English Learning

Whoa whoa whoa - listen to the music! It's all in the rhythm of the music. Understanding that the English language is like the rhythm in music will greatly improve your pronunciation. Are you ready to do it correctly?

Languages are like music, and like a song. Music and songs include rhythm just like languages. And, the English language is no different, except the rhythm of spoken English is so important to sound better when speaking English.

Okay, here is the strategy:
English is a stress-timed language, and we produce sentences with rhythm, where we swallow weak sounds and weak ‘words’ (such as the following parts of speech: articles, pronouns, conjunctions auxiliaries and prepositions) linking together certain phonemes to make our message more meaningful.
This is in sharp contrast to a syllable-timed language (e.g. Spanish, Italian, Japanese, French) that stress every syllable producing a mechanical and sometimes staccato type delivery.
See the illustration below to help visualize the difference between syllable-timed language versus English-timed language:

The use of stress timing and elision to aid meaning is a positive phonological feature.

What is the meaning of "elision"?
- the omission or deletion of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase. For example: fish 'n chips (sounds more English than "fish and chips").

What are "phonemes"?
- phonemes are basically a sound; it's the smallest unit of sound in the English language. For example: the element 'p' in the word “tap”.

If you need more information about this topic, or you need help in general, please do not hesitate and contact us!

Do you know about the English requirements if you want Canadian citizenship? Many do not!
You need to prove you have enough English skills for Canadian citizenship. There are different ways to prove your English skills.

Through Education
As proof, you can provide any of the following documentation from an English speaking country or school (Canada included):
* Copy of high school diploma, or
* Copy of college or university degree/diploma.
If you have either of these diplomas, you must have attended the school that issued the diploma in a country where
* the main language is English, or
* they must be from an English university in any country
You must have earned a full degree (or diploma) and provide a copy of it (or full transcripts) from the educational institution proving that you met all the requirements for earning the degree (or diploma).

Through Providing Language Test Results
* CELPIP Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program General (CELPIP-G) test (not the academic version), or
CELPIP-General LS – a two-skills (listening and speaking) version of the CELPIP general test, or
* IELTS International English Language Testing System (IELTS), general training (not the academic version), or
* LINC - completing the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC). A copy of this certificate is required to prove that you completed the course.
For Manitoba: A “progress report” from the Manitoba government issued since January 2009. You will have to ensure your report indicates speaking and listening skills are at least at “Canada Language Benchmark level 5” or higher.
For British Columbia (BC): A document of proof from BC’s English Language Services for Adults (ELSA) program. You must ensure that you have achieved at least Canadian Language Benchmark 4 in listening and speaking skills.

These tests above are not simply chatting in English. These tests not only test your English communication skills, but you should know about the test (format, types of questions, strategies, etc.).
It is recommended you hire a teacher or tutor to help you achieve your objectives. Both the money and time spent are truly an investment!

If you need help or for inquiries, please contact us!

不要再看了！ 在线英语导师是提供通用英语、商务英语和英语培训的专家！ 所有这些都集中在一个地方！！！

发现你的潜力——我们让你变得更好！

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测试申请人

仅举几例

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10 tips from the experts!

Tip 1: Don't memorise answers

Don't memorise answers, especially in Part 1. Memorised answers won't accurately determine your English-language skills that may influence your final band score. Examiners are trained to look out for this.

Tip 2: Don't use big and unfamiliar words

Impressing with big and complex words may sound like a good idea, but only use if you are familiar with them. The more the difficulty of the words, the higher chance of making mistakes by either mispronouncing words or using them in the wrong context.
Use a range of vocabulary relevant to the topic being discussed. Look at the topics in Tip 10, and practice using vocabulary lists using words and phrases connected to these topic areas.

Tip 3: Use a range of grammatical structures

When IELTS examiners assess your speaking skills, they mark you against the following assessment criteria:

• Fluency and coherence
• Lexical resource
• Grammatical range and accuracy
• Pronunciation

Use a range of grammatical structures using simple, compound, complex and complex-compound sentences. The more you practice, the more you will know your own errors. Practice speaking with friends in English, chat online or record yourself. Correct your errors.
Also, it's important to practise speaking about the past, the present and the future verb tenses correctly; this includes the simple, continuous/progressive, perfect simple and the perfect continuous/progressive.

Tip 4: Don't worry about your accent

With a face-to-face Speaking test, the IELTS examiner is trained to understand a wide range of accents. Examiners understand what you say, regardless your accent. If you can communicate well, do not worry about your accent. Most English speakers in the world speak English not as a first language. However, be aware of sounds that you have difficulty with; use stress and intonation as English is a stress-timed language. Practice, practice and practice some more!

