EnglishClub

Pre-listening vocabulary

• trade: the exchange of items and money between countries
• colonization: a process where one country takes control over another country’s land and people
• conquer: to colonize an area through violent force
• refined: elegant; sophisticated; associated with wealth and status
• connotation: an idea communicated by a word that is different from its literal definition
• acquire: to get something
• phonetically: according to the way a word sounds

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

A loanword is any word that one borrows from another language. This often happens when different interact through trade or colonization. The English language, for example, contains many loanwords from French. This is because England was conquered in 1066 by William, the duke of Normandy. As a result, many French loanwords entered the English . Because the ruling was mostly French, the French loanwords often had more “refined” connotations than Old English words. During the years of the British , the English language acquired more loanwords from cultures in North America, Africa, India, and Australia. English is the most spoken language today, and it has passed on many of its own loanwords. French now contains terms like “le shopping”, and even Japanese borrows English words phonetically.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. In 1066, England was conquered by the Duke of
   a. Normandy
   b. Norfolk
   c. Norway
   
2. Historically, French loanwords that entered the English vocabulary were considered
   a. vulgar
   b. common
   c. refined
   
3. “Le shopping” is an example of
   a. a loanword that English acquired when the British Empire colonized North America
   b. a loanword that English borrowed from French
   c. a loanword that French borrowed from English

Discussion/essay questions

1. A few English loanwords are ballet (from French), algebra (from Arabic), and tsunami (from Japanese). Can you think of any others? Does English have any loanwords from your first language?
2. What are some loanwords in your first language? Do any of them come from English?

Transcript

A loanword is any word that one language borrows from another language. This often happens when different cultures interact through trade or colonization. The English language, for example, contains many loanwords from French. This is because England was conquered in 1066 by William, the Duke of Normandy. As a result, many French loanwords entered the English vocabulary. Because the ruling class was mostly French, the French loanwords often had more “refined” connotations than Old English terms. During the years of the British Empire, the English language acquired more loanwords from cultures in North America, Africa, India, and Australia. English is the most spoken language today, and it has passed on many of its own loanwords. French now contains terms like “le shopping”, and even Japanese borrows English words phonetically.

Answers to comprehension questions

1a 2c 3c

Suggested links

• French Phrases in English
• Latin Phrases in English

Pre-listening vocabulary

• derive: to come from something else
• alphabet: a system of letters used in written language
• scribe: someone whose job was to handwrite copies of books
• emperor: someone who rules over many countries
• store: to keep something in a certain place
• vary: to change over time
• universal: used by everyone

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

The English alphabet derives from the Latin alphabet, which was first used in ancient Rome. The original Latin alphabet only had capital . Lowercase letters evolved as scribes found faster ways to write by hand. Around 800 A.D., the emperor Charlemagne created a standard lowercase Latin alphabet. The two types of letters gained the names “uppercase” and “lowercase” after the of the Gutenberg press. Early newspaper offices stored letters in wooden cases. They kept the letters in the lower cases because they used them more often. English capitalization rules varied throughout history. From the 16th to the 18th century, it was popular to capitalize all words in a sentence, including most nouns. This ended around the beginning of the 19th century, when English developed more universal rules.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. The original Latin alphabet had
   a. capital letters only
   b. lowercase letters only
   c. both capital and lowercase letters
   
2. The word “lowercase” comes from
   a. the emperor Charlemagne
   b. medieval English scribes
   c. early newspaper offices
   
3. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, it was popular to capitalize
   a. words at the end of a sentence as well as the beginning
   b. all important words, including most nouns
   c. all verbs and adjectives

Discussion/essay questions

1. In German, the capitalization of nouns is still a common practice. In some alphabets, like Arabic, there are no capital letters. Does your native language have capital and lowercase letters? What are the basic rules for using them?
2. Can you write a comment using 16th-century English capitalization?

Transcript

The English alphabet derives from the Latin alphabet, which was first used in ancient Rome. The original Latin alphabet only had capital letters. Lowercase letters evolved as scribes found faster ways to write by hand. Around 800 A.D., the emperor Charlemagne created a standard lowercase Latin alphabet. The two types of letters gained the names “uppercase” and “lowercase” after the invention of the Gutenberg press. Early newspaper offices stored letters in wooden cases. They kept the smaller letters in the lower cases because they used them more often. English capitalization rules varied throughout history. From the 16th to the 18th century, it was popular to capitalize all important words in a sentence, including most nouns. This ended around the beginning of the 19th century, when English grammar developed more universal rules.

