If you get trolled, it means you fail to recognize a troll and responds to it with anger or annoyance (Urban Dictionary.com).

Some of you have probably experienced dealing with a troll – an online dubious creature that attacks and degrade other members without valid reasons. This ugly creature was first popularized in folktales and movies. It brings fear and negativity to the community. But this has become more familiar with the advancement of technology especially the use of the Internet. Here’s another definition of a troll.

We have some of them in our club pretending to be newbies and pose as English learners, but silently insinuating havoc to get the attention of legit members. Our club has banned some of them, but they keep coming back using fake profile pages. Some would befriend you and take advantage of your kindness and generosity then later humiliate, harass or offend you with their nasty remarks. They’re the reasons why other exceptional members chose to delete their accounts here and decided to share their interests elsewhere.

Aside from the aforementioned qualities of a troll, they have the guts to complain in everything though they haven’t proven anything worthy. It’s like they’re expecting a nice salary without performing their duties professionally.

Honestly, I got trolled in the past, but I didn’t make it a big deal. I tried to be tolerant and benevolent and gave them another chance (without reporting them of course). So I moved on but I understood that they didn’t like following the rules. They didn’t realize this is a free membership website. That’s why they meddled with me. Can you live without rules? I don’t think so! When that happens, MyEC wouldn’t exist at all.

Unfortunately, they’re still swarming in numbers especially on chat, that’s why I don’t spend my time there. Blogs and discussions aren’t spared as well even in writing challenges. Seriously? But benevolence has its own limits, too. I promised myself to choose my friends wisely as much as I can.

Despite their trollish behavior, I won’t let them take away my inner peace. They won’t stop me from pursuing my goals and passion in learning and teaching English. I will not let myself to be like them nor oppress my fellow learners. And most importantly, I’ll use my unpleasant experiences as motivation to become a better person and continue to be creative. I don’t have to please everyone. I’ll always remain grateful for the wonderful things I’ve done here and for the people who truly cared. I'll consider each day as an opportunity to be positive and let love as my inspiration. :)

If you think you’re being trolled, don’t hesitate to use the report button. Provide the necessary information for that report, valid reason and use screenshots as proof. But be mindful to using it. Just because you don’t like someone, doesn’t mean you’d report him or her.

Thank you for reading!

Here’s a link on how to identify and deal with trolls.

P.S.

If you’re a troll, don’t waste your time commenting here. It will be deleted.

Ahoj! Here’s a blog about my first attempt of trying Miss Czech Republic’s ‘Babovka’ recipe. Please bear with the delay. I must have been high due to its sweetness. My writing challenge about a traditional dish would end up for nothing if I didn’t at least try any of your recipe entries. Luci’s Czech specialty food caught my attention primarily because I love baking and the ingredients were already available at home. That’s why I decided to bake one for my family last weekend.

It’s really enjoyable to learn something new although I’ve baked different cakes with chocolate in the past. Are you curious how I baked this one? Please continue reading. It’s a golden rule to prepare all the necessary ingredients and utensils prior to baking because it saves time and effort.

For this recipe, I used a 9-inch bundt baking pan because I haven’t gotten a silicone cake form yet. That’s the one she used for her cake. As you can see, my version above wasn’t the same as Luci’s and mine was a bit shorter. Here’s what I did, though. I pre-heated the oven at 160 degrees Celsius then I started beating two eggs and a cup of brown sugar using my whisk. Sometimes, I’d like to do some elbow grease and mix all the ingredients using a spatula throughout the blending process. I modified her recipe and added two large ripe bananas that are slightly mashed to make the cake more delectable. I’d like to see the bits and pieces of those bananas in the cake when I take a bite!

After mashing the bananas with a fork, I added in the egg mixture and combined the remaining wet ingredients (3/4 cup of canola oil, a cup of milk, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract). Then I blended those in with the dry mixture (2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, one teaspoon of baking soda and a half teaspoon of salt). I continued mixing all the ingredients using the folding method until the batter reached the right consistency. Then I got 1/3 of the batter and placed in a separate bowl where I added two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and a teaspoon of purple powder flavoring to make it simply - purplish.

In the pan which I greased with butter (to prevent the batter from sticking to the pan), I transferred the first half of the white/yellow batter, then followed by the chocolate batter and finally the remaining half of the batter. I tapped the pan to remove the air bubbles in the batter. It looked like this.

I also altered the cooking procedure. I baked this cake like the usual way of baking a loaf of banana bread. It’s done after 45 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius (about 320 degrees Fahrenheit). Take note that the baking time varies depending on the type of oven you're using, so make sure to glue your eyes on the cake before the time lapses. In other words, don’t overbake it!

You’d know if the cake is almost done when it’s starting to smell gloriously hi hi. And the cake is completely cooked when you inserted a toothpick and it comes out clean. I let it cool for about fifteen minutes and topped it with confectioner’s sugar. A glaze could be ideal too. Tada!

This was our mid-afternoon snack paired with a cuppa! It’s always best to share it with your loved ones!

