Irregular Verbs List

December 3, 2014 10:52 am , Glenn

Irregular Verbs List

This is a list of some irregular verbs in English. Of course, there are many others, but these are the more common irregular verbs.

from https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/irregular-verbs-list.htm

V1 Base Form	V2 Past Simple	V3 Past Participle
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drive	drove	driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got (sometimes gotten)
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
show	showed	showed/shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

Verb Tenses Needed for IELTS and TOFEL

November 28, 2014 4:47 pm , Glenn

IELTS TOFEL

Verb Tenses you need to know

There are 13 Verb tenses in English. How many do you really need to know to get a high score on the IELTS and TOFEL test.

I created this little video to answer this question.

Posted in: Adult Learners, Video , Tagged: adult language learners, IELTS, Speaking, TOFEL, Verb Tenses

Number 1 tip to improve your speaking score

November 18, 2014 11:52 am , Glenn

I teach conversation for student who are taking English tests. These tests (TOFEL, TOEC,IELTS, PET, KET, FCE) all have a speaking component. You are marked on your ability to talk on a subject and to have a conversation.

Some students find the speaking part of the exams to be the most stressful and difficult.

There is one tip I give my students that helps them relax and do better on their exams.

And this tip to improve your speaking score?

Don’t Say anything.

This tip of don’t say anything can be broken down into 2 parts… one for the beginning of your answer and the other during your answer and conversation parts of the exams.

Stop and think before you speak

Most standardized English tests have time limits that you should speak for, but you are not penalized for taking time before you start. A pause at the start of an answer is acceptable. It gives you time to formulate an answer.

If you are doing a question answer section ( such as FCE) You can also use phrases to start your answer to give you more time to think. Phrases like “that is an interesting question”.

Add pauses in your speech.

We all need to think as we are speaking. To give us time to think we add “umm” or “awww” to fill the gaps while we think of the word or phrases we want to say.

An answer full of Umms and awws and hummms does not come across as being very coherent. It seem like the speaker is not very good.

On the other hand if the speaker put pauses in their speech, the speaker comes across as more confident, professional and a better speaker.

So if you want to improve your test score learn when and how to NOT SAY ANYTHING

These are a couple of youtubes I found that talk about how to use Pauses.

This next video is aimed more for teachers, but the information is still important, if you can understand what she is saying.

Posted in: Adult Learners , Tagged: adult language learners, pauses, Speaking

5 Tips to improve your english speaking skills

November 10, 2014 1:41 pm , Glenn

I have taught English to non-native english speakers from many countries, for many years . One of the main questions I get asked by students is “how can I improve my english speaking skills.” In answer to this I have put together my 5 Tips to improve your english speaking skills.

5. Think in English.

Learning a language can be a challenge. In order to get better you need to train your mind. One of the ways to do this is to try thinking in english. Narrate your life in english by asking yourself questions and answering them.

“Where am I going?” “I am walking to the store.”

“What am I going to buy?” “I need to buy some bread and milk.”

By having these internal conversations you train your brain, as well as make use of time that you normally would not be using for english.

4. Record Yourself

Most cellphones have a way of recording small voice recordings. You can also record your voice on your tablet or laptop. This is a way for you to hear and correct your mistakes.

Most people do not like hearing their own voice. This makes this tip the most difficult to do, but it is worth the effort to improve your speaking skills.

3. Read Aloud

Part of learning any language is reading. As we read we can stay silent, or we can voice the words. Reading aloud gives you practice at forming the sounds and structure of the language. This may slow down your reading speed but the advantage of practicing of forming the sounds of the language makes it worth while to do.

2 Listening to English

There are so many places you can listen to english, DVD’s podcasts, radio, TV, Movies, Music, etc. In order to speak and carry on a conversation you have to be able to listen to and understand what the other person is saying. Listening to all the different styles you hear in electronic form helps you to improve your listening skills.

Another thing you can do with electronic playback ( such as DVDs) is to repeat or mimic a passage.
-Find a short speech or passage on a DVD.
-Play it once or twice
-try speaking the passage using the words and phrases as spoken
-listen to the passage and see how you did
-repeat

This allows you to work on a more natural style of speaking.

