Ships

 

How to register online for Fall Classes

 

Possessive Adjective Rap

 

Jimmy's Recommendation

 

May you feel at home here.

Was or were  ______ing is past continuous.  Use this verb tense when you are talking about a specific times in the past when you weren't finished with an activity. Don't use was/were as an auxiliary verb in simple past.

When I was a child, I moved a lot.  Home was where my mom was.

What makes a home feel like home?

Where are good places to live?  Why?

Challenge Listening: Reviews of the big bedrooms on the Auto Train that goes from Lorton, VA to Florida

 I rarely ride trains, but I am curious about the auto train.

Amtrak's auto train allows you to bring your car on the train to Florida.

How often do you travel?  Do you take vacations?  Where did you go on your last trip?  How long did you stay there?

How Did you Know?

SxS video past

S x S video  (was were)

Listen and practice speaking the most common regular past tense verbs (Press the speaker icon next to past tense to hear them)

Simple Past Grammar Explanation and Practice

When did you first fall in love?

Video: When professional basketball players fell in love with basketball

Write about the time you first met a friend.  Where were you? How old were you?

 What did your friend look like?

Ordering at a restaurant

 

What' s your favorite food?  How often do you eat at a restaurant? What restaurant do you recommend?  Can you tell me a story about excellent or terrible service at a restaurant?

Getting a table

The instructions on the homework say, "listen."  You can listen to this video to complete the homework.

What duties does a host perform?  Did you ever work at a restaurant?

What was your job?  What did you have to do?

 

Ordering Coffee at Starbucks

 

Although I enjoy many of their products, I don't usually go to 7 11 or Starbucks because I don't like their prices. 

Starbucks has their own vocabulary in how to order.

How often do you drink coffee?  How do you like your coffee?

Talking at a restaurant Can

Quizlet Vocabulary: Speaking about food

Grammar: Practice using count & non-count nouns

Can you find the spelling mistake in the subtitles?

A few regional differences:  My family says "appetizer" rather than "starter." 

In this area, a 20% (minimum) tip is customary.  "Tip jobs" have a lower minimum wage, so servers don't get the minimum wage of $12.41/hour.  Servers usually get $2.13/hour from the restaurant, and taxes often take their whole paychecks.  Some restaurants require servers to pay some of their tips to bussers, "expo," (a person who checks the order and arranges the food in a pretty way) and bartenders.

In the conversation at the end of the video, native speakers in this area say, "chicken sandwich" rather than chicken burger.  We'd probably say we like tacos or a taco if there's only one.

English for my Job-Hospitality

Food and drink Vocabulary from English Club  (Go down to see links to vocabulary and practice)

Grammar: count vs. non-count  (same link as the top)

What is your favorite restaurant nearby?  What is the best restaurant in your native country?  What is the best restaurant you ever ate at?

7-11

For many summers, my children loved this day because they could get free Slurpees from 7-11.

Happy birthday 7 11

What do you like to drink? 

Practice "drink" vocabulary with https://www.languageguide.org/english/vocabulary/drinks/ and
learning chocolate:  tea, drinks with their containers, and fruit.

Rain on me

In this song, "on" is a preposition that shows where the rain falls.  Practice prepositions.

Do you like rain?  My daughter likes to walk in the rain.  I don't like to walk in the rain, but I like to eat. If there's no rain, there's no fresh food.

Did you ever lose power in a storm?  What did you do?  What do you usually do when it rains?

The Light We Keep On

 

Are there any small things that you do to make someone feel better?  What?

Firework!

 

Who do you admire?  Why?  What do you love to do?  What is important to get done?

Happy Fourth of July!!

This next video is super-fast for our level, but it repeats enough that it's good for training your ears. Understanding every word doesn't make the song easy to understand.

History of Independence Day -- Also fast, but clearly spoken.  Make sure you turn the closed captioning (CC) on.

ESOL Explanation of Independence day with a transcript.

Some U.S.A. patriotic songs you will probably hear today...

Read about the flag and other USA symbols...

During fireworks, you usually hear "Stars and Stripes Forever."

Listening: Interview with questions about the Fourth of July


Reading/listening practice -- press the triangle to hear the story as you read it.

funinfairfax.com:  Fireworks in Northern VA (scroll down for the 4th)


Are you enjoying the fourth of July?  What are you doing?  Does your former country have an independence day celebration?  When is it?  What do you do?

Read all about it

 There will be a reading test for new students on July 2.  We give reading tests to show people who give us money that we are a good program.  It often takes 100 hours of reading to move up 5 points on the test.  