If you have an oven at home, I suggest you to try Luci’s Babovka recipe. It’s delish! You’ll definitely love it unless of course you’re allergic to chocolate.  This could be a nice birthday present too.

Do you have a sweet dish you’d like to share here? Perhaps the latest pastries you’ve baked?

Děkuji!  Thank you for reading!

P.S.

This cake is a treat for your continued support and appreciation. I'm also pleased to inform you that this is my 8^th blog for the month of November. This is record-breaking for me! So go on, have a slice of this cake and enjoy your stay on MyEC! Cheers! :)

Squash and Shrimp Cooked in Coconut Milk (Ginataang Kalabasa)

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. -Voltaire

I’m full of the joys of spring to see all of your entries for my first writing challenge about traditional dishes. I never thought that this would be patronized by a lot of members.  This only proves that blogging is essential to most of us to express our thoughts and share our creative ideas for the love of learning English. I believe a topic about food is always interesting because some of us are foodies! Moreover, it must have been a great experience for both of us to reading something valuable about our countries especially food and culture.

Thank you very much for sharing your traditional dishes and your food here! Please bear with me if I wasn’t able to feature all of your writing challenge entries. My moderating powers are very limited when it comes to blogs. But I truly appreciated your time and effort in preparing your dishes, sharing your own photos and ideas and most of all, for supporting other blog entries. Special thanks to all who liked and commented on my blog!

For those who haven’t read what this topic is all about, I’ll leave the challenge open and include the links below of all members who’ve participated in this activity. This also means you can still join us and make us famish with your sumptuous dishes! Looking forward to reading your blog, too!

Kindly follow the instructions here - Writing Challenge: A Traditional Dish

Blog Entries from Around the Globe

1.    Writing Challenge: A Philippine Dish (Chicken Stew with Coconut Milk)

2.    Writing Challenge: An Indian Dish (Biryani)

3.    Writing Challenge: A Pakistani Sweet Dish (Kheer)

4.    Writing Challenge: A Turkish Dish (Kumpir)

5.    Writing Challenge: A Czech Dish (Babovka)

6.    Writing Challenge: Two Simple Recipes from my Cuisine

7.    Writing Challenge: A Traditional Philippine Dessert - Halaya

8.    Writing Challenge: A Not So Traditional Dish from Somewhere

9.    Writing Challenge: An Iranian Dish - Tahchin

10.  Writing Challenge: Indonesian Dishes

See you on my next writing challenge! Cheers to the max and happy blogging! :)

Chicken Stew with Coconut Milk

One of the popular traditional dishes in my country is the Chicken Stew or ‘Ginataang Manok’ in my local language. It’s basically chicken which is chopped in small pieces, and sauted in garlic, onions and ginger then boiled in water. It’s added with lots of ingredients such as raw (green one) papaya, monggo beans and malunggay (moringa) leaves - experts say they are an anti-cancer green-leafy vegetable. The dish wouldn’t be complete without the main ingredient - the coconut milk. It’s the star of the show because it makes the dish more flavorful.

Filipinos have their different ways of cooking it depending which province they live in. Some folks like it spicy and use green chilli pepper. I usually omit it in my recipe and to be honest, I don’t like food with too many hot spices. Some prefer to cook it with lots of salt whereas my taste buds prefer it a bit saltless.

Furthermore, I love pairing it with fried fish. I used boneless milkfish for this menu because it’s not salty compared to other types of sea-water fish such as mackerel and sardines. By the way, we call it ‘Bangus’ here and it’s usually bred in ponds so it’s a fresh-water fish.

It’s challenging to prepare a scrumptious meal for our loved ones, isn’t it? And if they find it sumptuous, you’d be trustworthy for them. Moreover, cooking is oftentimes an exciting and educational activity. With the proliferation of fastfood nowadays, we should think of clever ways to keep preparing a hearty meal. What a terrific activity this is, indeed! And now, it’s time to eat. Happy munching!

How about you? Please join the challenge and keep this activity going. Thank you for reading my blog!

Welcome to my first ever writing challenge! I’ve been a fan of this activity since the day I became a member of our club as well as joined to countless of its versions. Many members have shown their initiative by coming up different topics to join with and improve our writing skills in a fun and engaging ways. It would be unfair as your video moderator if I’m not going to share a slice of my cake with you.

If my memory serves me right, we had this type of challenge before, but that was ages ago. This needs updating so for the benefit of our newbies here, let’s rekindle this activity with enthusiasm as much as possible.

For this writing activity, I’d like to challenge you to share about your country’s traditional dish or a very common food in your region. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Furthermore, the aim of this activity is to practice using adjectives and key words in describing a certain food. Tell us something about it. You may answer these questions- what is it called?/ how is it prepared and what are the ingredients?/ how's it taste and your views about it.  Do you find it appetizing or not and why?

You could write it in a simple way; however, don’t be timid to make it creative. Try to think out of the box. You can write two to three paragraphs or even more. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, we might learn something about them, too. If you have your own photo, please include it to make your blog more appealing. BUT if you couldn’t resist using photos from the Internet, please be respectful and acknowledge the source. This is one of the reasons why writing challenges are made, to inspire us to become responsible bloggers.

