Better English ASAP

A short-cut for Spanish speakers by Jill Paquette

Better English ASAP. Copyright © 2016 by Jill Paquette. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without author’s written permission.

For more information, visit: www.betterenglishasap.com

Better English ASAP is available for purchase at www.amazon.com or

www.betterenglishasap.com/resources and www.mercadolibre.com.ar.

Paquette, Jill Suzanne

Better English ASAP : a short-cut for spanish speakers / Jill Suzanne Paquette. - 1a ed . - La Lucila, :

Jill Suzanne Paquette, 2016.

Libro digital, Amazon Kindle

Archivo Digital: descarga y online

ISBN 978-987-33-9938-1

1. Inglés. 2. Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras. I. Título.

CDD 420

Cover design: Laura Arias & Jill Paquette

Cover Production: Laura Arias.

Photography: Laura Arias. www.ria-fotografie.com.ar

Editing: Demitra Brenhuber, Dennis Paquette, Diane Paquette, & Jill Paquette.

Introduction

Have you ever dreamed of being fluent in English? It's not as difficult as it seems.

If you want to improve your English ASAP (as soon as possible) for work, travel, study, to impress a hot

foreigner or you just want to be more competent and confident in the language, this guide will help you.

Rather than a traditional, complete guide to English grammar, Better English ASAP focuses on essential

points that are problem areas for many Spanish speaking students. It was developed over years of

working with Spanish speaking students, observing and analyzing the most common mistakes made at

many levels. Better English ASAP reorganizes these essential points into simple patterns, so you can use

them correctly and speak better. It is a powerful, targeted, supplementary tool for students who have

some previous experience in formal English language instruction. It is also very useful for teachers who

work with Spanish native students.

Why listen to me?

I am a mostly bilingual, native English speaker with a Master’s Degree in Education from the United

States and fifteen years of experience teaching, coaching and helping people to be better at whatever they

want to be better at. Since 2011, I have been living in Buenos Aires, drinking matés with and without

sugar, getting my Spanish corrected by my seven-year-old bilingual son and teaching English to anyone

who asks—from four-year-olds to CEOs.

Teaching English to hundreds of Spanish speakers, studying a language in a traditional way, observing

the natural language learning process and trying to improve my own Spanish at the same time has taught

me many things:

1. Learning and using a new language is fun, challenging, important and opens up worlds and

opportunities.

2. Learning a new language is an on-going process that requires time, repetition and authentic practice.

3. You can strategically use your native or acquired languages to help you understand and learn your

target language better; however, always translating from one language to another will prevent you from

speaking well in the new language.

4. Learning every rule, verb tense, grammatical point and doing pages of exercises in a workbook does

not improve communication fluency.

5. Listening to native speakers with different styles and accents, reading material from many different

sources, watching TV/movies/videos with and without subtitles, really listening to music, reviewing

important grammatical points, building vocabulary, improving pronunciation and having the courage to

speak out loud (even if it is not perfect) will improve language skills.

6. Having someone or something guiding you in understanding the key parts of the language will help

you improve your language skills faster.

Are you ready to have better English ASAP? Let's get started!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page Content

Reference. (6) Parts of Speech and Important Grammatical Terms

Chapter 1. (8) Sentence Structure

Learn the Correct Sentence Structure in English

Chapter 2. (12) Um, ¿What?

Asking Good Questions

Chapter 3. (18) Know How to Say NO!

The Structure for Negative Sentences

Chapter 4. (24) The “Disappearing S", Parts 1 and 2

PluralS and the PreSent TenSe

Chapter 5. (28) The New and Improved He, She, and It Group

(or “The Disappearing S", Parts 3 & 4)

Uncountable Nouns and Indefinite Pronouns

Chapter 6. (31) The Future is Unclear

Chapter 7. (34) Can? Could? Should? Would?

