Learn and relax...

Dear Friend,

What's the latest with you? How are you getting on with your life? Does our online English course help you achieve your goals? You once told me that you want to improve your English or help your students improve their English. Well, that's good to know because you can use our system to get better in all four language disciplines: reading, writing, listening and most importantly: speaking. Now, how exactly does it work? Well, on our site you will find lots of free interactive English tests you should take on a regular basis. We recommend you complete a least 3 tests a day every day. That way you can improve your grammar without consciously trying to cram rules into your head. Don't worry about the rules, complete our tests and relax. Your grammar will improve by itself.

And if you do want to learn more about a certain rule, we'll be more than happy to answer your questions. Here are some examples. The following link will take you to an English test that deals with 'object pronouns'. Now, if you ask a native speaker what an object pronoun is, they will tell you that they haven't clue. The truth is that they don't need to know anything about object pronouns simply because they know what 'sounds right' and what doesn't. You can apply the same approach to grammar: Instead of trying to learn lots about grammar you should simply learn English. Take the following test and repeat it until you get all the answers right. Then leave the test alone for a while and come back to it in a few days. Take the test again to check whether you still get all the answers right: Object Pronouns Test.

'Well', you might be thinking, 'this test is rather easy'. It's great if you think that way. But what IF somebody asked you about the difference between 'you' and 'yours' or 'your' and 'yours'? No problem. Another learner has asked this question for you before you can read the answer here: Difference between you and yours?

Friend, as you can see, we are always here to answer any of your grammar questions. 'Here' means on the forum. I'm sure by now you know where and what the forum is. If not, simply read this: How can I join the forum?

Of course there is much more to learning English than just a few grammar rules. As a matter of fact, instead of learning grammar rules you are far better off if you learn how to learn grammar. This might sound confusing but it actually is pretty straightforward. Alan Townend, your English language tutor has written an excellent piece on how to learn grammar and if you haven't read it.

You probably have noticed that I have a tendency to ask questions such as 'How can we learn grammar?' or 'How can I develop a good accent'? or "How can I improve my listening skills'? You see, there are so many people who ask me these questions every day and I want to share my answers with you.

Here is another one: How can I find more time to learn English? Again, the answer is rather simple: Work on your time management skills. How is that done? Listen to what Sue has to say on this: How to improve my time management skills?

Dear Friend,
One of our forum users recently asked me how to contact me and you can read and hear my answer here: How to contact you?

See you on the forum,
Torsten Daerr