So are you up for the challenge? What’s the traditional or common dish in your country? Let’s gather our thoughts and start blogging about it. Kindly share the link of your blog below so we could read and check it. Use the title ‘Writing Challenge: A (your country name in adjective form) Dish’. For example; A Philippines Dish, A French Dish, or A Spanish Dish and so on. I'm looking forward to seeing your participation. 

Here's my writing challenge entry.

You may also like to check out the blogs of traditional dishes posted by the challengers. 

Wishing you the best of luck!

Hello, MyEC Learners!

Here's an infographic that you'll find useful in your writing. I came across this page while I was browsing on Facebook and couldn't resist sharing it. Are you guilty as charged to the following writing mistakes especially on social media? Tell us in the comment section below which one of these writing mistakes you usually (or sometimes) commit. I'm guilty of number 18!

Happy writing!

Source: www.grammarcheck.net

Have you ever missed doing something as if it’s the first time? Okay, I’m not insinuating to talk naughty here. :P What I meant is the idea of performing an activity in its simplest, basic form particularly in learning a language such as English.

This blog has reminded me about our idiom for today. Yes, you’re right! It’s ‘back to basics’! What does this idiom mean? According to Freedictionary.com, ‘back to basics’ means to return to basic instruction; or start the learning process over again.

Example:

• Setareh will get back to basics in teaching her pupils since it’s the opening of the new school year.

Another definition of this expression is to return to the main principles of something.

• It’s back to basics for singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera as she recorded an album that sounded simple, but with classic upbeat melodies thus showcasing her majestic voice.

Since I’ve accomplished a lot of challenging activities, achieved some of my goals, and met plenty of blue-sky thinkers here on MyEC for the last eight years, I believe it would be an interesting idea to try myself to get back to basics in my learning adventures.

I hope you’d understand what I’m trying to explain here considering we were once newbies too. Could you remember the times when we posted our first blog or discussion that we addressed it without any complication? We would write about simple and basic topics until we got too overwhelmed with so many grammar rules and lessons that we’d thought of giving up. Or sometimes we felt as if our English level isn’t improving anymore because we already managed to achieve minor successes.

Maybe we should take things slowly and enjoy the grateful moments one at a time! But let’s be mindful that even though we would aim for simplicity in something, we shouldn’t be complacent and forgetful why we are learning here in the first place because at the end of the day, getting back to basics doesn’t mean sacrificing perfection in anything we do.

How about you? Have you thought of going back to basics in terms of your learning strategies? Share your thoughts on the comment box below, or better yet use our idiom for the day in your example sentence.

Thanks in advance!

Have you heard about Nick lately? ‘Who’s Nick?’ you might ask. Well, did you know that ‘nick’ is not just a name of a person or a pet? This word is actually used in English phrases and expressions.

I’ve heard this term occasionally and thought of blogging about it. So without further ado, here are some common idioms and expressions about ‘nick’.

In good nick

It is a slang which means that something is in good condition especially if it’s old but still looks good. It’s an authentic colloquial British English. (BBC Learning English)

Examples

• We’ve been keeping this old 10-centavo bill as a souvenir for years and it’s in good nick.     (See the photo above)
• Shoba has brought a dozen of antique tea cups in Liverpool and they’re still in good nick.

‘In good nick’ can also be referred to an old person who is still enjoying an active life.

• Academy-award winning actor Kirk Douglas will soon celebrate his 100^th birthday and he’s in good nick.
• Maggie Smith was in good nick when she accepted her best actress award.

In the nick of time

This means at the last possible moment or simply ‘just in time’. (Free Dictionary.com)

• Mary rescued a drowning cat in the nick of time while she was boating on the River Thames.
• Daniel, a Brazilian firefighter, saved the lives of the three cute puppies in the nick of time.

Sometimes though, ‘nick’ has a negative meaning so please be careful when using this term in informal conversations.

Nick as referred to nicotine – a poisonous chemical in cigars.

• You should stop craving for nick! It’s about time to get yourself fit and live a healthy life.
• Nick addiction has been increasing rapidly among the youths.

To nick

A transitive verb which means ‘to steal or get something’.

• Chickie was caught by a salesclerk nicking bars of soap in a beauty shop.
• The servant nicked Cinderella’s glass slippers while she was sleeping.

To nick

Can also mean to arrest someone, usually by the police

• If you don’t stop nicking things, one day you’ll get nicked!
• Officer Batuhan nicked a thug at a nearby hotel.

So there you have it! I hope you’re in good nick and find this blog useful. Remember it’s not a good idea to nick someone’s stuff. Meanwhile, I’d like to challenge you to write your own example sentences using these expressions on the comment box below. Good luck!

Thank you for learning with me!

Do you like learning English expressions?  They are everywhere! Some of you might have noticed that I incorporated some expressions and idioms on my blogs, photos and discussions as part of vocabulary learning practice. Being aware to using them would make our English sound more natural. In addition, native speakers use them in their daily conversations, right? Just be mindful not to use them in academic writing because they are mostly informal. But if you want to learn today’s expression, keep reading this blog.

