#24 Our favourite mistakes: Grammar
▶️ Please translate the following sentences:
Afandining do’stlaridan birining ko’proq puli bor.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
One of Afandi’s friend has more money.
✅ Well, it should be:
One of Afandi’s friends has a lot of money.
❓Why?
❗️ Although the sentence is only about one friend, “friends” is in the plural. This is because Afandi has many friends and we are talking about one of them.
❗️ The word “more” is used for comparisons. When you say “more” the meaning should be “more than …” but in this sentence it’s not clear with who you are comparing Afandi’s friend. Therefore it should be “a lot of money”, not “more money”.
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #grammar
▶️ Please translate the following sentences:
Afandining do’stlaridan birining ko’proq puli bor.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
One of Afandi’s friend has more money.
✅ Well, it should be:
❗️ Although the sentence is only about one friend, “friends” is in the plural. This is because Afandi has many friends and we are talking about one of them.
❗️ The word “more” is used for comparisons. When you say “more” the meaning should be “more than …” but in this sentence it’s not clear with who you are comparing Afandi’s friend. Therefore it should be “a lot of money”, not “more money”.
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #grammar
#6 It’s a strange world: Polyandry
❓ Traditional Tibetan women may have several husbands at the same time. What??? Several husbands?
❗️Polyandry, the practice of women being married to several husbands, is a traditional in Tibetan society to avoid dividing land between a family’s sons. It’s always interesting to see how different cultures can be!
⛓https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyandry
▶️Here’s a YouTube video about polyandry: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h22-wHytFF0
👉@afandi_english👈 #strange_world #culture
❓ Traditional Tibetan women may have several husbands at the same time. What??? Several husbands?
❗️Polyandry, the practice of women being married to several husbands, is a traditional in Tibetan society to avoid dividing land between a family’s sons. It’s always interesting to see how different cultures can be!
⛓https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyandry
▶️Here’s a YouTube video about polyandry: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h22-wHytFF0
👉@afandi_english👈 #strange_world #culture
#1 Education Video: You can learn anything
🆕 In this new series we’re bringing you videos that are all about education. Whether you’re a simple learner, a teacher or a life-long learner and whether you’re in need of information or inspiration – you will most definitely find the videos meaningful!
❗️Today’s video is from Khan Academy and inspires us to keep going in our learning endeavour.
▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA
👉@afandi_english👈
🆕 In this new series we’re bringing you videos that are all about education. Whether you’re a simple learner, a teacher or a life-long learner and whether you’re in need of information or inspiration – you will most definitely find the videos meaningful!
❗️Today’s video is from Khan Academy and inspires us to keep going in our learning endeavour.
▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA
👉@afandi_english👈
YouTube
You Can Learn Anything
Khan Academy is on a mission to unlock the world's potential. Most people think their intelligence is fixed. The science says it’s not.
It starts with knowing you can learn anything. Join the movement at http://khanacademy.org/youcanlearnanything.
About…
It starts with knowing you can learn anything. Join the movement at http://khanacademy.org/youcanlearnanything.
About…
#9 World Englishes: Indian English
❗️ 12-30% of Indians are fluent in English. That may not seem much but given India’s huge population, the number of speakers is 200 to 400 million, similar to the US. Indians are only going to speak Indian English to you, so better learn to understand!
🔘 Pronunciation: [t] and [d] sounds are retroflex, the tongue is curbed upwards and moves forward; the ‘th’ sounds [ð] and [θ] are replaced with [d] and [t], the [r] is trilled and the double vowels [eɪ] or [ou] are long single vowels [e:] and [o:].
🔘 Grammar: The ‘-ing’ form is used even for verbs like “know” and “understand”.
🔘 Vocabulary: “Less” can be an adjective (“My money is very less”) and there are double comparatives like “more better”; big numbers are different – 100 thousand is 1 lakh and 10 million is 1 crore; “yar” is the informal question tag “isn’t it?”.
