Learn American English Online Blog

I sincerely hope you reach your goals of improving your English in the new year. With a lot of hard work and determination you can do it!

The word of the day is "tense." Notice the differences between this word and the word of the day from two days ago: intense.

The schedule for the week is on the home page.

There’s a new reading exercise for the Red Level: Jimmy needs to go to the bathroom. This reading exercise includes vocabulary and phrases that are useful when talking about something that all of us have to do at one time or another.

The word of the day is "intense."

There’s a new quiz for the prepositions "to" and "for." I sent the first half of the quiz in an email to students at the beginning of the week.

The word of the day is "smell."

In Blue Level Lesson Twenty-six, you’ll learn how to use the word "want" in the past tense: wanted. On the day after Christmas, after all the gift-giving has finished, you’ll hear statements and questions like these:

  • Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?
  • He got everything he wanted.
  • I didn’t get what I wanted.
  • This is what I have always wanted.
  • She wanted jewelry, but she got a lot of clothes instead.

You can’t always get what you want.

The word of the day is "barely."

Click here to learn about the holiday.

To all of my students I wish you all the best.

The word of the day is "short." This is a good word to use to describe things that are not tall or anything that is the opposite of the word "long."

Today is Christmas Eve and I’m running short on time. There are still many things that I have to get done before this evening.

I’m sorry I haven’t had time to give the blog much attention in recent days. It’s the busy holiday season, and there are so many things to do. What do I have to do at this time of year?

  • My family and I attend holiday get-togethers.
  • We do a lot of baking–mostly cookies and bread.
  • We write out and send Christmas cards.
  • We decorate the house.
  • We buy a Christmas tree and decorate it.
  • I have to go Christmas shopping.
  • I have to wrap gifts.

As you can see, there’s a lot of activity at this time of year. On the other hand, I’m a teacher so I get a two-week break in order to get some of these things finished. Of course, I’ll still work on the website during this time.

 

There’s a new video for the words "be" and "up."

 

The word of the day is "run."

The word of the day is "peace."

Today the United States announced that it intends on restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. This comes after over 50 years of hostility and disagreement between the two countries.

cuban flagthe Cuban flag    American flagthe American flag

There’s a new word of the day quiz for December 2014.

God help the people of Pakistan heal after today’s assault on innocent school children. This kind of horror is an abomination, unjustified, and an act of pure evil. Words can’t express how sad this is.

The word of the day is "opposite." If something is opposite, it’s on the other side or it’s very different.

  • To a person living in New York, California is on the opposite side of the country.
  • The opposite of evil is goodness.
  • I asked for a hamburger, but I received just the opposite: a salad. (Is a salad the opposite of a hamburger?)

The word of the day is "native."

The word of the day is "latch."

There’s a new quiz for the idioms section for verbs used with the preposition "up."

It’s interesting how many verbs are used with up: Here are some more:

hang up / draw up / move up / call up / work up

Do you know what these idioms (verb phrases) mean?

Here’s a new video: be + up

 

Here are your lessons for the day:

The word of the day is "jewelry."

How’s everything going so far? To find out which lessons you need to work on for today, check the home page. Today is the 9th of December, so you should work on Lesson Nine for your level.

The word of the day is "idle." We use this word to describe a person who is not busy or is lazy.

The word of the day is "heal."

The word of the day is "fabric."

Anyone who wants to be included in the Photos section for December should send in a picture that includes a first name and the name of the country that the student is from. I’ll have that up in a few days. Thanks!

Did you receive today’s email? If not, it includes a new exercise for the Orange Level.

The word of the day is "exclude."

The word of the day is "distance."

Thanks to students who have found errors in the website recently. It really helps to have input from other people. My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be!

Today is December 3, so you should be on the third lesson of the level that you have chosen to work on. Remember, most new students start on the Blue or Red Level.

The word of the day is "cure."

The word of the day is "bath." Notice that this word can be changed to a verb by adding an "e" to the end of it.

bath arrow  bathe

There are a few other words that do this:

teeth arrow  teethe

breath arrow   breathe

There’s a new reading exercise for the Green Level: Our class visited a community college.

Have you moved on to the next level? Students who were working in the Yellow Level last month should move to the Green Level. Students who were in the Orange Level should move to the Purple Level.

Make sure you download the checklist for the level that you are working on. For example, students studying in the Blue Level should go to the Blue Level page and download this checklist. Keep the checklist by your computer to keep track of progress.

You’ll notice that each level on the home page shows that the lesson for today is Lesson One. Now that all of the levels are there, you simply follow the calendar when deciding on a lesson to study. What level are you? The tests and reviews for each level will help you make that determination. This new approach allows me more time to develop new material and work on new websites.

The word of the day is "advance."

Click here to go to November 2014

Click here to go to the LAEO Blog Archive.

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