How to take your English to the next level. Part 1

Sometimes my students tell me “You know when I’m chatting to someone on the Internet, they know I’m a Russian-speaking user just because of my “)))”. Others say “When I talk in English over the phone, they always find out I’m not a native. Surely, this is because of my accent”. While this might be true, having a different accent is not something you should be ashamed of.

Unless you moved to an English-speaking country before the age of about four years old, you will not sound like a native speaker when you speak English. Of course, sometimes even if a person moves abroad in their teenage years or even later, they manage to get a native speaker accent, but that’s okay to have a slight accent. The most important thing is that you are understood by others. However, today we will talk about more subtle differences which give out a non-native speaker in you or your student. There will be two parts with different language aspects that indicate spoken and written fluency. In this part we will look at some tricky grammatical aspects.

Articles in English

The first thing is the articles, of course. This is a complicated subject even for English teachers (who are non-native speakers). It’s hard to explain a grammar notion which you don’t have in your language.

According to Wikipedia, «An article is a word that is used with a noun to specify grammatical definiteness of the noun». In English, there are indefinite (a/an) and definite (the) articles. The simple explanation is that the indefinite articles are used when we talk about something general or not specific, while the definite one refers to a particular thing. There’s also «zero article» when we don’t need to use any articles at all. For instance, with abstract nouns such as “love”, “happiness”, “hatred” we omit the articles.

However, there are some situations when it’s extremely hard to comprehend and to explain why we use a particular article or why we don’t use it.  Have you heard a story about Neil Armstrong’s speech when he landed on the moon? “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” — he said at 02.56 GMT on July 21, 1969. There has been a lot of polemics around this quote. Armstrong himself refused to accept that this was the exact phrase.

Can you see what’s wrong with the sentence? This is all about the word “men”, Well, in English when we refer to a male person, we say “a man” (i.e. one man as article “a” means one and is used with countable nouns) while “men” (pronunciation is almost the same while spelling is different and means “a few males”, the word is used in plural). This way, the phrase actually means “That’s one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind”, Now, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, right? Here you can listen to the infamous recording to hear it and decide for yourself. When your students aren’t happy with the articles, tell them the story with the speech recording, they might feel more relaxed about articles usage. Also, if your student is able to explain what’s wrong with Neil Armstrong’s quote, their English is at a really good level. (This activity is to be done with Intermediate and higher students).

To have more practice with the articles try some of the following ideas:

— Action. Reaction. Students listen to the teacher who reads the sentences  missing out the articles. If the students think the «an» is needed, they act in one way, if «a» is needed, they act in a different way. You can also add «the» to the game. Different reactions might include jumping, clapping hands, putting hands up or down, turning the head to left or right.

— Right or wrong. To the previous activity, the students listen to a teacher and decide whether the usage of articles is grammatically correct or not. Then they react in different ways or just shoot out «right» or «wrong». 

— Sing a song. Ask your students to listen to the songs and fill in the blanks with missing articles, then give them some time to listen and check. To make the process even more fun, encourage your students to sing the lines while listening to the song.

— Draw a picture.Choose a picture. Describe it to your students and ask them to draw it according to your description. Of course, every time you talk about a new thing, you will use an indefinite article and then the definite one next time. E.g. «An apple is on a tree. The apple is big and red». The same activity can be done with a partner. One student describes a picture while the other one is drawing it.

Prepositions of time in English

Another difficult topic is prepositions, particularly prepositions of time. There are so many cases when we use “in”, “on” and “at” that it’s too confusing. This can get even trickier when a student asks you to explain the difference between “in a restaurant” and “at a restaurant”. Or which is correct — “on the weekend” or “at the weekend” (A key: both are correct. The first option is British, and the second one is American).

By the way, looking at these two versions, it’s easier to understand that preposition usage is not a simple grammar rule, it is rather the way of thinking about the notions. To British people “the weekend” is a point of time, you can be at. For the Americans, as well as the Canadians, “the weekend” is a timespan between Friday and Sunday evening, so it is something you can be inside of.

