bph~EAL Online Classes

I've been teaching online since 2005 through ONLINEesl.

www.MyEnglishOnline.ca

I am an e-tutor with myEnglishOnline.

 I have students I teach through SKYPE and Google+.



 After earning an M.Sc. I obtained my

Lately I have begun coaching prospective immigrants to Canada, and foreigners on work permits so they can achieve their CELPIP rating and apply for permanent residence status.  This is similar to IELTS and TOEFL testing. It is a new requirement in the Canadian immigration system.

 Of course, I do offline work, like journal editing, memo proofing, audio transcription, and essay/thesis proof reading.

And I do teach in my community - I live in Manitoba Canada and there are lots if immigrants here who welcome support with their English.


If you would like one-on-one 50-minute lessons, through Skype, Google+ (or possibly another utility of  your choice), contact me - nellymills@gmail.com - and we can see if I have room on my schedule.  It will depend on your timezone, and my current schedule.

Before you book lessons, send me an email.  nellymills@gmail.com
You can reserve classes in batches of four classes (one or two per week).  If that goes well, you can reserve larger batches of classes, up to 5 weeks in advance.

If you want to leave a comment here, I will reply.

Welcome to bph~EAL.  Keep coming back to hear from my students and see some of our collaborations, in class.

  ~~nel

Extended Off-line Services - Editing, Proofreading, and more.

Nancy - nellymills@gmail.com

Hello to my many former students.

I have taught at onlineESL for many years.  I first met Mr. Paul Lee in 2005 and came on board in 2006 with his unique service.  I have since moved on to independent service, but remain proud to have been one of his teachers.

For several years, I have offered my services exclusively as -bph~EAL  and recently brought a second teacher on board.  Naomi.

I have moved through many online video platforms and invite learners to select the platform that works best for them, whether they use a phone, a tablet, or a PC.  I have had successful sessions with learners using apple, windows, and linux through any number of browser and app options.

Over the years I have become known for a few specialties:

• 
  Offline Editing Services:  Professional Journal Articles, Graduate Theses, Corporate Presentations, Technical Manuals, Creative writing projects, and more. 

• Scientific Journal Editing:  In 2014, I aligned myself with Crimson~Enago, a global Scientific Journal Editing service, as a freelancer.  I do the first round edit on complex scientific works by non-English speaking scholars, and then my work is verified by enago's in-house editors.  What an amazing service they offer, and it is so nice to be able to contribute as a team member.

www.enago.com

• Professional Meeting Dynamics: Tips for conference calls and face to face meetings with native English speakers.

• Active Listening Practice:  Telephone speaking and listening through audio clips.

• Advanced Grammar Discussion: Most of my students have studied so much English grammar that all they want is conversation and correction.  But, sometimes, it is time for a reminder - and it can be not just interesting, but fascinating, when you see it from a different perspective.

• Interview Preparation: I am very good with scenarios.  Nowadays, most interviews are conducted online and the sense of relaxation and rapport is just as important as having the correct answer. I can get you there, whether it is an entrance interview or a job interview.

So how does it work?  

How can you find me?

You can just send me an email.  nellymills @ gmail.com  If you  have some editing, or interview preparation, or writing style evaluation, or just want to brush up on your fluency, I can fit you in.

If the work is mostly offline, we can come to an agreement and a schedule.  I will meet your deadlines.

If you want a few classes, it is not very expensive.  All you need is to find me on skype (annellamills) or google+ (gmail account) and we can start from there.

I find PayPal to be the easiest for me.  But it is very important that you contact me by email before you pay.  nellymills @ gmail.com

My service is very flexible for the working professional.  And, you have already met me, so you know I can do the job.  Good luck in your ventures, and enjoy browsing here where NellySez.

The Word Collector

When you reach an intermediate or low-advanced level of fluency, Native English Speakers understand you easily, and gradually, every-day conversation becomes a pleasure.  You feel more confident, and generally, happier.

Then, when it is time to relax, you sit down with some tea in a cozy corner and open a pocket book, to read, just for pleasure, and it does not take long before that happiness turns to annoyance.

In spoken English, we use ordinary words.  We don't use snobbish academic words, or complicated multi-syllable terminology.  But in written English, we often come across words that are seldom used during conversation.  These HALT us.  We get bogged down with reading, and what was supposed to be pleasure suddenly became annoying.  We give up.

