ESL Blogs

You do not have to 'have a say' in everything that is going on. Sometimes you just sit and watch people talk. Sometimes you learn from them, sometimes you find them absurd. For whatever it is, you must know when to say your piece and when you need to hold your tongue. Do not butt in unnecessarily. It may be perceived as rudeness.

On the other hand, being quiet may be perceived as unknowing or naive. They do not know what you know. Sometimes it makes you laugh how people take you for an ignorant w

In everything you do, you aim to achieve something. You spend time and you exert effort in order to reach your goal. Unfortunately, not all efforts are rewarded accordingly. Either something went wrong or efforts were not enough.

If you did not get what you wanted, do not let it despair you. Keep on trying. In life, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. The next attempt would probably be more successful. That's what experiences are for, learning.

"The difference between failure and success is do

When I entered the class I took a back by what I saw. Some kids were in tears some were close to tears. I asked them what had happened. One of them while fighting back her tears told me that they got informed that next year I was not going to be their teacher.

Oh my God! I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Now I was about to burst into tears but I tried not to. I told them a story of my childhood and how much I loved my first teacher, it was so hard for me not to see her again every day in the m

TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY
By Halina Ostankowicz- Bazan

What does teaching with technology mean to me?
To me, teaching with technology involves the development of my approaches that includes four major modules: the course content, the coach, the students and the technology implements.
After over thirty years of teaching, I felt bored with my traditional technics and wanted to find some inspiration, as well as improvement.
My motivation, to search for the updated coaching methods, was an eagerness to ge

If you really want to get a job, you need to get ready for it, so that you don't get a shock when seeing other job contestants are far better than you. It's so important that your boss  get the impression you are aware and skillful at the activity you proposed to apply for. Remember that at work, you also must get permission to get into the boss' office, avoid getting drunk, and make sure your clothes don't get wet . Uniforms are the visual identity of a company. Otherwise, he  will get angry ab

I'm a big fan of chocolate cake. You know what? Scratch that. Just chocolate. Then again, anything that can satisfy my sweet tooth and stop it from nagging me is fine. Let's face it folks: These ridiculously delicious snacks contain sugar (gasp), which is not good for us. :(

So let's find another way to indulge our sweet tooth. Sugary idioms! Tada! I know, we can't eat them. So, why even bother? C'mon! Let's give it a try.

( as ) easy as pie: very easy.

( as ) nice (or sweet ) as pie: extremely ple

Hi, dear friends! And you, enemies, be blessed too! You know, many years ago I was presented with a nice book ’14,000 things to be happy about. The Happy Book by Barbara Ann Kipfer’. It was published in 1990 by Workman Publishing New York. “This book represents 20 years of recording all the little things that make me happy. … I flip through this collection to cheer myself up; often use it to get ideas about what to cook for dinner or something fun to do with my son on the weekend”, says the auth

In one of my previous blog entries; I mentioned some flowery idiomatic expressions. It seems like I'm not done with idioms yet. How about another category? Fruits. Mmm, yummy, huh? All righty, then. Let's get to work. It'll be fun and fruity!    

apples and oranges: (of two people or things) fundamentally different  

Comparing the average salary of a worker and a manager is like trying to compare apples and oranges.

not give (or care ) a fig: not have the slightest concern about    

Carl didn't give

I guess 2016 really brings out another side of me.. In my last blog, Running Towards Happiness, I said, maybe I'm facing a mid life crisis of which I'm changing my lifestyle. Hmm... come to think of it, I think I'm having a mid life crisis at the cross road of my life. Not only nowadays I love running and hiking, that's already a total alien experience for me, but I started a new hobby, 'colouring for adults'. 

Some people say it's a form of therapy, a stress release mechanism, but for me, it's j

To put it simply, collocation means 'some words are often used/placed together', for example, 'make a mistake', 'make your bed', 'do the warshing up', etc. 

Some people may not agree that collocation should include idioms, fixed expressions or phrasal verbs, such as 'keep it up', 'here and there', 'shut up'. So, what's really a collocation is still arguable. 

It makes sense, however, to take the time to learn about collocation if you really want to sound natural. You say 'fast food' or 'heavy smok

           My house

  My house has many rooms

  with windows that catch the sun.

