EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

"A real party is when you party all the way till sunrise!" To understand the real meaning of AMANECERSE you need to know that AMANECERSE is not the same as Amanecer (to Dawn). In Spanish, we say: "Bailamos hasta que amaneció" which in English is "We danced until it dawned." But we could also say: " Nos amanecimos bailando." Literally, in Spanish, we say: "We dawned dancing" which does not make any sense in English. AMANECERSE in Spanish means to be engaged in this or that activity all night long until the sun rises.  So, for example if you want to say in English: " Me amanecí trabajando en el proyecto" you say "I worked on the project until sunrise" but not "I dawned working on the project."  

"Don't have one... Ask me again in 2023, please."       The answer is nothing. To call or consider someone our Valentine is not something we do over Latin America.       We do offer presents and gifts to our beloved ones, but we do not assign them any specific term.       A similar thing is a game called El Amigo Secreto (Secret Santa), but for that, you need to keep your identity concealed until the moment you deliver your present onto your friend's hands. It is only then that you reveal your identity to your friend. so it's not really the same idea!      In any case, in both English and Spanish speaking countries this is not a holiday, but some sort of tradition that gives us the perfect excuse to give away presents to people who are special to us.     Happy Valentine!         

 Oh, yes, definitely you can.  Especially, if you mean to say  the name of this country: So AISLAN is an AILAN? That country is called ICELAND, pronounced AISLAN in Spanish. To say ICELAND when you mean ISLAND is a common, but understandable and therefore predictable, mistake that Spanish speakers make when learning English.  It is better not to forget how to pronounce each word correctly so as to avoid awkward situations such as when you mention that The Galapagos are a group of ICELANDS!  

  "Ok, I'll call this Yoga by the Window." Have you ever felt nostalgic and missed something from your past? Then you were WISTFUL at the time. WISTFUL is a synonym of Nostalgic and a good antonym would be perhaps Unsentimental. It is not difficult to translate this word into Spanish: NOSTÁLGICO, MELANCÓLICO or PESAROSO are all good options.

  A Lousiana KINGCAKE looks a bit different from Latin American KINGCAKES. Yes, ROSCA DE REYES, at least in the state of Lousiana is called KINGCAKE or KING CAKE. This is a tradition usually observed among Catholics who in the United States are commonly French descendants mostly living in Lousiana, or Latin Americans.  They all share this tradition, but there is a substantial difference: the decoration. Traditional Lousiana KINGCAKES emphasize the presence of the following colors:  purple  that symbolizes justice, the  green  that symbolizes faith, and the  gold  that symbolizes power. Latin American KINGCAKES tend to look different, and if any, the colors associated are red and green . a Latin American KINGCAKE. KINGCAKE or KING CAKE are not the only terms to describe this delicious example of pastry. THREE KINGS' CAKE, KING'S CAKE or CROWN CAKE are also possible, and of course there are those who just call it by their original Spanish name (of ...

                          Tell your students that there are two things that are not true about English: a. "English is too difficult to learn."  Especially when you are working with teens or adults, they will tell you this more often than not. I always tell them that English is indeed difficult, but not much more than Spanish for example. Anyone can learn English, but perhaps the best thing to do is to start with the basics since most of your students will come to you after several failed attempts. I also tell them that we are in this together: we are a team and I need them to work with me so we can accomplish this objective as it should be. b. "I am not good for English" After years of trying to learn, many English learners conclude they are the problem, and perhaps they are right but not the way they imagine. Teach your students to see themselves as for what they really are: individuals with their own needs and with...

When a LAYOVER becomes a Sleepover A LAYOVER is a stop or tranfer from one plane to the next in your flight itinerary. It's similar to a Stopover, but it's not necessarily the same. LAYOVERS can last thirty minutes or up to five hours. Beyond that the term Stopover is more often used. In Spanish we don't have any specific word for what a LAYOVER is since we make no difference between a LAYOVER and a Stopover. They are the same: one is shorter, the other is longer. For both we use the same word, ESCALA. 

"OK, good night! I'm going to sle...eh ...bed" If you said GOING TO SLEEP you were right. The only problem with GOING TO SLEEP is that it is not the most common expression to express that idea. It is more likely to say GOING TO BED or BEDTIME than GOING TO SLEEP. Another problem with that expression is how well it translates into Spanish. That is not necessarily a problem unless it happens all the time. There are intrincacies that pertain only to English that Spanish lacks and vicecersa, and when you are aware of that your English sounds a lot better.

