#english second language

[cap-sweet-and-salty-sadness]

Shout out to the fic writers who write in English even though it's not their native language. Whether you just started and are using Google Translate more often than not, or you've been doing it for years and still translating sayings from your native tongue word for word that don't make much sense in English.

Your addition to the fandom is important and unique purple prose would be missed without your input. Don't give up even if you're unhappy with your progression. Remember that your writing is better today than it was yesterday, and that it'll be better tomorrow than it was today.

[yeehawpim]

[agendergenderqueermasculenbyguy]

I’m genuinely just curious about this

Also how many times did you pronounce/ sound out both words before you voted? hehehe

It would be nice if you reblog, no pressure tho :)

[intothestacks]

Cool Board Games for Your Library

Rory's Story Cubes – $18 CAD

Type: Dice Game  Players: 1-12 (2-4 ideal) Mechanics: Dice Rolling, Pattern Recognition Playtime: 20 min Age: 4+ Skills You Practice: Cooperation, Storytelling, Imagination, Pattern Recognition

There are various expansion packs (I’d highly recommend the Actions pack for ESL language practice). The expansion packs include Fantasia, Mystery, Heroes, Voyages, Astro, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Looney Tunes among others.

Why it’d be good for a library collection:

Popular topics

Family-friendly

Simple gameplay

Award-winner

Small storage space

Variable player size

Cheap

Great for use in programming with ESL patrons

[allabouthell]

Steddie Au (modern, Author Eddie and Housesitter Steve, no upside down)

Steve is house sitting for the third time. The first time he did it for Nancy and Robin when they went to Europe for a month and he loved it. He loved to live in a home that FEELS like a home. Somewhere lived in. So he searched for more house sitting jobs on the internet and got another one. It went really well, he stayed for 6 weeks and immediately looked for the next job. And he found one. It was just a bit different from the other ones. He should not only watch after the house and clean it but there was a dog to look after too. Steve loved dogs. And he would actually get payed a lot more than on most other jobs, so, yeah.

That's where he is now. A nice looking house in the little town next to Hawkins. What the (really attractive) guy who hired him forgot to mention was that he would still be there the entire time. But because he's a bestselling author (Steve never heard of him) with a deadline, he would be in his office most of the time. Never to be seen, never to be heard. That's at least what Steve was told when Eddie showed him around the house. And he believed him in that moment. He shouldn't have underestimated Eddies talent for procrastinating.

That's the beginning of the two most interesting months of Steve's life. So far.

[inaccuratelizard]

I want to write in English again. It’s been years since I wrote a fanfiction. Always got embarrassed by my grammar and writing skills because its not my native language. I hope I don’t get bullied.

[miss-cydonian]

With every episode of The Last of Us, my mind still goes back to Bill and Frank's place. It has been months since the third episode... Did all the flowers withered? Did the raiders found their place again? Did the generator stopped working? I just keep thinking about these little details...

[diamarch]

TOEFL Experience. Part III

Hello, everybody! I'm really glad you're still here :) Today I'm going to talk about the unofficial websites for complex (all sections) TOEFL preparation.

TST prep

Their Emergency Course (premium package) was my first purchase on my way to a pretty good TOEFL score. However, unfortunately, it is not the last or the best. Let me explain. Among the benefits I can name:

Structured and short information about all the content of the TOEFL test (paid, however, can be found in their YouTube videos for free);

Templates for speaking and writing sections for basic and advanced levels;

Practice tests with answers and their explanations (some of them in open access on YouTube in old videos);

Comprehensible design of the website and cool colors;

Examples of Q1 for the speaking section (for free);

Newsletters with special hacks and news from ETS (for free)

Josh's charisma (can be found everywhere :)). However, if you use this website with the materials from their YouTube channel, you will quickly realize that you've wasted your money. First, throughout all the videos, Josh McPhearson repeats that it's OK to pass the same test more than one time after, for example, two weeks. And that was a trap! I passed approximately two or three tests (in sum from the website and from the YouTube channel), trained some specific types of questions from reading and listening in the separate section on their website, and then I simply couldn't find the completely unfamiliar test, despite the fact that I was promised to have 6 complete practice tests in my package. So, the limited number of practice tests was an outrageous fact for me because it seemed like some of them were open-access on YouTube. Moreover, I think that this emergency course in general doesn't give you much more information about the test than their YouTube videos. So, basically, I paid mostly for templates, and that wasn't a rational decision, even if a 50% discount was taken into account. Don't be enchanted and blinded like me; use only their free materials. I didn't try their group classes and evaluations, but Emergency Course is 100% not worth your time and money.