Blue-sky thinker

A blue-sky thinker is basically a creative person who likes to come up with exciting and authentic ideas. It is usually used in business setting.  This expression is related to a person who is thinking out of the box.

Example:

Estanis is a blue-sky thinker. He has established his bakeshop using his keen knowledge and expertise in pastry making.

Here on MyEC, I’ve seen members who have exemplified their creativity through participating in different activities. A blog like this from Luci, a photo about a masterpiece from Grace and a video from Teacher Vicki are some of the remarkable ones these days. Actually, there are so many members who have shared their passion and interests to highlight their creativity. They are indeed blue-sky thinkers!

Furthermore, a community such as MyEC wouldn’t be patronized by other learners and teachers without the initiative of the creative minds who are working earnestly for the benefit of everyone especially the diligent learners.

So let’s not forget to make a toast to all blue-sky thinkers of our club! Cheers!

Now, it’s your turn! Could you write a sentence using our expression for today? Write it on the comment box below. Thanks!

You may browse this page for more English expressions.

I would like to thank you wholeheartedly my EC friends for all your encouragement and support. Special thanks to Luci for inviting me to take part here. I'm very pleased to participate to this 'real' writing challenge where a lot of members showed their authentic handwriting and creativity. I hope you'd be able to read my letter clearly. Good day! :)

Welcome to our third pronunciation lesson! In my previous blogs we discussed about the monophthongs - the single vowel sounds. In case you haven’t learned them yet, I posted a couple of blogs, merely about the schwa /ə/ and the /iː / sounds. You can still join our pronunciation challenges there!

This time, we’re going to learn about diphthongs. Dip what? Alright, there’s no need to panic just chillax for a bit and let’s learn this term together as simple as possible, shall we? Actually I did some digging about this word online.

What is a diphthong?

Let me quote the meaning of this term that I read from really-learn English website. The word diphthong comes from the Latin word “diphthongus” and the Greek word “diphthongos”, meaning ‘having two sounds’.

In other words, a diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds. There are still slight changes when we make this sound. The /ɪə/ sound is a perfect example of a diphthong. It comprises of the short /ɪ/ (ih) and the schwa /ə/ with a slight /r/ sound at the end. Therefore, it becomes /ɪə/ (with /r/) as in the words ‘ear’ and ‘near’. Other double vowel sounds are /eɪ/, /ʊə/, /aʊ/ and so on. We’ll tackle these sounds in my future blogs, so please hold your horses.

To better understand the /ɪə/ sound, below is a video from the BBC Learning English website. Try to listen attentively and practice pronouncing this sound as much as you can. I’m sure after a few tries, you’ll get used to it. It’s perfectly fine to laugh at yourself while doing this sound.

Please take note in some American dictionaries such as Oxford and Merriam-Webster, they use the /ɪr/ symbol for the /ɪə/ sound. They’re basically the same.

Pronunciation Challenge

Now that you’ve understood the lesson, would you dare to take part in our pronunciation challenges? Check out our interactive phonemic chart as your guide for all IPA sounds. You could also record the following words and sentence if you like. The letters in bold indicate the stress for the /ɪə/ sound.

cashmere       near     pier      Zaire

The Scottish woman left her cashmere near the pier of Zaire.

IPA Challenge

Can you translate the following pronunciation words into standard English words? Write your answers on the comment box below. Numbers 7 and 8 are a bonus!

Example : /hɪə(r)/ hear

1. /ˌʃændəˈlɪə(r)/
2. /klɪə(r)/
3. /ˈsætaɪə(r)/
4. /ˌəʊvə(r)ˈhɪə(r)/
5. /tɪə(r)/
6. /ˈtɪə.ri/
7. /ˈkæʃˌmɪə(r)/
8. /zaɪˈ ɪər/

How did you do? I hope you didn’t find this a weary lesson. I’m looking forward to your participation. Good luck!

The boy built the castle bit by bit using just sand, water and a plastic bucket.

Have you ever heard the word ‘binomials’? Most of you would probably refer it as a mathematical expression. But since we’re learning English, let’s tackle this topic as part of vocabulary.

BBC Learning English defined binomials as short English phrases made up of two words together. The two words are joined by ‘and’ such as ‘cheap and cheerful’ or with ‘by’ like ‘bit by bit’ and ‘piece by piece’. Here is another definition of binomials.

Binomials are always fixed. We can’t use the words interchangeably. So we can’t say cheerful and cheap. Using them correctly would make our spoken (and written) English sound more natural. You might have noticed they are common in everyday speech. English TV shows and movies have plenty of binomials.

Now, let’s learn some common binomials. I included my own example sentences. You can make your own sentences too!

cheap and cheerful – it means that something doesn’t cost much, but it’s effective and useful. This is a positive phrase.

• Our kitchen has full of cheap and cheerful products that are useful not only for cooking, but for cleaning the sink. Vinegar is best for removing stubborn stains because it has an acidic content.

cheap and nasty – is the opposite of cheap and cheerful. It is something that has a poor quality. Cheap and nasty stuff are usually fake products such as gadgets and jewelries.

