Hi @Sumejja, @tim_m, @Andrea, @Tamar and @Elida, we all are both learners and teachers of languages and constantly ask ourselves how to make the best of all the little intricacies and oddities of English grammar. We also know that are thousands of freelance ‘ESL teachers’ struggling with online classes on teaching platforms every day trying to earn a living. The following essay by @Alan could be the starting point of a series of guidelines for them. What do you think? Conversations about English - Grammar | english.best
2 Likes
Hi Torsten,
I was rather pleased to be quoted. Can’t honestly remember when I wrote it. It’s definitely the time to reminisce about the past. The main reason for that is the future is too horrible at the moment to contemplate. Just come back from a spot of gardening, which is quite an adventure these days with my poor mobility. And I think back to the days when I did everything myself but now I have a very dynamic gardener who comes from Bulgaria and is very hardworking
How are you faring these days? I envy you living in a country where the administration knows what it’s doing whereas we are in the hands of a man who’s lost the plot if he ever had one.
4 Likes
Hi Alan, I’m thrilled to hear you are enjoying a bit of gardening with the help of your gardner from Bulgaria. Has he or she taught you a couple of phrase in Bulgarian yet 
As for the current situation in Germany, it’s definitely much better than in countries like the US or the UK but many analysts say that about 80% of this success is due the fact that the Germans were seeing the horrific pictures from Bergamo. Now the mood here has changed and an alarmingly high number of Germans have started to act as corona never happened. So, it’s very likely that we are getting hit by a second wave of infections within the next couple of weeks.
On a positive note, what do you think of Why we need Universal Basic Services?
1 Like
Hi @Torsten 
I enjoyed reading the essay by @Alan and I absolute agree with him. Grammar is important as it can serve as the building blocks of the target language, but I’m afraid that I see too many learners of English stressing over grammar rules and not enjoying the process of actually acquiring the new language. Before the virus hit, I used to co-facilitate an English conversation club at the college I work at and I always encouraged students to “speak freely”. Of course, whenever I saw a student struggle with a tense or a specific word, I would stop and make a point of explaining the concept to the student. But part of learning a language is learning to get out of your own way. To not worry about achieving perfection in the new language, but instead focus on understanding the context or general idea of what is being spoken. Then, when students feel more confident in their speaking and comprehension skills, you can dive into more technical things.
2 Likes
Torsten, I casually saw this article by @Alan and read it. It’s worth re-reading!
I fully endorse this view of his: To know the word properly you have to know the family it belongs to. Learning new words this way is less frightening because the individual word isn’t just another word to add to your vocabulary list but part of a group.
3 Likes
Absolutely. Trying to learn single words is possible only to a very limited extend. When you start learning English you probably can make a lot of progress by learning the words you need to name objects such as ‘cat’, ‘bread’, ‘window’, ‘door’, etc. But as soon as you are close to reaching level A1 you need to put things in context. So, instead of learning single words by translating them back and forth between your native language and English you need to learn collocations, phrases, expressions, idioms and other ‘chunks’ of language. English is a special because one of the peculiarities of this language is that the vast majority of all English words have multiple meanings which often don’t have any logical connection amongst them. For example, there is no connection between the meaning of the adjective ‘fine’ and the noun ‘fine’.
2 Likes
Yes, I agree to your contentions.
1 Like