2. Best My Test

Since I needed more practice and more tests, I started to search for other complex solutions where I could train all the TOEFL sections. I found this website, and after reading some articles about it, I began a free trial. It gives you an opportunity to pass the sample test, which is a shortened version of an actual test. After trying it, I was on cloud nine because it was exactly the thing that I was looking for.

First and foremost, the experience is not the same but really similar to the official TOEFL test. You can see the instructions, the buttons, the interface for recording your voice, the way the text in reading and questions to it are placed, the writing interface, which is also close to reality, and the most important is the timer. That was the core reason why I decided to pay for this.

Another benefit is, obviously, the availability of a huge number of practice tests with recorded statistics of your success in every section and question type (for reading and listening).

The theoretical materials are also included. It is especially useful when you see that some type of question is your weakness based on the statistics of your success. You catch it, jump into the corresponding lesson, learn some strategies, and train.

Templates and explanations for speaking and writing can be found. Moreover, the evaluations of your speaking and writing by humans and AI are included in the Custom and Premium packages. From my own experience, AI evaluations are pretty accurate, as they rated my speaking at 21 points and I gained 22. And writing reviews from experts was also full of insights and powerful advice. +/- There are also vocabulary and grammar materials, but I didn't have much time, so for me, these materials were uneffective. And finally, maybe for some readers, the textual form of theoretical material will not be comfortable, so I consider this aspect of Best My Test a disadvantage. However, they already made videos for certain lessons. Overall, Best My Test was a treasure for me, without any doubt. I regret that I found it too late (it was 2 weeks before my exam).

As you can see, these websites cause lots of strong feelings in me; however, I appreciate both of them because I have learned not only how to take TOEFL but also have seen a real picture of our world. The beautiful, loud, and charismatic is often empty. And the real treasure is often much cheaper and kept silent. Stay tunned :)

[mothslimes]

(spelling wednesday) (me, in my head) wetness day

[cap-sweet-and-salty-sadness]

For my non native english speakers, how did you learn the language?

[idgseeds]

ESL-Now Available On All Platforms. All Beats Produced By @juicedaproducer. Music created By @idgseeds .

[koreanjaellee]

I starts the Blog for my English writing.

This is my very first post for English writing. I always dream of writing my thoughts and a kind of essay in English. My first language is Korean. and my second is English as the most people are.

When I was a little, I hate English (now I can judge more precisely, I hate the way I learn english and how I to be measured). In some respect, still I do. As a Korean speaker, the logic of english is almost upside down. So when I was in elementary, I wished that the world language will be changed into Korean, not any more English.

the kid desperately prayed for Korean to be the world language became a student majoring in English literature. the kid surrendered the big culture and the firm founded world language because she loved literature. Anyhow. Now English is a part of my life, though still not at all easy to put the equipment on for my Korean body, I try every day getting used to it.

if you are native english speaker. give your joy. you're the one who are not to struggle with the hardship a major language has given. I'll share you some burden of my shoulder. You can help me correct my poor grammars and some awkward word choice or sentences.

[aprodaydreamer]

oh look, i wrote a lil more of the time travel prompt. still figuring out the characters voices tho (i’m new to the fandom).

Obi-Wan's eyes grew wide as he watched the sith lord being thrown back and pinned to the nearest wall by the Force. Or more accurately by one of its users. 