Answers to comprehension questions

1a 2c 3b

See also:

• Uppercase and lowercase

Pre-listening vocabulary

• lipogram: a text that excludes a certain letter
• challenge: a difficult task
• introduction: a beginning section in a book that gives information about the story or the author
• typewriter: a device that types letters directly on paper
• self-publish: to publish a book without the help of a publishing company

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17 — 1.2MB)

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Gapfill exercise

Gadsby is a 1939 by American writer Ernest Vincent Wright. It is a lipogram, which means it does not include a specific letter of the alphabet. In Gadsby, there are no that contain the letter “e”. This was a challenge, because “e” is the most letter in English. In the introduction to the book, Wright says that he tied down the “e” key on his typewriter to stop himself from using it. Wright self-published his book, and he died before it became famous. However, it later other novel-length lipograms. One of these was a French novel called La Disparition, or A Void in English. This novel excluded the letter “e” in both the French original and the English .

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. A text that excludes a specific letter is called
   a. an epigram
   b. a lipogram
   c. an anagram
   
2. The most common letter in English is
   a. e
   b. a
   c. i
   
3. To stop himself from using the “e” key on his typewriter, Wright
   a. tied it down
   b. removed it
   c. painted it black

Discussion/essay questions

1. Can you make a comment without using the letter “e”?

Transcript

Gadsby is a 1939 novel by American writer Ernest Vincent Wright. It is a lipogram, which means it does not include a specific letter of the alphabet. In Gadsby, there are no words that contain the letter “e”. This was a challenge, because “e” is the most common letter in English. In the introduction to the book, Wright says that he tied down the “e” key on his typewriter to stop himself from using it. Wright self-published his book, and he died before it became famous. However, it later inspired other novel-length lipograms. One of these was a French novel called La Disparition, or A Void in English. This novel successfully avoided the letter “e” in both the French original and the English translation.

Answers to comprehension questions

1b 2a 3a

People often wonder whether the term “grammar”, when referring to English learning, includes punctuation or not. This article explains whether “punctuation” is a part of “grammar” or whether it is in its own category.

Is punctation part of grammar?

Grammar is the construction of sentences and paragraphs and how they form meaning. One aspect of grammar is “punctuation”, which relates to the symbols used to add meaning to sentences. Many grammatical rules cannot be followed without punctuation; therefore, it does form part of “grammar.”

The Cambridge Dictionary states that punctuation is “symbols used to separate phrases.” These symbols have many functions, including informing whether a sentence is a question or exclamation. They also inform when to pause and signal the end of a sentence.

Essentially “grammar” is the blueprint of the rules of the English language and how to put words together, and “punctuation” is one “branch” of these rules.

Some people argue that ”punctuation” is not part of “grammar” because “grammar” exists in spoken English, but punctuation doesn’t.

However, a person’s ability to speak well and without “grammatical” errors is intrinsically linked to a basic understanding and competence in written English’s grammatical rules, including punctuation.
In some grading systems and rubrics, “punctuation” is a separate category. However, errors in this section would directly affect the “grammar” section of the grading because the sentences would not be constructed correctly. For example, misusing commas and semi-colons would result in “run-sentences” or “sentence fragments”, which are classed as “grammatical errors.”

Furthermore, on the IELTS grading rubric for writing, “punctuation” forms part of “grammatical range” as well as “coherence and cohesion.” This rubric is relevant because to gain a high score on the “grammatical range” section; you need to use different punctuation like colons, semi-colons, and commas to show a “wide range of structures.”

The term “a wide range of structures” refers to “complex sentences” and “complex compound sentences”, which require commas and semi-colons to be correct.

What is grammar?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “grammar” is the “use of words and how they change form and combine with other words to make sentences.”

A fundamental aspect of how they combine with the other words is “punctuation” because it determines how the words in the middle of a sentence combine with a comma or how the final word in a sentence combines with the first word of a new sentence.

When grading “grammar” as an English teacher, there are essentially five main “branches” that are taken into consideration:

• verb tense
• determiners
• connectors
• punctuation
• word order

Some schools or organisations sometimes grade one or more of these categories individually, or “punctuation” is sometimes graded with “spelling.” However, It is the combination of these five areas which essentially determines a person’s “grammatical range.” 