What is your favorite genre?  What are your favorite books?

Summer 2025 Homework

 (Click and Write if the homework is good or not good for you-I want written assignments to take less than 20 minutes so that you have time to study vocabulary and listen to English in ways that you like.  I want the homework to be easy and useful.)

Kahoots so far

Welcome to English class! I am so happy you came!  

 Purple sentences are examples.

Homework for August 1, 2025  Tomorrow is a potluck party.  If you like to cook, please bring food!  If you don't, come anyway! 

7-31 - Today, we reviewed present tense with frequency adverbs, past tense with irregular verbs, to/x/to the after go, and future tense with going to.  We did a couple Kahoots:  Can you answer the question? (Mixed verb tenses) & Kahoot: To vs. to the vs. x after go  (Quizlet:  past tense irregular verbs that sound like red dress in the past)

Homework for July 31, 2025 -- Study Unit 5.  Finish the workbook pages in Unit 5.

7-30 Today was reading day.  Red group read about the Amish and had how often discussion questions.  Blue group read about a blog and a woman who burned money in the microwave.

Homework for Wednesday, July 30:  Do WB p. 59 & 62 in the workbook.  Study vocabulary , these  irregular verbs, and my quizlet set of 80 irregular verbs.  If you didn't do it last weekend, finish the handout about verb tenses.

7-29  Today, I gave out assessments and talked about grammar.  We talked about frequency adverbs.  We did p. 58 in the workbook.  We watched the video on SB p. 62.  Some people completed p. 62, but many people didn't.  We did a Kahoot about frequency adverbs.

 Homework for Tuesday, July 29:  Write the answers on the was/were handout that we spoke in class.  Study vocabulary , these  irregular verbs, and my quizlet set of 80 irregular verbs.  If you didn't do it last weekend, finish the handout about verb tenses.

7-28 We did a listening exercise in past tense.  We talked about last weekend and wrote a few sentences about it.  We did a quick drill to practice short answers with Was and were.  Some people took the reading test, some people did a writing assessment, and some people did worksheets.

Homework for Monday, July 28:  I didn't assign any homework in class, but I put a handout about verb tenses in the back.  As always, I want you to practice English as much as you can, study vocabulary and study these  irregular verbs and my quizlet set of 80 irregular verbs.

7-25 Today we practiced past tense with a FSW with irregular verbs that rhyme with olive sock.  We talked about trips we had.  We wrote about trips.  We played team telephone.

When I look to see if people are ready for high intermediate, I check if you can understand and respond quickly in conversation, use these verb tenses well in speaking and writing (at least match the verb tense of your answer with the verb tense of the question), and score well on the reading test.  Please look at Unit 5 and see if you have any questions.  

Homework for Friday, July 25th: Study p. 69,  vocabulary  Study irregular verbs. Do p. 62-63 in the white workbook.

Today, Naydu (nynosse@fcps.edu) talked about registration.   We practiced collocations after to (SB p. 69)  You should memorize these expressions.  Try to relax, repeat, & remember.  There's no real logic to them.  A preposition is a word that shows a relationship between two nouns.  A, an, the are articles.  Don't use "a" for plural or noncount nouns.  "An" is for one countable thing just like "a," but the word after "an" sounds like it starts with a vowel. Use "the" before ______(a noun) if you think your listener knows which ______(noun)  you are talking about. 

Additionally remember: 

• no article before home.  I go home.  He went home.  
• The to school and to church on our list to memorize is only if you go to school to learn in class or go to a worship service.  Where's Washington?  He went to church.  My daughter goes to school every weekday.  
• If you go to a school or church building for a different reason than class or worship service, use "the."  I went to the school for a PTA meeting.  She goes to the church early to set up the reception area.  I'm going to the church to check out their ESL class.
• People who use British English say, "to hospital." In the USA, we say, "to the hospital."
• Go to the shopping mall is correct because the shopping mall is a location.  Don't use to in phrasal verbs describing activities: go shopping, go swimming, go sailing, go dancing.

We practiced using the most common sentence structure for talking about the duration of time. It takes him three and a half hours to drive to Virginia Beach.

We went over the answers to the homework.

We played a Kahoot to practice distinguishing How often (frequency) from How long (duration)

Homework for Thursday, July 24th.  Study vocabulary  Study irregular verbs.  Do the worksheets. Page 1, page 2, & page 3. (You don't have to do anything on the page with the object pronouns.)  Please use a paper to rewrite the present tense sentences in past and present continuous.  1. I brush my teeth./He brushes his teeth.  Past: I brushed my teeth./He brushed his teeth.  Present Continuous: I am brushing my teeth./He is brushing his teeth.

