Lesson 1 I am sure you remember that the most basic words you learnt when you learnt to talk about travel were words like: ‘a flight’, ‘a nice view’, ‘a trip’, ‘a beach’, etc. These are basic words and will not score you ‘brownie points’, i.e. they will not give you the highest marks in the exam. You need to … Read More
How to talk about activities and hobbies in Chinese
What do you like doing？你喜欢什么 What is the best way to get you started in Chinese? Some vocabulary related to things you and other people like doing. This is always a winner and I recommend you look through it. If you are familiar with pinyin, it should be easy but be careful with the tones. If you would like to … Read More
Learn vocabulary from a song
Hi everyone，today I would like to teach you some useful vocabulary from a beautiful folk song called Zebra zebra (斑马斑马） which is super popular in China. Basically, the Zebra in the song implies a girl who the singer wants to talk about. It is a song with a bit of a sentimental mood and beautiful lyrics. Listen to the song first. let … Read More
Happy Lantern Festival 元宵节快乐
Happy Lantern festival 元宵节快乐 Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Mostly, it is the last day of spring festival. This is the first full moon of the new year, symbolizing unity and perfection. Lantern Festival is an important part of Spring Festival , and marks the official end of the long holiday. Generally, people … Read More
Sustaining a longer conversation in English
Spain and its culture: sustaining a longer conversation in English when talking with a Spanish person Hello, everyone. Once my student from China said to me she didn’t know how to talk to a Spanish person for longer than 3 minutes at a party (in London) and she felt quite embarrassed about it, so she asked me to teach her a … Read More
Zodiac signs in Chinese
In China, you often ask about the Zodiac sign of the person you are talking to. Here is the question: What’s your Chinese zodiac sign? – 你属什么? (nǐ shǔ shén me) To answer this question you need to say 我属___ (wǒ shǔ___) – I was born in the year of the___. Monkey – 猴 (hóu) Rooster – 鸡 (jī) Dog … Read More
Useful Chinese verbs for beginners
Useful Сhinese vocabulary (1) The podcast with these will follow but at the moment here is the list of useful verbs you should know. I have put Pinyin in the middle but without the tone so you will need to listen to the podcast. The first word ‘love’ is really popular. Do you know how to say ‘I love you’ … Read More
Teaching your child a foreign language: what, when and how?
If you want to teach a child a new language, it’s best to start before they are six years old because they can learn up to 14,000 words before they are six when they are spoken this language by their parents. If the parents only speak one language, this is where a language teacher can help and the more exposure … Read More
Learn Chinese with Qu Wanting’s song – 我的歌声里
wǒ de gēshēng lǐ -You Exist in My Song 我 的 歌声 里 In today’s lesson, I would like you to learn some new words from a song that has been quite popular in China. In my opinion, you can pick up some new words from it quite easily. The singer is called Qu Wanting and comes from North China. … Read More
How to order tea, coffee and pizza in Russian
ТРЕТИЙ УРОК (The third lesson) Read the words on the left and match them to their English equivalent on the right. 1) Чай а) coffee 2) Сахар б) milk 3) Кофе в) tea 4) Вино г) honey 5) Мёд д) sugar 6) Молоко е) wine 7) сыр ё) butter 8) масло ж) bread 9) хлеб … Read More