Tip 5: Pause to think

Taking a brief pause to think about what to say before answering difficult questions is a good strategy! This is called "hesitation devices". We use them all the time as native English speakers. You should too! We use to process questions and take time to think before answering without the dreaded silence while waiting. You can use phrases to give you time to think during the Speaking test - phrases such as:

• That's an interesting question
• I have never thought about that, but...
• Let me see
• Good/great question!
• That's a difficult question, but I'll try and answer it
• Well, some people say that is the case, however I think...
• Let me think about that for a minute

Tip 6: Avoid using fillers

Speak confidently and avoid using filler words. Generally fillers are used when we don't know what to say. However, this shows the examiner that you can't access the correct language or ideas. Therefore, it's important to avoid them and to use the phrases we gave you in Tip 5.
Caveat: Using filler words is sometimes is fine, but do use as a habit.

Avoid the following fillers:

• Like
• You know
• Umm...
• Ahh...
• Ehh...
• Well
• Yeah...

Tip 7: Extend your answers

Try and answer the examiner's questions in full, completed sentences. It is easy to do by starting your answer by repeating the examiner's question, then using hesitation devices. Don't wait for the examiner to prompt you with a question. The more questions, the more difficult the test. With short answers, the examiner knows you cannot talk in detail about a topic. If the examiner says 'Why?', they are prompting you to give a reason for your answer and to extend your answer. So, answer just like answering open questions (why, where, who, how, when, what, which, etc.).

Tip 8: Smiling helps pronunciation

Smiling can help calm your nerves, which helps your pronunciation. When you smile, the other person is prompted to smile too! Also, smiling is a way to indicate that you want to be liked. Make sure to pronounce clearly, opening your mouth wide enough so that sounds come out clearly. Smiling causes our mouth to be bigger friendlier. Using clear enunciation and tone will show the examiner you can use a wide range of pronunciation.

Tip 9: Don't speak in a monotone

Sometimes when we speak, we produce a flat sound, a monotone, with little variation. This sounds like a computer talking and results in your interview sounding boring, not just for you, but for the listener (the examiner) as well. Emphasize certain words, and pause/think/hesitation devices at certain sections of your answer. This will make your conversation with the examiner more engaging and natural. When we emphasize certain words, it makes it easier to compare and contrast ideas by stressing key words. It also increases the flow of conversation, so remember:

• Don't speak in a monotone
• Vary the stress and intonation to add emphasis
• Use your hands to gesture and help the rhythm of the conversation

Tip 10 - Practice common IELTS topics

Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test requires you to speak on a given topic for up to 2 minutes. Practice common IELTS topics with friends, students, family, tutors or colleagues to improve and to learn vocabulary associated with each topic.

Common topics you can practice for the Speaking test include:

• Tourism and travel
• Education
• Transport
• Environment
• Family life
• Sport and recreation
• Crime and punishment
• The internet
• Advertising and retail

Combine these 10 tips to build up your confidence!

Practice makes perfect, so with a lot of practice you will get the band score you need in your IELTS Speaking test.

If you need help or for inquiries, please contact us.

CELPIP is an English test. CELPIP (Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program) is Canada's leading general English test for immigration and professional designation. CELPIP tests your English language proficiency. This means you need to prove your ability to function in everyday English situations. These situations include communicating with co-workers and bosses at work, interacting with friends, understanding the news and understanding and answering written materials.

CELPIP is:
Computer-Delivered: completed at one time
Single North American Accent: vocabulary from everyday situations
Quick Online Results: available online within 3-4 business days after the test

There are two types of tests:
(1) CELPIP - General Test
speaking, reading, listening and writing skills for permanent residence applications and professional designations
3-Hour Test
IRCC approved test for Permanent Residency applications

(2) CELPIP - General LS Test 
speaking and listening skills for citizenship applications and professional designation
1-Hour Test
IRCC approved test for Canadian citizenship applications

CELPIP is accepted by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) for various permanent residency and immigration streams, as well as for professional certification for many organizations and industries.

For more details about CELPIP, be sure to follow the CELPIP website.

For inquiries, please contact us.

CELBAN is The Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses. It is a performance-based test that is an important English language proficiency exam for internationally educated nurses (IENs) recognized by Canadian nursing regulators. If your nursing studies are not recognized in Canada, then you will need to take a nursing program in Canada of where it is recognized by Canadian nursing regulators. The exam's assessment tasks are based on authentic, routine communications in a nursing environment. CELBAN is both relevant and engaging. You must prove your English language proficiency as part of getting nursing licenses in Canada.
 
CELBAN is an online test. There are two parts: The CELBAN Speaking Test is a virtual interview and the CELBAN Listening, Reading and Writing Tests (Computer Based Test, CELBAN CBT).

There are four language-skill areas tested in CELBAN: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Test results include a proficiency report for regulators and a feedback report showing your linguistic strengths and weaknesses related to the productive skills (speaking and writing).

The minimum CELBAN scores required for registration are set by Canadian Nursing Regulators and are as follows:

• Listening: CLB 9
• Speaking: CLB 8
• Reading: CLB 8
• Writing: CLB 7

The virtual interview (Speaking Test) is delivered remotely over Zoom. The interview takes about 35 minutes to complete.

