Cafetalk Tutor's Column

A park in downtown San Francisco

Salesforce Park is a public park you can visit in downtown San Francisco. It is behind Salesforce T...

On Tuesday or In Tuesday?

The other day my student said "See you in Tues". Maybe you know it should be "See you on Tues". I r...

Travel Vocabulary

Hi students,Today I was having a lesson with one of my students and we started talking about travel...

Festival of Lessons and Carols

Dear students and other Cafetalk readers,I'm listening to a recording of the Christmas service call...

Think Small to Accomplish Big Things - Michael Phelps talk

What small things are you going to do to accomplish big things? What small things can you do today,...

The Caldor Fire (near Lake Tahoe)

The Caldor Fire is one of the wildfires burning in California now. It is very sad to see. It is nea...

A chance encounter

When I was living in China, I took a trip to a mountainous part of Chongqing. I planned the trip in...

parklet

Hi students!What's a parklet?It's a new word that has changed meaning a little since the pandemic. ...

multilingual

This video, although just of people counting to 10 in at least 3 different languages, reminds me of...

Earthquake!

Just after I taught a lesson, I felt the room shake! It continued to move...We were having an earth...

Shohei Otani on the train

I heard this story on the radio that the Angels' Shohei Otani would not start against the A's tonig...

Polite requests in English

Dear students,How can you make a request politely in English?Here are some ways: "Could you please....

What are your student strengths?

I was thinking today about different kinds of students. What are your strengths as a student? What ...

study tips

Dear students,I'm a student, too. I'm preparing for final exams in the courses I'm taking now. Beca...

Words and names from French and syllable stress

Many English two syllable names have stress on the first syllable.Women's names:EmmaJanaMayaJulieMe...

idiom:

Today I was thinking of two idioms people use in English to say that something is not difficult, or...

Prince Harry and James Corden

It's quite odd to see Prince Harry chatting with James Corden. James Corden meets lots of famous pe...

boyfriend, girlfriend, friend and man friend

Dear English learners,Today I'm going to write about when to use boyfriend, girlfriend, friend or m...

idioms with "hit the"

Some idioms that use "hit the". Have you heard of them before?hit the sack, hit the hay = go to bed...

pleasantly surprised

Dear students,I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I thought I'd introduce the phrase "plea...

Christmas Lights

Hello everyone,It's almost Christmas! Christmas is not the same this year. Due to the pandemic, we ...

Stay-at-home orders

Hello students,In my area (in California) we will be under stay-at-home orders starting Monday to p...

Rain

 It rained last night. Maybe for you this doesn't sound like big news, but for us it is. It hadn't ...

Essential Workers

On a previous blog post, I introduced the term social distancing. Today I will introduce essential ...

Grammar: Responding to Negative Questions in English

Dear English learners,When responding to positive questions, students aren't usually confused (alth...

Lesson Milestones

Dear students,Today I reached the milestone of 200 lessons on Cafetalk! Thank you! When we reach a ...

Social Distancing

Hello English learners,Today I wanted to introduce the term social distancing. Have you heard it?It...

idiom: "to cost an arm and a leg"

English idioms sound strange sometimes! There is an idiom "to cost an arm and a leg". It means some...

A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush

I have been thinking recently about the proverb: "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". It...