1 Practice

You can not get better at speaking, without practice.

You can practice with conversation teachers ( such as myself)

You can practice with other students.

You can practice with strangers in the street or on the internet.

You can read, study, and know all the grammar and spelling rules of English but without practicing and trying to speak, you will not be able to improve your skills. If you don’t practice you will not get better.

Posted in: Adult Learners , Tagged: adult language learners, listening, Speaking

5 reasons English Language Learners should read aloud

November 3, 2014 10:44 am , Glenn

Reading aloud is one of the best exercises you can do to improve your own writing and speaking.

Adult English Language Learners tell me regularly that they can read and understand written english They have trouble with listening and speaking. We don’t know for sure, there are people who believe that different parts of the brain are used in reading/writing and speaking/listening. In order to become a well rounded English Language Learner you need to train and practice both areas of your mind.

One thing you can do to practice and improve your Adult English learning is to read aloud. You can read softly to yourself, or loudly in your class. You can read newspapers, textbooks, novels or any english material that is of interest to you.

The physical act of moving your lips and mouth are helping you improve.

Why do this?

Reading aloud helps you practice your listening skills

In order to speak you have to hear yourself. The act of speaking words you know, helps you learn to listen and recognize the sound of these words.

Reading aloud helps learn how the language flows.

The practice of reading the English language aloud helps you learn how the language is structured and flows. Sentence structure in the spoken and written language is similar. Practicing speaking phrases helps you learn the structure

Reading aloud helps improve your pronunciation.

Speaking is one of the most difficult movement skills we learn. We have to learn where to place the tongue, how to move the lips and when to breathe. Complex movements skills, ( playing basketball, dancing etc) all improve with practice. Any practice you have speaking helps you to improve how you talk.

Reading aloud improves your visual memory and ability to see images in your mind.

The act of reading aloud connects words together in both the visual and audio parts of your mind. This bond makes what you have learned stronger.

Reading aloud improves your spelling.

Sounding out words, detecting syllables, and visually connecting the word improve spelling .

It is a simple, and easy tip to help you improve your English skills. Try reading aloud.

Posted in: Adult Learners , Tagged: adult language learners, listening, Reading, Speaking

learning, over coming fear and Salsa

October 28, 2014 4:33 pm , Glenn

Still from the movie Cuban Fury

The fear of learning or the fear of failing?

When I was younger I never wanted to dance. I would be the person sitting on the side while everyone one else was enjoying themselves on the floor.

Later in life ( in my late 40s), I was looking for an activity that I could do in the winter months. In the summer I had learned how to sail small boats. Someone suggested learning Salsa dancing. I thought it sounded like an interesting way to pass the time. I did not know how difficult it would be for me to learn how.

My body and brain had to learn many new concepts and ideas. I had to train my body to move in ways it never had before. At the start I was so bad that to say “I sucked” would have been a compliment.

I wanted to stop, but I had committed myself. I also had patient and supportive teachers and dance partners. I kept going to the classes, and to the practices, until I reached the point where I sucked, and then I was bad, and then I became not bad, then I became kinda OK. After years of practice and a few years away from it, I can say that I am an OK dancer. I am at the level of an advanced beginner. I am never going to be at the level of some people who started in their teens and have taken lessons most of their lives. I am OK with my progress.

In order for me to reach the modest level I am right now there are several things I had to do. I had to practise. As an adult learner, I had to put more effort into training my mind and body into the processing the information than younger, supplier students.

My biggest hurdle, though, was to overcome my fear of failing in public.

These same issues affect Adult language learners. Our brains are not as “open” to re-wiring, our muscles ( tongue and mouths) are not as supple to learn new pronunciation patterns ( I still can’t roll my rrrrrs when I try and speak spanish) but the most difficult thing we have to overcome is our fear.

As adults this fear of making mistakes can get in the way of real learning. The problem is we learn best when we make mistakes.

So if you want to improve in what you are doing, you have to get over your fear… you have to make mistakes.

Now who wants to go dancing?

BTW the images and the link are to a good, funny movie about salsa Cuban Fury. They are much better than I ever will be.

Posted in: Adult Learners , Tagged: adult language learners, Salsa

Tag Archives: Adult Language Learners