Posts tagged reading practice

Hello Instagrammers! Get ready to catch Ido Simyoni in New York City!

Aug 2nd

Ido Simyoni hits the Big Apple this summer!

World famous photo-sharing celebrity Ido Simyoni, will be coming experience English courses in New York and capture his English learning experience here. This well-known Israeli television producer and casting director will be uploading photographs from his cell phone to Instagram, the popular social network of digital photo lovers and exchangers.

Join his over 40,000 followers and catch a glimpse of Ido’s daily journey as he soaks up the culture, the history and the landmarks of this amazing city while trying to learn English at Kaplan in New York.

As Ido will soon find out, taking a vacation English course in New York City is an amazing experience, and I have personally worked with hundreds of adults and young adults who have done it. If you haven’t taken such a course here in the Big Apple, I strongly suggest you do.

According to Kaplan’s Social Media Manager, Rob Pickstone, Ido will be able to share his experience in an exciting and visual way, one that we have not seen before. This will of course encourage other students to share their experiences in a similar way. Social media sights like Instagram give companies the opportunity to allow their customers to represent their brand. Kaplan encourages its students to tell their own stories.

And Ido has done so before. He previously studied English at the school’s London campus and shared colorful photos of cosmopolitan Covent Garden, the historic Tower of London and the colorful Brick Lane with his followers online. You can search #KaplanExperience on Instagram to follow Ido’s Big Apple adventure.

New York City, news & current events, reading practice

Nice to meet you! (From Our New Guest Author)

Jul 27th

Posted by Maya in Happy English!

5 comments

Happy English is proud to present a guest writer for the blog. Follow Maya’s NYC adventures here!

Hi, I’m Maya. I’m one of Michael’s students. Nice to meet you! I’ll introduce myself today.

I’ve lived in the US for 8 months. I moved from Osaka City, Japan, to here last November because my husband was transferred to the US branch of his company. I’m still a newcomer to NYC!
Recently I’ve been spending busy days and doing everything I’m interested in, working as a volunteer, taking a Spanish class and a knitting class, and woking at a wine store and studying wine there. I’ve experienced such a lot of precious things.

I’ll mention my English skill. Before I moved to here, I couldn’t speak English at all. I regarded English as just a school subject, like Math, History, Science, and so on. Honestly, I didn’t like English and it was NOT my cup of tea. I knew I should study English, but I was pretty optimistic, like “If I lived in the US, I could speak English soon as native English speakers like magic.” (Probably most people think so, right?) I can affirm now “English magic NEVER occurred.” My thought was absolutely changed as soon as I began living here. I couldn’t understand what native English speakers said even if it was such an easy phrase, like “Credit or debit?,” “Would you like a bag?” I was truly disappointed in my skills. And then, I determined to study English hard. I had studied English at 2 schools until I started studying with Michael in May. I’ve studied English eagerly as I decided by myself.

Do you want to know current my English skill? Ummm… I can have a conversation with native English speakers, but not perfectly. I can probably understand around half of what they say, but I can’t understand another half. About my speaking skill, I can’t say what I want to say perfectly yet, but I feel I’ve improved much in English compared to 8 months ago. In addition to that, I extremely enjoy speaking English even though I sometimes feel frustrated and ashamed. I realized English is a measure to communicate with people. Until 8 months ago, I could communicate with only Japanese. Now I talk with Americans, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Saudi Arabian, Brazilian… people of various nationalities every day. Isn’t this an awesome experience? English has made my world spread widely!

Did I write down too much? Have a great day and see you next time!

Editor’s note: If something is your cup of tea then you like that. We usually use this idiom in a negative sentence:

Playing golf is not my cup of tea.
Blue cheese is not my cup of tea.

What is no your cup of tea? Thanks for reading today and feel free to leave a comment!

reading practice

English Reading Practice: Indie Bands in Brooklyn

Mar 6th

Posted by Yunhee in Happy English!

No comments

Tea Leaf Green Rockin' Brooklyn

Yunhee is from Korea and has been living in New York since 2008. She enjoys checking out live music while pursuing a career in fashion design here in NYC. I’m happy to have her as a guest author for this post and the photo.

One of the exciting things about NYC is that there are a lot of different types of small and big gigs everywhere. Especially, in Brooklyn, there are a lot of indie bands and up and coming bands playing at night; more on the weekends than weekdays. Anyhow, if you are interested in up-and-coming American music, you should go to Brooklyn. There are a variety live bars and places where all different types of bands play. Well, if you still have no idea where to go, Brooklyn Bowl is one of those places where your weekend night can be thrilling.

I went to Brooklyn Bowl a few weeks ago for the first time to see one of my favorite bands, Tea Leaf Green. As I got in, there were a lot of Yuppies, between their early 20s and late 30s. Moreover, not only the people, somehow, who seemed a bit more different than the people in Manhattan, but also there were totally two different types of places, a bowling alley and a bar with a live bar house in the same one- story building. I really enjoyed each of them in the same night.

First of all, the live bar had a bar, a stage where bands played, and some tables where food is served in the middle between the bowling alley and the live bar. So I was in the live bar, I enjoyed everything: food, drinks, and music. Speaking of the music, Tea Leaf Green’s performance that night was crazy awesome! Everyone danced, and some people sang along. After their two and an half hour concert was over, I walked up to the bowling alley to bowl. It was as dark as the live bar, and there was loud music on. At this point, let me tell you about one thing that might be bad or good. Even though those two places were openly right next to each other, I was not able to walk over to the bowling alley from the live bar. However, when I was in the bowling alley, I could see another performance and hear their music as I approached to the low wall in the middle between the live bar and the bowling alley.

So if you can’t get a ticket for a gig in the bar, you should try to go to the bowling alley! You will be able to enjoy bowling and seeing a gig at the same time! Or you should try both those places if you get a ticket for a gig in the live bar.

Here is some of the key vocabulary for this lesson.

indie band (n) indie is short for “independent.” An independent band is a music group that doesn’t have a recording contract yet.
gig (n) a live music performance in a small club or bar.
up-and-coming (adj) gaining popularity and prominence; soon to be famous.
yuppie (n) yuppie is a slang acronym for Young Urban Professional. Yuppies are successful, young business people generally between their late 20’s and early 40’s.

Practice Questions Enter your answers in the comment section below!

Do you listen to any indie bands?
Have you been to a gig recently?
Are you a fan of any up-and-coming musician or actor?
Do you know anyone who is a yuppie?

Thanks for studying with with me today, and thanks to Yunhee for her article.

Hi Everyone!

I’m so excited to let you know that the Audio Program (Podcasts) is now available!
There are 11 podcasts, almost 1 hour of audio lessons.

Here is a sample of the audio:

Download the sample here
When you upload the podcast to your iPhone, iPod, or iPad, touch the screen to see the text of all of the lessons:

Tap the screeen of your iPod or iPad and see the lesson!

For a limited time, still just $5 for both the book and all 11 podcasts (almost 1 hour of my lessons).
Including…

The DEFINITION of each phrasal verb.
How to USE the phrasal verb.
The STRUCTURE showing the grammar pattern of the phrasal verb.
EXAMPLE sentences to see how the phrasal verb is used in context.
A PRACTICE question to give you the chance to use the phrasal verb.
ALMOST 1 HOUR of my audio lessons in 11 Podcasts explaining the meaning and giving examples of each phrasal verb!