Australia, Sydney, English Language, Music, Technology, Communication, Culture and my life.
I am starting a new series of articles about Sydney and Australia in response to the many questions I get from my students learning English and exploring life in Australia.
This first article is about Sydney – the first city in Australia. The photo of Sydney skyline view was taken by me from the Manly ferry in December 2019.
Some very humorous responses to the questions in the first part of the IELTS speaking test. Read on to watch the video and read the transcript.
Continue reading “How not to answer an IELTS speaking test!”
Flame Trees” is a song by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel from their 1984 album Twentieth Century. It is one of their best known songs, and was written by drummer Steve Prestwich and organist Don Walker.
According to the band’s official website, Walker’s inspiration for the lyrics was a combination of his memories of Grafton where he had lived as a youth, and of his romantic dreams. It’s really a story of love, regrets about “the one who got away”, and realising that you can never go back to the way things used to be.
The song title refers to Illawarra Flame Trees which grow on the east coast of Australia and often line roads. They turn vivid red in late spring when flowering.
These song lyrics can be used to teach vocabulary and the music video shows a typical Australian country town. Continue reading to watch music videos and read the lyrics.
A saw a list of Australian foods titled “Australian Food Challenge” asking how many items you have tried. I made a PowerPoint showing these foods. But first of all, which of these have you tried? Read on to see the list.
I wrote this post to share a 4 page document on talking about the future. There are many ways to talk about the future in English depending on the purpose. In this document I give reasons for using the following forms, with examples of positive and negative sentences, and questions.
This blog post is for sharing a short video about six words which have different meanings in Australian and American English. Enjoy!
Continue reading to see the video on YouTube and a transcript of the video.
Continue reading “Australian and American English – 6 Confusing Words”
Here is a video about how Australia got its name and why it is called Down Under.
Continue reading “Where did Australia get its name? (Video)”