• Some people preferred using cheap and nasty things to save money, only ended up spending more.

sick and tired- means fed up, bored and angry

• I’m sick and tired of your whining. Stop being such a drama queen!

short and sweet - means simple, quick and useful

• President Duterte delivered his short and sweet speech about the war on drugs.

bit by bit – use to describe slow change

• The boy built the castle bit by bit using just sand, water and a plastic bucket.

• Jarvis assembled the gigantic puzzle bit by bit.

slowly but surely – happening or doing something in a slow and gradual way but achieving define results

• The thieves unlocked the vault slowly but surely and seized all the gold bars.

There you have it!

Do you have any other binomials that you’d like to share? It would be a brilliant idea to write them on the comments below for the benefit of all members. You could also challenge yourselves using the binomials I’ve mentioned above by writing your own sentences.

Thank you for learning with me!

Sources:

BBC Learning English

Macmillan Dictionary

Junco is from Japan and she’s our photo moderator. She has shared her time modding the photo gallery while coming up with remarkable photo challenges.

Junco was already my friend on MyEC even before we became moderators more than four years ago. She, together with her fellow photo moderator, Grace supported and took cover for me in modding the video gallery while I was MIA as well as during the times when I was in a difficult situation logging in here.

I was trying to message her last night, but I found out her profile page wasn’t active anymore. She might have deleted it or preferred to be inactive for the meantime just like what some of our friends have done before. I would assume she has resigned from her post as our photo moderator and I have no idea if she’ll make a comeback. In any case, I don’t have other means to personally send my wishes, so I came up with this blog.

Alrighty, I’ll make my message short and sweet because I don’t wanna sound too cheesy. Here it goes…

Dear Junco,

I hope everything is fine with you wherever you may be. I couldn’t thank you enough for being such a kind-hearted, supportive, and understanding lady and co-moderator. I truly appreciated your time and effort for approving and featuring my photos, and most importantly for your encouraging comments you left on my blogs, photos and videos.

We live in a small world, who knows we might meet each other in real life while you’re enjoying your vacation in my country again, or perhaps when I have a chance to visit Tokyo in the future. May you find true happiness and success in your new career and remain an inspiration to others. Ta-ta for now…

My heartfelt regards,

Robbie

Since I received a lot of encouraging comments about a grammar topic in one of my blogs a few months ago, I couldn’t help myself sharing with you another lesson that’d be useful in your writing.

Alright, what comes to your mind when you hear a grammatical term such as an appositive? Do you have any idea?

Let’s define this word and understand its purpose. Actually, this could be a bit confusing if I reiterate this lesson in full details. But for the sake of other members with beginner level in English, let’s tackle this topic as simple as possible, shall we?

What is an appositive?

An appositive is basically a word or group of words that ‘renames’ another word. It can be a noun, a noun phrase, or even an adjective phrase. It can give additional information about that noun. Moreover, appositive is usually placed right after a noun it renames.

Let’s have some example sentences so you could better understand this topic. The appositives are highlighted in bold.

• Mary, a cat lover, enjoys sipping her favorite wine at the end of a stressful day. 

• Mayumi, a teetotaler, loves to cook homemade meals for her friends than drinking alcohol in pubs.

• Estanis, a bakeshop mogul, enthusiastically prepares delectable and sweet pastries for his children.

• Adaline, a thoughtful lady, spends her time making creative artworks for MyEC.

• Peppo, a sweet-voiced gal, challenges herself to improve her speaking skills by joining Robbie’s pronunciation and IPA lessons.

Have you noticed I used a comma after a noun and after an appositive in each sentence? Commas are quite important, so don’t forget to include them when you’re writing appositives in your sentences. You can even use brackets [ ] or dashes (- -) as alternatives, but commas are more commonly used in written texts. In speaking though, commas provide a dramatic effect and usually noticeable as pauses.

Here are some more examples;

• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - the highest elected official of Japan – appeared in a giant tube wearing a Super Mario costume and has captured the interests of many people at the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics.

• Megan Young [the first Filipina who won the Miss World title] is making waves in showbiz industry.

Furthermore, we can use a relative clause  ‘who or which + an adjective clause’ as an appositive for an additional information.

• Michael Phelps, who is the record holder of most number of Olympic gold medals, has become an inspiration to many young swimmers around the world.

But if we think the appositive is unimportant, we can omit it and the sentence can still express a complete thought.

• Taylor Swift, who is being scrutinized by netizens for dating actor Tom Hiddleston, has donated $1 million to Louisiana flood victims.

So the sentence could be rewritten as…

• Taylor Swift has donated $1 million to Louisiana flood victims.

So there you have it, fellow learners! I wholeheartedly believe that this lesson would somehow give you extra ideas in terms of learning grammar. Most importantly, using appositive would make our writings exciting because it challenges us to use different words and phrases and that’s vocabulary variety practice!

