And...  it's here!  Happy New Year!

May you all have a more peaceful and successful decade with a lot more togetherness.
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As an ESL English teacher, I'm doing my best to bring us all together through better communication.

Everyone can find some small ways their own daily work moves us all towards harmony--
so let's all do more of that!
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Looking forward to a wonderful 2020 with you all!
Jeffrey

This is my speaking diary of daily life.  It's in easy English so you can enjoy some listening & reading practice and learn some useful daily conversation.  Enjoy!
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↓  Students & teachers,
https://www.imagineigo.com/english-diary-resources.html
↑  you can freely download a printable copy of the text here!

It's the last night of 2019...  just an hour to go before the new year!
Thank you to everyone who made it a great year of English learning and great conversations.
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I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2020 with you too!
Enjoy your holidays!

This is my speaking diary of daily life.  It's in easy English so you can enjoy some listening & reading practice and learn some useful daily conversation.  Enjoy!
​
↓  Students & teachers,
https://www.imagineigo.com/english-diary-resources.html
↑  you can freely download a printable copy of the text here!

On Christmas Eve, I got a very nice Christmas card from my family.  I said "it was very touching."  So what does that mean?  Touching what?!

Well, my heart of course!  The kind feeling of this card reached right out and "touched" my heart.

Maybe you have learned the common phrases, "it was very moving" or "I was very moved".  We use these phrases when something makes us experience a strong emotion, such as a dramatic movie or an inspiring speech.  This means that our heart "moved" because of the strong emotion.

But we can also use "touching" or "touched" to mean something similar.  Usually, this is for lighter situations such as receiving a small but special gift, or watching a heartwarming romantic comedy movie.  This means that the feelings or emotions connected with our hearts.
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So, if you suddenly receive a special gift, you could try this response:  "Oh, thank you, I'm touched."
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And I hope you experience many of these "touching" moments this holiday season!

This week in my daily English diary, I said that everyone at the local immigration office was "very kind" to me.  But a few weeks ago, I said that the sunny autumn weather was "kind of hot" that day.  It seems like the word 'kind' has two different meanings, right?!

Well, actually, it has MORE than two different meanings!  But today, let me quickly tell you about these two that I just mentioned.

In the first case, the word 'kind' means being nice, helpful, friendly, or caring.  The people at the immigration office helped me renew my ID card with a smile.  They were very kind.  This is the usual definition of 'kind' in the dictionary.

In the second case, about the hot weather, please notice that the word 'kind' is attached to the word 'of'.  This is important.  Here, the phrase 'kind of' means 'a little bit'.  The weather that day wasn't super hot...  it was just a little bit hot.  Maybe a little more than usual for the season.  This meaning of 'kind of' is very common in speaking, but it's a little casual.  So you won't see it often in writing.
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Please be aware that both 'kind' and 'kind of' do have other meanings.  But I think this tip is already getting kind of long, so I will be kind and tell you all about that in a future tip...

This learning tip is part of my short daily diary.  It's in easy English so you can enjoy some listening & reading practice and learn some useful daily conversation.  Enjoy!
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↓ Watch the original videos mentioned in today's tip!
"Everyone was very kind."  https://youtu.be/3alW7uio-Rk
"It was kind of hot."  ​https://youtu.be/meFmchHxC14

​Hello!  Do you want to improve your English conversation skills?  But maybe you're very busy...?

Try my Daily English Practice Diary video series!  It's perfect for busy people to read and listen to one minute of natural English every day.  And it's free on YouTube!
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     Last week I did a lot of work outside.  I worked on the water pipe in the stream, picked up trash, and even saw a snake!  It's getting colder, so I'm glad I did these things before it really gets freezing.

​This is my speaking diary of daily life.  It's in easy English so you can enjoy some listening & reading practice and learn some useful daily conversation.  Subscribe to the imagineigo YouTube channel to watch them all--  Have fun!

↓  Students & teachers,
https://www.imagineigo.com/english-diary-resources.html
↑  you can freely download a printable copy of the text here!

One day last week I had a donut for breakfast.  It wasn't so healthy, but it sure was a yummy treat!  Well, for today's tip I want to talk about the word "donut".  Sometimes you might see it written like this: "D-O-N-U-T".  And other times you might see it like this: "D-O-U-G-H-N-U-T".  Well, which one is the right spelling?

This might surprise you, but actually BOTH are correct!  Yes, that's right, there are two ways to write the word for these round, delicious treats.

The old, original spelling was actually the longer "doughnut" because they are made from dough, like bread.  But the shorter version "donut" is also pretty old, and became very popular in the names of donut shops, like Dunkin' Donuts or Mister Donut.

"Doughnut" still seems more common outside the USA and when written in books or articles.  "Donut" seems more popular in pop culture and on the internet.  But both are really OK.

So what should YOU do?  I recommend that you pick the one that appeals to you.  The one that you personally like best.  Then mostly use that one!  If you are writing something very formal (or maybe on some strict English test), you might want to use the longer spelling "doughnut".  But in most cases, it doesn't really matter which one you choose.

Personally, I have decided to use the shorter version "donut", mostly because I think it suits the casual feeling of donuts.  And the "O" is more clear and round, like the treat itself...
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By the way, this is not the only word that has more than one spelling.  And in most cases, my advice is the same.  Think about your writing style and the kind of people who will be reading it.  Then choose your favorite and go for it!

Recently, I used the two phrases "keep my eyes open" and "keep my fingers crossed".  Phrases like this are called 'idioms', and they're often difficult to understand for non-native speakers.  So I'll explain...

"Keeping your eyes open" in this case means looking out for some thing or event.  Not like searching for something, just being aware and ready for it...

"Keeping your fingers crossed" is a thing we do with our fingers to hope for some good luck or to make a wish.

And by the way, I did get my wish to see a deer that day, so I guess it worked!

↓ Watch the original video mentioned in today's tip!
https://youtu.be/2w6g4pIZYvY

​This last week was all about fixing things.  My car got an inspection and some new tires.  And I ordered some new parts to repair the water pump for our house...  lots of work with tools!  But now everything works just fine!  Yay!

​Are you looking for some quick English practice every day?  My Daily English Diary video series is perfect for busy people to read and listen to one minute of natural English each day.  And it's free on YouTube!  Enjoy!

↓  Students & teachers,
https://www.imagineigo.com/english-diary-resources.html
↑  you can freely download a printable copy of the text here!