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July 31, 2014 Students who studied in the Red Level during the month of July take Red Level Test Part 2 today. Tomorrow you’ll begin the Yellow Level. The word of the day is "text." July 30, 2014 Red Level students have a test to take today. Click here for Red Level Test Part 1. There’s a second part to this which is on the schedule for tomorrow. The word of the day is "head." Violet Level Lesson Thirty explains how to use the word "provided" as a subordinating conjunction. For advanced students only!
July 29, 2014 Students studying in the Red Level this month click here to review for a test. The test is in two parts. Part 1 is tomorrow. Part 2 is on Thursday. If you don’t do well on the review, I recommend that you go back through the lessons in the Blue and Red Levels to find areas of grammar where you are weak. Violet Level Lesson Twenty-nine shows you how to use "now that" when a condition or situation changes. The word of the day is "crash." July 28, 2014 There’s a new reading exercise for the Red Level: Isabella and Brandon went to the beach. The word of the day is "flood." To practice your listening and writing skills, there’s a dictation section for each level of the website. Here’s what you do: In your notebook write down exactly what you hear in each exercise. Try not to look at the answers until after you have finished listening to each audio track. You can play the recordings more than once or pause them as you are working. The important thing here is to connect the sound with the letters that are used in making words. This is the Red Level dictation section. July 27, 2014 When a verb and a preposition are combined, a phrasal verb is formed. This might also be called an idiom. There are hundreds of these combinations and it takes a long time to learn them all, but they are essential. Learn more about this in Red Level Lesson Twenty-seven. Click here for today’s lesson on "whenever" in the Violet Level. The word of the day is "chase." July 26, 2014 When Americans speak English, they have a tendency to put the verb "go" in front of some main verbs. Red Level Lesson Twenty-six explains this with a YouTube video and a short exercise. Violet Level Lesson Twenty-six shows how the word "nevertheless" is used. There’s also a video at the end of it. The word of the day is "embarrass." I just added audio to this conversation. July 25,2014 One good way to develop vocabulary is to study the words that are opposite of each other. The Red Level lesson for today is on opposite adjectives. Violet Level Lesson Twenty-five shows you how to use the word "besides." This is different from the preposition, "beside." The word of the day is "wink." July 24, 2014 For beginning level students, your lesson today is Red Level Lesson Twenty-four: (be) used to _______. The word of the day is "shake." July 23, 2014 Today’s Red Level lesson shows you how to use "used to" when describing past activities or times in your life that are long gone. The Violet Level lesson of the day is on the word "instead." Use "instead" when replacing something or looking for an alternative. There’s a new video for the word "it" when it comes at the end of a question or a statement. It’s interesting how many different ways there are to use this word. The word of the day is "delay." July 22, 2014 The word of the day is "rhyme." The Red Level lesson for today is on vocabulary used with multiplication and division. Violet Level Lesson Twenty-two shows you how to use the phrase "as soon as." July 21, 2014 There are two lessons in the Red Level for you to take a look at today. Lesson Twenty-one, Part I is about the subject of reading numbers. Part II provides basic vocabulary for talking about money. Violet Level Lesson Twenty-one shows different ways to use the word "as" as a subordinating conjunction. This is something new for you to try: Words that rhyme with "dare." The word "dare" was yesterday’s Word of the Day. Today’s word of the day is "stack." July 20, 2014 Red Level Lesson Twenty introduces students to reflexive pronouns. Violet Level Lesson Twenty shows ways to use the phrase "as long as." The word of the day is "dare." July 19, 2014 Your Red Level lesson for today is on possessive pronouns. These are pronouns that take the place of a possessive adjective and a noun. For example….
This video provides an explanation for pronouns:
The word of the day is "brace." July 18, 2014 Today’s Red Level lesson is on gerunds. This video explains the difference between gerunds and verbs in continuous tenses, which are often confused by students when they first learn English.
Students working in the Violet Level learn how to use "since." The word of the day is "gotcha." This is kind of a slang word that means "I understand what you said." July 17, 2014 The next two Red Level lessons are extremely important. Today you’ll learn about infinitives. Tomorrow the lesson will be on gerunds. I put these two lessons back-to-back because infinitives and gerunds have similar qualities. They look like verbs, but they function as nouns in a sentence.
"To work" is an infinitive; "working" is a gerund. The word of the day is "pronounce." July 16, 2014 Time expressions are used when talking about the past, present, and future. Red Level Lesson Sixteen has some examples of various time expressions. The word "last" is often used when talking about the past, but there are other applications for this word. Watch this video:
Violet Level Lesson Sixteen shows how to use "unless." This word describes conditions that must exist for something else to happen. The word of the day is "blame." There’s a new Word of the Day quiz for July 2014. July 15, 2014 Red Level students study conjunctions today. Students in the Violet Level study the word "furthermore." I changed the audio on this page so that you can download it to your mobile device. The word of the day is "regard." Major league baseball is in town this week for the All-Star game. The All-Star game is played between two teams. One is from the National League; the other is from the American League. The players on each team are regarded as being among the very best who play baseball.When studying American English, it’s good to know a little about the sports that are popular in the United States. The reason for this is that the vocabulary from the game filters down to other aspects of life not related to the sport.