A new silhouette walked towards Darth Maul, their gaze briefly gliding over Obi-Wan as if looking for any injuries. The padawan stood frozen as he recognized the mechanic from Mos Espa. And not only was Anakin clearly Force-sensitive - which he would not have guessed from their previous meeting - but his Force signature was stronger than anything Obi-Wan had ever seen before. 

Looking at him now was like gazing straight into the two suns of Tatooine. 

And yet it quickly became clear to the padawan Anakin’s power didn’t come from the Light. Not fully anyway. There were shadows meddling with the tremendous brightness. Scars left by true darkness.

“Anakin,” Qui-Gon called.

But the what? Mechanic? Jedi? Sith? did not stop before he reached his target, two lightsabers appearing at his sides. One blue, one red. 

Obi-Wan was transfixed. 

The vision went against everything he thought he knew about the Force. Grey Jedi were supposed to be a myth. 

Obi-Wan was jolted out of his reverie when Anakin brought the sabers to Darth Maul’s neck and Qui-Gon called his name anew and the other ignored him again. He was determined and Obi-Wan looked at his master, waiting for his signal even though getting between Anakin and Maul seemed suicidal at best. After all, Maul had fought them both with little trouble and was now completely incapacitated by Anakin.

“Tell him to stop.”

Obi-Wan blinked in confusion upon hearing his master’s order through their training bond. 

“Now, Obi-Wan.”

He opened his mouth, and closed it, floured by Qui-Gon’s newest brilliant idea. His master’s strategies often puzzled him but this one probably topped them all. Anakin hadn’t listened to his master, why would he listen to him? He was no one. A padawan whose power was so incredibly inferior to his it was risible. But Obi-Wan wasn’t one to disobey a direct order.

“Anakin, that’s enough,” he said.

And Gods, he sounded like a crèchemaster scolding a youngling. He was so embarrassed by his own words it took him another moment to realize Anakin had tensed upon hearing him. 

Oh, well, he sure hoped Qui-Gon would make it sound like he died in battle, he thought as Anakin turn to look at him over his shoulder. Except where he expected to see anger and contempt, Anakin’s expression actually shown… petulance and frustration.

“He hurt you,” Anakin replied.

What?

“Barely,” Obi-Wan said not without hesitation.

He didn’t understand what was happening. Was Anakin going to execute Maul because Obi-Wan fell on his ass once? And mostly, why did he care what happened to Obi-Wan? His own master didn’t care if he got a bruise or two (or a hundred) in battle.

“Not… here,” Anakin answered. He was clearly exasperated. “But where - when I come from -”

When? 

Anakin trailed off, shaking his head.

“He deserves to die,” he added.

“He deserves to be judged for his crimes,” Obi-Wan replied automatically.

Again, Anakin looked straight at Obi-Wan but there were none of the emotions the padawan expected inhabiting his gaze. There were despair, sadness, and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

And after what felt like a small eternity, Anakin turned off his lightsabers, taking a step back as Maul tried to break free from his Force-hold without success. 

“He is all yours, Master,” he said.

And also the sarcasm was clearly audible in his voice, the use of the title directed at him still left Obi-Wan speechless. 

[language-gremlin]

for non-native english speakers:

what was the hardest part about learning english for you?

[allabouthell]

Imagine Sirius finding a black dog that looks EXACTLY like him without telling anyone (ADHD brain, he just forgot) and letting it into the dormitory. Then he leaves because he has a study date with Remus and he can't be late to that. The dog just lays down on Sirius' bed and sleeps.

James comes back after Quidditch practise, sees the dog and starts talking. For HOURS. About the next Quidditch match, Lily, pranking McGonagall, you know it. He gets a bit annoyed when Sirius wouldn't even react to a joke he made about Snivellus' hair but perhaps he was just in a mood. Better just to continue talking to distract him.

It is close to curfew when Sirius and Remus come back from the library. They open the door to their dormitory and James is asleep next to Sirius' bed, holding the dogs paw. Sirius watches his brother for a moment, a bit touched by the worried lines on James' sleeping face.

Then he whispers "Ten bucks that he won't realise until monday"

[fandom-fae]

settle an argument ive had with an old english teacher