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English Is A Simple Language

Kindle Cover

My latest book is available now from Amazon.

What is it about, and who is it for?

I firmly believe that English is a simple language – so much so that I have written a whole book about the fundaments of English grammar, exploring what lies at the heart of the language.

The book goes through the different parts of the English verb system, looking at the difference between simple and continuous forms, and explaining how the perfect form really works.

We then consider the idea of distance, which explains the reasons for verb form changes in English. Have you ever wondered why Would you like a drink? is more polite than Will you have a drink? This book explains the logic behind the grammar.

Once we have looked at the verb forms and the modals that English has available to it, we then consider how conditionals are structured – they are more regular and understandable than you have been led to believe!

So, who is the book for?

It’s for everyone – it doesn’t matter if you are teaching English as a foreign language, or if you are a student looking to master what you think are deeply irregular sets of rules. This book will help everyone with an interest in the English language.

It’s available now in both the paperback and Kindle edition, via Amazon.

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ELTABB – How an Owl Builds a Nest

Duolingo Logo

I have a new article out – this one is about scaffolding, which is the idea of making tasks for your students more achievable. I took Duolingo as a case study and considered some of the approaches they implement so successfully.

Read the article here.

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Modern English Teacher 31/4

One Year With Duolingo

Take a look at my article, One Year With Duolingo, in the latest edition of the wonderful Modern English Teacher.

I’ve been a big fan of Duolingo for many, many years now, ever since my student and friend Pawel introduced me to the platform in roughly 2015. During the pandemic I finally extended my daily streak to cover a whole year, and this is what I learned about the art of learning languages through that experience.

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Modern English Teacher #1

English Teacher Professional has been merged with another EFL journal to create Modern English Teacher magazine – and issue one is available now.

One of the articles is my very own – on the search for the perfect metaphor in teaching. If you know me, you’ll know that I love my metaphors, and this two-page article explores some of my favourites over the years.

Subscribers can read the latest issue right here.

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EFL Academic Reading

If you’re like me, you probably love reading. Over the course of my MA Applied Linguistics & TESOL, my reading habits changed, and I went from reading fiction to burying myself under a metric ton of academic articles.

I loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that now that my MA has finished, I already miss that kind of reading.

So I set up this new Facebook Group – EFL Academic Reading. The idea is simple: every couple of weeks, we find another academic article to read, and then we share our ideas about the article in the Group.

Come on and join us – it’s free, and all the articles we look at will also be freely available online. It should be a lot of fun!

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SCELT Bratislava – Supporting Teachers With Dyslexia

Putting the final touches to my presentation.

I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the SCELT Bratislava conference in late September. The focus of the session was on Special Education Needs (or SEN if you prefer acronyms). I ran a session on Supporting Teachers with Dyslexia, the powerpoint presentation for which you can download here.

I want to thank both the Chamber for having me, and for my school. International House Bielsko-Biala, for their support.

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‘Sixty-Six Lessons for Autodidacts’

The front cover of the new book, ‘Sixty-Six Lessons for Autodidacts’.

English grammar is not really all that difficult. Sure, some aspects take a while to master, but by the time you’ve been studying English for three or four years, you’ll have met all the grammar you’re ever going to need.

That’s not true with vocabulary!

English vocabulary seems to go on and on, and yet to be considered fluent you need to know a massive amount of it. How can anyone be expected to learn so much?

Well, that’s where my book, ‘Sixty-Six Lessons for Autodidacts’ comes in.

The book contains – you’ve guessed it! – sixty-six lessons, each of which looks at the words you might use when you talk about a particular topic. Then you’ll look at a selection of words that are related to the originals, and expand out from there. Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself learning ten words instead of one, and because they’re all logically related, they’re easier to remember.

The book is available as a paperback here:

Amazon (US)

Amazon (UK)

And as a pdf digital download through the Closely Observed shop.

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Sixty-Six Little Lessons – A Resource Pack for EFL Teachers

Are you an English language teacher? Do you need a new resource to help you in individual and small group lessons?

‘Sixty-Six Little Lessons’ might be just the thing for you. It’s a resource designed by an EFL teacher for other EFL teachers – and I know it works well because I’ve used it extensively in my own lessons.

The idea is fairly simple. Each lesson begins with a picture description, and a few B1/B2-level questions. The next page then widens the topic, supplying B2-C2 level questions and some suggested language; then there is a speaking task, again with supporting language, and finally a homework task for students to look at.

Front cover, Sixty-Six Little Lessons
The front cover for the resource ‘Sixty-Six Little Lessons’

The front cover image for an example lesson

The second page of an example lesson.

The printed book is available online at Amazon (UK and US), and you can download the pdf along with the optional ppt slides from my Shop.

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Write With Your Head, Not With Your Heart

When preparing students for formal examinations, it’s important that we teach the task – and sometimes that means curtailing our students’ greater ambitions. Writing 500 words on an area of interest is not going to lead to a high grade when the rubric calls for 200 words on a clearly defined topic.

Read more at Humanising Language Teaching