This Think in English exercise is for the game of baseball.
July 14, 2014 Today’s Red Level lesson is on adjectives. Adjectives are words that describe nouns. What does something smell like? Is it big or small? Is a person nice or mean, young or old? Adjectives in English can come before or after a noun:
Today’s Violet Level lesson is on the use of "in addition." This phrase is similar to the conjunction "and." The word of the day is "nibble."
July 13, 2014 The word of the day is "like." This is a very common, simple word, so make sure you are using it properly. Red Level Lesson Thirteen is also about the word "like." Violet Level Lesson Thirteen shows you how to use "on the other hand." July 12, 2014 A popular way of talking about the future is to use the "going to" future tense. It looks like this: S + (be) going to ________ The verb "be" changes according to the subject. The main verb is in the simple form.
The verb "will" can replace "(be) going to" ….
….. but sometimes it doesn’t sound as relaxed or as conversational. The word of the day is "for." July 11, 2014 Today’s lesson is on the future tense. The easiest way to form the future tense is to use the modal verb, "will." The word of the day is "help." I tried another live event today. Here it is:
Obviously, I need a lot of practice. July 10, 2014 In Red Level Lesson Ten, students learn how to use "a lot," "some," and "any." This quiz tests your knowledge. Violet Level Lesson Ten is on the subordinating conjunction, "although." Use "although" when describing the peculiarity of a situation. The word of the day is "join." Did you happen to see my live event on Google yesterday? That was kind of an experiment, but I’ll try it again. I think this has great potential to make your experience here more interesting. July 9, 2014 Today’s Red Level lesson is on the use of "a few" and "a little." As with yesterday’s lesson, your choice of one or the other requires a knowledge of count and noncount nouns. Today’s Violet Level lesson is on the use of "such" and "that" together in a sentence. Remember, the Violet Level is intended for students who are studying at the intermediate and advanced levels. The word of the day is "update." This is a good word to know if you spend a lot of time around computers. When you need to update something on your computer, you get the most recent version of it. This website is updated every day. July 8, 2014 Do you know the difference between the words "many" and "much"? Use "many" with count nouns, and use "much" with noncount nouns.
Learn more in Red Level Lesson Eight. The word of the day is "appeal." July 7, 2014 Red Level Lesson Seven shows how the verb "do" can be used as a helping verb and as a main verb. This is an important lesson to learn because many beginning and intermediate level learners of English misuse "do." I explained this in a video a few days ago, but it’s worth repeating. Violet Level Lesson Seven is on the use of "not only" when joining two clauses together. There’s a new audio recording for this lesson that you can download to your mobile device. The word of the day is "suit." July 6, 2014 Learn about object pronouns in Red Level Lesson Six. After you complete the lesson, take this quiz. The word of the day is "ignore." July 5, 2014 Red Level Lesson Five shows you how the verb "do" is used as a helping verb when forming questions in the present tense. This is an important thing to understand and get right. Look at this chart:
This shows verbs in the simple form, the past tense, and as past participles. For this lesson, pay attention to the simple form of the verb; however, as you continue to study English with me, it’s always important to consider the other forms that a verb takes. To form a question in the present tense, use the helping verbs "do" or "does" and combine them with the simple form of the main verb:
In each question, the main verb is in the simple form (live, go, see) and the helping verb is "do" or "does," depending on the subject. Do you understand this? o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Violet Level Lesson Five shows how "due to" is used when explaining why something happens. The word of the day is "muggy." July 4, 2014
Today is a holiday in the United States. The Fourth of July holiday is also known as Independence Day. Today’s Red Level lesson is on commands. Use a command, or the imperative form, when telling someone to do something or when telling someone not to do something. The word of the day is "ripe." Some of my students have difficulty with the initial "r" sound. If you need help with words beginning with an "r," click here for additional practice. July 3, 2014 Here’s a new video that explains a few important things about the verb "do."
If you are a student in the Red Level, your lesson for the day shows the differences between "do" and "did." Students working in the Violet Level can find examples for the word "consequently" by clicking here. The word of the day is "tip." July 2, 2014 The first few lessons of the Red Level go over the importance of the verb "do" in the present tense and the past tense. If you are studying in this level, today’s lesson shows how to make this verb negative. There are also some exercises that will help you practice what you have learned: As always, I recommend that you write your answers in a notebook that you use while studying on this website.
The word of the day is "expense." July 1, 2014 Today Blue Level students advance to the Red Level; however, students who did not do well on the Blue Level test should review lessons and videos in that level before moving forward. Download the Red Level Checklist here. Use the checklist to keep track of your progress. The word of the day is "stretch."
Here’s the overall schedule for the next seven months.
Click here to go to June 2014 Click here to go to the LAEO Blog Archive. o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Write your answers in a notebook.