"Hey, are we friends already?" "Nope, still only ACQUAINTANCES" An ACQUAINTANCE is a person we know, someone we may say hello to, somebody who we are on friendly terms with. But that's it. A person may be your ACQUAINTANCE for years and never become your friend. It is the same in most Spanish-speaking countries where a friend is an Amigo and an ACQUAINTANCE is a CONOCIDO.  "An old ACQUAINTANCE" and "an ACQUAINTANCE of mine" are common expressions that go into Spanish as "Un viejo CONOCIDO" y un "CONOCIDO mío".

It's not an ad, just a COMBO. The common definition of this term tells us that it is a derivation of sorts of the word Combination. It is essentially a business term created to entice our secret desire to spend our money on things we don't need. In a combo, you get not just one item, but two or three and though you pay a little bit more this is less than if you had acquired each item separately. In other words, you pay more, but you also get more. Sounds like a good deal, doesn't it? Perhaps that is why COMBOS are so popular. There is not a word for COMBO in Spanish so we also say COMBO in Spanish. We may say COMBINACIÓN, but it is not necessarily the same. UNA OFERTA ESPECIAL is another option, but again it is not exactly the same thing. BTW, the word COMBO also means a small musical group. There is a famous Puerto Rican group called El Gran Combo that plays Caribbean music.

What's a SWANK? Well, I'm one. I'm Hillary Swank! SWANK is one of those English words that can be either an adjective, a noun or a verb. Luckily, the meaning remains the same. Something that is SWANK is usually ostentatious, flashy, a bit too elegant or proud, but it may also be just smart. When used as a verb this word means Show Off, so the idea is not that different, is it? FANFARRONEAR, when this word is a verb, and FANFARRÓN if it is a noun or an adjective are good translations in Spanish.  In Informal Guayaquilean Spanish we would say SACAR LAMPARA (v) or LAMPAROSO (n).

"Hey, human. If you call me CALICO, what should I call you?" The term in English is CALICO cat. Now the word CALICO does exist in Spanish and it is CALICÓ with an accent but for some reason, no one uses that word (at least not in Guayaquil). Apparently the word is originally French from which it was taken into English.  How the term crossed over to Spanish is still unclear. So it seems that we will have to get used to the term or keep saying GATO DE MANCHAS CAFÉ, NEGRAS Y ANARANJADAS as we have so far.

Construction workers after scaffolding a new building. Sadly there's no budget for the walls. What's Scaffolding to begin with? An architect would say it is the temporary structure used by construction workers to move around a building that is being repaired or when construction is being built. A teacher would say something else. Instructional Scaffolding (that's the complete term) is the group of instructional strategies implemented to help a learner or a group of learners to reach deeper comprehension so they can grasp successfully the target content intended for them. Scaffolding is connected to the concept of Constructivism which is about giving the learner knowledge that can be tested and thus is also reliable. Scaffolding is more than anything about training the learner to do his/her own learning. Little by little the learner is left alone so he or she can devise his/her own learning strategies and in the end, becomes an independent learner. Scaffolding is a fa...

"I got this T for just two dollar." E nglish is a redundant language just as much as Spanish is. There are plenty of examples, but here is one that concerns Spanish learners (Guayaquileans in particular). Street vendors often offer all sorts of objects from pencils to toy cars, from balloons to candy bars and all of them are (what a coincidence!) priced at one dollar and therefore offered at that price. Nevertheless, there are times when they ask for a higher price and then the following occurs: "¡Gafas a dos dólar !" they say. Of course, in Spanish that is a mistake. They should say: "¡Gafas a dos dólares ! (Shades at only two dollars!). Now, here is the question: are those vendors really wrong? Is it really incorrect to say two dollar (or dos dólar for that matter)? Is it 2 not more than 1 and thus already a plural? Guayaquilean street vendors are usually partially illiterate so using the word dollar always in singular regardless of the number is something ...

One of those masters of horror that has not received all the recognition he should is W.W. Jacobs. Born in 1863 this Londoner was not really known for being a horror writer, however, it was a collection of short stories ( The lady of the Barge, 1902) that made him popular and one in particular has endured the test of time better than the rest: The Monkey’s Paw . This is the tale that defines psychological horror more accurately than any other. It’s really easy to scare showing scenes of gore, using ominous dark figures or monsters of all sorts, but is it equally easy without any of those things? Jacobs was a master in doing so and his story is the best proof.  It begins with the Whites and their only son, a young man.One day they receive the visit of one of Mr. White’s old friends, a military man who is in possession of a mysterious artifact. That thing is a monkey’s paw that has the incredible ability to grant three wishes to its owner. It can be used by three different pe...