Modal Verbs Made Easy

Chapter 8. (38) Double Trouble: Two Main Verbs

Chapter 9. (41) The Past Tense

Correct Pronunciation of Regular Verbs

The Most Common Irregular Verbs

Chapter 10. (47) Adjectives and Adverbs

Chapter 11. (51) Little Monsters, Part 1

Of or From?

Chapter 12. (54) Little Monsters, Part 2

To or For?

Chapter 13. (58) Little Monsters, Part 3

In, On, or At?

Chapter 14. (63) This, That, These, Those

Chapter 15. (66) Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Chapter 16. (69) Power Words: There is, There are, There was, There were

Chapter 17. (71) 3 Ways to Say "Que"

Chapter 18. (72) Confusing Vocabulary

Say and Tell, Lend and Borrow, Hear and Listen to,

See, Watch and Look at, “Quedar” (stay or be?)

Chapter 19. (76) Making Mistakes with “Make” and “Do”

Do: The Pattern and Common Phrases

Make: The Pattern and Common Phrases

Chapter 20. (80) Present Perfect (A.K.A. The Present & Past)

Appendix. (85) A. Verb Tense Cheat Sheet (The Machete)

B. Auxiliary Verb Help

C. Pronouns Review

D. Excellent, FREE, supplemental websites

E. Answers to Exercises

F. Author's Bio

To speak better English ASAP:

Use context to help you learn new vocabulary

When you see or hear a new word, don’t run to the dictionary. Instead, first, try to

understand it by context, or how it is used in the sentence. Cover the word with your

finger and try to guess what the new word means. Uncover it and analyze the word to see

if it contains any parts that you know in English or Spanish. Use all the other context

information to guess at the possible meaning. Second, if that doesn’t work or to confirm

how smart you are, keep an online translation web page, app or dictionary ready.

Of course, have a notebook or your telephone near you to record and remember the new

words (you can write them or use the voice recorder to “note” new words and phrases).

Remember that really learning a new word enough to use it takes repetition. You might

have to see, hear, read, look up or attempt to use it 5, 10 or more times before you really

know it. So, try to review, write and use the new words frequently.

Using the context to learn new vocabulary while reading or listening is a very important

skill to improve your English more quickly.

SAMPLE: Parts of Speech and Important Grammatical Terms ____________________________________________

Review the parts of speech (categories or word parts) that make up the English language.

Noun (sustantivo): A person, place, thing or idea.

Ex. book, man, John, bank, Mexico, table, education, freedom

Pronoun (pronombre): A noun substitute

Ex. I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them, etc.

everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, nobody, nothing

(See Appendix C. for a Pronoun Review)

Subject (sujeto): The main or featured “actor” in the sentence.

In English, the subject usually comes at the beginning of a sentence and before a verb.

The subject usually performs the action.

Ex. I work on Saturdays. Students study. We have two children.

Verb (verbo): The action of the sentence; what the subject does. It can also link the subject to other parts

of the sentence; says what the subject is, feels, or has.

Ex. I work on Saturdays. Students study. We have two sisters. She is home.

Verb Tenses (tiempos verbales): The different forms that verbs take that indicate different periods of

time. In English, the most frequently used verb tenses are: present simple, present continuous,

future simple, past simple and modal verbs. Other tenses include: past continuous, present

perfect, present perfect continuous, past perfect, future continuous, and future perfect. Those are

all of the verb tenses in English. See the “Verb Tense Cheat Sheet” in Appendix A and chapters

4, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 20 for more information.

Conjugate Verbs (conjugar verbos): Changing a verb or adding different parts to show different tenses

(times) and to agree with the subject.

Ex. work > worked (indicates past) go > going (indicates now)

be > was/were/been (to show different times)

Main Verb (verbo principal): Shows the main action of a sentence.

It might be alone, conjugated or used with an auxiliary verb.

Ex. Jen works in the emergency room. She has worked there for years. She will be working.

Action Verb: A verb that shows action.

Ex. walk, work, play, paint, follow, lead, wash, travel, cry, etc.

