A Cruel Summer

Well, we are having a cruel, brutal summer. The heat where I live got up to 107 degrees today with the heat index (the heat index is the heat with the humidity and wind/breeze factored in. Today the temperature was 100 degrees, but the high humidity and nonexistent breeze made it feel like 107 degrees. It was pretty terrible.)

 Now is a good time to stay indoors and enjoy a cold drink. Americans will often drink beer, but if you don't drink alcohol, lemonade is a good choice. In America, we make lemonade very simply--a cup of lemon juice, half a cup plus an eighth of a cup (which you measure by filling a quarter cup measure halfway) of white sugar, and eight cups of water--usually you just add ice and fill the pitcher to the brim.) Then stir. Refreshing, delicious lemonade.

We also make sun tea by taking a large glass jar and putting cold water in it with several teabags. Then we put the jar on a windowsill or on a deck outdoors. The sun heated through the glass brews the tea. Some people simply drink it unsweetened, but in the Deep South they put sugar in it and make Sweet Tea--a Southern staple in hot weather. Some people also like lemon juice in their tea. These are good nonalcoholic American treats for when it gets very hot like this.

Mostly we stay in our air conditioned homes and try to take it easy. If you'd like to talk sweet tea, lemonade, American food, any other point of American culture, or ESL and accent reduction (or perhaps to get your FREE phone consult and your FREE no obligation trial lesson) call me at (732) 807-5424. I'd love to hear from you.

'Til then, stay cool and hydrated.

American Small Talk: The Basics; A (Hopefully) Helpful Video

Hi everybody!  This is a new video of me explaining some of the basics of American style small talk.  The first thing I always recommend to new speakers of English is to relax.  Take a few deep breaths, loosen your shoulders, be easy.  No one will laugh at you.  Then, smile.  In America, a genuine smile invites conversation.  It invites warmth from the other person.  Then plan out in your mind what you want to say and how it should sound.

If you want to practice your English, if you need a conversation partner, if you want English or accent reduction lessons, give me a call @ (732) 807-5424.  My per hour rates are reasonable; you can view them on my website here https://sites.google.com/site/davidberlinesl/.  Just click on the "David Berlin's ESL/Accent Reduction Lessons" drop down in the sidebar and click on "My Rates".

I look forward to hearing from you and helping you with your English and your accent!

'Til next time,

Dave

New Policy w/re Payment: I no longer require monthly payments!

I am instituting a new payment policy as of late February 2012:  I no longer require payment in advance of a month.  All lessons are payable on a per lesson basis at the rate of $40/hour.  I also no longer require students to book a specific time slot.  I am very flexible in terms of lesson times.

Skype lessons are available at the rate of $15/hour for international students and distance learners.  You can reach me on Skype @ davidberlinesl.

I will continue to offer a free trial lesson and a free phone consult to all potential students.

Feel free to call me @ (732) 807-5424 to set up your free trial lesson and get your free phone consult TODAY! 

I look forward to hearing from you.  New video and podcasts coming soon.

NEW YEARS SPECIAL ON LESSONS!

Attn all:  My new phone number is (732) 807-5424.  This a permanent phone number, you can reach me via text or voice wherever I am.

Remember that I offer a free phone consult and a free no obligation trial lesson.  Call me today!  I'm running a New Years Special:

Have you ever made a "New Years Resolution"?  A New Years Resolution is a resolution to do something better, to make yourself better in the New Year.  Do you want to reduce your accent to do business better in America, so that people understand you when you speak, so that you can give presentations to your bosses and your bosses boss?  Do you want to speak good English, eloquently with only a faint trace of an accent?

Have you ever dreamed of having the good, moderate, soothing speech tones of a salesman or an actor?  I can help!  Give me a call @ (732) 807-5424 today to set up your free trial lesson.  For the rest of December and the entire month of January, I will give $20 off to anyone who purchases an entire month of lessons.  Get $160 worth of lessons for $140!

And of course, don't forget to check out my American Idiom of the Day Twitter Feed or check out my accent reduction training website for details.  Call (732) 807-5424 TODAY!

Other possible conversation openers and ways to make small talk:

As I've mentioned before, small talk is the art, in America and other places, of making social talk that acts as a social lubricant.  We make small talk with our colleagues and with people we want to meet or network with.

