Helping Malaysians Improve their English
Do you use “Please advice” or “Please advise” in your emails? Well, the correct phrase is actually “Please advise”.
Some grammar experts say that “Please advise” must have an object after the phrase because advise is a transitive verb. But since it’s widely used in our emails, “Please advise” is grammatically accepted. Just take note that some may argue “Please advise” sounds impolite, so try to use it sparingly or check that the content of your email doesn’t come across rude or demanding.
Today I want to talk about my experience teaching English to my children. I hope this can inspire you to speak English with your children, or even motivate you to improve your own English speaking skills.
Believe it or not, even though we teach English here at MEM, I actually speak in Bahasa Malaysia with my three boys. One of them is almost eight, the second is five and the third is two years old.
Continue reading “My experience teaching English to my children…”
I hope you’re having a great Thursday morning. I recently came across a short video by Mel Robbins, a motivational speaker, talking about confidence. She says “Confidence is not a skill. Confidence is the willingness to try.”
I’m going to be teaching you the difference between it’s and its. This was a request by one of our subscribers who wrote to us on our Facebook page.
So when do we use it’s and when do we use its?
Today I want to talk about the word “besides” and how it’s often incorrectly used, especially among second language learners. Many second language learners use the word to mean “in addition to that”. The correct way to use it is actually by adding “that” after it.
The subject of this post is “The words we say to ourselves” because so many of our students write to us saying they have low confidence in speaking English. And I know for a fact that low confidence has a lot to do with what we say to ourselves – whether out loud or in our heads.
We lost our father last week, on Wednesday, 8th August at 9:30 a.m. Papa had been ill for 21 years but the news still came to us as a shock. Nothing really prepares you for losing a parent.
I had been mulling over what to write this week. I wasn’t sure whether to share the news, or to just write another post with English tips and lessons. But in respect of our father’s passing, I believe that a mention of him would be best. But I’ll keep this brief.
Since today is Thursday, it means it’s another English lesson from us! Today, I’m going to be sharing with you some words and phrases you might find helpful to improve your vocabulary.
In most cases, we don’t really need to use a lot of big words in our everyday speaking situation. What’s important is that we are fluent and able to get our message across clearly. But the more vocabulary we know, the better we can be in expressing ourselves and understanding what we listen to. What’s more, enriching our vocabulary can be a fun way to improve our English listening and speaking skills.
Continue reading “What does “espionage” mean? (and a few new words to learn)…”
We’ve been getting emails from you guys saying that you have no confidence to speak because you have poor grammar and you’re afraid people will laugh at you.
Continue reading “Help! I have poor grammar & I’m afraid people will laugh at me!”
There’s one thing that many of our subscribers have shared with us – you struggle to speak English because of your surroundings. This is because you live in an environment where English is rarely (or, if ever) used. You also may not have any friends or family members to speak English with.
Continue reading “Do you have no one to speak English with?”