Linking Verb: A verb that doesn't show action but links the subject to another part of the sentence.

Ex. He is sick. I am 37 years old. Lilly feels tired.

Auxiliary Verb (verbo auxiliar): Also called “helping verb” and used before a main verb. Auxiliary

verbs help to show different tenses, conditions, moods or are used with questions and negative

sentences. The auxiliary verbs in English are: am*, is*, are*, do*, does*, did*, has*, have*,

had*, will, must, can, could, should, shall, would, may & might. *These can also be used alone

as main verbs. Ex. I have been here before. He is waiting. You should go. What did you say?

I do not know. ……(additional text not displayed)

Sample

Chapter 3: Know How to Say NO!

The Structure for Negative Sentences

__________________________________________________

The structure for negative sentences is also different in Spanish and English.

In Spanish, you just say “no” and the verb. In English, you must use two verbs and put “not” between the

two verbs.

Does this sound familiar? It should. Now that you have learned the "Question Asking Structure"

(Chapter 2) it will be easier to explain things that have not, do not, will not or did not happen because

both structures require an auxiliary verb.

Negative Statements (with main verb in base form)

In the present, past, and future tenses and with modal verbs, we conjugate the auxiliary verb and the main

verb is in the base form. Just like with questions, the auxiliary verb shows the tense and the main verb

shows the action. Look closely at the following examples:

Subject

Auxiliary Verb

(conjugated)

NOT

Main Verb

(in base form)

“The Rest"

We did not go to the concert.

He does not work for Microsoft.

The toy does not function without batteries.

Mateo did not call Harrison on his birthday.

She will not travel to Venezuela this year.

You should not smoke cigarettes.

The girls would not do their homework.

Negative Statements (with main verb in participle form)

In the continuous, perfect tenses and passive voice, we use the same structure: two verbs with 'not' in the

middle, but the main verb is not in the base form. Instead, it is in the participle form for that tense. The

participle forms are the present participle (or verb +

-ing, ex. walking, running, telling) and past participles (or 3rd column verbs like gone, done, been, and

seen). So, if a verb ends with -ing or is in the past participle form in an affirmative sentence, then it will

also end with -ing or be in past participle form in a negative sentence.

Subject

Auxiliary Verb

(conjugated)

NOT

Main Verb

(as participle)

“The Rest”

Rome was not built in a day.

He is not working there anymore.

I am not traveling at all this year.

We have not seen grandma in a while.

We are not going to the concert.

They have not been to Thailand before.

“To Be”: The Exception to the Structure

If the main verb is “to be” or any of its conjugations, do not add an auxiliary verb.

Examples:

He is not old enough to work. She was not able to hear the announcement.

They are not home right now. The company was not prepared for the merger.

Common Mistakes

1. Directly Translating:

It is common, but incorrect to translate word for word from Spanish, and only say “no” and the verb.

Incorrect: She no live in Barcelona.

Correct: She does not live in Barcelona.

Incorrect: They no visited Buenos Aires.

Correct: They did not visit Buenos Aires.

2. Misusing the Auxiliary Verb:

Another common mistake is when students don’t use an auxiliary verb, use the wrong auxiliary verb, or

add an extra auxiliary verb. Remember that you must choose the correct auxiliary verb that agrees with

the tense and subject. And if there is already one auxiliary verb, use it and don't add another one.

Incorrect: He don’t go there anymore.

Correct: He doesn’t go there anymore.

Incorrect: They not liked the movie they saw.

Correct: They did not like the movie they saw.

Incorrect: They will can fix the mistakes.

Correct: They can fix the mistakes. or They will be able to fix the mistakes.

3. Conjugating the Main Verb:

Another common mistake is to conjugate the main verb (into the past tense, for example) instead of

conjugating the auxiliary verb.

Incorrect: We did not went to the concert.

Correct: We did not go to the concert.

Incorrect: They didn't tried to finish.

Correct: They didn't try to finish.

