Photo bysebastiaan stam onUnsplash July 1st is Canada Day, so let me share a few facts about my co...
Zach McLaughlin
As one of my students pointed out to me recently, there are many ways to express the idea of being ...
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: have + time vs. spend + time
To talk about the quality or duration of your experiences, you can use “have + (quality adjective) ...
Zach McLaughlin
This week I visited Niagara Falls for just the second time in my life. The bus ride from Toronto’s ...
Zach McLaughlin
Dating back to 1953, the Nanaimo bar is a Canadian dessert that is named after the city of Nanaimo ...
Zach McLaughlin
The days are getting longer in Toronto (sunset is around 9 pm now) and summer will be here soon. Be...
Zach McLaughlin
Studying with textbooks: Survey
Today I’d like to ask some questions about people’s experiences learning with textbooks! I would lo...
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about humour in English: Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the basics, some common phrases, and different types of humo...
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about humour in English: Part 1
Since the weekly column topic is about humour and laughing this week, I’d like to share some vocabu...
Zach McLaughlin
Photo: Me in front of the ostrich food stall at the Evergreen Brick Works farmers marketThis weeken...
Zach McLaughlin
Although Toronto is still relatively safe compared to other major cities around the world, it has b...
Zach McLaughlin
It’s the day after the Victoria Day long weekend here in Toronto and the weather is really heating ...
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about weather in English (verbs): Part 3
(Unfortunately, the first time I wrote this article, I lost the file, and it has taken quite a whil...
Zach McLaughlin
Tim Hortons is a cafe chain that can be found across Canada and also in 12 other countries worldwid...
Zach McLaughlin
I recently returned from a 3-week trip to Japan and I have to say that it was quite an adventure! ...
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: cheat vs. cheat on
What’s the difference between cheating someone and cheating on someone? It can be a big one! Basic...
Zach McLaughlin
One thing that makes me happy is…
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash Although there are, of course, many things that make me ha...
Zach McLaughlin
Should you say “two fish” or “two fishes”? Well, it depends! Typically, “fish” (without “-es”) is t...
Zach McLaughlin
New year, new books: Searching for Franklin
After getting through two very interesting books in January, it took more than a month to get throu...
Zach McLaughlin
What I'm looking forward to this spring
Photo byRayia Soderberg onUnsplash One of the things that I was really looking forward to was watc...
Zach McLaughlin
Photo byYannick Menard onUnsplash Something interesting happened last night. Around 7:40 pm, I wa...
Zach McLaughlin
After finishing The Wager earlier this month, I dove into the next book on my list for this year - ...
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Have you ever heard someone say “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” when trying to choose something? There are...
Zach McLaughlin
Talking about weather in English (verbs): Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at verbs for rain and snow. Today, we will continue by taking a...
Zach McLaughlin
Photo: my boots, covered in salt, after walking outside for 20 minutes in the winter When snow, sl...
Zach McLaughlin
News headlines in English may be a little tricky to understand because they are grammatically diffe...
Zach McLaughlin
New year, new books: The Wager
One of my resolutions for 2024 is to get back into reading (paper) books and spend a bit less time ...
Zach McLaughlin
My 2023 in the rearview mirror
My biggest achievement of 2023 was finally visiting Nova Scotia for the first time in my life. In J...
Zach McLaughlin
Quick tips: exaggerating numbers
Many languages have words for large but indefinite numbers, and English is no exception! In fact, t...
Zach McLaughlin
How will AI affect language learning in the future?
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash Two years ago, during my Master’s degree program, I took a cou...
Zach McLaughlin