▶️ Check out what it sounds like:
⛓ Serious
⛓ Funny
👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
❗️ 12-30% of Indians are fluent in English. That may not seem much but given India’s huge population, the number of speakers is 200 to 400 million, similar to the US. Indians are only going to speak Indian English to you, so better learn to understand!
🔘 Pronunciation: [t] and [d] sounds are retroflex, the tongue is curbed upwards and moves forward; the ‘th’ sounds [ð] and [θ] are replaced with [d] and [t], the [r] is trilled and the double vowels [eɪ] or [ou] are long single vowels [e:] and [o:].
🔘 Grammar: The ‘-ing’ form is used even for verbs like “know” and “understand”.
🔘 Vocabulary: “Less” can be an adjective (“My money is very less”) and there are double comparatives like “more better”; big numbers are different – 100 thousand is 1 lakh and 10 million is 1 crore; “yar” is the informal question tag “isn’t it?”.
▶️ Check out what it sounds like:
⛓ Serious
⛓ Funny
👉@afandi_english👈 #world_englishes
#25 Our favourite mistakes: Pronunciation
▶️ Try pronouncing the following words:
• answer
• sword
• half
• talk
• walk
• iron
• fruit
• juice
• muscle
• scissors
• debt
• plumber
• tomb
• receipt
• handsome
❓What do these words have in common?
❗️They all contain silent letters:
• silent w in answer [a:nsə] and sword [sɔ:d]
• silent l in half [ha:f], talk [tɔ:k] and walk [wɔ:k]
• silent r in iron [‘aɪən]
• silent i in fruit [fru:t] and juice [ʤu:s]
• silent c in muscle [mʌsl] and scissors [‘sɪzəz]
• silent b in debt [det], plumber [‘plʌmə] and tomb [tu:m]
• silent p in receipt [rɪ’si:t]
• silent d in handsome [‘hænsəm]
❗️Some words are often but not always pronounced with a silent letter:
• almost – both [‘ɔ:lməʊst] or [‘ɔ:məʊst]
• always – both [‘ɔ:lweɪz] or [‘ɔ:weɪz]
• asked – both [‘a:skd] or [‘a:sd]
• often – both [‘ɔ:ftən] or [‘ɔ:fən]
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #pronunciation
▶️ Try pronouncing the following words:
• answer
• sword
• half
• talk
• walk
• iron
• fruit
• juice
• muscle
• scissors
• debt
• plumber
• tomb
• receipt
• handsome
❓What do these words have in common?
❗️They all contain silent letters:
• silent w in answer [a:nsə] and sword [sɔ:d]
• silent l in half [ha:f], talk [tɔ:k] and walk [wɔ:k]
• silent r in iron [‘aɪən]
• silent i in fruit [fru:t] and juice [ʤu:s]
• silent c in muscle [mʌsl] and scissors [‘sɪzəz]
• silent b in debt [det], plumber [‘plʌmə] and tomb [tu:m]
• silent p in receipt [rɪ’si:t]
• silent d in handsome [‘hænsəm]
❗️Some words are often but not always pronounced with a silent letter:
• almost – both [‘ɔ:lməʊst] or [‘ɔ:məʊst]
• always – both [‘ɔ:lweɪz] or [‘ɔ:weɪz]
• asked – both [‘a:skd] or [‘a:sd]
• often – both [‘ɔ:ftən] or [‘ɔ:fən]
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #pronunciation
#2 Go out and teach! Approach, Method, Technique
❗️These three are often confused. Make sure you know the difference!
🔎 An approach is your basic idea of what language is and how it is learnt. Perhaps you think that students need to follow the teacher, they need rules and discipline. Or you think the opposite –students need to explore and discover the language and themselves. Your approach decides your method!
🔎 A method is a way of teaching and learning, more concrete than your approach. If your approach is traditional you’ll probably choose the Grammar-Translation Method. Your students learn grammar through rules and translation. Or it’s communicative, letting them learn more during communication. Your method decides your techniques!
🔎 A technique is the smallest unit. Traditional techniques include memorising, translating, or letting students repeat after you (drilling). Modern ones include eliciting, role play, feedback, etc.
👉@afandi_english👈
❗️These three are often confused. Make sure you know the difference!