The CELBAN CBT (Computer-Based Test) is delivered through Prometric. You will be given the choice to complete it at a Prometric test site or through their remote assessment platform, ProProctor. The CBT is completed one time in 2.5 hours.

Prometric offers you the option to take the CELBAN CBT and Practice CELBAN Exam at test sites across Canada. A list of Prometric test sites and their status can be found at https://www.prometric.com/.

CELBAN results refers to the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB). The CLB is the national standard used to describe, measure and recognize adult English as a second language (ESL) ability in Canada. The CLB's metrics show required communicative abilities, and are expressed as 12 benchmarks or reference points, within three stages of ability: basic, intermediate and advanced. You must be able to prove the you can communicate effectively in English in a nursing environment between high intermediate to advanced level/range. This means IENs need to prove in English how to perform with communication tasks in the CLB 6-10 range of proficiency.

If your nursing program was in the English language, then you do not need to take CELBAN as proof of English language proficiency. However, your nursing program must be recognized by Canadian nursing regulators.

Canadian Permanent Residency (PR) status and visas are not required in order to take CELBAN, but you must meet the personal identification requirements. On the test dates, you will be required to provide personal identification. It must be government-issued, non-expired identification that includes a photo. Acceptable forms of identification are limited to the following:

• Passport
• Canadian Permanent Resident or Citizenship Card
• Canadian Driver's License
• Canadian Health Card
• Canadian Identification Card

CELBAN test results are valid for a period of three years from the date your test results report is issued.

You may take CELBAN as many times as you want. You must be sure that both components (CBT and Speaking) are complete before beginning another test.

There are free and paid material to practice and prepare for CELBAN. The ability to use English comfortably and accurately as a nurse in Canada is the best preparation to invest in. Test practice materials offer sufficient introduction to the test platforms and format, but it is recommended you take a course, hire a tutor or self-study with appropriate material to prepare for CELBAN. Preparation is necessary! Simply thinking you will be tested just to communicate in every day English will leave you with unsatisfactory results. You are being tested your English in a nursing environment! Good results take time and investment!

For information about CELBAN training courses from one of our CELBAN teachers, please contact us using this link.

Wow! Don't be wonky when learning English! It is very important to learn English idioms! We use idioms every day! Check out some common idiom examples below.

Every language has idioms.

The word “idiom” comes from the ancient Greek word “idioma,” meaning “peculiar phraseology.” Can you say “phraseology”?

An idiom is a phrase. A phrase is a group of words with one general meaning. The whole phrase together has a meaning. Each and every word in an idiom has its own meaning, which is not the meaning of the idiom as a group/whole.

The phrase “a piece of cake”, for example, is an idiom. Native English speakers and other fluent English speakers understand idioms very well. They use idioms every day! So, idioms are very useful! Regarding the idiom “piece of cake”, native English speakers understand that this idiom has nothing to do with a cake, but that something is easy/simple to do/achieve.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to learning idioms. There is no true structure for idioms. You need to use them a lot to understand them and make them part of your English skills.

Idioms are used to creatively communicate a message to someone else. It makes a message much more interesting (less boring). This helps to get someone to like you and your speaking skills, such as in an oral test, job interview, entering a country, applying to a university, etc....

In writing, idioms are used to connect with a reader to show how familiar you are with a message topic.

Why are idioms challenging for language learners? 

Because their meaning can’t be understood from the meanings of the individual words. It’s like giving someone a puzzle containing pieces that look like one thing, but the result is something very different. 

This is also true of people from different parts of the same country who speak the same language. 

Idioms are difficult and take time to learn. The best way to learn idioms is to become familiar with them, speak with native or fluent English speakers and have them explained.

Easy idiom examples:

• Under the weather = to not feel well
• Break a leg = to wish a person good luck
• Once in a blue moon = something that occurs or happens rarely
• The ball is in your court = you decide
• You can say that again = what you said was true
• Beat around the bush = to avoid saying something
• Hit the sack = to go to bed
• Kick the bucket = to die or pass away
• By the skin of your teeth = to barely make it or succeed
  

Please send us a message using our CONTACT page link if you have a question.

Be an English expert using the verb "DO" correctly! It is no secret that learning English (and becoming an English expert) is no easy feat! Many English learners have difficulty learning English. This is because one of the problems is that learners are not certain what are the most important topics to learn. Like all languages, grammar is important. The verb DO is one of the most important verbs to master in English. So, there is no excuse. Master the verb DO!
Click on the image below and follow the short and easy-to-understand YouTube video. This video, from SOS English Tutor, demonstrates the uses of the verb DO. The video focuses on the simple past and simple present verb tenses.
Of course, the verb DO is more complicated. However, this video is a good beginning to mastering the basic use of the verb DO. Like anything you learn, start and master the basics. Then explore more advanced scenarios that include exceptions and fixed (need to remember) expressions and phrases. This will help you be an English expert using the verb DO correctly!
Please send us a message using our CONTACT page link if you have a question.

The very import verb "DO"