English Improvement Courses
For most people, the first images that come to mind when they think about English improvement courses people in a classroom learning grammar, pronunciation, and memorization of English words. And that’s a valid point – English improvement courses are often designed to help fortify English grammar and diction in a student. But there also exist another form of improvement course: TalkTrain. TalkTrain is designed for the student that has a good grasp on English. TalkTrain is for the guy who knows the grammar, has great pronunciation, and has memorized most of the words. TalkTrain is for that guy with all the knowledge, that guy who can ace an English test but has trouble actually holding a conversation or going on a job interview. It’s for the English student who knows all the rules but can’t put them into effect, and doesn’t know why. What TalkTrain English improvement courses teach is that effective English speaking isn’t about rules or grammar or even accent; it’s about understanding American idioms and colloquialisms. It’s about understanding what your coworkers are talking about. It’s about all those funny sayings you always hear Americans saying, but are never too sure what they mean.
With TalkTrain English improvement courses, you’ll learn those sayings. You’ll understand that a lot of American English is about putting words together so that they no longer mean what the individual words mean. Sound confusing? It is, and that’s why TalkTrain is such a good resource for so many ESL students. The TalkTrain English improvement courses are Internet based, and they focus on 750 of the most useful, common phrases in American English. You can take your time and go slowly, learning a phrase a day, or you can cram for that upcoming job interview and go for hours a day. It’s up to you, but the beauty of TalkTrain is that it was designed with the help of former English students. People just like you, people who knew the language but didn’t understand a lot of the sayings, gave their input and decided which phrases should be included. This is a better method than relying on native English speakers to provide the idioms that they deem important, because they have a bias. Growing up with these phrases makes it difficult to decide which ones are the most confusing; TalkTrain, on the other hand, was designed with your needs in mind.
Additional Resources:
What Are Idioms?Oddities of English
American English