Speak Like a Native Tip: Contractions

Native English speakers often use a contraction, or the short form, of the auxiliary verb and the word

“not.” They both mean exactly the same and are mostly interchangeable.

The Auxiliary Verb + NOT contractions are:

do + NOT = don’t (Pronounced) /dónt/ would + NOT = wouldn’t /wood-int/

not /gud.int/

does + NOT = doesn’t /das-int/ can + NOT = can’t /kánt/

did + NOT = didn’t /did-int/ should + NOT = shouldn’t /shúd- int/

is + NOT = isn’t /is-int/ could + NOT = couldn’t /kúd-int/

are + NOT = aren’t /ar-int/ or /arnt/ have + NOT = haven’t /hav- int/

was + NOT = wasn’t /was-int/ has + NOT = hasn’t /has- int/

were + NOT = weren’t /wer-int/ or /wernt/ had + NOT = hadn’t /had-int/

will + NOT = won’t /wónt/ Note: I + am + NOT

= I’m not /aim.not/

Examples: He doesn’t like heavy metal music.

We don’t live in Bariloche.

I’m not happy about the company’s decision to move overseas.

The rain hasn’t stopped for days.

We won’t go to the beach if it rains.

She isn’t coming to the party with us tonight.

Chapter Review:

You can improve your English significantly by saying “no” correctly:

1. Remember to use an auxiliary verb with all verbs except “to be”.

2. Choose the correct auxiliary verb (that agrees with the subject and the verb tense)

3. Put the word "not" between the auxiliary verb and main verb, and

Choose the correct form for the main verb (base, base + “-ing”, or past participle form)

Negative Sentences: Practice: Negative Sentences

A. Notes: Take notes in your own words about the negative structure.

B. Isolated Practice

Put the following words into the negative sentence structure and add more information to each sentence.

1. The current president/win

2. My job/easy

3. I/have/brothers

4. My parents/travel

5. The coffee/ready

6. My boss/will/in the office

7. The movie/interesting

8. We/found/the treasure

9. holiday/we/work

10. The employees/can/do

11. The restaurant/serve

12. The book/available

13. I/take/my car/mechanic/yesterday

14. You/should/smoke

15. We/could/celebrate

16. The media/is covering/that story

17. They/go/tomorrow

18. I/can/call

19. She/can/come

20. I/ask/her/yesterday

C. Observation and Guided Practice

Go to English texts and look for negative sentences. Pay attention to the structure. Then, take the same

text and change positive sentences into negative sentences.

D. Independent Production

Whenever you say, think, write or hear something in the negative in Spanish, try to say, think or write the

same sentence correctly in English.

E. Listening Practice

Try to find songs that use the negative structure, like The Beatles, "Can't buy me love" or in your favorite

English songs. Listen for negative statements in movies and TV shows. Copy them when you hear

them.

F. Practice in Real Life.

Try to practice the correct English negative structure throughout your day, especially when you use it in

Spanish.

Chapter 13: Little Monsters, Part 3

In, On and At

__________________________________________________

Like babies and young children, prepositions are small and wonderful, but they can also be difficult and

make big messes! Prepositions are words that start prepositional phrases and usually provide more

information and details to a sentence, often related to location or time. They are extremely useful and

common, but difficult to get right. Fortunately, there are some patterns to help you use them more

correctly.

Prepositions of Location

IN

We generally use “in” to describe something that is located within or inside a closed space. Think of

something with real or abstract limits or borders like a box, a room, an office, a park, a house, a country, a

city, or a car. In Spanish, “in” is similar to en and adentro.

For Example:

He's in Argentina for two weeks.

She's in the office right now.

He's in the kitchen cooking dinner.

The book is in the car.

They are in the fifth grade.

However, there are many phrasal verbs and common expressions like these with “in” that don't follow the

pattern.

in time in the morning in the middle sleep inget on

in a hurry in the afternoon in traffic walk in

in love in the evening in transit fill in

ON

“On” is generally used with horizontal or vertical surfaces, lines, platforms and two dimensional (or flat)

objects on spaces like tables, walls, floors, the ground, shelves, stages, desks, etc.