🔎 An approach is your basic idea of what language is and how it is learnt. Perhaps you think that students need to follow the teacher, they need rules and discipline. Or you think the opposite –students need to explore and discover the language and themselves. Your approach decides your method!
🔎 A method is a way of teaching and learning, more concrete than your approach. If your approach is traditional you’ll probably choose the Grammar-Translation Method. Your students learn grammar through rules and translation. Or it’s communicative, letting them learn more during communication. Your method decides your techniques!
🔎 A technique is the smallest unit. Traditional techniques include memorising, translating, or letting students repeat after you (drilling). Modern ones include eliciting, role play, feedback, etc.
👉@afandi_english👈
#9 Spot Afandi and his donkey: Afandi inspecting a geography fail
❓ Can you spot Afandi and his donkey in this picture?
❗️If you can, follow the instructions in #1 (see pinned message) and win 5,000 Paynet-soums!
👉@afandi_english👈 #spot_afandi
❓ Can you spot Afandi and his donkey in this picture?
❗️If you can, follow the instructions in #1 (see pinned message) and win 5,000 Paynet-soums!
👉@afandi_english👈 #spot_afandi
#9 Tongue twister: A rather fishy business
❗️Challenge yourself and practice your pronunciation with this tongue twister today.
▶️ Selfish Miss Smith's fish-sauce shop seldom sells shellfish.
❗️Pay attention to:
🔘 Pronunciation – The two sounds s and ʃ are confusingly similar. There is also one ‘th’ sound θ.
🔘 Linking – Same or similar consonants are linked with one another:
Selfish Miss ͜ Smith's fish ͜ sauce ͜ shop seldom sells ͜ shellfish.
🔘 Practice – Practice parts of the sentence first, not the whole sentence right away because you may want to give up too quickly. Practice meaningful units in the following way: “Smith” … “Miss Smith” … “Selfish Miss Smith” … “Selfish Miss Smith’s” … “fish sauce” … “fish-sauce shop” … “shellfish” … “sells shellfish” … “seldom sells shellfish” … Then only the whole sentence!
----------
Vocab:
fishy = ishonib bo'lmaydigan
selfish = egoist, xudbin
seldom = kamdan kam
shellfish = dengiz chig’anoqlari
👉@afandi_english👈 #tongue_twisters
❗️Challenge yourself and practice your pronunciation with this tongue twister today.
▶️ Selfish Miss Smith's fish-sauce shop seldom sells shellfish.
❗️Pay attention to:
🔘 Pronunciation – The two sounds s and ʃ are confusingly similar. There is also one ‘th’ sound θ.
🔘 Linking – Same or similar consonants are linked with one another:
Selfish Miss ͜ Smith's fish ͜ sauce ͜ shop seldom sells ͜ shellfish.
🔘 Practice – Practice parts of the sentence first, not the whole sentence right away because you may want to give up too quickly. Practice meaningful units in the following way: “Smith” … “Miss Smith” … “Selfish Miss Smith” … “Selfish Miss Smith’s” … “fish sauce” … “fish-sauce shop” … “shellfish” … “sells shellfish” … “seldom sells shellfish” … Then only the whole sentence!
----------
Vocab:
fishy = ishonib bo'lmaydigan
selfish = egoist, xudbin
seldom = kamdan kam
shellfish = dengiz chig’anoqlari
👉@afandi_english👈 #tongue_twisters
#9 University Vocab: Coursework
❗️ University isn’t like a primary school. We may have to do some reading as homework for the next seminar or lecture but what about written, graded homework?
🔎 In each semester you have some coursework to do. Coursework consists of assignments you have to write for each course (seminar, lecture, etc.) that you are taking. That could be essays, project reports, summaries, internship reports, or any other pieces of writing that you give (hand in or submit) to your professor or lecturer for grading.
🔎 What’s really important for coursework is the deadline of each assignment, sometimes also called “due date”. You will be given a date and by that date you have to finish writing and submit. If you’re late you may get punished, perhaps by a 5% penalty on your mark per day. Some universities are very strict with this.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
❗️ University isn’t like a primary school. We may have to do some reading as homework for the next seminar or lecture but what about written, graded homework?
