Rock Your English! newsletter

Hello, lovely readers! Thank you so much for letting me into your inbox this morning! YOU ROCK! How has your Monday been going so far? Hope it’s been great, and let me make it even greater by leaving your inbox with some fun free English treats today!

HAVE FUN & LEARN WITH KATY PERRY AND THE MAN IN BLACK

How about doing a fun little exercise to improve your English RIGHT NOW (well, a few seconds after now, you have to finish reading this first)? Let’s check out how the Past Simple form is used in 2 great songs. This form (I went, you studied, she saw, etc.) is used to describe things that are over, finished, or history. Katy Perry uses it very well in her hit ‘Last Friday Night’, describing her memories of a party, and Johnny Cash nails it with his evergreen ‘A Boy Named Sue’, when he describes his childhood. I’d like you to zoom in on how the Past Simple form is used in these songs – it’s used a lot, as they both describe something that has already finished.

Watch the videos here: Katy and Johnny

Listen to Katy’s chorus, for example – ‘Yeah we danced on table tops and we took too many shots….’ See how the verbs are used in the Past Simple Tense? She uses this form because she is describing a situation that is over – it all happened last Friday night (as much as she can remember). What other verbs can you find in this tense as you listen along? Write them down. Now check them with the lyrics here – see how well you did!

Katy’s lyrics are here and heeeere’s Johnny

The next time you listen to a song, really LISTEN to hear not just WHAT they are saying, but HOW they are saying it. By training your ear to recognize and zoom in on certain verbs it will activate your English in a really fun way. It will also give you a deeper appreciation for music AND English!

FREE AWESOME APP

There’s an awesome app out there that I just had to share with you, my darling. It’s free, fun, and fabulous! It’s called ‘Dictionary.com’ and it’s also linked to ‘Thesaurus.com.’ Download it! It takes a few minutes, it’s quite a heavy app, you might need to connect to WIFI to do it but you’ll be glad you did. They have a ‘word of the day’ button and you can find new words easily and the best part is you can use it OFFLINE! This means if you have a smartphone your English is going to be smart all the time!

BACK TO SCHOOL

If you are involved in education and are interested in Rocking Your English! at your fine, fine school, don’t hesitate to contact me for a free consultation about how we can make the English (department) at your school even more awesome! My workshops and Master Classes are known for being high-energy, lots of laughter and hard work! Mail me at info@rockyourenglish.com anytime!

AGE ONLY MATTERS IF YOU ARE A CHEESE OR A WINE. THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, I WAS NEITHER.

On August 28 I turned 44. It was a great day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkaNUgyON24

Wishing you a week full of gorgeous grammar, vivacious vocabulary, and exciting English, and sending you a glitter-covered rainbow full of melted Belgian chocolate….in my head.

Talk to you next week!

xx buffi