For Example:

The clock is on the wall.

Our office is on the 9th floor.

The file is on my desk.

There are a lot of cars on the road today.

However, there are phrasal verbs and other common expressions with “on” that don't follow the pattern.

on tv on time put on (clothes) on my mind

on the radio/ipod/phone on vacation/holiday turn on on board

on the internet/facebook on break depend on concentrate on

AT

“At” is the most specific of the three prepositions. It's like a finger on a map or the GPS (Global

Positioning System) on a mobile phone. We use the preposition “at” when talking about being located at

(ubicado a) a specific point, place or time. Often, sentences with “at” include both a place and a point in

time.

For Example:

I was at home with a fever all weekend.

We're at work together all day.

They were at the movies last night.

The kids were at basketball practice until 6 pm.

They were at a barbecue yesterday.

However, there are phrasal verbs and common phrases with “at”

that don't follow the pattern:

laugh at good at at least

look at at night at best

work at at all at some point

Related to Location: In, On and At compared

IN: Least specific: The office is in Buenos Aires. The office is in Belgrano.

ON: More specific: The office is on Libertador Avenue. It is on the 10th floor.

AT: Most specific: The office is at 2453 Libertador Avenue.

Prepositions of Time

IN Like with location, “in” refers to time in a similar way. A decade is a period of 10 years. A month is a

period of about 30 days. A week is a period of 7 days. Use ¨ín¨ to refer to a general period of time within

a larger time frame.

For Example:

We will go to Florida in March.

We moved here in May of 2011.

They will be in Chile in two weeks.

The doctor told me to come in the morning.

ON

Use “on” with specific days.

For Example: He'll return on August 10th.

We play soccer on Fridays.

I will be in the U.S. on Christmas day.

They always meet on the last day of the month.

AT

Use “at” with specific hours or times of the day.

For Example:

I wake up at 6:30 a.m. every day.

I will pick you up at 10 o'clock.

We have an appointment with the doctor at 12:15.

The meeting starts at 9:45 a.m.

Prepositions of Time: In, On, and At compared

IN: Least specific: He was born in 2009. OR He was born in October.

ON: More specific: He was born on October 12th.

AT: Most specific: He was born at 10 a.m.

Learn these general guidelines for using the common words in, on and at. We use:

1-“ In” when discussing general locations or placement within a closed space or time frame. (Ex. In the

airport, in Rome, in China Town, in March, in 2007, in the 1960s)

2-“On” when an object is placed on or touching a concrete or abstract flat surface.

the art on the wall, the computer on the desk, on the 5th floor, on my webpage)

3- “On” with days (Ex. on Christmas day, on my birthday, on December 26th, on Monday)

4- “At” with exact locations and times (Ex. at the cinema, at the meeting, at the hospital, at 9 a.m., at

5:30, at noon)

Remember, the patterns for “in”, “on” and “at” do not always work and they won’t guarantee perfect

English. However, generally they work and learning them and using them correctly can help you improve

your English more quickly.

Practice: In, On and At

A. Take notes about the different uses for “in”, “on” and “at”.

B. Isolated Practice

Add “in”, “on” or “at” to complete the sentences.

1. That town is ____the middle of nowhere.

2. Come! The food is already ______ the table.

3. Where are you? I'm ____ home right now.

4. We will arrive ____ Boston ____ December 18th at 7 ___ the morning.

5. Final exams are usually the second week _____ December.

6. Your keys are not _____ the shelf.

7. I'm trying to concentrate _____ the task.

8. They live ____ the corner of Libertador and Alvear.

9. I've had that song ____ my head all day!

10. He'll be ____ Salta _____ New Year's Eve.

11. He's good ___ sports.

12. ____ some point, I would like to travel around the world.