What is punctuation?

The Cambridge Dictionary states that “punctuation” is a collection of symbols that separate phrases and add meaning to sentences.

It is an essential part of English learning for both natives and non-natives because the incorrect use of “punctuation” can make text confusing for the reader and implies that the writer has a low level of English or lacks care and attention to detail. Also, when “punctuation” is used correctly, it makes writing more concise, accurate, and easier to understand.

It has always been the case that some people punctuate correctly and others don’t. However, some people are quite old-fashioned and strict regarding the use of “punctuation” and take “offence” at the misuse of punctuation, such as this man in the UK.

Indeed, in ESL and academic writing, “punctuation” is crucial and is often the difference between passing or failing. However, there is evidence that in today’s society, fewer and fewer people are using “punctuation” because of the growth of writing on the internet and in text messages. 

Is the use of punctuation declining?

People in today’s society, especially young people, write far more instant messages on the internet than traditional paragraphs or letters. Due to the nature of these instant messages, there is obviously not much need for punctuation because they are often informal and do not really require full stops or quotation marks.

Omitting punctuation may be acceptable in instant messaging, but there is evidence it allows people to form bad habits, which are then mirrored when people try to write formal paragraphs.

Also, many younger people have an aversion to the full stop because they perceive it as “aggressive.” This perception could lead people to omit it completely when they are writing anything, which is obviously not ideal for when they are writing formal or academic texts.

However, it seems apparent that whilst the traditional “punctuation” rules will probably always apply, there has always been a disparity in how some people use and perceive “punctuation” compared to others.

Furthermore, based on the significant debate online between younger and older generations about the differences in “punctuation”, it seems that this disparity is only likely to increase as we evolve into a “digital society.”

Final thoughts

“Grammar” is the “rulebook” of English and determines how words function together to form meaning in sentences. One essential part of this is “punctuation”, which is the use of symbols that connect words and sentences. Incorrect punctuation results in poor sentence structure and, therefore, “grammatical structure.”

Related links

• Punctuation

In today’s digital world, technology integration allows for limitless learning. Thanks to the internet, you can now learn English at your fingertips.

We’ve talked about learning English with podcasts and TV shows before. Now, we’re diving into learning English with e-learning videos.

On YouTube — the home of videos, you can find a variety of channels that help you to develop your English skills while being totally entertained and accompanied at the same time. 

With those interactive videos, you can “sit-in” on every lesson from anywhere at any time and might as well learn at your own pace, play the videos, pause it, and rewatch it, until you have a solid grasp on the concept.

While it’s hard to find the true gold among a bunch of videos that show up in searches, we’ll tell you some of our favorite YouTube channels to learn English effortlessly.

1. EnglishClub

EnglishClub provides you with a variety of ways to learn English on its channel. From songs to chats, this channel offers you lessons in a fun, engaging way.

EnglishClub shows that learning English doesn’t have to be all complicated and daunting. With short and simple videos, you can memorize the words and distinguish them more easily and quickly.

This channel is suitable both for elementary school students and adults that want to develop their English skills in such a light-hearted way.

2. Learn English with EnglishClass101

This channel is pretty rich in content. Whether you’re preparing for TOEFL or just improving your conversation skills, this channel offers you the content you need.

Learn English with EnglishClass101 also offers you 24/7 live streaming, so you don’t have to be confused about what video you should begin with. 

In this channel, you’ll meet Alisha, who guides you through the lessons. From vocabulary to actionable tips, she’ll help you to improve and develop your English skills seamlessly.

3. Learn English With TV Series

If you love watching TV and want to learn English at the same time, then you’ll love this channel. Learn English With TV Series allows you to improve and practice your listening comprehension using your favorite TV shows or movies.

It breaks down vocabulary on the TV shows or movies and gets more in-depth about it. You’ll know how native speakers really pronounce the words and what they actually mean.

Overall, this channel provides you with dynamic English lessons with some everyday humor and real-life examples of English pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.

4. JamesESL English Lessons

When you learn English with James, it’s like you’re learning from a friendly, easygoing mentor. He teaches you English using a whiteboard so it can put you in learning mode as if you’re in a class.

