English Fluency Blueprint

Hi Teacher Alston,

Which is better to ask? Do you have a time? Or do you have the time?

Thanks.

Thank you :)

You’re welcome, glad to know you have the answer to your question.

Of the 100 most commonly used English words that was posted, there are 3 that you should learn how to properly use. One is the word “the” which is a definite article that refers to a specific thing. For example, Muhammad Ali was known for making the following statement:

“I am THE Greatest!” It doesn’t mean he was simply great or he was a great boxer. By using the definite article “the” in front of Greatest, he was proclaiming that he was the one and only great boxer of every boxer of all time.

Definite means specific, exact, precise, or no doubt.

The other 2 words are “a” and “an” which are indefinite articles and refer to any non-specific thing (noun.) For example, if Muhammad Ali had made the following statement: “I am a great boxer” he would be saying that he was great among other great boxers. In other words, he was one of many great boxers.

One final thought on using indefinite articles, use “an” if the word after it starts with a vowel (a,e,i,o, u) or the letter “h.” For example, “please bring an umbrella to school on rainy days” or “it was an honor to serve you.” 

All other words you would use “a” before the noun such as, “bring a pencil to school” or “I’ll take a train instead of driving a car to your house.”

The use or misuse of articles is an area of improvement that an ESL/EFL student must learn. Please visit the grammar section on the Englishbaby homepage: http://englishbaby.com/lessons/grammar/articles_quantifiers_and_determiners

In addition, I posted some videos on articles on my profile page.

http://englishbaby.com/findfriends/gallery/detail/1207903

Yes, now I understood why I don’t have to use the article “the”. Thank you, Your answer has very helpful.

Hello Justina, your question is very timely because I was preparing to post something on articles before Step 5 and the answer to your question leads me into it.

Remember, the article “the” is a definite article and means a specific thing, not a whole category of things. Chocolate by itself means anything that is chocolate, such as, chocolate with nuts, chocolate with caramel, chocolate milk, etc. 

Therefore to use “the” before chocolate doesn’t say specifically which chocolate is being referred to. To make it a correct statement you would have to say, “Please bring me the chocolate on the table.” In this statement, you are referring to a specific chocolate located in a specific place. I hope this helps. Excellent question!

Why in this sentence we are not using article the “I love chocolate” ? Because I can count chocolate, for examle one chocolate, two chocolates.. I understood when I can’t count, for example one muic, two music.. but chocolate ?

Amira, you’re right on point. The main thing is exposure to words and to look for patterns and repetition of the same words and how they’re used in the context. Also, I recommend that you to write down the words for a small section of the speaking which is the purpose for the digital recorder I previously mentioned. Play it back over and over and seek an understanding of the content.

Concerning Step 5 “How to Speak English” it is going to require another week because there is so much to put into words that can be easily understood.

In the meantime I want to post this section of the Step 5 to take this next week for you to study and/or review 100 of the most commonly used English words. Use the online dictionary 

http://www.dictionary.com/ to assist you with the meaning of the words and which Part of Speech they belong to. Don’t worry yourself to understand all of these words in one week. Let it be a work in progress and work through the list as your time permits. These are basic words as a foundation for achieving your goal of English fluency. Feel free to post any questions about any of the words.

1. the 2. be 3. to 4. of 5. and 6. a 7. in 8. that

9. have 10. I 11. it 12. for 13. not 14. on 15. with

16. he 17. as 18. you 19. do 20. at 21. this 22. but

23. his 24. by 25. from 26. they 27. we 28. say 29. her

30. she 31. or 32. an 33. will 34. my 35. one 36. all

37. would 38. there 39. their 40. what 41. so 42. up 43. out

44. if 45. about 46. who 47. get 48. which 49. go 50. me

51. when 52. make 53. can 54. like 55. time 56. no 57. just

58. him 59. know 60. take 61. people 62. into 63. year 64. your

65. good 66. some 67. could 68. them 69. see 70. other 71. than

72. then 73. now 74. look 75. only 76. come 77. its 78. over

79. think 80. also 81. back 82. after 83. use 84. two 85. how

86. our 87. work 88. first 89. well 90. way 91. even 92. new

93. want 94. because 95. any 96. these 97. give 98. day 99. most

100. us 

Listening is the very first step to learn a language. I already tried watching movies with subtitles, and it’s a very good way except that it’s very time-consumming, so watching short subtitled vidoes on youtube was a better next choice. I’m also trying to get some audio books to train my ears more often. I’ll also have to try a podcast.