13. There are going to be a lot of cars ____ the road this holiday weekend.

14. The meeting is _____ 9 and it will start _____ time.

15. What are you laughing ____?He works ____ the largest bank in South America.

C. Observe

Select a short or medium length news story in English. Circle the prepositions “in”, “on” and “at” when

you see them. Underline the prepositional phrase connected with each preposition (ex. “in a hurry”, “on

Monday”, “in good spirits”, “in full swing”). Observe when they follow the pattern and add exceptions to

your notes.

D. Independent Production

Write at least 15 sentences for each preposition “in”, “on” and “at”.

E. Listen to Audio in English

Listen to a short news report in English several times. Listen a few times for context, main ideas and

important details. Then, relisten to the same audio and write down all the prepositional phrases with “in”,

“on” and “at”. Listen again and try to copy how the speaker says these (often saying them very quickly

and joining them with the other words in the phrase.)

F. Practice in Real Life Try to practice the sentences using the prepositions “in”, “on” and “at”. Practice using them when they

follow the patterns and when they don't follow the patterns.

G. Mastery

Know the patterns for “in”, “on” and “at”. Watch and listen carefully for these words used correctly and

practice, practice, practice until you can do the same. Then, when you are a preposition magician, move

on to the next chapter

.

To speak better English ASAP:

Prioritize Pronunciation

One important part to speaking a new language comfortably and well is learning the correct

pronunciation of that language. Many people pronounce the sounds of the new language the

same way they pronounce their native language. In some cases, the letter sounds are the same or

very similar. In other cases, they are not.

To speak better English, you must properly learn how to form and produce all the sounds that do

not exist in Spanish. Spanish speakers generally have difficulty with certain sounds because

they are different in the two languages. The most difficult are usually: b, v, j, th, r, and some

vowel sounds like “short a” (like in cap and after), “short i” (like in, if, with), “short u” (like up,

under, sun), ow (like in cow, how, south) and ir/ur (like first, third, turn). Look up pronunciation

videos on the internet for these sounds, study the mouths of native speakers when they make

these sounds, listen a lot for these sounds copy them correctly, then practice producing them

independently.

You don’t have to have perfect pronunciation, but you can improve your English dramatically by

identifying and eliminating these common pronunciation errors.

To speak better English ASAP:

Say YES to Communication and NO to Perfection

Were you ever in a situation where you wanted to speak in English, but you didn’t because you

were scared or didn’t want to sound stupid? To speak a language, you must use the language a

lot, even when you don’t exactly know how!

Think about how babies learn languages. Do they memorize text books and put together

complex grammatically correct sentences from day one? No, they don’t. They observe,

experiment and copy. They make strange sounds and many mistakes. But they don’t worry

about it. They get corrected, they keep trying and eventually they speak. They become masters of

that language quickly and painlessly.

So, act like a baby! Silence your inner editor and try to ignore the adult in you that incorrectly

believes they must do everything perfectly. Take the pain out of language learning. Make it fun.

Make it a challenge. Make mistakes. And make your goal: communication, not perfection.

SAMPLE: Verb Tense Cheat Sheet

(Machete para los tiempos verbales)

Infinitive Form: “to” + verb; the same as the

infinitivo

(-er, -ar, - ir verbs) in Spanish.

Examples:

to eat = comer

to speak = hablar

to go = ir

to come = venir

to live = vivir

to travel = viajar

Used in Double Main Verbs:

I have to go. He needs to clean

the house. (See Chapter 8)

Base Form:

The simple form of the verb; the

infinitive form without “to”

eat, speak, go, come, live, travel,

walk, work, call

It is used as a base for many tenses,

like present, present continuous and

past. We add endings like -ing, -ed

and -s to the base form. The base

form is used with the imperative

tense (commands like: Come here!)

future tense (Ch. 6) (I will study

Spanish) and modal verbs ( ex.

should wash, can speak, might go

(See Chapter 7)

Imperative Tense:

To give commands or tell a

person what to do.