James provides lessons that are 10-30 minutes long and focus on subjects such as pronunciation, phrasal verbs, vocabulary, and grammar usage.

The videos on this channel cover a variety of practical tips and clear instructions. JamesESL is a great resource for learners from any country.

5. Shaw English Online

Shaw English Online is like your online English course — except it’s free. You’ll meet some teachers that will teach you the lessons.

From grammar lessons, conversations, pronunciation, those teachers help you in making your English better and more natural.

There are hundreds of English videos you can watch. Not only lessons or courses, though, this channel also includes podcasts and Q&As so you can get actionable tips from the experts.

6. English with Lucy

If you want to learn more about British English, then you should check out English with Lucy. Learning English through this channel is like learning with your friend as Lucy brings a quirky sensibility to learning English. 

Her lessons are informative, practical, and a lot of fun. The lessons are delivered in an engaging way using casual and conversational words so you can digest the concept much better.

In this channel, you’ll learn how to pronounce words, use phrases, learn new vocabulary — all of them in British English. You can also watch some fun videos of Lucy and friends that compare English accents and slang from different English-speaking countries.

7. 7ESL Learning English

7ESL Learning English provides a compelling way to improve English skills using animations. As an ESL student, you must’ve noticed that learning English is much more than memorizing vocabulary and studying grammar.

You also need to be familiar with idioms and expressions to sound fluent. In other words, you need to understand the language structure.

This is what this channel aims for — to help you get to know new cultures and think in English.

8. Oxford Online English

Oxford Online English is a UK-based channel that spoils you with premium-quality online English lessons to suit your needs.

This channel provides not only basic lessons for beginners but also advanced tips for IELTS, Cambridge B1 Preliminary exams, Cambridge FCE (B2), and more. That’s what makes this channel suitable for both beginners and advanced ESL learners.

There’s a new lesson every week so you won’t run out of lessons.

9. Easy English

As the name suggests, Easy English makes learning English easy. With cartoon animation, the lessons are easy to understand for almost everyone. They mostly contain conversations on various topics that will help you improve your vocabulary.

The videos stage skits where the cartoon characters simply have a common everyday conversation about a certain topic in a specific situation. There are also subtitles to help you understand better what they’re talking about and what the uncommon words mean.

10. Rachel’s English

Rachel’s English focuses on American pronunciation. Since the owner, Rachel, has a background in classical singing, she brings her expertise of voice and pronunciation to her channel. 

There are many easy-to-follow tips and instructions that can improve your pronunciation and shape the way you talk. They help you pronounce words properly.

This channel should be your go-to if you want to refine your pronunciation and speak American English just like a native speaker.

Wrapping Up

Now that ESL/ELL teachers have been willing to turn the cameras on themselves and teach you online — for free, you can find thousands of lessons to help improve your English on YouTube. So if you want a quick and easy way of learning English, then the platform is one of the best places to go. In the platform, you’ll know how words are really said by real people and what expressions they use. That way, you won’t only learn new vocabulary and grammar, but also understand how English speakers talk and interact.

One of the first things I get my students to do is to set out their language learning goals. This step is so crucial to language learning success, and the majority of students don’t even do it. When we talk about their goals the biggest problem they face is not being specific enough. The majority of them tell me “I want to become fluent in English.” That’s fantastic! I want that too! However, not only is that goal way too vague, it’s also hard to define. What actually is fluency? Not even linguistic scholars have reached an agreement about what it means. When I ask my students to define what they think fluency is, we encounter some issues with their definition that can actually damage their chances of becoming fluent. 

I did a survey on instagram asking my followers what “fluency” meant to them. Nobody came up with the same answer. What every answer did have in common, though, was that vagueness. One person said: “fluency means meeting requirements regarding coherence and cohesion, secondly it means having advanced vocabulary and using it without any physical intervention in speaking and writing.”

Let’s analyse this. My first issue is with “meeting requirements regarding coherence and cohesion”. Whose requirements? Which requirements? How is coherence and cohesion measured? Requirements stated like this isn’t specific enough, it doesn’t refer to a concrete schema so it’s essentially useless.

Next we have “advanced vocabulary” which is better, but still not enough. Many people, including natives, don’t have advanced vocabulary but are still fluent. Advanced vocabulary isn’t the same as a wide vocabulary range. For example, a word like “solipsistic” is advanced vocabulary and only people with a certain level of education would use this word. However, many native speakers wouldn’t know this word, but they are still fluent in their own language. 

