Author: Sam Burns

  • Describe and Guess: Tools

    Describe and Guess: Tools

    Can you describe them?  You might not care about tools, but it’s very helpful to learn to describe things you don’t know the names of.  See if you can figure out which tool I’m talking about just by the description. Answers: A) a hammer B) a screwdriver C) a pair of pliers D) a utility…

  • How we should do extensive reading (Part 1): Finding the Right Book

    How we should do extensive reading (Part 1): Finding the Right Book

    There is just too much we need to talk about with extensive reading, so we will break it up into two sessions: Finding the Right book and Finding the right way. But first, let’s agree that … …everyone is different Your brain works different than my brain. We have to get to know ourselves to…

  • Sun and Lamai

    Sun and Lamai

    It was hot again.  It is always hot in Thailand.  Sun was standing in the dining room next to the big dining room table.  There were more than thirty hand-carved chairs, but they never used more than three.  One for Sun, one for his mom, and one for his dad, which was the person yelling…

  • Hungry in the Czech Republic

    Hungry in the Czech Republic

    Jason and Susan were walking down an old busy street in the Czech Republic.  They had just arrived the night before, just after midnight.  It was early morning, and they were super hungry! “I’m in the mood for eggs and bacon with a slice of toast,” said Susan. “Where do you think we are going…

  • A Tropical Beach

    A Tropical Beach

    This beach is a dream vacation destination for thousands a people around the world.  It’s simply perfect.  What a wonderful place to relax!  Who wouldn’t want to get away from the hustle and bustle of modern life by going here? Can you describe what this beach looks like?  Before reading on, imagine you just got…

  • Why We must do Extensive Reading

    Why We must do Extensive Reading

    What is Extensive Reading? It’s when we read a lot.   Not just reading a few text messages here and there or reading a few paragraphs in a textbook but reading something long! To do this, the stuff we read must be interesting and easy.  It’s what we did to develop our native language.  Our parents…

  • Tree or weed: How to Study English

    Tree or weed: How to Study English

    A tree is a plant.  It grows slowly.  It grows carefully.  It grows steadily.  It can be big and can make lots of fruit.  A tree is a good analogy of how to study English. A weed is a plant, too, but it grows quickly.  It grows randomly.  It grows sporadically.  It will always be…