Variant vs. Alternative

“Choose the correct variant”… “I would go for variant 1”… “What is your variant?”

These are expressions that are often heard from the native speakers of Russian. The word «вариант» in Russian does not fully coincide in meaning with the word “variant” in English. However, my students tend to use this “variant” a lot. That is why I have decided to clarify how it sounds for a native English speaker. And this is what my English teacher who is originally British answered:

'Correct variant'? You're kidding! I know native English teachers who wouldn't even know what that meant! Of course, it's far too formal. A more suitable register would be "which is the correct or best alternative here?"

The title of the message was “orthodoxy” by the way.

About Games, Movies and Grammar Exercises

Finally my struggle with the poll functional is over and the poll is back on again. As far as I remember I owe you at least two reports.

If you still remember that once you answered the question about your favourite activities at English classes, then you probably also remember that the possible answers were: grammar exercises, vocabulary games, boardgames, watching movies, listening tasks, making dialogues and just talking.

Vocabulary Booster

Have you ever tried to count how many new words you tend to remember during, let’s say, ten days? Unless you are horribly meticulous, you probably don’t count the number of newly-acquired and yet awkwardly-used lexical units.

Frankly speaking, you don’t need this. First of all, it’s pointless. Even if you have learnt all the words they have in Muller’s dictionary, it doesn’t mean that they have become your active vocabulary. Second of all, you don’t need to do this with Muller’s dictionary…do it with your own! Create it using this resource, for example. It allows you to make your own dictionaries and study the words YOU like and YOU need. The tests provided will give you control over what you have remembered well and what requires more drilling.

Xmas Filmfair

My biased Top 11 of British and American movies to say nothing about Love Actually and Bridget Jones’s Diary

1. It’s a Wonderful Life. 1946. Absolute favourite. Although the genres stated are drama/fantasy, I personally would agree with the second one and only to some extent with how dramatic the content is. Au contraire, the movie seemed life-asserting to me.It’s a life story of a businessman whose dream life had never come true. One day, having understood that, he started to feel desperate, confused… and there starts the magic. 

Go English, Go Social!

Social Networks: Curse or Blessing? No matter what your answer is now, if you think carefully, you will make a social network a useful place.

We study foreign languages to communicate. We can start right away. Let’s try SharedTalk. The source is positioned as a place for “language exchange”. You will find a person who is a native speaker of your target language but will be required to help those who study your native language.

Polar Bear Style

Recently I have come across a funny test on British Council web-site What kind of teacher are you? Your answers will bring out the best in you! This best will be estimated by the system and you ill get your animal result. I’m not joking! In the end, all teachers are animals to some extentJ Now I know that I am not too bad. After all a Polar Bear is an intelligent animal. I am not good at zoology, but I do hope it is true!

After the results are presented, you will also be advised on what kind of tasks and exercises you will enjoy using at your classes.

English is Worthwhile

Now it’s official: studying English is worthwhile, challenging, fun and demanding. These are the results of the most recent poll: 28%, 21%, 17%, 14% respectively.

The respondents were asked to express their opinions regarding the process studying foreign languages. Apparently nobody finds it dull, boring, stressful, or a waste of time. For 3% of poll voters believe that learning a new language is nothing but routine. 7% of blog readers are fascinated by English and the same number of students feel rewarded. Being rewarded is a great feeling. Actually any reward is great motivation. So, those 7% are lucky ones!