Finally, the term “without physical intervention” is probably more of a mistranslation. The person essentially means that the speaker has a good, quick recall ability and doesn’t have to ask for help in recalling words.

I still have an issue with this. 

I speak Spanish fluently yet from time to time I will forget a word mid-sentence and have to ask someone how to say it. I even do it in English which is my mother tongue. You know those, “oh, what do you call that again? You know…that thingy?!” moments. We experience that even in our own mother tongue.

Let’s look at another person’s definition which I like better: “to speak a language without hesitating.” It’s short, it’s simple, it’s concrete and to a degree I totally agree. However, imagine this situation: you know absolutely nothing about quantum physics. Literally zero, but your friends all love quantum physics and are talking about it one evening at a dinner party. You’re not paying much attention and one of your friends asks you: “What is the meaning of the angular frequency ω and wave number k of waves?” 

Umm…what? 

You get nervous and try to recall any type of high school physics class that may be of use. But…you draw a total blank. 

“I have no idea!” you say “I don’t know anything about this!” And then your friends politely change the topic of conversation… 

You would hesitate in that situation, no? However, it wouldn’t mean that you weren’t fluent in your language, just that you don’t happen to possess the language or knowledge needed to engage in that situation. This is one of the reasons that I hate ESL speaking exams. They have a limited range of topics on the day of the exam (“choose to speak either about the environment or the dangers of social media…”) and perhaps the student can’t even converse about those topics with great confidence in their own language because the topic doesn’t interest them or they know little about it. 

So while the “speaking without hesitation” definition is certainly closer to a better understanding of fluency, it’s certainly not without its flaws. The reasons behind the hesitation are more important than the actual hesitation itself. If you find yourself hesitating a lot because you’re translating in your mind and are having trouble recalling specific words or grammatical structures of English, then you are experiencing a problem with fluency. If, however, you don’t know what to say, neither in English nor in your mother tongue, it isn’t a problem with fluency, it’s a problem with knowledge and/or interest. The difference is very important. 

Do you want to know the one thing nobody mentioned? How fluent your interactions are. Let me explain what I mean by that. 

At the minute I’m bridging the gap between intermediate-advanced in French. It’s that horrible stage where you feel like your progress is slow and fluency seems a million miles away. I can monologue quite well in French, I have problems with dialogue. This is because fluency isn’t just about your ability to produce language, it’s also your ability to react quickly and with confidence with people in your target language. 

In Spanish I basically don’t have to think when someone asks me a question and if I want to respond to them my mouth does all the work without me having to actively think. However, in French I find a greater lag or hesitation when I have to respond to someone. I have to ask people to repeat the question, I have to focus harder on understanding them when they speak, and I take longer to recall and organize my thoughts before I speak. 

All of that means I am not as fluent in French as I am in Spanish. It’s why I wouldn’t say I’m fluent in French but I can say with confidence that I’m fluent in Spanish. So, what is fluency then? As there is no set agreement on the term among linguists we have to come up with our own definitions that mean something to us. 

Mine for instance is: interacting in my target language coherently at a comfortable speed with a good deal of confidence using a wide range of vocabulary with few hesitations or problems regarding vocabulary recall and usage of correct grammatical structures.

It isn’t just speaking without hesitation: we can all hesitate from time to time. It isn’t about dropping words like “solipsistic” into casual conversation, and it’s not about speaking completely error-free either.   

So as we’ve seen fluency isn’t so black-and-white; but the main takeaway is that it isn’t just about your ability to produce language—it’s also about your ability to interact with it and respond to it in an organic, natural way. 

Do you like my definition of fluency? Do you have your own definition of fluency that helps you in your English language journey? Please share in the comments and get in touch with me to share your thoughts.

This wonderful ESL games site has been around since 2010 but has been updated to avoid the use of Flash and to be user-friendly on Android and iOS devices. Created by Owen Dwyer, Games to learn English is packed with online games where ESL learners can play independently to practise their English.

It’s a beautifully designed site, with wonderful images and even excellent audio as part of some games. The level of most games is elementary, but it’s fun and interactive and frankly good revision for all levels.

Owen welcomes feedback and tries to reply to any emails sent through the site’s contact page.