Grammar - video and script.

I decided to post the video again, even though it was in yesterday's post, which explains why I'm telling the story in this way. The script is below the video.



The Transcript

Hi, it’s teacher Chris and today we have a short story that will help you understand tenses better. Let’s start.

(the story)

Sam went to Vietnam last year. Did Sam go to Vietnam two years ago? …………….. No, he didn’t. He didn’t go to Vietnam two years ago. He went to Vietnam last year. Who went to Vietnam? ……………. Sam, Sam went to Vietnam. When did he go? ………………. Last year. He went to Vietnam last year. He went to the mountains to go hiking. Where did he go in Vietnam? …………… He went to the mountains. He went to the mountains to go hiking. What did he do in the mountains? ………... Hiking. He hiked in the mountains. He went hiking because he loves it.

Did he go shopping in the mountains? ………………. No, no, he didn’t go… no, he didn’t. He didn’t go shopping in the mountains. He went hiking in the mountains. He went hiking because he loves it. Does he love hiking? …………… Yes, he does. He loves to go hiking, especially in the mountains. He loves the scenery and (the) fresh air you get when you go hiking. Does he love the scenery or the fresh air when he goes hiking? …………………… Mmm, he loves both. He loves the scenery and the fresh air. In Vietnam he felt the mountain scenery was very special. Did he feel the mountain scenery was boring? ………………………… No, no, he didn’t. He didn’t feel the mountain scenery was boring. He felt it was very special. Did he feel it was strange or very special? …………………… He felt it was very special.

What did he feel was very special? ………………… He felt that the mountain scenery was very special. Where was the mountain scenery very special? …………….. In Vietnam. The mountain scenery was very special in Vietnam.

Sam loves hiking so much he said that if he had gone to China last year, he would’ve gone hiking there too. Did Sam go to China last year? …………………….. No, he didn’t. He didn’t go to China last year. But if he had gone, he would’ve gone hiking. Would he had gone sailing in China? ………………………… No, no, he wouldn’t had gone sailing in China. He would’ve gone hiking. If he had gone to China, he would’ve gone hiking. Why would have he gone hiking? …………………….. Because he loves hiking. So, if he had gone to China, he would’ve gone hiking. But did he go to China last year? No, he didn’t. He didn’t go to China last year. He went to Vietnam.

End of Story

English Grammar - a different approach to learning

I made this video last year and it uses an interesting approach to teaching grammar.

It doesn't concentrate on the mechanics of grammar but rather shows you the structure of the language through repeated use.

I read a short story and I constantly ask questions. You should answer the question. After a short pause, I also answer the question, so within the story, you get all the common grammar structures;

Sam went to Vietnam last year. positive structure
Did Sam go to China last year? question structure
No, he didn't. He didn't go to China last year. negative structure

The 'past tense' is the main focus of the video.



I hope you find the video useful. I personally think it's a great alternative to traditional methods of teaching grammar. In my view, people who learn languages ultimately want to communicate well in that language. I believe this approach is more helpful than the book approach.

I will provide a script for the video tomorrow.

Languages I'm learning and plan to learn

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I can currently speak some Chinese and have been listening to lots of German. I plan to start learning Dutch in April.

So my current language priorities are;

1. German
2. Chinese
3. Dutch

German - the Plan

Current

• Listen to two hours a day
• Find some German speakers, make friends/contact with them
• Setup a language exchange with a German speaker that will run throughout February.

February

• Listen two hours a day
• Use it in shops, even though I’m in the Netherlands, we’re on the border.
• Be in a German ‘social’ environment for at least 5 hours per week.

Chinese

Current

I'm only listening to Chinese. If I'm to keep my Chinese, then I'll need to find some Chinese speaking contacts. I currently know one in Venlo. There's a Chinese club in Eindhoven that I'll contact next week and there's Chinese restaurants in Tegelen and Venlo, so finding Chinese speakers isn't a problem.

Dutch

Why is it the number three priority when I live in the Netherlands? Good question, it's mainly because I started German when I was in the UK - German material is easier to get than Dutch material and also I want to learn Dutch in a very specific way. There is also another reason that I want to start it a bit later. I want to have 'willing' Dutch friends who will be able to teach me in the way that I want. I will write more about the method I plan to use later.

Dutch will become my number one priority in April.

So those are my language learning priorities at the moment. Let me know, if you're learning a language too. Especially, German, Chinese or Dutch.

Cheers everyone!

English Video - In the Garden

I made this video last year, when I was living in Taiwan.

I describe what you can see or hear in the video. I use spoken rather than book English. The script is also provided as well as some questions to encourage you to listen again to the video.



Exercises for “In the Garden Part One”

1st Listening

What floor do I live on?
What ‘word’ do Americans use for garden?

2nd Listening

There’s a little bit of noise on video. Where does it come from?
Which one’s bigger, a flowerbed or a flowerpot?
What’s wrong with some of the coffee trees?
How many anti-mosquitoes plants are there in the garden?
‘Anti’ in English means against. ‘Anti-mosquitoes’ plants – Are they good or bad for mosquitoes?

In the Garden Part One – The script.

Hi everyone, welcome to the garden, you’ll have to excuse the noise because we’re outside and there’s cars in the street below. Um, I’m lucky enough to live on one, two, three, four, on the fifth floor and lucky enough to have this garden. American would say yard, ok, in this yard, or garden, we’ve got a flowerbed, over here, we’ve got some plants and some weeds.

Hello, eh, over here in the yard, we’ve got some flowerpots, and …. Not very successful here, we’ve got some dead plants. These are dead coffee trees. These are live coffee trees. Ah, we’ve got this plant, this is a, it’s supposed to be an anti-mosquito plant, it’s a kind of pepper. And this is anti-mosquito as well and over here, we’ve got some chili plants. Can you see? This is a chili, and a little rose tree here. So, we don’t only have flowerbeds, but we’ve got flowerpots as well.

New Branding

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Welcome to Orange Easy!

This is a rebranding of the Easy English, Easy Chinese blog as I've moved to the Netherlands, the title doesn't fit what I'm focusing on anymore.

What can you expect from Orange Easy?

• Focus on English, German and later Dutch.
• Links to English and German resources, especially ones for listening and that have a fun element to them.
• English videos with exercises.
• Introduction to ‘excellent’ language learners who are based on the web.

Next post I'll post up an English Video, with script and Exercises.