Spelling, Explained

Happy Friday, dear students!

I hope you are all doing well and are getting excited about the weekend!
I want to share a short video (under 5 minutes, I promise) that shows the interesting reason that spelling in English can be so complicated.

English, with a long history and a mixed background, has been changed, translated, shortened, and altered in other ways across centuries.  The effects of these alterations are evident in the difficulty of spelling that we all face today.  Look at this short explanation of why spelling in English can be so tricky!

It won't solve all of your spelling problems, but it does give an interesting insight into why the spelling and pronunciation of English words can be so unexpected!

Tuesday Quick Tips: Infinitives

Do you ever get confused about when to use an infinitive?

These little graphics will show you the times we use infinitives.

Look at these graphics and compare it to what you know, and try out a few sentences!
Feel free to send me your questions!

Happy Tuesday and Happy Studying!

Monday Motivation

Happy Monday!  Starting the week can be tough, but every day presents us new opportunities if we have a bold enough attitude to recognize them!  Welcome to a new week!

How to always have time to study *wink*

Do you ever feel like you have too much on your plate?  Who doesn't?

One of the most difficult, but most rewarding, lessons I've learned as a teacher is to prepare everything for my week on Sunday.  That means my lessons, my e-mails, my outfits, my housework, my grocery shopping.

In the beginning, I felt like I was losing part of my weekend.  However, I had to acknowledge that preparing everything the night before every.single.day. was not working for me.

The tips here are great in terms of organizing your work and study schedule.  I highly recommend using the app Evernote.  I have it on my phone, tablet, and laptop, and the app syncs all your information together when connected to the internet.  I also can't speak highly enough of having a personal planner (on paper!).  For some reason, I remember my appointments and schedule changes twice as well when I have to search for a pen and write it down myself.

Do you think these tips are worth taking time out on a Sunday to prepare your week?

The Importance of Taking Notes

The Cornell notetaking system was created by Walter Pauk in the 1950's, and many students swear by it!  I used this system in many of my classes while studying at the University of Memphis.

I recommend my students try out different ways of organizing written information-- everyone processes information differently and it's important to find a system that works for you (especially if it's been a few years since you've studied).  I find this system extremely useful because it organizes your notes in class with space to review and summarize them at a later time.

You can draw the Cornell system on any paper, but here is a link to see or print a great explanation.

This diagram is a bit more blog-friendly, but the information is essentially the same.  The Notes section is for taking notes during class.  The Cues and Summary sections are for completion during your own independent review.

Many students I know don't take notes in class, but it is important to know that my most successful students do.  It has very little to do with reading a page of notes (I could prepare that for you, if that were the key to learning).  The reason notetaking is so important for a learner is because writing it causes more neural connections to form in relation to a certain topic.  So if you hear and see something (which I will make happen), that's great.  But if you write and then read it, you're doubling your chances of remembering that important information.

So, take notes in class.  Take notes when you're listening to the TOEFL practice classes.  Take notes in Spanish in your own classes or meetings that you may be involved in.  The Cornell method is a great English tool, but there are tons of other ways it can be used.  I encourage you to try it!

Product Review: Barron's Essential Words for the TOEFL

Attention, TOEFL students!
This book, Barron's Essential Words for the TOEFL, is a great study tool if you are preparing for the TOEFL.

If you are less than 2 months away from your test date, you probably don't have time to work through this book.  However, if you are preparing for the TOEFL on a more long-term schedule, I highly recommend this book.  At the moment, you can purchase a copy on Amazon for less than $9.00 USD, and Amazon ships to Chile!

The book contains over twenty vocabulary lessons, each lesson with around 15 words.  After reading through the word variations and their definitions and usage examples, you have two practice activities to complete.  The first one will ask you to match one of the vocabulary words with synonyms in a multiple choice format.  The second activity works as a mini-reading practice, giving you a short paragraph using one of the vocabulary words.  You will then be asked to choose a synonym from a multiple choice list of words.  This particular practice activity mimics a question type that is found in the reading section of the TOEFL, making it great practice for not only vocabulary, but also for the reading section.

I use this particular book with my TOEFL students, so it's not absolutely necessary for you to buy it.  However, it takes a while to complete through 20+ lessons in our classes when we must also focus on preparing test strategies, correcting essays, etc.  For that reason, I recommend that my students use this book as an independent study tool.

The purchase link on amazon is here.

Extended Vacation

Hello, dear students!
I hope that you are all enjoying the end of summer vacation.  I regret to inform you all that I will not be returning to Chile as soon as I had originally planned.  Thanks to a surprise ice storm earlier this week, my flights to Miami were cancelled.  In fact, almost 70% of the domestic flights were cancelled in the entire country on Tuesday.  I spoke with Lan and was able to change my ticket, which was great news!  The bad news is that due to change fees and the price increase (it's a very popular time of year to be returning to Chile, you know!), I had to push my return ticket further back to the week of March 17th.  This means we will miss an additional three weeks of classes.  Because of this huge inconvenience, I am offering all of my students free practice content and correction via e-mail, and help with any translations of e-mails or documents FREE.  So if you are one of my current students, please feel free to take advantage of this offer while I'm out of the country.  I will see you all soon!

Welcome to English Classes with Rachel!

Hello, and welcome to my blog!  I use this blog to communicate information about my classes to current and potential students!

I am currently filling in my schedule with more classes.  My schedule availability depends more than anything on your location, because I travel throughout the city to give my classes.

If I am unable to accomodate your schedule needs for classes, I am more than willing to put you in contact with a small group of highly qualified teachers, all of whom I know personally.

I currently charge 14.000 CLP per 60 minutes of class.
If you have any questions about my qualifications or classes, or would like a reference from one of my current students, please feel free to let me know.
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¡Hola y bienvenidos a mi blog!  Uso este blog para comunicar información sobre mis clases a estudiantes actuales y potenciales.  Escribo casi siempre en inglés, asi que si prefieres leer algo en español, he puesto la opción arriba y a la derecha para traducir todas la paginas acá.

Actualmente estoy llenando mi horario con mas clases.  Mi disponibilidad de horario depende mas que nada de su ubicación, porque me muevo por la ciudad todo el día para dar mis clases.

Si no puedo acomodar sus necesidades de horario, estoy más que dispuesta a ponerse en contacto con un grupo pequeño de profesores altamente calificados, quienes conozco personalmente.

Actualmente cobro 14.000 CLP por 60 minutes de clase.

Si usted tiene cualquier pregunta sobre mis calificaciones o clases, o si le gustaría una referencia de uno de mis estudiantes actuales, por favor házmelo saber.