by Adam David Broughton | | Practice
There’s no doubt about it, some mistakes are more common than others. And some mistakes are more common for speakers of a particular language. In my ten years in Spain, I must have corrected the mistake ‘people is’ at least three and a half thousand times. That’s a...
by Adam David Broughton | | Motivation
So the time of year has come round again when many people make new year’s resolutions. Have you made one? I’ve always liked to think about and plan the year ahead but I never used to make resolutions. The last couple of years, however, I have started making them,...
by Adam David Broughton | | Practice
There are millions of things that I don’t know. But I like the fact that there are lots of things that I don’t know. It means there are loads of things for me to learn. I’m a very curious and inquisitive person, and I enjoy finding things that I don’t know and then...
by Adam David Broughton | | Grammar, Language analysis, Practice
There’s the old fable that talks of two friends, Bill and Ben, out camping in the wilderness. They have dinner by the campfire, then head to the tent to sleep for the night. After a while, Bill wakes his friend up and asks, “Look up and tell me what you see”. Ben...
by Adam David Broughton | | Motivation, Practice
I want you to think for a moment about whatever goals you may have in your life right now. What would you like to achieve this week? What about the next six months? The next five years? What about a life goal? Which of these are you working on right now? We all have...
by Adam David Broughton | | Education, Language analysis, Psychology of learning
Welcome to part 2 of The Real Reason Children Are So Good At Learning Languages. If you missed part 1, here it is. In part 1, we looked at how children’s behaviour has a huge impact on their ability to learn languages. Today, we’re looking at how they think. There are...
by Adam David Broughton | | Case Studies, Language analysis
“Children’s brains are like sponges! It’s easy for them to learn” “My older brain is full of information, so it’s harder for me to learn and remember things” We use kids as an excuse for why we feel that we can’t learn as an adult. It is true that children learn a...
by Adam David Broughton | | Motivation, Psychology of learning
When I was fourteen, the Tour de France went through my village in rural France. It was by far the event of the year. Not much tended to go through the village, except tractors or the odd lorry transporting sheep. The morning they were due to cycle through, all the...
by Adam David Broughton | | Education, Grammar, Language analysis, Practice
A student arrived in my class last winter with a horrible cold. Pale skin, bloodshot eyes, blocked nose, the lot. I asked him if he was alright, and he said he was just a little ill. I said, “get well soon!”, and he thanked me. As soon as he thanked me, I asked him to...
by Adam David Broughton | | Grammar, Motivation
When was the last time you gave somebody some advice? What advice did you give them? What about a time when you were given some advice? What did they say? My wife gave me some fantastic advice recently. “Adam, you should always wait for the bird poo to dry before...