The solution is to change our attitude.  Make lexus-building (vocabulary-building) into a game.  Find yourself a small, durable notebook.  One you can carry anywhere.  You can use your smart phone, but I recommend a note book because, then it is associated with a quiet and peaceful time, away from the back-lit technology of our time.  In this  book, you will begin to "COLLECT" words.  You will write them by-hand, with a nice pen or pencil.  You will NOT write a definition.  Possibly, the day  you write it, you will look for the definition, but do not write it in your notebook.  If you forget this word, and it gets written into your booklet again, a few months later, that is okay.  Even putting it in a third time will be fine.  But in the future, in a few years, you will look back to the earliest pages in your book with wonder, as you see words that are now easily included in your writing and speaking.  These will have become words that no longer cause you to HALT when you are reading for pleasure.  You can share this booklet with family and friends in the future to show them that they too can improve, and have some fun doing so.  Begin today - become a word collector.


Double Click on these images if you feel like doing an advanced vocabulary exercise.  The exercise is adapted from Painless Vocabulary by Michael Greenberg

#decolonize #idleNoMore

Some of my students will never live in Canada, but they use English globally, often through their work or travel.

Other students I have are new to Canada.

This winter there has been an important citizen movement that started in Canada, called #IdleNoMore.  (I use the # [hashtag] in front of Idle No More because communication between citizens who have adopted this movement is mostly through social media - like facebook and twitter.)

I am the descendent of settlers.  My ancestors in Canada, in the mid-1800's believed the propaganda that native Canadians were savages.  My ancestors put coins in the church collection plate to pay for the kidnapping of native children to attend residential schools, far from their parents.  It was an attempt at cultural genocide. My own children know the truth.  The cycle of racism has been broken in my family.  We walk together, on Turtle Island.

The original native citizens of Turtle Island (also know as North America) have suffered 500 years of colonial atrocities and #idleNoMore was the movement that thrust the truth of these issues into the minds and eyes of Canadians.  Not all agree.  But immigrants and folks living abroad can not really understand how racism and cultural genocide could still be happening in a "nice" country like Canada.

Education is the key.  The horror stories about these atrocities are many.  The good news is that truth is finally entering the school systems.  The people who are Colonialism Deniers (think Holocaust Deniers) are becoming fewer, and can not justify their racist beliefs.  They are becoming marginalized, like racists, pedophiles, criminals, and sexists.  We have no room for such low-brow attiududes in our communities. I, for one, am speaking out.

Many of my students like to talk about Canada, and I like to share the truth about our First Nations people.  We are fortunate to live among such rich cultural heritage.  It is the ONLY thing that is truly Canadian.

Here is a map, showing the original, pre-colonial ranges of the First Nations of North America.

Rolling Rolling Rolling

Never fear. It is possible to pronounce the “L’s” and the “R’s”. Sometimes, learners throw up their arms and say, “I just can’t do it! I have a short tongue!”
Well, I have to thank those students for giving me the long-tongue, short-tongue image. I have put some thought into this. The tongue is largely muscle and can be trained to make different shapes (to some extent). Welcome to the mini Olympics of the tongue.

Practice this: Hold your tongue in the middle of your mouth for sixty seconds, without touching any of:
- your teeth
- your cheeks
- the roof or your mouth
- the surface beneath your tongue.

Try to make some different facial expressions during this sixty second period:
- smile
- make a surprised look
- pretend you are sleeping
- pout

Finally, try to move your tongue around within this limited space. up and down. side to side. diagonally. make circles. Don't touch the sides!!!! or the TOP or the bottom or the TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH.

Do it to music. It makes you feel less silly!! Humm while doing it. Do this sixty second exercise twice a day. (or more frequently.) Now you feel the power of the tongue. In order to feel the difference between the “L” and the “R”, you have to be aware of the inside of your mouth.
The tongue position for “R” is pretty easy. The 2 sides of the tongue, toward the back of the mouth, touch the upper teeth, or gums. Make sure the front of the tongue is not touching anything. Make the vowel sound: her gurr her gurr her gurr. Notice, it is pretty hard to make the other vowel sound sounds, like: high hate cone. This is because, the “R” goes with the soft “e” and “u” vowels, usually.
The tongue position for “L” is also easy. This time the tip of the tongue touches the front upper teeth. Make sure the sides of the tongue are not touching anything. Make the vowel sound: hill heel hill heel hill heel. Notice that the sides of your tongue do not touch the sides of your mouth. Also notice, that unlike with the “R”, the tongue has to move off the teeth between words.