To practice the prepositions of time, try a few engaging games described below.

When is….

This activity is more suitable for a group of students. Divide students into groups.  Give a schedule of lessons/buses in your city or movies at the cinema to one of the students. Have other students come up to the student with the schedule and ask him questions. E.g.

Student 1: When is the next session for Avengers?

Student 2: It’s on Thursday at 1 pm.

Student 2 gets back to their group and retells the information to them. Only sentences with correct time prepositions will get a point.

Find someone who

Give your students a list of questions with prepositions of time. E.g.»Do you play computer games in the evening?». Ask students to find someone who plays computer games in the evening, does sport in the morning etc. Then have them ask more questions to gain some details.

S1: Do you play computer games in the evening?

S2: Yes, I do.

S1: What time do you play computer games?

S2: At 6 pm.

Number agreement

According to the book Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition: Fifth Course , “certain words in English that are closely related in sentences have matching forms. When the forms match, they are said to agree. A subject and a verb agree if both are singular or both plural.”

Usually, it’s not that hard for students to define a singular form (“one”) and a plural (“many’), yet they quite often make grammatical errors with the agreement. It happens because they fail to see the real subject of a sentence. This can be harder than it seems at first. Carefully look at the examples given below and try to analyze why a language learner can get easily confused with those. Ask your students to explain why the sentences are right.

Examples: 1. This book of short stories was written by O’Henry.

2. One computer for three or four students seems adequate.
3. Susan B. Anthony, along with Elizabeth C. Stanton, was part of women’s suffrage movement.
4. Depression accompanied by insomnia, anxiety and constant stress is a very serious mental disease.
5. The popularity of these video clips is reflected in the ratings
6. My mother and I are going to the theater tonight

Or vice versa, ask your students to find wrong sentences in the list and correct them.

The committee meet at this office every Monday.

The crowd was getting excited.

The jury have finally announced a decision.

The majority rules the world most of the time.

The staff has found a way to impress their boss.

My mom or dad are coming to the concert.

Either my brother or my sisters are going to the cinema.

Neither black nor brown are my favorite colors.

Neither he nor I am going to the party.

Most of the candies were eaten.

Some salt is required for taste.

Few knows what it really means to pass a driving test.

Both is eligible for the scholarship.

None of the dishes were broken.

The table and chair I bought last week looks really good in here.

The members of the team are extremely happy with the results.

A theory in mathematics ascertain that the actual outcome of events is considered to be determined by chance.

Contractions in English

«I am not a math student» vs «I’m not a math student».

«They are not math students” vs “They aren’t math students».

«I do not like listening to audiobooks” vs “I don’t like listening to audiobooks».

“I cannot understand you” vs “I can’t understand you”.

Which of the two options is more grammatically correct?

They are both totally grammatically correct, the thing is in everyday English full forms are not used. They are only used in formal communication (emails with business associates) or in academic writing.

However, language students always keep in mind that most grammatical forms are right. Unfortunately, grammatically correct doesn’t always equal “commonly used”. If a native hears someone saying “You are not late. Do not be sorry”, they immediately realize that the speaker’s English level isn’t very high.

The question is, how can a teacher help their students use contractions instead of full forms? By speaking a lot, of course. Let your students get used to the idea that spoken English differs from standard English in many ways. This encourages them to watch more videos with native/fluent English speakers and to track their usage of language. The more they listen, the more they “feel the language”. Their brain will catch on to that faster than you think. In addition to watching videos in English, listening to songs etc., make sure your students use new knowledge practically. Make sure they speak more than 75-80% of the lesson, the more the better.

Teenagers will probably enjoy watching such popular vloggers as Brooklyn and Bailey, RiceGum, Alexis G Zall, Baby Ariel and others. You can find some bloggers on YouTube. If you know any other vloggers who can attract the attention of teenage students, share some popular names in the comments.