New Horizons Appear As You Walk

Your vantage point makes a difference. No matter what level you're on, something new will always be there to explore. Decide what direction to take depending on your interests and your needs.

Which way do I go?

To improve your English skills, it’s helpful to find a topic that you want or need to learn about, and then as you read and watch content, you’ll form ideas and opinions. You’ll also be learning new words.

Consider your interests and hobbies. What would you like to explore more in depth? Is there a new angle that you could consider? Now, think about your future and what skills you need to learn. Which topics could give you a competitive edge in the workplace? What knowledge do you need to reach your next goal?

Deciding on a path means excluding other paths, obviously. Or maybe not. Personally, I like to do a lot of different things, so it’s hard for me to decide not to do something. How do you deal with information overload and how do you decide what deserves your precious attention?

Today, we’re going to discuss grammar as usual (conditionals and future verbs again) and environmental ideas. We will also be considering aspects of speaking and I hope they will help you improve your speaking habits. Watch the videos and take notes for your next conversation class.

1. Solutions for environmental problems

Consider the facts: we need power and resources for modern life. How can we produce enough power and sustain our contemporary habits while protecting our planet? Retrofitting old buildings for energy efficiency and finding new ways to reuse and recycle materials are only two of the ideas discussed in this video.

What do you think of these solutions? How do you think these ideas will affect our daily lives?

2. Effective speaking involves more than words

How do you react when a person speaks too loudly or too slowly? Do you enjoy listening to people with high-pitched voices?

Rate, volume, and pitch are three aspects that influence the mood and receptiveness of our listeners when we speak. The other two foundations are tone and pausing. Which of these five foundations do you think you need to work on?

3. The Prediction Conditional

If you listen to this, you will understand the “first conditional”. This is the second in a series of very concise and effective videos about conditional sentences.

As we learned last week, a conditional sentence starts (or ends) with an “if clause” (or “when clause”) and the other part of the sentence is the result. We use the 1st conditional to talk a possible outcome of a future action or to make a prediction. Here are some examples:

If you take an umbrella, it probably won’t rain.

You’ll be hungry when you get home from work.

These sentences are not necessarily true, but that's not the point. The 1st conditional is good for threats, speculation, promises, negotiations, and lots of other situations where we need to define a result depending a possible variable. Just remember: the “if clause” takes a simple present verb!

4. What is “walkability” and why is it good for urban areas?

I’ve spent many years walking around Milan, Italy. It’s a reasonably walkable city and public transit makes it possible to get from one side to the other in about one hour. European cities were normally built before the advent of automotive transport, and so this video discusses different aspects of American cities.

After watching it, you could discuss whether your city is walkable. How do you get to work? Do you like to walk or ride a bicycle? What do you think of redesigning city streets for greater walkability or bike-friendliness?

5. Future verbs - part 2

Here’s a comprehensive overview of the future simple and future continuous verbs and how they are used. It’s a bit long (but interesting and very clear).

Most intermediate and advanced learners can use will and going to correctly, but they might have trouble talking about about what they will be doing tomorrow. They also might not be able to use the future continuous to express an assumption about the present.

Thanks for reading and watching! I hope you enjoy these videos. Let me know if you have suggestions for upcoming newsletters.

Talk to you soon,

Marsha

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