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Going to the “next level” in learning

Last weekend, we had our Speaking English with Confidence Workshop, and we had so much fun! We were so happy to welcome students who came back for their second time (and even a third time!) because they wanted to take their skills to the next level.

I always say “next level” to the point where I think it sounds cliched or even cheesy.

But what I mean by that is there is always room for improvement.

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How to tackle tasks you don’t like doing

Do you have tasks that you don’t like doing but you have to do them because they’re important?

It could be work-related: going for meetings, public speaking, giving a presentation. Or personal-related like cleaning the house, exercising, cooking.

Sometimes, even the thought of doing these things can give you anxiety.

So what can we do to motivate ourselves to do these things in a better frame of mind?

Let me share how I do it.

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Feeling behind? Two tips I shared with my friend

Yesterday I was on a phone call with a dear friend of mine. She was having trouble with her self-esteem and not feeling “enough” after seeing how other people around her seemed to have perfect lives.

Have you ever felt this way?

Maybe you look at people’s “perfect” lives on social media and it makes you feel really bad about yourself. Like you’re not good enough and you’re behind everybody else.

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Read this if you don’t like reading.

Do you like learning, or you want to read more, but you just don’t like reading?

If you follow us on Instagram, you may have seen the Instastory we posted today. If you haven’t, well you should be following us already.

Anyway, I talked about a few books that I received recently. Do you like online shopping? I’m not really a shopper (online or in real life), but I absolutely LOVE books.

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Remember this simple rule for “will” vs “would”

Today, we’re going to talk about these two verbs: “will” and “would”.

We often see people confuse one with the other in their writing.

But follow these rules, and you should be right most of the time:

1. If you talk about something that always happens in the present, use “will” and if you talk about something that always happened in the past, use “would”.

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The correct way to say “is it?”

In this week’s post, we’re going to talk about the correct way to use “is it” and “isn’t it”.

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you may know that I’m also a translator for Malay and English shows.

The other day, I was translating a Malay show into English. I realised that in the Malay language, we frequently end questions with “kan”.

In Malay conversations, “kan” can be used in almost any situation. For example:

“Mesti kakak mimpi tentang lelaki yang jahat tu, kan?”
“Saya comel, kan?”
“Makanan ni sedap, kan?”

So when Malaysians speak English, we tend to use the words “is it” or “isn’t it” to replace “kan” at the end of questions.

These are called question tags. For example:

This is delicious, isn’t it?
The parcel isn’t arriving today, is it?

However, they should not be used all the time!

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How I helped my friend write a better email

Today I’m going to share with you how I helped a friend write a better email.

For as long as I can remember, people have always asked me to help with their English.

The other day, I received a nice comment on Facebook from an old friend:

“Amnah, I still remember that you always used to help me with my assignments back in university. You corrected my English, and sometimes you even translated my sentences. Thanks. I still remember it till today.”

It was nice to read that, because I didn’t remember that particular incident! SO many friends have asked for my help, especially in their writing.

I’ve always loved writing. I used to write stories as a kid, and now I continue to write emails for you here at My English Matters.

And it’s something I will share more of in our online course, Communicate with Confidence (CWC), as a bonus! We can’t wait to have you join us when we open registration again in 2020.

Now, if you enjoy reading the emails I send, I’m going to share with you one VERY important tip to help you write better emails.

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