard to follow, especially when learning a foreign language. If you want to make yourself sound like a native English speaker, here are some phrases that you should NEVER say.   1.        How do you do? Asking someone, "How do you do?" is outdated and extremely formal. People no longer use this greeting in casual conversations. Instead, try a "Hey, how are you?" or "How's it going?"   2.        It's raining cats and dogs This is an idiom that people use to express that it is raining very hard. When you are first learning what an idiom is, this is a common example...

At American English Language School, we emphasize practicing English conversations. That is why we maintain smaller classes for students to have as many chances to speak as possible. On the other hand, a big part of having a conversation is listening. If you cannot comprehend what someone is saying to you, you will have no idea what to respond or you may respond incorrectly. Speaking is found the most challenging by many students, so they tend to focus on that. However, you won't be able to improve your speaking skills without working on your listening skills. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you improve your listening.   First, a crucial part of improving your listening skills is to listen attentively. You need to make sure you are focused; You won't be able to improve by just playing something in the background and not paying attention to it. After you have your material to help you practice, listen to it repeatedly. You should try to find materials that have tran...

When you are learning English, you will face plenty of challenges. In our previous blogs, we have gone over a few challenges already, such as what homographs are , common English mistakes people make when learning English, and how to keep up your motivation when learning English .   Today we will focus on another topic: writing. Read on to find some useful tips to help you to improve your writing.   Tip #1: Expand your vocabulary In order to improve your English, it is a good idea to expand your vocabulary. A good writer is able to express themself clearly and effectively. To do this,you should use strong vocabulary, especially when writing for academic purposes. Readers don't want to hear the same words over and over again, so having a variety of words and terms in your writing helps to make your writing more engaging and pleasant to read. For example, don't just say you were happy, tell them you were jubilant, overjoyed, or elated!   Tip #2: Read! Read! Rea...

  Learning English is an exciting experience, but it can be overwhelming as well. It takes a lot of practice and dedication. At American English Language School, many students who join our ESL program have already studied English. However, many students tell us that they do not get a lot of opportunities to speak. We always encourage our students to use English outside of the classroom to get as much practice as possible while studying in America, but a common problem is students don't have someone to talk to in English. If you would like to get extra English practice, here are few options: Social media: Social media is a great way to connect with others. You can chat with friends, old and new. You can try to use some of the slang words we went over in a previous blog. If you don't have someone with who you can practice English, join a group! Facebook has countless groups online where you can find other people learning English and wanting to practice more. There are also ...