7-23 Today was reading day, but I want to finish the unit fast.  We read SB p. 64, & 68.  We did WB p. 56,57,60 & 63.  Study vocabulary carefully because I added BOTH groups to the class vocabulary.

Homework for Wednesday, July 23- Do workbook p. 56-57.  Study vocabulary  Study irregular verbs.  

7-22 Today, we practiced contrasting "how often" and "how long." Use "how often" for frequency.  Use "how long" for duration.  We practiced using vocabulary for a train station and for traveling.  We had conversation groups about traveling. We went over the vocabulary on p. 65, and practiced using it.

Homework for Tuesday, July 22: Do WB p. 54 Study vocabulary  Study irregular verbs

7-21 Today we talked about our weekends.  We went over different verb forms.  We talked about non-action verbs.  We did SB p. 58 again with partner dictation and listening on p. 58.

Homework for Monday, July 21:  Do C & D on this worksheet.  Study vocabulary  Study irregular verbs

7-19 Today we talked about verb tenses and practiced talking and writing future with be going to and past tense.  Claudia asked about pronouns particularly object pronouns (the pronouns that receive the action and come after the verb or after a preposition) and possessive adjectives - the pronouns that say someone has the following word:  That's his phone.  That's her book.  This is my homework.)

Homework for Friday: Study vocabulary  Look at the pictures write a positive and a negative sentences.  Page 1, Page 2.  Study irregular verbs with olive sock past tenses

Bonus:  Write sentences with vocabulary words to give to me.  

Today, we finished our restaurant unit.  We practiced some vs. any and using would like.  We reviewed vocabulary and took a vocabulary quiz.  A few students read their dialogs for the class.  We did three kahoots.  Order at Restaurants, identify past or present, and use simple past tense verbs.

Homework for Thursday:  Study vocabulary. Complete the packet "Ordering at a Restaurant" from Tuesday. page  Study irregular verbs with olive sock past tenses

Wednesday is reading day!

Homework for Wednesday, July 16 Study vocabulary.  If the Kahoot was difficult, try it again:  Kahoot about have to.  Do the worksheets about have to:  worksheet: we're busy & worksheet: A busy week.  Finish the packet "Ordering at a restaurant" for Thursday.

7-16 Today was reading day!!

7-15 Today we practiced language for ordering at a restaurant and using have to/has to/don't have to/doesn't have to _____(base verb)  We did a Kahoot.

Homework for Tuesday, July 15.  Study vocabulary.  Watch this video and do pages 7 and 8 from this handout from class. (If you weren't in class you can get the pages by clicking on and printing the 7and the 8.)  

7-14-25  Today, we practiced using past tense correctly (Positive-past form.  Did or didn't - base form)  We wrote about a classmate's weekend.  We practiced a dialog and vocabulary for talking to a host in a restaurant.

Homework for Monday, July 14- Study vocabulary.   Can you pick the color vowel for the words that you can pronounce? Are any words difficult to pronounce?  Which ones?  If you want more homework, write about a restaurant that you like.

Homework for Friday, July 11: Study vocabulary.  Write your name and its color vowel.  Write 8 words and their color vowel.  Every color is one vowel sound.  Every English word has one stressed (a little louder) syllable with one vowel sound.  If you write and say a word with the color vowel, it's easier to remember how to say it correctly. (Police -- green tea police.  Polite -- white tie polite.  Policy.  Olive sock policy.  Most dictionaries indicate the strong syllable with '.

Homework for Thursday, July 10 --Study vocabulary.  Write 5 sentences with a few of the words we are studying. Turn in the sentences.

7-9 Today was reading day.  The blue reading group read about a woman who tracked down the man that conned her.  (He met her at a flea market, and asked her out.  They got married, but then he disappeared with her money and her furniture.  Since she had met him at a flea market, she went to flea markets all around the USA until she found him.  He had conned 103 other women the same way -- by marrying them!!)  The green reading group read about a woman who was scared because a car was following her.  When she stopped, she learned that her cat was on top of the car.

 Homework for Wednesday, July 9  Study vocabulary.  Do these worksheets: lesson 6 & lesson 2.  If you didn't turn in your school story (minimum 3 sentences) turn it in tomorrow.  Do this worksheet to turn in.  Use too at the end to agree with positive ideas.  Use either at the end to agree with negatives.  Use does with he, she, or it.  I like chocolate and he does too.  He doesn't like rats, and I don't either.  In class, we practiced "actually."

