English Grammar HELP and Podcasts for the Inquisitive ESL Student: We're Interactive!
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English Grammar HELP and Podcasts for the Inquisitive ESL Student: We're Interactive!
Stop by our friendly HELP! Desk, where English grammar is made easy to understand. Listen to an audio of a story written by an ESL student. Ask that question that you've needed an answer to. We have the answers for you, whether you are a native speaker or somebody learning English as a Second L...
Recent Episodes
43 episodes
My Pet, My Dog: Americans' Love Affair with Pets
Americans are in love with pets: dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, birds, and more! Some Americans even have pet rocks! Today we interview one American do...
Noun-Pronoun Agreement: Mr. President and the First Lady
Nouns ("Mr. President") and pronouns ("he") must get along in English! They must agree about things like person (I, you, he/she/it, they) and number (...
What Is a Verb? We Podcast about English Grammar
What is a verb? For the learner of English, the answer isn't always so obvious. In today's podcast, we learn the difference between time reference an...
English Grammar: Gerunds and Infinitive Phrases_Pattern_4
Next in our series in English grammar: gerunds and infinitive phrases! In this podcast lesson, we discuss the pattern Verb + Noun or Pronoun + Infinit...
English Grammar: Gerunds and Infinitive Phrases_10_2
If you want to be confused with English grammar, just look at the problem of gerunds and infinitive phrases! At the ESL Help! Desk, with our podcasts,...
Present Perfect Continuous: How've You Been Feeling Lately?
Ever wonder when to use present perfect continuous? Ever wonder how it's different from present perfect? Here we will answer your questions and give y...
Imperatives and Commands: Have a Nice Summer!
Want to learn how to express a command? Here we teach you positive ("do") and negative ("don't") commands. And we wish you a good summer at the same t...
Paper or Plastic?
Here's a lesson in which you can learn how to save money, save energy, save the Earth, and improve your English grammar all at the same time!
Barak Obama: A New Day for the USA
Today is the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America. Millions are taking to the National Mall in Washington DC to witness...
Definitely Fattening!
We continue our lessons with demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, and those. We embellish our exploration of these, adding subject-verb agreemen...
I'll Have Some of That, Please!
You're in a bakery, a restaurant, or a store, and you see something you want - but you don't know how to ask for it! You don't have the right vocabula...
I Hate Finals!
Do you hate finals? If you are or have every been a college student or a college teacher, or the parent of a college student, you know how stressful...
Code Name ESL
Confused by acronyms ESL, EFL, TESOL, L1 and L2? Do you feel like an outsider with all these codes? We have good news for you: You and other learner...
The Inner Circle
This week we are kicking off a new feature for our users - the Inner Circle. The Inner Circle is for learners of all levels - beginner, intermediate,...
I'm Going
Another grim grammar lesson! You've heard the present progressive tense used to refer to the present, to now. You've heard the present progressive te...
The Green Monster: Hold, Please.
Tired of being put on hold while you're on the telephone? We'll take you to a baseball game and give you a little practical knowledge about dealing -...
Traffic
Beep, Honk, Honk...Do you find yourself stuck in traffic more often than you would like to? Like it or not, traffic is a topic of conversation in our...
American Thanksgiving, Our National Holiday
Thanksgiving is America's most popular and highly celebrated Thursday and national holiday. Join us for a summary of how we celebrate this prized day...
Gerunds and Infinitive: More Grammar!
Are you thirsty for grammar? Don't know when to say "I love to ski" and when to say "I love skiing"? Don't know the difference between "Did you reme...
What Should I Bring? Wine, Beer or Chips?
Have you ever been invited to a social gathering and not known what to bring your host or hostess? Should you bring wine? Chips? Or nothing at all?...
The Nine Answers Podcast for Learners of English
Nine thoughtful and entertaining answers to nine thoughtful and clever questions! Listen to the answers, and see if you can figure out the questions!...
He's Always Talking about Grammar
Is your English teacher always talking about grammar? Does he or she expect you to know how to identify the subject and verb of a sentence? Do you th...
Questions: People Who Ask Questions
People never stop asking ourselves questions. Short and sweet, challenging and thought-provoking, questions without a right or wrong answer....Stop b...
Dear Help Desk, Part 2
Perhaps you have to write a formal business letter in English, and you do not know how to end your letter. Using the wrong closure could be disastrou...
Solving Family Problems
How does your family solve its problems? Do you have regular and open communication with each other? Come and listen to our podcast, in which we lis...
Dear Help Desk, Part One,
Perhaps you have to write a formal business letter in English, and you do not know how to even begin! Should you write "Dear Jane" or "My Dear Jane"?...
It's a Date!
So much dialogue today is idiomatic: Expressions like "That works for me" or "I'm going to pencil that in" are essential to interpersonal communicatio...
The Blues and Greens of Ecuador
Imagine a country with sun, sand, blue water, banana and papaya trees, roses, and more. Imagine Ecuador! Join us today when we listen to an audio sto...
Get Me to the Train Station (On Time)
Are you planning or considering taking a trip by train? Do you want to avoid having to deal with parking and traffic? In today's podcast, we're goin...
Yum...Can I Get That Recipe?
Surely you have tasted something so delicious that you wanted to get the recipe for yourself, so you could cook it in your own home. In today's lesso...
Cross-country Skiing
Millions of people worldwide love to ski and cross-country skiing is one of the more popular types of skiing. Listen to our podcast today as we prese...
How Have You Been? The Present Perfect Tense
This verb tense, the present perfect, seems so difficult. After all, it refers to the past, despite its name, and it's hard to know what is so perfect...
This Writing Just Confuses Me
When you write, do you like to have music playing in the background? Or does background noise confuse you? Try writing in a different environment, a...
Quantifying Nouns: A Lot of Nothing
Much or many, less or fewer, these noun quantifiers can be too much! Join us for this lesson, when we continue our lesson on countable and noncountab...
One, Two, Three Little Countable Nouns
Today we have a grammar lesson for you, in which we explore countable nouns, both regular and irregular forms. We have some fun listening activities,...
Juan de Pareja
What do you know about the great Spanish artist Diego Velazguez, or his slave Juan de Pareja? Join us for this fascinating podcast in which we learn...
Are You Okay? Podcasts for Learners of English
Did you ever wonder how to express concern, to be grammatically correct and socially appropriate at the same time? Join us for this lesson when we di...
How I Saved Somebody's Life: A True Story
Listen to a short essay written by an ESL college student, in which he describes saving two people's lives. If you have the Easy Writer CD-ROM, you c...
Hello, this is Luis.
A fun lesson in which we visit ways to begin a telephone call. We pay special attention to using the pronoun "this". At the end of the lesson, you w...
Would You Please! Podcasts for Learners of English
Today we learn when to use "would" and when to use "will". Learn the proper way to make a polite request. You'll also learn how to propose marriage...