Teachers' Library

Teaching business professionals can be a scary experience, especially for new teachers. They are busy people and expect to see results in a short amount of time. What’s more, as experts in their fields, there’s a good chance they’ll know a whole lot more about business than you – which can make teaching them work related skills or vocabulary daunting. So, can you teach Business English when you’re not a specialist? We asked a number of leading ELT experts and here’s what they said. MMargaret O’Keefe Yes, absolutely! The business specialists are my students in companies. My role is to help them improve their language skills so they can use English confidently and effectively at work. I’m naturally curious and love learning about their jobs and their businesses – it’s such a privilege. And let’s not forget that many university students also need business English to prepare for their future careers. A course like Pearson’s new Business Partner series gives you a wealth of topical, engagin...

Many grammar books will list "Discourse Markers" without truly stating their exact usage especially regarding style and formality. Many students use "moreover" in their spoken English. But did you know....  ... we natives rarely use it in our everyday speech 😨  Yep! Moreover is more common in academic prose, though, but it's quite formal and less frequent than furthermore, as well as, in addition and of course the very common and more informal: on top of that (my favourite one) 👍  But here's the sexy part.... Although the discourse markers moreover, in addition and furthermore seem to be interchangeable in many cases, moreover differs from the other two in that it tends to follow and support a previous negative evaluation:  👉Domestos has been shown to contain harmful chemicals NOT suitable for human consumption. Moreover, Domestos mixed with Kvas and Kompot is known to be fatal.  There is a lot more info regarding these connectors. But you'd have to c...

Everyone is into some area of interest whether it's singing, music, film-making, fitness, healthy food, etc. And if you also learn a language than you can hit a good combination which is learning the language through studying more of your hobby in this language and conversely studying more of your hobby in this language to master the latter.  Another benefit for that is that you're going to come across a lot of topical words and phrases which means that the same words repeat themselves many times. As s result, it makes it easier to remember them because you have to see and hear them a lot and also use them a lot in your writing and speech.  Of course, I don't encourage you to only be focused on just one single area when learning a language. It might be an excess unless you only need this language for only a certain area.  What I encourage you to do is to just lean towards one or a few interests when learning a language. Which might sound too obvious, mightn't it? Yet, W...

Excuse me, please… • I’m looking for… • Can you tell me where … is, please? • Do you know where … is, please? II’m lost/I’ve lost my way/I have no idea where to go… • Take the first/second/third… street on the left/right (or) It’s the first/second… • Continue down this street • Go straight on • Keep going • Go down this street ✅ Examples: - Excuse me please, I’m lost. Can you tell me where the strip club is?  - Sure, continue down this street. Go over the roundabout and then take the second street on the left. Keep going and you’ll find the strip club on the right hand side opposite McDonald's. AAT the roundabout / traffic lights / junction… • Go left/right/straight on • Take the first/second/third … exit. • Go over the roundabout/traffic lights/junction = continue ahead • Turn left/turn right ✅ Examples: -Excuse me please, do you know where the park is?  - If I am not mistaken, turn left at the roundabout and then continue down the street. On the right hand side you will a ba...

✅ PECKISH (inf: a little bit hungry) - There was no food in the fridge and I was feeling a bit peckish so I ate the cat. ✅ FAMISHED (inf: very hungry - from famine) - Well, I've just walked 500km and I'm feeling famished. What's for dinner? ✅ GASPING (inf: very thirsty. From: to gasp for air) - It's so hot today and I'm gasping. Seriously. Even a cold glass of Domestos would do! ✅ KNACKERED (inf: very tired/exhausted) - Oh baby, I really don't want to meet your friends tonight. I'm knackered after working all day. And your friends are mental! ✅ CAN'T BE ARSED (slang: can't be bothered) - I seriously can't be arsed to go into work today. Let's stay at home and watch kittens and puppies on Youtube instead. ✅ TO DO SOMEONE'S HEAD IN (inf: to cause stress/difficulty) - All this grammar homework is doing my head in! Really! I know's it's A1 level but still! And your mum does my head in too! ✅ TO MEAN WELL (semi-formal: have the best in...

✔ Up in the air If someone tells you that things are up in the air, it means that these things are uncertain or unsure. Definite plans have not been made yet.  - Jen, have you set a date for your party yet? - Not exactly, things are up in the air and we’re not sure if everyone can make it on the day we wanted. ✔ On the ball  If you’re on the ball it means that you’re very quick to understand certain things, very prepared for something or react quickly (and correctly) to a situation.  - Wow, you’ve already finished your assignments? They aren’t due until next week, you’re really on the ball. I wish I could be more organized. ✔ Get over something  Imagine having a really difficult time, like failing exams — it’s hard. But eventually once time passes and you no longer think about your marks, it means that you’ve gotten over the situation, you no longer worry about it and it no longer affects you in a negative way.  It’s also possible to get over an illness, which w...

▶ to be snowed under (Sorry, can't get drunk tonight. I am snowed under at the office) = very busy  ▶ to be tied up (Sorry, I can't come to your birthday party. I am a bit tied up at the moment. So much work to do. Sorry, my wife.) = busy but subtle.  ▶ to have enough on one's plate (Oh please don't ask me to do more work! I have enough on my plate as it is!) = busy in a stressed way  ▶ to be up to one's neck in work (Sorry baby, can't help you do the shopping. I am still in the office. I am up to my neck in work) = busy, informal register. (rude version: up to my bollocks in work)  ▶ to be knee-deep in work (As a proctologist I am always knee-deep in work. So many people to see and so little time)  ▶ to be swamped with work (I can't answer any phone calls because I am swamped with work) = very busy, informal  ▶ to be buried under at work (I can't attend our hamster's funeral today, my love because daddy is buried under at work.) = very busy, neutral...

Adverbs of Time  What are adverbs of time? Adverbs of time tell us at what time (when) or for how long (duration) something happens or is the case. There is also a specific category of time adverbs that describe frequency, or how often something happens or is the case; however, their usage is a bit more complex, so we will examine those in a separate section. Positioning Adverbs of time are most often placed at the end of a sentence. For example:  “I’m going to the movies tomorrow.” (When are you going? Tomorrow.)  “She left yesterday.” (When did she leave? Yesterday.)  “We are eating now.” (When are we eating? Now.) However, we can sometimes place adverbs of time at the beginning of the sentence to put an extra emphasis on the time or duration being described. They are usually offset by a comma if appearing at the beginning of the sentence, although this is not always necessary. For example:  “Next year, I’m going to run for president.” (Emphasizes a point in t...

Set Phrases/Collocations are a great way to concentrate your mind's memory capabilities on small points and thus go step by step improving your language skills. Mastering useful and wide-spread grammar patterns is one of the priorities of any language learner. There are a wealth of methods, approaches and techniques which are designed to fix grammar patterns. Despite the wide range of approaches some learners still lack appropriate usage of grammar patterns and come up with their misuse. In this article, we will present the approach proposed by Scott Thornbury, a well-known methodologist, linguist and an internationally recognized academic and teacher trainer in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Natural Grammar is designed to make students and teachers think about new ways to analyse grammatical structure according to a functional approach. This is achieved by focusing on the actual patterns of use of normal speech, in which grammar emerges from the lexis of words, rath...