Language Learner

Refugee Mother And Child - Poem by Chinua Achebe No Madonna and Child could touch that picture of a mother's tenderness for a son she soon would have to forget. The air was heavy with odours of diarrhoea of unwashed children with washed-out ribs and dried-up bottoms struggling in laboured steps behind blown empty bellies. Most Source: http://cdn3.independent.ie/migration_catalog/Non- Staff/article25055826.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/Famine< br>Source: mothers there had long ceased to care but not this one; she held a ghost smile between her teeth and in her eyes the ghost of a mother's pride as she combed the rust-coloured hair left on his skull and then - singing in her eyes - began carefully to part it… In another life this would have been a little daily act of no consequence before his breakfast and school; now she did it like putting flowers on a tiny grave. 

Mending Wall BY  ROBERT FROST Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbour know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-do...

Below are some of  the most common English mistakes made by ESL students , in speech and in writing. Go through the examples and make sure you understand the corrections. Then try the grammar test at the end to check your progress. Wrong I have visited Niagara Falls last weekend. Right I visited Niagara Falls last weekend. Wrong The woman which works here is from Japan. Right The woman who works here is from Japan. Wrong She’s married with a dentist. Right She’s married to a dentist. Wrong She was boring in the class. Right She was bored in the class. Wrong I must to call him immediately. Right I must call him immediately. Wrong Every students like the teacher. Right Every student likes the teacher. Wrong Although it was raining, but we had the picnic. Right Although it was raining, we had the picnic. Wrong I enjoyed from the movie. Right I enjoyed the movie. Wrong I look forward to meet you. Right I look forward to meeting you. W...

The Direct Method In this method the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The learner is not allowed to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is emphasis on good pronunciation. [ More ] Grammar-translation Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed on developing oral ability. [ More ] Audio-lingual The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is much practice of dialogues of every situations. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form. [ More ] The structural approach This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at a time in a set order. So for example the verb "to be" is introduced and practised before the present continuous tense which uses ...