I recently started writing as a contributing blogger on Teachability by Pearson Education, I'm excited to start sharing the different components of English learning and English teaching. You all know I'm very passionate about visual aids in teaching as well as learning through immersion and real-life context , so I'm pretty sure most of my writing will be focused around those topics.

If you're a teacher teaching ELLs, you might be interested in my recent post on Three Ways The Use of Visual Aids Can Benefit ELLs.  I talk about the ability of visual aids to increase retention, reduce time, and enhance motivation. Integrating visual aids does not have to be time-consuming or costly. I give some examples of my own work which are all downloadable for free on my website. Just type the name of the image in the search box on my website. If you still can't find them, send me an email! I'll be glad to help!

Although my English Student website allows me to share my own resources with learners (and teachers) around the world, Teachability will provide more dense reading materials for teachers in the ELL/ESL/ EFL field. Aside from being able to share my ideas to help other teachers, I'll also be able to read from the experience of other educators to strengthen my knowledge on learning habits and how to provide better resources for English learners!

If there's something you'd want to read about or share in relation to visual aids, I would love to hear from you! Send me an email here:  jenny@theenglishstudent.com

Writing can sometimes get complicated and confusing especially when you have no clear organization. You need structure in writing, whether in a college essay, article, or business email. It should always be organized, clear, and concise. This makes it easier for the readers to understand.

A great way to think about how to structure writing is by using the example of a burger or a sandwich. I was taught this same way when I was young, so this concept has been around for a while now!

INTRODUCTION
You begin first with your main idea/ introduction. This is the top bun of the burger. What are you writing about? What's your topic?

For example:
"Learning English can change your life in positive ways"

DETAILS
All the  ingredients are what provides taste to the burger. These are the supporting details 1,2, and 3 (or more) that gives the writing the "meat." You can add tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, pickles in a burger - these all provide substance and taste. That's what we need to make a writing (and a burger) interesting!

For example:
Detail 1 : English can open up many job opportunities

Detail 2 : English can give you more independence when traveling around the world because English is a common language.

Detail 3 : English can give you more opportunities to meet new people

CONCLUSION
The bottom bun of the burger completes the burger. This is where you would bring everything to a conclusion.

The top and bottom buns hold all the main ingredients (supporting details) together. If you don't start with a bread on the top or bottom, the burger would be strange and probably wouldn't taste so delicious. All the ingredients in your burger would just fall out too. The top and bottom bun provides structure to hold everything together. These are just as important as the ingredients inside a burger.

If you're interested in a Hamburger Chart Worksheet to use in the classroom or to practice on your own, you can download it here.

If you've visited my site lately, you would have seen a new section called "Make a Wish" (you can find this on the homepage). This allows you to make a wish on an English lesson you wish to see on The English Student in the future. I've already received some emails, and although I can't cover everything right away, I will choose some that I think a lot of other learners can benefit from.

A question that I'm answering today is from an English student who wanted to know the difference between the words "bored" and "boring." This is a very common problem and I will try to explain this grammar difference as simply as I can without boring you all!

To be bored is never fun but to be boring is never good! I would much rather be bored than be boring.

If you're bored, it describes how you feel. You feel unhappy or unsatisfied because there is nothing to do. Have you ever heard the saying, "Facebook is like a fridge. If you're bored, you keep opening it." If you feel bored, then you keep opening and checking Facebook. Quite true!

If you're boring, it describes what you're like as person. Someone who is not interesting to be with or talk to. I would never want anyone to say I'm a boring person! That would be a bad quality to have! As the actress Marilyn Monroe once said, "It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than to be absolutely boring." I agree with that!

In the picture above you can tell these friends are not having a great lunch together. The woman on the left is feeling bored. The woman on the right thinks her friend is a boring person (not interesting to be with). Can you distinguish the difference now?

The words "bored" and "boring" are known as participial adjectives.

Participial adjectives function just like any regular adjective, they modify nouns but they are formed from a verb. Adding -ed or - ing at the end of a verb creates a past or present participle adjective. Take a look at how some verbs become participial adjectives.

VERB - PAST PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVE - PRESENT PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVE
(1) BORE - BORED - BORING
(2) AMUSE - AMUSED - AMUSING
(3) RELAX - RELAXED - RELAXING
(4) INTEREST - INTERESTED - INTERESTING

There are so many wonderful resources on the web to learn more about participial adjectives. If you're still confused or want more examples, it may be a good idea to search around. Here is a great video from Sprotak Animations with some examples of present and past participles.