Learn English with Teacher Joe

Hi Readers!

What do crazy people and some good language learners have in common? No, this is not the Riddle of the Week! So, let me give you the answer. Some good language learners practice by talking to themselves. They try using vocabulary and sentence structures that they’ve been studying to think about what they are doing in their daily life. You can read more about this Talk to Yourself approach by clicking here.

What do you think? Do you ever do this? If so, how often, and what were the results. If not, do you think it might be helpful to you? Who do you think this can help the most, beginners, intermediate students or advanced students?

When a younger sibling (a brother or sister) copies their older sibling, the older one might call the younger one a “copycat”. Older children often say “Don’t be a copycat!”.  Well, here’s a riddle about some copycats:

Ten copycats were sitting in a boat, and one jumped out. How many were left?

Yes, this was pretty easy. Of course if one jumps out, nine should be left. However, as Nafis pointed out in the Comments section, since they are copycats, all of them will follow the first. So, there would be zero left!

Today I was noticing how my students are reluctant to change old habits, even if those habits are holding them back from achieving their goals. So, in my classes, I try to get students to try many different ways to practice, helping them to break bad learning habits. How about you? Do you always practice the same way? Do you feel your learning is boring and maybe too slow? Here is one idea to try to help you liven up your speaking practice:

http://www.teacherjoe.us/LearnEnglish15.html

I think this can help you. Let me know what you think!

Many children’s riddles are based on letters of the alphabet. Here’s an example:

Why is the letter A like a flower?

Okay, nobody even attempted to guess this time. You might think about things that go with flowers - a beautiful scent, sunshine, green grass, bees… Bees! And what comes after the letter A? The letter B! So, why is the letter A like a flower? Because it is always followed by a B!