Rock Your English! newsletter

HELLO, DARLING! 

So lovely to be on your screen once again, darling. How was your week last week? I hope it was chock full of awesomeness! If it wasn’t, I’m pretty sure it was better thanhers.

WEBSDAY!

I can’t wait to work with you on 16 April in my very first Webinar Wednesday! We are going to tackle the most common mistakes people make when giving an English presentation, and show you how to make your audience beg for more! How do you structure a good presentation in English? What phrases do you use? What about packaging? We cover all that, and so much more. Join me at the time of your choice and learn in the privacy of your home or office (or boat). Click here!

SAVE YOUR ASS IN A MINUTE AND A HALF

Sweetie, I made this video just for you. It’s all about the different possibilities of using the verb ‘to look’ – if you change the preposition, you change the meaning of the verb! Hope this helps straighten you out, so that you won’t give me a heart attack by saying ‘I’m looking for my children this weekend’!

WHAT’S UP IN BUFFILAND

Oh, so much. I corrected waaaaay too many exams, made a cake for Tim Knol, who made me cry during his show (he always does, but don’t tell him that) when he sang the song we wrote together – ‘Sea of Shame’ – number 6 on his new album. Sigh. I also worked with some fabulous CEO’s in my in-company Business English course in Amersfoort, had my first chair massage (wow!) at the Design Academy Eindhoven, burned my finger and made courgette spaghetti. Yum!

YOUR QUESTIONS – ANSWERED! 

“Buffi, why can’t I start a sentence with ‘Please’ if I want to be polite? Someone said that I was actually being rude. I didn’t mean to be – help me out!” – from N, during a lesson.

I know what you mean, N (which should stand for ‘Nice’ because you are such a nice person and don’t have a rude bone in your body). You probably thought that if you start with ‘Please’ it sounds more polite. However, it actually sounds like you are annoyed, frustrated, or irritated if you start with this word. We’d usually say something like ‘Could you help me, please?’ the first time (or even ‘Would you help me, please?’ if you want to be even more formal/polite). If that doesn’t work, then you could try ‘Could you please help me?’, which is a bit more direct, and then the third time you have to ask, you could say ‘Please could you help me?’. This sounds quite desperate and should only be used when the other 2 attempts didn’t work! I made a video about this recently, check it out here.

HATE TO LOVE YOU AND LEAVE YOU BUT…
I gotta dash! I have to prepare for my workshop at Muzikantendag, get ready for the 3fm Awards, correct even more exams (will it ever end?!?) and go for a run. Sending you a beautiful park with a lake in the center, full of swans who have mastered the art of opera, who serenade you into the sunset as you admire them while sitting on George Clooney/Angelina Jolie’s lap (you choose).

See you zoen!
Wit lof from buffi x