FACT: It is difficult for many non-native English speakers to actually hear the difference in their own ears. So get used to feeling the the difference instead. Eventually, as your fluency improves, you too, will begin to hear it.

Original Art Moves Me

I collect art.  I am not really particular about whether an artist is famous.  I like to own a painting by an artist I know, or have met.  And then, of course, I will choose a piece of art that pleases me.

I have lots of walls in my house begging for art.

Because I work online, I get to see countless images of original art.  I even collect some of these images in an album on my facebook.  Sometimes I will save an image of a painting as my desktop, so I get to see it every day, when I am working.

I found this painting and I really liked it, right away.  I don't own it, it is just a digital image of a painting, and honestly, I don't even know who the artist is.  The thing I like best about this painting is her legs.  They are bright and in the light.  I don't really know where the light is, but I think it is below her.

If  you want to practice writing sentences, write your answers to the questions, beside the painting in the comments box and I will gladly edit your sentences right here, in bph~ESL.  

It's free practice.  And it is fun.

  ~~nel

My Passions

Last post, I mentioned that Language Functions were my passion! Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but when you are using English, knowing the language function you want to achieve can really help you with your accuracy. This is especially true when you use modal auxiliary verbs. Some verbs that describe a language function are: report, blame, insist, plead, describe, apologize, inquire, ridicule, support, warn, predict, explain, ... and there are many more. Understanding the differences will help you to customize your phrases. Try the poll to see if you can differentiate a few language functions.

Now, back to my passions! CURLING! Canada's favourite winter sport! That is my winter passion. Last month I attended the Canadian Women's Curling Championship and my favorite team won! I was so thrilled, and so were the curlers on the team. The skip, Jennifer Jones, was really excited and her excitement was captured on national television. After jumping for joy and hugging her team mates, she did a little twirl around in a circle.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vRzXLVboL5A Take a look at (and a listen to) this YouTube post. It shows that last few shots of the championship game (CBC Feb 24/08). (Clip Length - 4:46) After the the final shot, Jennifer does a little twirl. (You can advance the clip to 3:20 if you don't want to watch the final shots of the game).

What was she doing? Why did she twirl around like that? Make some guesses. Submit your ideas about why Jennifer twirled around in front of the camera. Language function: guessing, speculating, prediction, imagining. Use words that suit these language functions.

Also, if you have any questions about this exciting game, post those. I will edit your question format and answer your questions! I love curling! (Check out Lee Ji-ho's picture at the bottom of the BlogSpot.)
Thanks for reading. Please post and participate!
Nel

The First Poll

On the first ESL poll, voters chose "International English" and "Common Speaking Errors" as the two most important topics for discussion.

International English is the language spoken when a conversation is not possible in either persons' first language. It is different from the many native English dialects spoken around the world. Any English speaker can use and understand International English. However, two native English speakers in conversation will use more blended speech, local phrases and will often speak much more quickly than speakers of International English.

So far, my students have been Korean, German, French, Russian, and Hebrew speakers. The most common speaking error is the 3rd Person Singular Verb. It has an "S"! Even my advanced students forget that "S" sometimes. The next most common speaking error is misplaced determiners, particularly the articles: a, an, and the. Usually my students simply omit these. The meaning is still clear, but to an English speaking person, this is an obvious error.

One common bad habit that some of my students have is to find a "favorite" modal auxiliary verb and over-use it; most commonly, "should" and "must". In spoken English, "have to" and "have/has got to "<<'ve gotta, 's gotta >> are semi-modals that are used extremely often. These two semi-modal auxiliary verbs are less formal and not as strong. They are used for every day obligations. "I've gotta pick up some potatoes before I get home." "Fred has to clean up his act."

Next post - Language Functions... my passion.

All My Students

This is actually a funny title for this post because in Canada (and probably in the States too) there is a soap opera called All My Children. Now, I've never been a fan of soap operas but I am a fan of EAL, or ESL, or or EAP and this weBLOG is for you, my students.

I have taught EAL (I prefer to call my subject area English as an Additional Language) for a few years, both online, and in a classroom setting. I prefer the online environment. There are many benefits and advantages to learning online.... for starters, LESS PAPER!!!

I strive to be green and sensible in my life. I look forward to writing here in this weBLOG (from now on I'll just call it my BLOG) and seeing you here.

If I assign a reading, you can come here to read it. Posting is always optional here, but please create your own BLOG so that I can read your homework there, instead of having mountains of emails on different computers and servers. Let's keep it all together, here!

See you in class.
Nancy