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I received a message the other day from an old friend. After catching up on life, I then congratulated him on completing his PhD.

I said, “Congratulations! So it’s Dr Fadli now, isn’t it?” (not his real name).

He replied, “Thank you! But please drop the title!”

It’s great to be able to be informal with friends and peers. It’s equally important, however, to know when it’s appropriate to be formal. This is about being respectful.

In this week’s video, I taught ways to address people in formal and informal settings. 

Watch part one here.

Continue reading “How to Address People in Formal and Informal Settings – Part One”

Have you ever attended a group discussion and felt bad because you could not contribute to it confidently?

Maybe you felt overwhelmed and didn’t know how to begin the discussion or interrupt the flow of ideas coming back and forth!

Yes, I have been there myself. Sometimes I had nothing much to say, I was ill-prepared or worse, I just wasn’t listening to the discussion at hand!

Listening and contributing to a discussion go hand in hand.

That’s why in this week’s live session, I taught simple phrases that you can use to be actively engaged in a group discussion. You can watch it here.

Continue reading “Phrases to Use in Group Discussions”

Back in my corporate days, I had a friend, Linda (not her real name), who I had lunch with every day.

Our first language is Malay, so as we enjoyed our steaming rice and chicken curries under the shade of a hot zinc roof, we would laugh and share stories in Malay.

Back in our (freezing cold) air-conditioned office, we didn’t speak to each other much because we were in different departments. We were our professional, English-speaking selves when it came to work.

The language used for communication in the office was English so it was normal for us to write and speak to other colleagues in English. 

One time, Linda called me up to ask about something related to work. Since we were used to speaking Malay to one another, we started the conversation in Malay.

Continue reading “5 Ways You Can Train Yourself to Think in English”

“People laugh at me when I speak English.” We hear this from many of our students.

It can be upsetting to have people laugh at us when we are trying our best.

At first, I couldn’t understand why people would laugh at others. Are they just being mean?

Continue reading “Do people laugh at you when you speak English?”

In this Facebook Live session, Amnah shares 26 idioms that you can use at work! Watch the replay here.

Continue reading “26 Idioms You Can Use At Work”

Madam Azimah went live on our Facebook page to talk about the ‘be’ verb and how to fix common mistakes.

The ‘be’ verb is the most commonly used verb in the English language, yet it can be tricky to use because it comes in many forms.

Continue reading “The ‘Be’ Verb and How to Fix Common Mistakes”

On Tuesday, I went live on our Facebook page to share 25 Phrasal Verbs You Can Use At Work. I shared one phrasal for every letter of the alphabet (except for one letter. I didn’t seem to find any phrasal verbs beginning with the letter ‘x’!)

Watch the replay here!

Continue reading “25 Phrasal Verbs You Can Use At Work”

On Tuesday, Madam Azimah was live on our FB page. If you didn’t know yet, we’re doing FB live sessions every Tuesday at 10AM. We hope you’ll join us next week!

In the session, Madam Azimah shared five ways to help you get to the next level of proficiency. You can watch the replay here.

Continue reading “How to get to the next level of English proficiency”

People often ask us this question: ‘How do I stay motivated to learn English?’

Learning English, just like learning any other skill, requires a lot of time and support. And it’s hard to get the support you need when the people around you don’t speak English.

So in this week’s video (which was a live session on our FB page), I share ’10 Ways to Stay Motivated to Learn English’. 

Continue reading “10 Ways to Stay Motivated to Learn English”