I’m eagerly looking for the next post Mr. Alston.

The use of listening to children’s stories is a means to an end, i.e. a tool to help move on to the next level of English learning. Thanks for bringing that point out.

Hello to everybdy ! I will try to use Castbox too because I always listen children stories but it would be great to change something. When I am listening stories I always try to repeat some phares in my mind and by doing this it’s much more easiest to write in English because I know how it have to sound. :) 

You’re welcome Anne and thanks for your feedback. I’m glad that you see the benefit of speaking which trumps everything else. Not that they’re not important but the bottom line is using what you have, even if it’s only one word. 

In a money making matter, the question is not how to make a million dollars but rather how to make one dollar and then multiply that by a million. The same logic applies with speaking English. The question is not to attempt to know a million English words but rather to learn to use one English word and then move on to the next one.

A native speaking person in the US who goes into a Chinese restaurant doesn’t have to be fluent in Mandarin but knowing just a few words will suffice for the occasion. More words can come later as the need arises. Impressing someone is not the goal but communicating what you want is.

You are correct about the meaning of “See you on the flipside.” A similar phrase is “catch you on the rebound.” If you continue to be exposed to various phrases you’ll eventually be able to pull it off. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, teacher. I had backread this forum since the time you started to post, and I noted those important tips you’ve given. I like the positivity and the encouragement from all the members. You’re right sir, speaking is really the key to practice. I like the phrasal verbs lesson. I used to work for an American client before, he always talked with slang words/phrases, which I didn’t get sometimes, the http://www.thefreedictionary.com was a lifesaver at that time. Let me share with you a phrase he always said when he bids his goodbyes: See you on the flipside. Another way of, telling your friends you’ll see them later, or whenever you catch them around. 

you are welcome.

Paradizo, welcome aboard. Your strategy is a good one. The main thing is to talk in English, even to role play with yourself. Thanks for sharing it.

something which has always helped me in fluency was this strategy:

i read a story and try to keep in mind ,not memorizing though ….then i sit in front of a mirror  and retold the story by my own words.i dont pay “much” attention to grammatical mistakes and i just talk.

Mahtab, you’ve been right on course with your strategy of using movies with subtitles and the lyrics of songs. Now you can add children’s stories to it. Step 5 “How to Speak English” will focus on some details about speaking English words and communicating thoughts through speech. Thanks for your feedback and carry on.

Anne, welcome to the forum. I am confident the suggestions and recommendations of the members here will be helpful for you. I’ll try to do my best to help you achieve your goal.

Concerning finding the right words, it comes with the frequency of your conversations, vocabulary and time. Nevertheless, work to develop your tenacity so that you will push through to reach your goals. Finally, I encourage you to be an active participant of the website, there’s a lot here to help you.

Easypeasy, your feedback concerning the effectiveness of watching movies is appreciated. I would like to add that certain action movies may have a limited benefit due to their fast pace.

I really appreciate that you informed us about the https://castbox.fm website which has a lot to offer. Thanks so much for your contribution to everyone. 

Learning by watching movies in the original language is something I also like to do to practice my language skills, it’s fun and effective.

Another thing I recently started to do is listening to podcasts. There is an app called CastBox and there you can select podcasts, ordered in categories (e.g. culture&society, news&politics etc.) and languages. I think it is a really useful tool.

Hi everyone,
Thanks teacher for inviting to this forum, I want to improve my skill level in English. There are times when I’m having a conversation or I want to express my idea, I’m groping for the right words, that made me stammer and lose my confidence to talk. I hope you can help me teacher to reach my goal. Thanks.

Thank you dear Alston

Listening to children stories is a good idea!

I used to watch movies with subtitles and I could listen the words while looking the subtitle!

It helped me so much and some said why you use English subtitle because all usually use persian one to understand the movie!😏

I told them when I cant understand a part of movie I repeat and look the words in subtitle that are used in conversations! Sometimes I search for the meaning of new words and I have learned many things this way!

Also I do the same with songs by reading their lyrics!

Now I give a try to children stories!

Thanks again🌺

Step 4 – “How to Train Your Ears to Understand English” of the English Fluency Blueprint forum has been posted.