Laurie Neilson

Special thanks to Declan Nicholls who dubbed the voices in this Pixar video for the comedy film, Monster's Inc. In this English tip, we will learn about imperatives. Imperatives tell someone what to do. They're often a command given by someone in authority, like the character Mike in this Pixar clip. Mike takes Sulley to see his new car. The car has features (like the automatic seat adjustment) that Sulley experiments with and figures out how to operate. Mike has trouble operating the seat belt, which results in a funny problem. Let's look closely at the dialogue. Imperatives No peeking. This one means Sulley should keep his eyes closed and not look until instructed. Come on. Get in, get in. Say "come on" when you want someone to follow your lead. Follow this by telling what to do next. The next example combines a question with an imperative for stronger emphasis when Mike says: Will you cut it out?! Mike is actually demanding that Sul...

Learn prepositions of place with Dr Seuss Listen to a You Tube song and read the words of Dr Seuss in the video below. The famous story, Green Eggs and Ham, entertains children while they learn word sounds and patterns. Let’s find out how Green Eggs and Ham can also teach important sentence structure. Watch the video here:  Seussical the Musical . Prepositions of Place With / On / In  With: when two things have connection or can be paired together. For instance, a coat lined with fur; a table with a chair. On: often used when something is above, over or sitting atop something else. For instance, the lamp is on the table, the pen is on the notebook. It's also for methods of transportation. In: Being inside of something or something is all around you. For instance, there are clouds in the sky; the nest is in the tree. Notice each set of words and the prepositions:  With a goat , On a  boat. In the  rain. With a  goat. ...

Practical Tips: How are you feeling today?   There are many ways to answer that question as it relates to your current  mood.  For example, you can be happy, sad, worried, and bummed. Standard feeling words such as happy, sad and lonely are easy to remember. But English uses a variety of words that add more ways to express emotion. Such as blue, down, upbeat, bummed out, and wiped out. These last two are collocations, or words that are put together often in 2- or 3-word phrases. See these examples: Feeling Sentence Meaning I’m feeling blue . I’m a little down today.  You look upbeat , did you get good news? I’m bummed ou t because I didn’t get the job. After that 10K run I’m really wiped out .  When you’re sad, not happy. A depressed mood, mentally low. Looking excited and showing positive energy.   Disappointed about something you wanted. Extreme physical tiredness. Now r...

You may wonder why this city of 10 million people is called Saigon AND Ho Chi Minh City. Officially, it's Ho Chi Minh City or HCMC for short, since the Northern Vietnamese communist forces rolled in and seized control in April, 1975. Before that, it was Saigon. Older generations nostalgic for the past cling to the former name, but the name really belongs to District 1, in the city center. Bus station The sprawl of Ho Chi Minh City spreads in all directions from District 1, which is home to a lovely park. I like to wander in the park for relief from incessant noise and heat. I can usually find someone to talk to if I just sit on a bench for a few minutes. Young students who are learning English come up to me, introduce themselves and pretty soon we're exchanging all kinds of information like their plans to attend university in the US or Europe. Eventually, I say goodbye with a promise to meet them again next weekend for more speaking practice. My next stop is Ben Than...

I began this blog when I lived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I ugently needed to connect wtih the rest of the world and while I'll never regret my decision to go there and teach school, living in Southeast Asia severely tested me. I didn't have Facebook because it was banned and I didn't have television. But I did have a speedy internet connection. Fortunately, the school I worked for had a first-class IT department, hence the reliable WiFi. When I first arrived in District 11 and realized how far off the beaten track I was, my computer filled hours of downtime. And because the immediate vicinity offered little else in the way of entertainment, I created a blog. There wasn't any computer guru around and asking a question was futile without knowing Vietnamese, so I was on my own. I found blogging exasperating and the few pages I posted were the result of an infernal struggle, immersed in tropical heat and ineptitude. I decided it would be really cool to imbed short s...

Thoughts on Leadership If you’re a job hunter, matching your skills with the job requirements will bring you closer to landing a job. For instance, the accounting field requires strong math skills, electricians should understand circuits and conductivity, and structural engineers must apply principles of load, support and strength to construction design. Opportunities for leadership often present themselves in specialized fields, like these. The accountant may become CFO with an office staff, the electrician, a project manager overseeing work crews, and the engineer may head a structural design department. Along with their technical knowledge, some professionals find themselves in leadership roles. This begs the question, are people who lead automatically good at it? Have you ever known a bad or a good leader? And how does one become good at leadership? While some people advance to positions of leadership because they have acquired more knowledge or skills, I’d say that knowl...