Have you understood the lesson? Now it’s your turn. Can you write some sentences using appositives? Write them down on the comment box below. Thanks!

Note: The title of my blog has nothing to do with appositives. I just made it up for effect as usual. :)

The Long i Sound /i:/

Welcome to our second pronunciation lesson!  Can you remember what we discussed a few days ago?  In my previous blog, we learned about the short vowel sound called - the schwa /ə/, pronounced ‘ah’ or ‘a’. This is the most important sound in English. If you haven’t read my blog yet, please check out here.

This time, I’d like to share with you some information about another vowel sound – the long i sound pronounced /i:/(ee). It’s also a part of the monophthong which means a single vowel sound. You can watch a video below from the BBC Learning English showing how to pronounce the /i:/ sound. Listen closely and keep playing the video until it becomes easier for you to pronounce it. Actually, it’s ‘a piece of cake’ to imitate it!

If you’ve been using a variety of dictionaries, you would notice different symbols for the long i sound /i:/ . Don’t get confused if you see this symbol /i/ because this is a short vowel /ɪ/ sound as in ‘ih’ for insist, tip and kit. This symbol is usually found in American dictionary such as Merriam-Webster.

Since we’re learning British English here, we’ll use this /i:/ symbol for the long i vowel sound as in ‘easy’ /ˈiːzi/ and ‘sheep’ /ʃiːp/. Got it?

Pronunciation Challenge

Now let’s proceed to the pronunciation challenge. You may record these words and sentence if you want to. The letters in bold indicate the stress for the /i:/ sound.

Chilean   seized    cheesecake   easily.

The Chilean boy seized the cheesecake easily.

IPA Challenge

Can you translate the following pronunciation information into standard English words? Write your answers on the comment box below.

Example :   /ˌiː zi ˈ piː zi/ easy-peasy

1. /ːːiː θiː ˈ əʊpiː ːə/
2. /biː tʃ/
3. /ˈfrːiː dəm/
4. /ˈ pːiː ənɪst/
5. /tʌkˈ siː dəʊ/
6. /ˌ siː ːniˈ ɒrəti/
7. /ˈ biːˌ haɪv/
8. /ˈ wiː lˌ bærəʊ/
9. /ˈ æθliː ːt/
10.  /ˌ skɪtsəʊˈfrːiː niə/

How’s the lesson? Have you found this easy to remember? I hope you would be able to perfect this one. I’m looking forward to your participation. Believe that you can do this! Good luck! :)

The Schwa /ə/

Welcome to our very first pronunciation lesson! If your goal is to enhance your accent and pronunciation skills, do join the activity. And if you’re brave enough, you can record your own voice pronouncing the schwa sound in our pronunciation challenge below. You can use Audioboom or any recording apps and you can upload your recording on the comment box.

Now, the schwa is a short vowel sound. Please watch the video below from Ms. Alex of BBC Learning English and imitate how she pronounced the schwa vowel sound. Do it at least 10 times or until you’ve mastered it. The schwa has a slight similarity to another vowel sound - /ʌ/.  You’d be familiar with both of the vowels as we continue the lesson in my future discussions, but for the meantime let’s focus on the Schwa /ə/ sound.

Always remember that the schwa is the most common and important sound in English and we can hear it in a lot of words. In addition, since we’re on Englishclub, we’re going to use the IPA symbols in British accent, but we could compare it with American English.

Are you ready for some pronunciation challenge? Can you say these words and the sentence stressing the schwa sound? You may record these words if you like and share it here!

Teacher  beautiful  understanding 

The teacher is beautiful and understanding.

Now here’s an IPA Challenge.

Could you provide the answers on the following words? Write your answers on the comment box below.

Example:   /vəʊˈkæbjʊləri/  -  Vocabulary

1. /ˌkriːeɪˈtɪvəti/
2. /ˌɪnfə(r)ˈmeɪʃ(ə)n/
3. /ˈsɪnəmə/
4. /ˈfæm(ə)li/
5. /ˈsɪləb(ə)l/
6. /kəmˈpjuːtə(r)/
7. /ˌɒpə(r)ˈtjuːnəti/
8. /ˈɔːtəm/
9. /əˈblaɪdʒ/
10. /ˈhæpinəs/

I’m looking forward to your participation. Can you think of other words that have schwa sound in it?

Wishing you the best of luck! :)

Can you guess what the title of my blog is? If it's the first time you've seen this kind of post, you'd probably raise your eyebrows or freak out. Fret not! I'm just using the International Phonetic Alphabet or the IPA symbols.

If you've been learning English for years, you would mostly encounter these symbols many times especially in online dictionaries such as Macmillan.

The IPA is used as a guide to fully understand how a word is being spoken. It's somewhat like a code in unlocking a treasure box. Well in this case, your treasure is your ability to say it correctly. Now that's wisdom! Also, the IPA symbols are very essential in learning proper pronunciation of the English words. If you haven't heard of these symbols yet, you can check out the MyEC Interactive Phonemic Chart. Take the time to practice pronouncing each symbol every time you study English pronunciation.

