EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

Can you call it a MAIDEN VOYAGE without real maidens inside? Well, if you were considering Viaje de Doncella , that certainly is a no-no.  Of course, the translation is correct, but it is not what we say in Spanish.  Is there a specific expression as in English? Not really, we only say VIAJE INAUGURAL or just PRIMER VIAJE.  Another thing, in Spanish we never use the pronoun SHE to refer to vehicles such as cars or ships, they are objects (despite the affection we may feel for them), not people.  What we do share is the custom of naming ships with feminine names. Understandable, they are beautiful after all, just like all women are.  

                          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).

"Am I a real tiger or just a group of words? Let's see... eeny, meeny..." O nce we begin learning English we must be aware that we are not only learning a language but also are acquiring all the cultural content that is linked to it. So just knowing the grammar and having a certain number of words to call vocabulary is not enough. There are other things we have to learn. Just ask yourself how many songs in English you know, how many riddles, how many jokes, how many sayings, how many tongue twisters, how many lullabies. Very few or none? Certainly, all that is useless knowledge for ultimately you do not need any of it, but still in terms of understanding what is behind that which is your target language, to have a more complete perfect vision of those who create it, then it is healthy to know. A good starting point is something as trivial as to learn how to say DE TIN MARIN DE DO PINGÚE  (I'm not really sure if it's spelled that way in Spanish anyway). Here two ...

"We all came for the free snacks and T-shirts." I t depends. The word people is usually used as the plural of person so in that context to say PEOPLES is incorrect. Nevertheless, the word people also means a nation or an ethnic group (as in the Ecuadorian people for example) and in that context, it is correct to use such a word and make it plural. So for example the phrase "Pueblos del Mundo" can be translated into "Peoples of the World"  BTW, the word people is used as the plural of person, can we say PERSONS? It is possible, only in certain legal contexts, but other than that the safest thing to do is not to use it .

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...