ESL Blogs

You may have learned English for a very long time, but chances are you'll still find yourself having problems choosing a proper or suitable word to use. That can be a big problem for learners.

Both in conversation and in writing, learners often hesitate when they are trying to choose or use a proper word for a situation. They may find there are a lot of words with the similar meaning, and they have to choose only one from them to express themselves in the context. They may find it difficult to di

Forgive me if this blog seems too long. (Well I know it is a bit long, I can't help it).

In the loving memory of Kiwi_John, the late ESL Admin. To all previous ESL Admins; Cobra, Teabag and Chuck and to all my former chatter friends in ESL Room (now known as 1997 Chat Room); Snjura, Shrek, Tito, Shu_Man, Maria_fer, Bajo, Tiffita, Lolly, Aurora, Little Ngoh, Tristan, Maru and the rest (forgive me for I am unable to remember all your nicks).

People always asked me how do I came to know about this si

I want to share a quick tip about tagging! A tag is a keyword. You can add tags to the blogs, photos, and videos you post on MyEC. This makes it easier for members to search for specific content. It also helps English learners learn new words! Use a space after each tag. 

If you want to use a phrase or expression with more than one word in your tag, you have to add quotation marks around the words. For example: "Why did the pope quit?". If you don't use quotations, the tag will look like this whe

         As you know, billions of Asians are celebrating the Lunar New Year (Some people call it "Chinese New Year" or "Spring Festival" in China). People in Korea or Vietnam or some other countries may celebrate it in different ways.  But, one thing's for sure, they all wish themselves or others a happy and lucky new year.

        I myself sent a lot of text messages on the New Year's Eve to wish all of them every happiness, a fortune, prosperity, success, health, a dream come true or something

1. In a list:

My English Club friend Anna loves reading blogs, chatting with friends, and commenting on photos in MyEC photo gallery.

2. Between three or more adjectives or adverbs:

I enjoy Yasemin's company because she's a chirpy, cheerful, friendly gal.

3. With two adjectives:

Teacher Tara regularly challenges members with creative, useful writing tasks.

4. With numbers:

Currently, EC has more than 78,000 members.

5. For addresses or dates:

Ha Nguyen, who comes from Hanoi, Vietnam, posted her late

Writing Challenge# Reflexive Pronouns

I remember some years ago, I wanted to test Google Translate (Beta Version):

I questioned myself which sentence I should write for the first time.

I told myself "I am Sahar" is the best!

I wrote in Google box "I am Sahar" in Persian (من سحر هستم).

Then Google translated it: " I am magic"!

Magic?!!

Oh!

Yes!!

Sahar itself means "Dawn" in Persian, but it also means "Magic" with the same writing and different pronunciation, Sehr.

"Google must laugh at itself!" I thought

A piece of my life’s experience…

I’d like to share with you my little story today. The story looks very simple itself, but I think it may cause you to think a bit about our attitude for lives towards life.

Once, I and some of my friends traveled to a country side. A place that was very beautiful with immense fields. The green color of grasses seemed like imbued the infinite space itself.

On that journey, I myself was impressed with the game flying kites one of the most popular games in the country

Hello dear EC lovers!

Do you think that you love EC?!

Well…

How much?!!

Let’s have a measure for it!

Have you ever seen these numbers inside your EC page?

For example in my page I have these numbers:

Blog Posts: 69

Discussions: 3883

Events:

Groups: 41

Photos: 11

Photo Albums:

Videos:

Let’s sum these numbers with each other, please:

69+3883+41+11= 4004

Wow!!

I love EC 4004!

4004…?

4004 meter?!!

4004 kilometer?!!!

4004 What?!

-Please select a UNIT for this lovely number :)

How about you?

How much do you love EC?

And

Hello Dear Friends!

Do you like to have a test about your handwriting and personality?

Then, why don't you   try Here and share the result with us here?!

I've done it just now, it is fantastic!

:)

P.S. This discussion was added by  Mahgol in Calligraphy Group on January 15, 2013 at 6:40.