Like imperativo in Spanish.

Form: Use base verb and

NO subject.

:

Eat your vegetables.

Work hard and play hard.

Stop! Don't go any further.

Wait a second!

Present Simple (Ch. 4)

Form:

(I, you, we, they) + base verb

(he/she/it group) + base +-s/-es,

is or has

Uses:

-Regular/habitual actions

-Facts/truths

Like: presente indicativo

comes, hablan, traigo

Examples:

The bank closes at 3 p.m.

She works for Microsoft.

We live in Tandil.

John has red hair.

Auxiliary Verb used with

?s and negatives:

I, you, we, they > do

he/she/it group > does

THE PRESENT TENSES

Present Continuous

(or Progressive)

Form:

to be(conjugated)+ base verb+ing

Uses:

-Actions in progress now

-Future (things that were already

planned/will happen soon)

Like: presente continuo

estoy yendo, estan dando

Examples:

He is traveling right now.

They are campaigning.

We are leaving at 9 p.m.

Auxiliary Verb used with

?s and negatives:

I > am

he/she/it group > is

You/we/they > are

Present Perfect (Ch. 20)

Form:

has/have + 3rd col. OR -ed verbs

Uses: (present and past situations)

1. Something that started in the

past and is still happening.

(since/for amount of time)

Recent actions that effect the present

(just, recently, yet)

2. Unclear past (No past tense info

like: yesterday, last night, last

week, in 1995)

3. Life experiences (have you

ever, never)

Like: Perfecto indicativo:he comido,

Examples:

I have lived in Argentina for 2 yrs.

We have studied English since last

year.

Auxiliary Verb used with

?s and negatives:

I, you, we, they > have

he/she/it group > has

(2 additional pages of related text not displayed)

Appendix D. Excellent, FREE, Supplemental Websites

There are so many wonderful websites out there that offer incredible resources for English learners for

free or at a very low cost, that teachers are practically optional! (Just kidding!)

I use these regularly in my classes. They offer wonderful practice for English language learners in a

variety of skill areas including: listening, reading, writing, speaking, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary

development, etc.

Breaking News English www.breakingnewsenglish.com (Short, interesting news stories (about 2 minutes each) with supplementary audio and a million

accompanying activities for low to high level students. You can choose to listen to British or

American/Canadian English speakers. It’s a teacher’s and student's dream!)

News In Levels www.newsinlevels.com (This is another great resource that provides short audio and transcripts for 3 levels, from very basic to the

authentic news report from English TV. This site contains many articles on a wide variety of topics and

specifically uses the high frequency vocabulary that learners absolutely need to communicate in English.

If you can dedicate 5 minutes each day, you can listen 3 times and read the story 1 time, learning essential

vocabulary naturally and improving your listening comprehension skills a lot.)

Lessons on Movies www.lessonsonmovies.com (This site is associated with the first website. It offers short movie clips and background information

(text) on popular English language movies, with many accompanying exercises.)

Business English Pod www.businessenglishpod.com

This is an excellent one for anyone who needs to improve their English for business or professional

purposes. There is a lot of good challenging listening practice and supplemental transcripts, definitions of

key vocabulary, and practice exercises. Podcasts (audio clips) generally last (dura) 5 minutes each. It's

my new Business English resource of choice. They also have many supplemental, free or low cost apps

for smart phones or tablets.

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About the Author

Jill Paquette is a native of the United States who has called Buenos Aires home since 2011. She has a

Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s Degree in Education and over 15 years of experience

teaching and coaching. She´s mostly fluent in Spanish, forgot most of her French, and is an enthusiastic

learning Japanese. She sees language acquisition from many perspectives which helps her help hundreds

of students have better English quickly and easily. She loves to play soccer with her son, dance salsa,

read, and help others meet their language, learning and life goals. She´s the Director of Better English

ASAP, an English services company based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Learn more at:

www.betterenglishasap.com.

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