🔎 In each semester you have some coursework to do. Coursework consists of assignments you have to write for each course (seminar, lecture, etc.) that you are taking. That could be essays, project reports, summaries, internship reports, or any other pieces of writing that you give (hand in or submit) to your professor or lecturer for grading.
🔎 What’s really important for coursework is the deadline of each assignment, sometimes also called “due date”. You will be given a date and by that date you have to finish writing and submit. If you’re late you may get punished, perhaps by a 5% penalty on your mark per day. Some universities are very strict with this.
👉@afandi_english👈 #uni_vocab
#26 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary
▶️ Please translate the following sentences:
Afandining o’g’li abituriyent.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Afandi’s son is an applicant.
✅ Well, there are three possibilities:
🔘 Afandi’s son is a high school graduate. (He just finished school and we assume that he will enter university)
🔘 Afandi’s son is preparing to enter university. (He is any age, at school or out of school)
🔘 Afandi’s son is a university applicant. (He has actually applied)
❓Why?
❗️ Someone who is not familiar with the Uzbek education system will not understand what “applicant” means here. It’s not precise enough.
❗️ The word “applicant” would usually be understood as job applicant.
❗️ Whether job applicant or university applicant, before an application is made we cannot call the person an applicant.
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #vocabulary
▶️ Please translate the following sentences:
Afandining o’g’li abituriyent.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Afandi’s son is an applicant.
✅ Well, there are three possibilities:
🔘 Afandi’s son is a high school graduate. (He just finished school and we assume that he will enter university)
🔘 Afandi’s son is preparing to enter university. (He is any age, at school or out of school)
🔘 Afandi’s son is a university applicant. (He has actually applied)
❓Why?
❗️ Someone who is not familiar with the Uzbek education system will not understand what “applicant” means here. It’s not precise enough.
❗️ The word “applicant” would usually be understood as job applicant.
❗️ Whether job applicant or university applicant, before an application is made we cannot call the person an applicant.
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #vocabulary
#8 YouTube Channel Recommendation: The Economist
⛓ Link: www.youtube.com/user/EconomistMagazine
📊 English Level: Upper
🔤 Subtitles: Available
💬 Topics: Nature, society, politics, future, space, culture
💡 Content: The world’s most reputable news magazine runs a YouTube channel with a number of very informative videos that give you background information about significant topics. Watch this channel to better understand big issues in this big world.
👉@afandi_english👈 #youtube #economist
⛓ Link: www.youtube.com/user/EconomistMagazine
📊 English Level: Upper
🔤 Subtitles: Available
💬 Topics: Nature, society, politics, future, space, culture
💡 Content: The world’s most reputable news magazine runs a YouTube channel with a number of very informative videos that give you background information about significant topics. Watch this channel to better understand big issues in this big world.
👉@afandi_english👈 #youtube #economist
#9 Learn how to learn: Grammar
❓English grammar isn’t that difficult but we still struggle. How can we learn grammar more cleverly?
1️⃣ Know what you want. Knowing 16 tenses is amazing but can you use them? And are tenses really so important? What about articles, prepositions, ‘to be’, plural, …
2️⃣ Stop separating. We learn grammar rules and vocabulary and then just put them together, right? Wrong! It doesn’t work like that. We learn pieces of language as a whole.
3️⃣ Keep an open eye for grammar. When you watch or read something there are ways to learn grammar “on the go”. We only have to see it. Practice what seems useful to you.
4️⃣ Play with grammar. When you find a good grammar structure you can talk to yourself. Practice by making some sentences about yourself, your life, the world around you.
5️⃣ Use grammar books for reference. Everyone has different problems and there’s no need to learn rules from A to Z. Check rules only for the problems you have.
👉@afandi_english👈 #learn2learn
❓English grammar isn’t that difficult but we still struggle. How can we learn grammar more cleverly?