Thanks dear Mahgol :)

After almost a year of being away from MyEC, I started missing it.  But now that I'm back, I feel lost and uncomfortable.  Strangely enough, even after couple of hours of wandering here and there, it seems like I still couldn't find my way around.  The site appears to have changed a lot.  And there's just so many unfamiliar names.  Most of my old friends seem to have disappeared from MyEC as well.

But just like the old days, I only wish to be of good help to other members again, especially the be

Hello everyone. 

One issue that makes people say they haven't improve their English is time. I know that we live in a world that seems to go faster. However, we have to find time for everything we need to do. If our goal is to learn English, we need to set a regular time for learning, practicing and revising. I had said this before: at least 20 minutes a day is better than nothing at all. Hence, let's see some alternatives that you can use for practicing your English.

PODCAST.

Most of people have a

Sweety had a great post about some gifts she received in January. She challenged members to share a photo of a gift they had received recently. Sahar shared a beautiful post with a collection of gifts. This inspired me to collect a few gifts that my family received recently. I have a little story to tell you about each gift in this collection. Please use the comments to take a guess about one of the gifts you see. Guess who it was for, who it was from, or why it was important to me or my family

It was a beautiful evening. I finished my project, finally. I did it all by myself. Now it was my time to enjoy. Initially, I decided to throw a party for myself only. But later I changed my mind and called a very close friend to come and join me. When she arrived at my apartment, we made coffee for ourselves. Afterwards, she said that she would cook a very tasty dinner for us herself. Meanwhile, I decided to watch the TV. As I sit sat on the sofa, my cat climbed the sofa and made itself comfort

How were your holidays? Did you all enjoy yourselves? I enjoyed myself. My children enjoyed themselves too! They got a new karaoke machine for Christmas. My daughter always sings to herself in the shower, so my husband thought it would be a fun idea to buy her some microphones and a singing machine. Now he is kicking himself. I myself thought it was a good idea for a gift. I never thought about how loud it might be to have a karaoke machine in the basement. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Many people may agree that English is a relatively easy language. How about this English sentence: "I love you." ?  Don't you think it is easy to learn or understand? But English may not be that easy as it may seem to be. Even popular "small" words such as "in", "at", "on", or "the" can cause confusion - mistakes related to such small prepositions or articles are not uncommon, not to mention English idioms or phrasal verbs or collocations or the differences between British and American English.

Hello my dear EC members,

It's me once again here at the end of the year 2012. So, what do you do or what do you remember on the last day of the year on MyEC? It must be different-different things to do and to remember for each and every one, but as it comes to me then the last day of the year is a special day for me on MyEC. It's the day when I say 'good bye' to the calender year and to MyEC year. Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying 'good bye' to MyEC, but it's the day when I joined MyEC in

We all know that English has become a universal language. You need to learn it, whether you're a student, a professional, or just a visitor to some foreign  country. In many countries, you're not even considered "well" educated until and unless you know how to communicate fluently in English.

Since English is such a vital language to succeed in life, it has become very popular with language learners. Every other person you meet would like to speak English well. The very idea of communicating in E

Hi everyone,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Time flies quickly, doesn't it? We're now at the end of 2012 and it's time for us to make a New Year resolution for 2013. You may say you have never made any of such resolutions, then you're not alone in saying that. In fact, I find it difficult to stick to all the resolutions, too. So, I'd like to use this expression "I wish I could...in 2013."

I wish I could write many more blog posts, say, one post a week in the new year. I did feel like writing

The year is coming to an end. To blog about our experiences or great moments on MyEC would remind us how we're able to contribute our own little ways to make this site be continuously patronized and supported by many members regardless of their English levels or knowledge. This is also a reminder if improvements of learning the language are achieved, based on the goals that we set to ourselves.

I can say that my English has improved a lot if I'd compare it to the previous year. I know that I s

At this time of year we often write wish lists for our loved ones. On my wish list was a coffee bean grinder and a novel by Kate Morton called "The Secret Keeper". I also asked my daughter to learn a song for me (see below). It's from my favourite Christmas movie, "The Polar Express". I'm hoping she'll sing it at our Christmas Eve celebration tomorrow night. 

I thought it might be fun to create an EnglishClub wish list. What would you like to see added to EnglishClub/MyEC in 2013? More podcasts?