On the other hand, the BBC Learning English website has produced lots of pronunciation videos for us to watch and emulate with. Check out its video clips here. You'll definitely find it useful.

We all know that the English language has hundreds, or even thousands of confusing words due to the influence of other foreign languages such as German, Greek, French and Latin. In addition, the vowel sounds comprise of 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs whereas in other languages they only have five. This makes it even difficult especially to those starting to learn the language.

Moreover, the English alphabet comprises of 26 letters, but it has 44 sounds in spoken English. Wow! Indeed, it's quite challenging to learn them all easily, isn't it? The good thing is that there are online resources to practice it with such as the IPA device as well as video clips straight from the native English teachers themselves via YouTube or Vimeo.

Take note that there are some differences between American and British pronunciation. One particular example is the word 'tomato'. Americans tend to pronounce it with a long 'a = ey' sound as in 'tomeytow' or /təˈmeɪtoʊ/, whereas Brits say it slightly longer 'a = ah' sound, 'tomahtow' or /təˈmɑːtəʊ/. Make sure to be aware of those dissimilarities as you carry on with your learning techniques.

Here's my tough tip! Whenever you watch an English TV program or read a news article, jot down unfamiliar words or phrases and search their meaning using online dictionaries. Pay attention to how those words are pronounced. Practice using them in your own sentences and read them out loud. It's much better if you record them so you can compare them to those native speakers on the dictionary recording. That way you can spot your weaknesses and improve your accent and over-all pronunciation.

I'm strongly believed that learning the IPA and phonemes can be an effective strategy for us to be familiar with the sounds of the English words and phrases. Pronouncing the words correctly can minimize language barriers and be understood more when communicating with other speakers. Who would want to be embarrassed when we say the word incorrectly? :)

IPA Challenge
Could you provide the correct answers to some common mispronounced words below?

Example: /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ - English

1.  /ˈtʃɒklət/

2.  /læm/

3.  /prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃ(ə)n/

4.  /ˈrest(ə)rɒnt/

5.  /ˈæsmə/

6.  /ˈlepə(r)d/

7.  /flaʊə(r)/

8.  /bəʊ/

9.  /ˈkʊʃ(ə)n/

10.  /ˈɡræmə(r)/

What other words you find difficult to pronounce? Share your answers on the comments below.

Now, let's wolf on that wedge of chocolate cake above to power up our brains, shall we?

Thank you for reading! /θæŋkjʊ fɔːˈriːdɪŋ/

Have you tried using YouGlish yet? YouGlish is an online site which simply means YouTube English. This is one of YouTube's features for people who want to practice and learn English through its videos.

I hope YouGlish would become a common eponym to many English learners and teachers in the future. Its site is very much user friendly. If you want to search a word, a phrase or a sentence, just type it down in the search (Say It!) button and it will show the videos and how words or phrases are spoken by native English speakers.

Let's talk about YouGlish's advantages. Firstly, if you are a visual learner like myself, this site may be ideal for you to improve your English language skills. Since it plays a lot of related videos about the words you're searching, it would enhance your vocabulary and get familiar with pronunciation.

Secondly, YouGlish has a variety of accents you can choose from such as American, British and Australian English. You just have to type a word and select which accent you like and it will give you plenty of videos all queued up using that word.

Lastly, YouGlish provides transcripts with clickable words which give definitions to each word as well as additional information about that word. Please take note that not all words or phrases have available meanings and example sentences. But it's not a big deal, right? I bet we can always find ways to google or look them up on other search engines, can't we?

Unfortunately, its disadvantage is that YouTube isn't available to some countries. But if it is accessible in your country, would you continue to take advantage its purpose?

Finally, in my opinion, YouGlish is a work in progress. I would rather think about its usefulness to English learners and what it could bring to those diligent seekers than be dismayed if we can't find what we're looking for there. It's all up to us how we can help ourselves improve our English with the unlimited resources on the Internet.

If learning English is a part of your lifelong goal, make a habit of incorporating English in your daily routine. I'm sure you'll never go wrong.

Thank you for reading this and keep learning!

Vocab Challenge: What word or phrase have you learned on YouGlish? Coud you write an example sentence on the comment section, please?

Have you been in a situation where your skills and creativity were underappreciated? Or have you ever been mocked because of your race, religion, and physical qualities? If so, please take a few minutes to read my writing.

Life is unfair. If it isn't, then there's no discrimination or hatred. Bill Gates even mentioned it in one of his speeches. In the real world and on the Internet, you'll meet lots of people who are boastful, ruthless, and self-absorbed. They're everywhere! They love to steal your rainbow. They also spread rumors to upset you and to make themselves superior. Maybe gossiping is their hobby?

Of course, anything negative or hurtful criticism that's been thrown at you would ruin your day, right? It's quite a challenge to overcome them without leaving a scar in your heart. But how would you deal with them? Well, allow me to share with you my perspective about this topic.

Firstly, you should live with it. It doesn't mean you don't have the choice to turn an upsetting situation into a positive one. Try to look at the brighter side! For example, if someone isn't appreciative of your contribution to the group, keep doing the nice job. Other people would eventually notice it when you least expect it. You may get used to it as time passes by.

