A bit of English every day
Welcome to my English learning support space! Here you’ll find some written explanations, as well as videos to help you become familiar with the sound of English from all around the world. Some of them are about learning the English language, but you can also find videos about traveling, cooking, music and many other topics. You’ll find shorts, reels, and longer videos so you can choose the format you like best. Just make sure you have your computer or phone settings on English in the language section! Learning to communicate in English with confidence can be a challenge, but there’s a secret to making it easier: put a little bit of English into your everyday life.
English life and language in the Middle Ages
The pronunciation of English has changed a lot over time, and this is one of the reasons why the pronunciation of a word often doesn’t correspond with how it’s written, because the spelling of words was standardized but the pronunciation continued to change. Professor Dorsey Armstrong gives a demonstration of how some words were pronounced in the Middle Ages and answers questions about medieval history, talking about the structure of castles, instruments of torture, hygiene, Game of Thrones, sleeping habits and many other aspects of medieval life.
Rhythm in spoken English
One of the things about English that make it so difficult to understand is the rhythm - some sounds are strongly accented and some are so weak that they’re difficult to hear. In this video Dr Geoff Lindsay talks about weak forms in English - those syllables with no identity that are written with various different letters but aren’t pronounced as you might expect.