Small talk is called small talk because topically it is about the small things we enjoy in our everyday lives--sports, kids issues at school, food, pets (dogs, cats, lizards, hamsters, etc)--just about anything can serve as subject for "small talk" as long as you remember that another reason small talk is small talk is that it is "small" in nature--unserious, not deep, not in-depth or deeply emotional.




(American football and baseball are excellent topics for small talk in America, and you may often find that some Americans are interested in what you call football and what Americans call soccer and cricket--for the difference between "American football" and what might be called "football" where you are from, check out this series of posts on David Berlin's ESL and Accent Reduction Training page on Facebook. )

It's worth noting again here that "How are you" is a *greeting* in America, similar to "hello" and the appropriate answer is, "things are fine, thanks" or "things are good, thanks".  It's not that the asker doesn't care how you are.  It's just that if he wants to know he will figure it out in other ways--by observing you to see if your body language or tone of voice indicates upset, emotional stress, or what have you.

(This is why, by the way, it's important to learn good, proper American intonation and speech rhythm--because your if your English intonation and rhythm are not correct, an American may assume that you are upset or not happy in some way and will wonder what he or she can do about it.

(So for instance, if you are from Germany, Russia, Poland, or somewhere similar--Eastern Europe or Russia in particular, your English vocabulary may be fine but your rhythm and intonation will give Americans the idea that you are unfriendly or even hostile, even if you are friendly and personable.  Americans derive emotional content from intonation--mostly musical pitch and other things, rhythm, how you stress your words, syllables, and vowels, and so on.)

In any case, I meant to talk about the art of good conversation in America, but I got sidetracked.  What a shame.  However, if you'd like help with this, give me a call @ (732) 618-4135 or contact me via email @ david.berlin.esl@gmail.com or on Skype @ david.berlin.esl.

I have some really good handouts and a short ebook on the topic.

My Skype rates for simple English conversation practice for international students are considerably lower than my rates for private lessons where I travel to a students location.  Get in touch with me for details.

All right?  All right.  New podcast on American conversation and small talk coming soon.

By the way, you can follow me, David Berlin, on twitter automatically by clicking *this* button:

Follow @davidberlinesl


And of course you can check out my website for details about what I can help you with and how, and you can check out (and hopefully "Like") David Berlin's ESL and Accent Reduction Training page on Facebook.

All right?  All right.  And remember to call (732) 618-4135 when you are ready to get your FREE short phone consult and your FREE no obligation full length trial lesson!

The difference between /s/ and /z/, reprised.

Well, now it's really fall.  Veteran's Day is coming soon, the 11th of November I believe.  A sad day on which Americans are reminded of the horror and waste that is war.  In this country we are currently engaged in two wars which the average American citizen seems to have almost forgotten about.

War is waste; wasted resources and wasted lives that could have been put to much better use in other ways at other tasks.  War costs daughters their fathers, sons their mothers and mothers and fathers their sons and daughters. 

It costs brave men and women their lives and limbs; many of them barely children, not even old enough to take an alcoholic drink in their country but old enough to absorb a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel, or kill another human being for it.  Makes me wonder how straight we have our priorities at times.

We should go to war only when *absolutely* necessary, when all other avenues have been exhausted and all other diplomacy has been tried.

Very quickly, I will talk about the difference between /s/ and /z/.  Essentially the difference, as usual, is that one is voiced (/z/ as in zebra or zest) and one is not voiced (/s/ as in sick, or sam).  Both sounds are made the same way--put the center of your tongue to your alveolar ridge, the hard gum ridge behind your front teeth, and blow air through your bottom teeth.  Try these words:

sell
seven
sire
slick
presto
musty
toast
close (describing distance between two things, not what you do to a door when you walk through it)







To make the /z/ sound, do the same as above, but use your voicebox--make your vocal cords buzz.  /z/
 
Try these words:

zebra
zesty
zealot
zenith
zipper
zero
present
peasant
blazer
blizzard
grows
rows
signs




Notice that some of the words with a /z/ *sound* are *spelled* with an /s/.  DO NOT FORGET that in English, spelling and pronunciation are *entirely* different things, and words are often not spelled the way they are pronounced.

Okay?  Okay.  If you get stuck, over on the right hand side of the page there is a link to a podcast you can download that will give you some idea of what this is supposed to sound like.

Remember that I offer a free no-obligation short phone consult and a free trial lesson.  To get your phone consult or book your trial lesson, call me today at (732) 618-4135.  Call today!