Tag Archive: online american english

Tara’s ESL Blog: Job Interviews in English – Be Prepared!

When you prepare for an interview (with me, or on your own) you should start out with the following steps, in order to focus on what you should say, and get rid of the extra details that aren’t important or beneficial to you being hired.

General “You” Review: You need to know what you want and whether you have what it takes to get it!

What position am I trying to get?
Do I fit the qualifications for the position?
Does my resume/C.V. highlight my qualifications, and match the position I am applying for?

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Tara’s ESL BLOG: Job Interviews in English – An Introduction

Job Interviews: Oh, how we hate them!

But they are a necessary evil as we say. Luckily, I know how to make it as easy and pain-free as possible – even if English is your second language! The number one thing to remember is that in a job interview you are technically “marketing” yourself to the employer. So make sure to present yourself – and your English skills – in the most effective way by preparing for the interview with an experienced coach. When preparing for a job interview with me, we go through each step of the process, giving you the tools you need to truly market yourself during the interview instead of just reciting memorized information about yourself. The key is to look good, sound good, and most importantly feel good about what you are saying to the interviewer. So how do we do it?

Prepare, practice, present!

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Tara’s Travel Tales: “Sushi On A Plane” – an ESL story

“Sushi On A Plane”

Lesson Level: Advanced

I should start off by saying that my love for sushi, and Japanese food in general, is almost as great as my love for travel. One day last year, while I was backpacking in South East Asia with my mother and best friend, I got the opportunity to enjoy BOTH at the same time. Having not had breakfast at the hostel in Bangkok, Thailand we rushed to the airport with more than enough time to check in for our flight to Myanmar, and also check out the facilities for some grub.

To our great delight, we found a sushi restaurant that we had already fallen in love with a few weeks prior – and it was open at 8 am! My best friend Kellie and I looked at each other and without words we just knew: Sushi. On. A. Plane. Best idea ever! We sat down quickly, and ordered our favorite items with gusto – our mouths watering as we waited for our beautifully-wrapped to-go bags. There would be no airplane food for us lady bosses! No sir! We would have Sushi at 30,000 feet!

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Tara’s ESL Blog: Best Fictional Novels for ESL Students

Here is a list of my favorite short novels in English! You can read these on your own, or with me!

All of these books are considered “easy-reading” with short chapters and useful vocabulary. To learn more about each book, just click the links below where you will be taken to the Spark Notes Plot Overview – try to read the first paragraph. Then to check your understanding, do the multiple choice questions at the bottom! Have fun, choose a story and read on!

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (*approx. 176 pages)

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (*approx. 163 pages)

3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (*approx. 384 pages)

4. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (*approx. 359 pages)

5. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (*approx. 128 pages)

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Tara’s ESL Blog: How to make English a Priority in your Free Time

How’s it going everybody! So, today I want to talk to you about your free time and learning English. Many students ask if it is necessary to study English outside of class. I respond with a question, “If you want to do something really well, must you put in the time and effort to become good at it?” The answer is always the same – YES. Even if you are a natural (born with the abilities) you still have to practice, a lot! As a student and teacher of foreign language it is my personal and professional opinion that the level of effort invested equals the level of language fluency achieved. Simply put:

EFFORT = FLUENCY

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Tara’s ESL VLOG: Using Advanced Future Forms

Here we will discuss some of the more advanced future forms that you will hear a native speaker use quite often, especially when talking about the immediate future. Let’s take a look at them and a few examples for each:

To be due to: to speak about something that is scheduled

I am due to visit my Grandmother this weekend.
You are due to be in the office early on Monday.
She is due to get a promotion in late September.

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Tara’s ESL Blog: Is it “Fun or Funny”?

Using Fun and Funny in English: 2 little words that cause BIG confusion!

How’s it going everybody! Today we are going to talk about a common vocabulary mistake that many students of English make, that is easily remedied with a little explanation. If you go to a party and you have a good time, which word should you use? If you watch a movie that makes you laugh a lot, which word should you use? These questions and more will be answered today.

First of all, these two little words can be unclear because even though they LOOK very similar, in reality they are very DIFFERENT. But, no worries! By the time you finish this lesson, it will much easier to distinguish WHEN to use WHICH word. So, what do these words mean and how should you use them? What are their parts of speech? How many meanings do they have? Let’s take a look!!!

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Tara’s ESL Blog: Successful Listening in English

What’s up everybody! Today we are going to talk about how to improve your listening skills in English. Many of my students have come to me in the past asking for tips on how to understand more when they are listening to a native speaker of English in a song, movie or real-life. Listening and UNDERSTANDING can be a very challenging task, but with a few tricks you can begin to comprehend MUCH MORE than before. So, what can you do TODAY to start listening effectively?

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