Secondly, accept the fact you can't please everyone. People have their own preferences, it becomes personal when they are overshadowed by your good deeds and sincerity. Don't let their green-eyed monsters (jealousy) eat you. If he or she is your friend, have an honest talk to resolve the matter. But if it's just a nasty remark from someone you don't know, don't sweat it!

Thirdly, please understand that you can't change their opinion or character unless if you're a politician. :p Perhaps they're in a pickle or in a bad mood and would try to bring you down as well. Treat it as a water off a duck's back (Don't let criticisms affect you)!

Lastly, kill them with your kindness. I don't literally mean to end their lives. You should face criticism with calmness. Showing them kindness means you're being more understanding and open-minded about the situation. Haters really like to hate especially if you let them see how vulnerable you are to their trap. But if you show them how free-spirited you are, they would probably die in their own mockery and lurk in self-pity.

Moreover, surround yourself with positive thinkers or spend a quality time with your family and true friends. Enjoy the moment to find solace. You must not blame or hurt yourself because of offensive remarks and nasty jokes about you. Essentially if you have your faith, friends and family to support and encourage you to move forward, it'd be blissful.

If all your effort seem useless, don't forget to pray for them so that their minds would be free from the toxins of negativity that clouded their judgement.

To sum it up: It isn't easy dealing with difficult people who are full of themselves, jealous, boastful and insecure. Try to understand the situation, but don't let its negativity affects you emotionally. Surround yourself with people who really appreciate and respect you regardless of your flaws. Seize the day and make it meaningful to others. Most importantly, kill them with your kindness. In the end, it's
you that matters, not them! So walk graciously with your lovely smile...

Take note this is my opinion based on my personal experiences. Hopefully this would be useful to you! If you have other ideas or solution about this topic, feel free to share it. Your kind words could uplift someone in misery.

One last question: If haters threw bricks at you, would you catch them to build a castle? Why?

It's a fabulous sunny Sunday, but Minion Bob's been tirelessly looking for his brothers, Kevin and Stuart. "I wonder where could they be?". He started climbing from one tree after the other, but he failed to find them. He saw those tangy but scrumptious blueberries scattered on the ground and began wolfing them down. "Delish!" After a few minutes, he's stuffed!

While he's cleaning himself, he noticed a thick smoke billowing at the corner of a nearby cave. The smoke engulfed the entire island in no time. "What the heck! It smells awful, eh!". He saw a group of people burning those piles of garbage and dead trees.

Bob ran quickly away from the fumes before he could get choked to death. He's quite furious and disappointed the way those blokes had acted on the matter. "I wish I could burn their heads to a toast", he murmured angrily. He could still vividly remember the fateful day of the previous planet he'd been to. "Planet Booboo, oh it disappeared as it was swallowed by a fireball- a zero matter that's responsible for wiping out the planet's entire population". "Luckily, my kin and I were able to escape ahead of time". It is believed severe pollution and global warming have caused its disappearance.

Could pollution be the reason why this earth is getting warmer? There's too much air pollution nowadays because of fumes emitted by vehicles; smoking, garbage-burning and factory wastes. Does living here on earth becoming unbearable? Furthermore, Bob understood that air pollution is one of the leading causes of respiratory diseases such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, and the dreadful - lung cancer which affect hundreds of millions of people around the globe.

Bob felt sleepy so he lied down on a hammock and when he woke up, the sky had turned dark blue. "I think it's going to rain any moment now", he predicted. The poor minion hid in a vacant nipa hut and started figuring out how on earth he could find his bros. He got startled by a thunderstorm. "What a weird weather!". "Why it's becoming changeable?", he asked himself. The downpour lasted for hours.

He couldn't go out and search for his kin because there's flood everywhere. "Is this the effect of climate change?". He also couldn't help thinking of possible scenarios that might happen in the future. "What would happen to humans if the atmosphere becomes totally polluted in the future?". "Could you imagine buying a tank of clean air for your own crib?"."Oh, how about if earth is filled with water". Seventy percent of the earth is composed of water, right?". He realized mother nature will continue to evolve for thousands of years, but all living creatures might struggle to live with its natural disasters. Earth will keep on going unless it disappears too.

"It's no fun hanging out here anymore". "Shall I look for a better place again?", he quietly whispered. "I hope it's never too late for people to change its nasty ways of treating nature for the sake of the next generation".

"I'm feeling potty thinking all of these things now". "I'm also itching to see my bros and continue the real adventure that I'm wishing for". It's getting late and Bob was really tired. Moreover, the floods haven't subsided yet. He went back to his hammock and tried to get more sleep.

Too bad he didn't notice Stuart was waving at him across the river. When would they finally meet up? Stay tuned...

Note: This blog is purely fictional. I made the story up for English writing purposes only, and has nothing to do with the actual minion stories. All rights reserved to the minion toys I've used on my blogs.

Here are the other links in case you haven't read the other minion blog adventures;

A Minion's Story

Stuart's Halloween