7/8/25 - We did three pages in the OED.  We talked about conversations and we talked about a family reunion -- a party with many relatives.  Some of the children are misbehaving in the picture- one child is eating a whole box of chocolates by himself, while another child is pouring a drink on a teddy bear.  We wrote sentences about the picture as partner dictations.

We practiced present tense and agreeing and disagreeing with opinions in one of my favorite get-to-know each other games.  We wrote about the picture of the party as partner dictation.  We played Quizlet live with the vocabulary.

Homework for Tuesday, July 8    Study vocabulary  Write a description of a school (or how you learned) when you were young. (Minimum 3 sentences, but if you have time, please write a lot.) If you have time and inclination, you can repeat the Kahoots from class today.  The links are below or on the Kahoot page above the title.

7-7 Today, we talked about our 3-day weekend.  Description words are always singular when they are before the noun they describe. I briefly talked about the articles a and the at the beginning of class. (more information about articles)  We did Kahoots about July 4, Prepositions of time, and present continuous verbs.   We went over the homework, and quickly talked about spelling when we add ing.  A vowel is a, e, i o, u.  All other letters (b,c,d,f,g,etc) are consonants.  We double consonants to give a vowel the short (punch in the stomach) sound, not the sound of its name.  When a vowel is followed by one consonant then another vowel, it usually says its name.  A syllable is part of a word with one vowel sound.  We looked at p. 11 in the Oxford English Dictionary.  Students did partner dictations to describe the pictures.  We used discussion questions to talk about schools from when we were younger.  

Kahoot: Celebrating Independence Day

Kahoot: Prepositions of Time

Kahoot: We are practicing Present Continuous Verbs now!

We used the Oxford Picture English Dictionary to practice common school words.  We did partner dictations to describe the pictures.  Students indicated that the only new words are lift, carry, and throw away.  Lift means pick up.  Carry means hold something while you move.  Throw away means put something in the trash can.  We talked about school when we were young.

Homework for Monday, July 7:  Study vocabulary Do worksheets for spelling with ing *and using present continuous verbs for now.  If you can, finish the history papers (page 3, and page 4) we did in class.  Don't write any definitions of words that you already know well for me.

Today, we talked about ourselves, read about July 4- Independence Day (reading: page 1, page 2 writing: page 3, and page 4) and reviewed our vocabulary .  We practiced finding this page and the vocabulary on www.LiEasy ESOL.blogspot.com.  

Grammar:  I talked about why there is no S on day when we say three-day weekend.  Description words are usually singular, even when it is not logical to be singular.  When a description word is before the noun it's talking about, it is usually singular.  Four-door car, six-floor building, seven-year-old child, are all correct phrases with NO s on door, floor, or year.

We also talked about prepositions of time.  at a time, on a day/date, in a month, in a year. He was born in 2002.  He was born on August 7, 2002.  She was born in June.  She was born on June 2.

I didn't talk about the spelling rules for adding ing.  Usually we just add ing.  Talk-talking, listen-listening.  If the simple form ends with silent e -- drop the e and add ing: hope-hoping, take-taking, chase-chasing.  If you hear the e, don't drop it -- be-being.  If the simple form ends with consonant-vowel-consonant -- double the last consonant if it's a strong syllable: hit-hitting, sit-sitting.

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY

Homework for Thursday June 3  Study vocabulary.  Do yesterday's homework to turn in if you didn't do it yesterday.

7-2  Today we practiced past and present short answers and yes/no questions.  We talked about our commutes.  We practiced past and present questions to get to know each other. (Do you want more practice?  Try this quiz or study and do exercises at these links:/"Simple" Present//"Simple" Past)  New students took reading tests.  Continuing students re-did their original paperwork, made comments on the blog, and practiced using count and noncount nouns in simple present tense.  From 2014-2019, students wrote a LOT of comments on the student website to practice writing.

Homework for Wednesday, June 2 :  I gave a worksheet in class to practice basic conversation questions.  I hope it is easy.  Please answer the questions and  write a comment to answer the questions on the blog under "nice to meet you."  Please use your first name, but not your last to comment.  If you don't want to answer on the internet, use paper and give it to me tomorrow. Study the vocabulary I put on the board.  I usually write the vocabulary on electronic flashcards called "Quizlet."

Why do you want to learn English?

 

When do you most want to be good at English?  What do you want to do with your English?