Charm English

In today's upper-intermediate speaking class, we will be talking about disappointment, resilience, and unmet expectations. I have spots available in the small group classes today and throughout March! Sign up at https://charmenglish.app/

This year we started a book club with B1 English students! Right now we are reading the book, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. So far it's been such an enriching experience. The book is quite complex for the B1 level but still possible! The key is that we meet and discuss what happened in the section that we read to make sure everyone is on the same page. Another interesting tidbit: Students have said that the chapter is easier to understand when they both listen to the audiobook and read the text at the same time, because the audio has clues to better understand the ideas (tone, pauses, rising and falling intonation, etc.) I'm excited to see where the next meetings take us 😊

Here’s a resource that English teachers can use in class, and that learners can use at home to sharpen their listening skills. Connected speech in fast audio clips can feel intimidating, but practicing with short fragments is essential, because this is exactly what listeners encounter in real-life English. It's called "Catch the sound" inspired by the work of Michael Grinberg. https://lnkd.in/dXM2DJah

It's so important to teach students about intonation! This is the rhythm that we use when we speak. It's how we can express confidence or subtle uncertainty. It helps us tell dramatic and engaging stories that draw people in instantly. Many English learners are just focused on the content of what they're saying--the words themselves. But I find that intonation is key for being understood AND building confidence as a speaker, allowing us to reclaim our personalities in the language we are learning. It can be hard to really understand all of the ins and outs of intonation at first, so try to find a friendly starting place. One simple concept that we can use to be more conscious of delivery is the dramatic pause. This is a great thing to add into a past-tense speaking class to switch up the focus from just verb conjugation. See the example below! #englishteaching #learnenglish #confidence #lessonplan #englishteacher

The spooky story contest has come to an end! Thank you SO MUCH for your participation in the contest, I loved reading your stories! Congrats to the winners! -a mystery story (honorable mention) by Akko -My first night by myself at home (second place) by Joao -Always here for you (first place) by Almir I read their stories in this video, be sure to check it out! https://lnkd.in/eCz7cxVT #creativewriting #writingcontest #englishteacher #teachenglish #esl

Today we had some intonation practice in a private coaching session! Intonation is the melody of speech, the rise and fall of pitch when you talk. I find this to be an incredibly important topic to teach for several reasons. First, a natural speaking rhythm helps phrases roll off the tongue more smoothly. Sometimes as a learner, simply imitating the rhythm of English speakers can noticeably improve fluency. I do this all the time when shadowing! Imitating rhythm and connected speech go hand-in-hand. I’ve also noticed that intonation practice builds awareness and speaking confidence. When our pitch rises at the end of every sentence, we can sound uncertain or unsure. Unless you truly are uncertain (or are asking a question,) it’s helpful to practice ending statements with a steady, confident tone. And finally, using natural intonation patterns can really help others understand you better. In most conversations, we start predicting what someone means before they even finish their sentence. So having clear, familiar intonation patterns helps your listener follow your ideas more easily and know where you’re going with your message. Here are some activities we did: -Repeat after me (first hum the rhythm, then repeat the words) -intonation interview (ask with rising pitch, answer with falling pitch) -make your own dialogue with varied intonation -stress shift with the sentence "I didn't say she stole the money." by stressing different words. -The warm-up activity below to practice using tone

Charm English teachers Maggie C. and Emily Carson talk about language learning and teaching! In this interviewm we talk about different varieties and dialects of English like AAVE, Scottish vs US English, and Polari. Emily also shares her experiences moving to Scotland and studying a Master's in teaching English. We talk about her experiences learning several languages and what's worked for her. This is a fast-paced episode with so much great info! If you'd like to have an English class with Emily, you can sign up at ⁠www.charmenglish.cl⁠ Check out the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eKPUHQxz #englishteacher #languagelearning #englishclass #learnenglish

Freaky Tuesday Trying out a new topic today with the B2 (upper intermediate students!) I wanted to teach phrases like step into someone's shoes, go through something, and get a taste of something. To practice this, and speaking fluency, we are going to do a role play activity where the students have to imagine they are going to swap lives for 24 hours, and they need to give each other a quick briefing about what the other needs to know before swapping lives. I think this will be a really interesting way to use the target vocabulary. But it also has me wondering what I'd say! What would you say? #esl #learnenglish #englishclass #speakenglish #lessonplanning

🎃This month we are excited to announce our first ever Spooky Short Story Contest! 🎃 Writing is an excellent way to develop your language skills and find your voice in an engaging and memorable way. Everyone is welcome to participate! Even if English isn’t your first language— ESPECIALLY if English isn’t your first language ☺️👻 Here's how it'll work: ℹ️HOW TO ENTER: -submit a short story responding to the prompt “something strange happened last night…” -stories should be no more than 500 words, and submitted by the end of the day OCTOBER 31st, 2025 -submit stories to this email: charmenglishcl@gmail.com 🏆PRIZES -1st place (selected by judges): one free 1-1 English class with Maggie (to be used in November) -2nd place: one free English group conversation class -People’s choice award: I’m considering an option for the most-voted entry by the public to receive something but still working on logistics 🚨IMPORTANT: I will not penalize grammar that isn’t 100% perfect but it will definitely help if your story is understandable, so revise it before submitting! Heavy use of AI like chat GPT will not work in your favor, I recommend being as original as possible! I would rather read something in YOUR words even if you have some grammatical mistakes than something AI generated. Questions? Comments? Let me know below! 👇🏻 . . . . . #writingcontest #esl #english #learnenglish #shortstories #writingcontest2025 #englishteacher