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Perfect Phrases for ESL Everyday Situations

Active Learning Advice:
Speak English in One Room

Speak English with family or friends when you are in one particular room. For example, “Every time we are in the kitchen, we’ll speak English.” You can even write words in English on Post-it Notes and put the notes on appliances, furniture, objects, and even food. You may also write English pronunciation hints on the Post-it Notes. Every time you open the refrigerator, say “refrigerator”; every time you have a glass of milk, say “glass” and “milk.”

At first it will be a relief to finish eating and leave the kitchen, but it will become easier and even fun. After several weeks, change rooms or add another room to label and in which to speak English. Keep doing the exercise in two rooms; don’t eliminate the first room. You will learn a lot of English vocabulary and have a good time. Check vocabulary pronunciation with a friend, a colleague, or on the computer.

After you master the words, you may say relevant sentences:

    Pass the___________(salt, pepper, milk, butter, rice, vegetables), please.

    I really like___________(the chicken, the dessert, the new kitchen table).

Culture Hints

Many ESL students confuse the pronunciation of kitchen and chicken. They may say, “I’m cooking dinner in the chicken.”

Dessert is a word that is easy to confuse with similar English words:

dessert (n): a treat after a meal	/dezért/
desert (n): dry arid land	/dézert/
desert (v) abandon, leave	/dezért/

We ate our dessert in the desert before we had to desert the desert.

Idioms and Other Vocabulary

Colleague: person who works with you

Eliminate: take away

Label: put a note with information on something (objects in the room)

Master: be excellent at

Particular: special

Pass: give to another person

Post-it Notes: trademark name for a pad of sticky paper, used for notes

Relevant: having to do with a subject