  Outside the house are trees and grass

  where I can jump and run.

  I stand  near my mother in the kitchen

  and watch her make a cake.

  If   I watch her well,

  then I will learn to bake.

  My father  has a room with tools

  that I can sometimes  use.

  Saws and hammers, nails and string-

  my father lets me choose.

   But all of the rooms inside my house,

   my room's the best by far.

   I have  books and planes and cars and

These pictures are supposed to be annoying and make you anxious! 

Photographer Aaron Tilley was asked to create a horrible moment when you feel something bad is going to happen. These pictures were published in Kinfolk Magazine’s recent Adrenaline Issue. The emphasis is on the relationship between one's mind perception and their body reaction. The anticipation makes the body release adrenaline, even if nothing actually happens.

Look at the pictures below. They are supposed to invoke a sense of dis

"Why are you still here, Dad? Why do you not stay there with your wife?"

"Are you driving me out?", asked the man who was over 50 years-old.

"THIS IS MY HOUSE. You ought to stay there", replied his son.

Without having courage and strength, the man went to his brother's house that are not far from his house. He was shocked. He told his brother about what his son said while shedding tears. His brother immediately phoned that son telling to come and explain.

Knowing that this matter could make him be i

A SHOPPING TRIP: 

I do not like shopping. All the shopping for me and kids are done by my wife. Once she very casually asked me whether I was coming with her. She had to make some shopping for her and kids.

“Ok” I nodded in affirmation. “Oh! You are coming!” Her smile was showing her pleasure while there was surprise in her eyes. 

First we went to Bahadurabad, where she started wandering shop to shop. I was just following her quietly. She purchased two shalwar kameez suits for herself and two four

This professor is a genius and a master of pranks. What wouldn't I give to see the look on that student's face! It looks a little suspicious, but who wouldn't fall for that? 

I bet the first thing that has come to his/her mind was this, "Am I the teacher's pet? Yippee! Heh heh heh. Take that, Robby and Jerry!" 

Poor kid!

How about you? Have you ever been the victim of a cruel yet an awesome prank during college and/or high school?

Have you ever played pranks on someone?

Let's see whose prank's going

Aloha awesomely sweet EC people!

This Señorita is being another busy bee this week! but this is not a complain though. Because to complain is not cool, we are lucky people! - you can breath, right? ;)

I see this site has been on fire!! How dare you guys?! I asked you in my last blog post to be boring!! I can't come online here too often now and I'm missing lot of cool things :(

I want to apologize if still I didn't write any comment in many of the blogs that some of you wrote here, but I promise I

Yes, you can see the profile pictures or avatars of our new members in the upper-left area of the MyEC main page. 

You may find there's no comment on the new member's page if you try to click on a new member's profile picture. That means nobody has visited their page, or at least, nobody has left a comment for them. 

Imagine you are one of the new members or newbies who just signed up to become a member of MyEC. You don't know where to start - you could be so confused. You don't know where to find

We normally think that speaking is an art. A person must be so adept and skillful in order to hold his or her audiences spellbound. Apart from having good information about the topic, one must know how to deliver a moving or a powerful speech.  How about listening? Have you ever thought that listening is also an art too?

A speech would be more efficient and effective, if it had listeners who were attentive. A lot of problems in communicating and also a lot of misunderstandings are due to either n

Choosen Picture:

Image Source: gratisography.com/ Ryan McGuire

The picture shows three men sitting on the edge of what looks like a channel in some European city. It was taken by photographer Ryan McGuire. It's a black-and-white photo, what makes it a very nostalgic picture to contemplate details. In fact, it makes me remember older periods of the human history, even though I don't really know  what year or day this very photo was taken.

In the foreground, we can notice a stone causeway with a high

"truth sounds like hatred

for those who hate the truth"

Good day folks, been a while I didn't write any stuff, so today I want to talk about something, which will not cause any problems to you and me. And topic, a few people know about, and no one care about. But it doesn't change its truth and realism. At least I hope some will react with agression and hatred. Blog contains political crap with some nonsense from my sick mind, so if you think you will not like it, then do not cross the line above: