Five Basic Facts These five questions will help you get to know people.

They are simple questions with simple answers and provide information so you can ask more questions. What is your name? Where do you live? What do you do? Are you married? Where are you from? More questions for ... These questions help to continue the conversation after your first question. "What is your name?" It's a pleasure to meet you. Where are you from? That's an interesting name. Is it Chinese / French / Indian, etc.? Does your name have a special meaning? "Where do you live?" How long have you lived there? Do you like that neighborhood? Do you live in an apartment or house? Do you have a garden at your home? Do you live alone or with your family? "What do you do?" Which company do you work for? How long have you had that job? Do you like your job? What's the best / worst thing about your job? What do you like best / least about your job? Would you like to change jobs? "Are you married?" How long have been married? Where did you get married? What does your husband / wife do? Do you have any children? How old are your children?

"Where are you from?" Where is ....? How long did you live there? What is XYZ like? Do you like living here? How is your country different than here? Do the people in your country speak English / French / German, etc.? Hobbies / Free Time These questions will help you continue conversations and find out more about people's likes and dislikes. What do you like doing in your free time? Can you play tennis / golf / soccer / etc.? What kind of films / food / vacations do you enjoy? What do you do on weekends / Saturdays? More questions for ... These questions will help you ask for more detail. "What do you like doing in your free time?" How often do you (listen to music, eat out in restaurants, etc.)? Where do you (listen to music, eat out in restaurants, etc.) in this town? Why do you like (listening to music, eating out in restaurants, etc.) so much? "Can you play tennis / golf / soccer / etc.?" Do you enjoy playing tennis /golf /soccer /etc.? How long have you played tennis /golf /soccer /etc.? Who do you play tennis /golf /soccer /etc. with? "What kind of films / food / vacations do you enjoy?" What's the best place to see /eat / go on vacations? What's the best type of film /food / vacation, etc. in your opinion? How often do you watch films / eat out / go on vacation? "What do you do on weekends / Saturdays?" Where do you go to ...? Could you recommend a good place to (go shopping / take my children swimming / etc.)? How long have you done that?

Impromptu Speech Topic Suggestions

Why are habits or routines helpful? / How can habits or routines lead to boredom? How does the weather affect your mood? Why did your favorite team win or lose the last game, match or competition? Why are you looking for a new job? What happened to make your break up / end your last relationship? Tell me something about a hobby or a subject in school? Why don't parents understand their children? What makes a good parent? What suggestions would you make to your boss to improve the company? If you could take a year off from work or school, what would you do? Why are governments in such trouble around the world? Why did you enjoy or not enjoy your last date? Who is your mentor, and why? What should the teachers do more / less often? Why did you do well / poorly on the last homework assignment or test?

One of the most important aspects of learning English is pronunciation. Without clear pronunciation, it is difficult to make yourself understood. However, you might be surprised by the following statement: Pronouncing every word correctly leads to poor pronunciation! Good pronunciation comes from stressing the right words - this is because English is a time-stressed language. In other words, some words - the content words - receive more focus, whereas other words - function words - are less important. Learn more below. Difficulty: Hard Time Required: Varies Here's How:

Learn the following rules concerning pronunciation. English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are considered syllabic. In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length). English pronunciation focuses on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, nonstressed, words.

Stressed words are considered content words: Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter - (most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct - Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting - Adverbs e.g. often, carefully Non-stressed words are considered function words: Determiners e.g. the, a - Auxiliary verbs e.g. am, were - Prepositions e.g. before, of - Conjunctions e.g. but, and - Pronouns e.g. they, she Read the following sentence aloud: The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. Read the following sentence aloud: He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening. Notice that the first sentence actually takes about the same time to speak well! Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are 5 stressed words in each sentence. Write down a few sentences, or take a few example sentences from a book or exercise. First underline the stressed words, then read aloud focusing on stressing the underlined words and gliding over the non-stressed words. Be surprised at how quickly your pronunciation improves! By focusing on stressed words, non-stressed words and syllables take on their more muted nature. When listening to native speakers, focus on how those speakers stress certain words and begin to copy this. Tips:

Remember that non-stressed words and syllables are often 'swallowed' in English. Always focus on pronouncing stressed words well, non-stressed words can be glided over. Don't focus on pronouncing each word. Focus on the stressed words in each sentence.

Pronunciation - Silent Letters

Silent letters are letters that are not pronounced in a word. There are many silent letters in English including the letter 'e' at the end of a word, the letter 'b' following 'm' and many, many more. Here are a few examples:

hope comb island bought

Here is a list of common letter combinations with silent letters in alphabetical order. This list contains most of the silent letters that give English as a second language students difficulties.

Silent B

B is not pronounced when following M at the end of a word.

climb crumb dumb comb

Silent C

C is not pronounced in the ending "scle"

muscle

Silent D

D is not pronounced in the following common words:

handkerchief Wednesday

Silent E

E is not pronounced at the end of words and usually makes the vowel long.

hope drive gave write site

Silent G

G is not often not pronounced when followed by an N

champagne foreign sign feign

Silent GH

GH is not pronounced before T and at the end of many words

thought through daughter light might right fight weigh

Silent H

H is not pronounced when following W. Some speakers whisper the H before the W.

what when where whether why

Silent H

H is not pronounced at the beginning of many words. Use the article "an" with unvoiced H. Here are some of the most common:

hour honest honor heir herb

Pronounced H

H is pronounced at the beginning of these common words. Use the article "a" with voiced H.

hill history height happy hangover

Silent K

K is not pronounced when followed by N at the beginning of a word.

knife knee know knock

knowledge

Silent L

L is often not pronounced before L, D, F, M, K.

calm half salmon talk balk would should

Silent N

N is not pronounced following M at the end of a word.

autumn hymn

Silent P

P is not pronounced at the beginning of many words using the suffix "psych" and "pneu".

psychiatrist pneumonia psychotherapy psychotic

Silent S

S is not pronounced before L in the following words:

island isle

Silent T

T is not pronounced in these common words:

castle Christmas fasten listen often whistle thistle

Silent U

U is not pronounced before after G and before a vowel.

guess guidance guitar guest

Silent W

W is not pronounced at the beginning of a word followed by an R.

wrap write wrong

Silent W

W is not pronounced with these three pronouns:

who whose whom