**Useful** native phrases! | Tutor Liz English's Column

Idioms....phrasal verb...expressions - you might feel a bit overwhelmed at just how frequently you see posts on this topic! However, they really are vital if you want to sound more natural in your English because natives liberally sprinkle them throughout daily conversation. It is also important that you can recognise and understand them when you hear natives speaking, even if you choose not to use them yoursefl!

While thinking about this recently, I became aware of how many posts & lessons I have seen that use examples that I have rarely, if ever, used myself! I also witness it fairly frequently when conducting English language speaking tests, where students have found online lists of obscure idioms & expressions that native speakers generally wouldn't use themselves.

I believe that what you as an English student really want and need is to be able to distinguish the examples that natives actually use in conversation, so that you can feel more confident about your own language usage.

However, what's the best way to learn and remember them?

I have spent the weekend designing some new materials ready for a brand new lesson which is available from today. It does require you to prepare in advance, so please ensure you have a little time to dedicate to each lesson beforehand so that we can make best use of the time. I will send you a list of 10 expressions before each class, and my guarantee is that they are common expressions that I myself would use frequently! For each one, you should think of some examples of situations where you might use the expression. The more relevant the examples to your personal life the better, since that will really help you to have a context in which to commit them to memory.

We will keep an ongoing record of your examples and my examples in a document that you can refer back to and review.

I'm excited to see you in class soon and, as with any of my lessons, I always welcome feedback and comments so that I can continually adapt and improve.

Have a lovely week!