1️⃣ Know what you want. Knowing 16 tenses is amazing but can you use them? And are tenses really so important? What about articles, prepositions, ‘to be’, plural, …
2️⃣ Stop separating. We learn grammar rules and vocabulary and then just put them together, right? Wrong! It doesn’t work like that. We learn pieces of language as a whole.
3️⃣ Keep an open eye for grammar. When you watch or read something there are ways to learn grammar “on the go”. We only have to see it. Practice what seems useful to you.
4️⃣ Play with grammar. When you find a good grammar structure you can talk to yourself. Practice by making some sentences about yourself, your life, the world around you.
5️⃣ Use grammar books for reference. Everyone has different problems and there’s no need to learn rules from A to Z. Check rules only for the problems you have.
👉@afandi_english👈 #learn2learn
#2 Featured article: Coronavirus in Central Asia
📍 It’s always interesting to read about one’s own country and culture from a different perspective. Today’s article is about the Central Asian countries’ handling of the corona crisis in these days. As always, Turkmenistan is a rather interesting place!
⛓https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/07/23/central-asian-governments-admit-they-have-a-problem-with-covid-19?utm_campaign=coronavirus-special-edition&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=2020-07-25&utm_content=article-link-1
👉@afandi_english👈 #article #economist
📍 It’s always interesting to read about one’s own country and culture from a different perspective. Today’s article is about the Central Asian countries’ handling of the corona crisis in these days. As always, Turkmenistan is a rather interesting place!
⛓https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/07/23/central-asian-governments-admit-they-have-a-problem-with-covid-19?utm_campaign=coronavirus-special-edition&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=2020-07-25&utm_content=article-link-1
👉@afandi_english👈 #article #economist
The Economist
Central Asian governments admit they have a problem with covid-19
Or, in Turkmenistan’s case, with dust
#10 Spot Afandi and his donkey: Afandi waiting for a train to nowhere
❓ Can you spot Afandi and his donkey in this picture?
❗️If you can, follow the instructions in #1 (see pinned message) and win 5,000 Paynet-soums!
👉@afandi_english👈 #spot_afandi
❓ Can you spot Afandi and his donkey in this picture?
❗️If you can, follow the instructions in #1 (see pinned message) and win 5,000 Paynet-soums!
👉@afandi_english👈 #spot_afandi
#27 Our favourite mistakes: Grammar
▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Hech kim Afandini tanimaydi.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Nobody doesn’t know Afandi.
✅ Well, it should be:
Nobody knows Afandi.
❓Why?
❗️ Nobody and doesn’t are both negative words. Used together they make a double negative – in English this is usually wrong.
❗️ Sometimes double negatives are used, especially in spoken English and slang. You may hear sentences like Nobody tells me nothing! or I ain’t got no money!
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #grammar
▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Hech kim Afandini tanimaydi.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Nobody doesn’t know Afandi.
✅ Well, it should be:
Nobody knows Afandi.
❓Why?
❗️ Nobody and doesn’t are both negative words. Used together they make a double negative – in English this is usually wrong.
❗️ Sometimes double negatives are used, especially in spoken English and slang. You may hear sentences like Nobody tells me nothing! or I ain’t got no money!
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #grammar
#7 It’s a strange world: An underground town
❓ A long time ago people used to live in caves. But today?
❗️Coober Pedy is an underground town in the Australian desert. People decided to live underground to escape from the scorching heat above and live in so-called “dugouts”, rooms that they dig out. Take a look and see what it’s like to live there:
⛓https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coober_Pedy
▶️ Here’s a YouTube video about the town (with proper Australian accent): www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1XSKu3pK8A0
👉@afandi_english👈 #strange_world #geography
❓ A long time ago people used to live in caves. But today?
❗️Coober Pedy is an underground town in the Australian desert. People decided to live underground to escape from the scorching heat above and live in so-called “dugouts”, rooms that they dig out. Take a look and see what it’s like to live there:
⛓https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coober_Pedy
▶️ Here’s a YouTube video about the town (with proper Australian accent): www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1XSKu3pK8A0
👉@afandi_english👈 #strange_world #geography