Tag: English

2019 – How to talk about the future

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Happy New Year! 🙂

I hope that you all enjoyed your New Year’s Eve celebrations!

Now that 2019 has started, have you made any New Year’s resolutions, plans or predictions? Do you know how to say these in English? Well, hopefully this week’s blog post will help you…

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‘Will’ for Predictions

Firstly, if you want to make any predictions about the year ahead, you should use ‘will’.

Making a prediction means saying what you think will happen in the future.

For example:

“I think that Manchester United will win the Premier League this year.”

“I doubt I‘ll get a pay rise this year.”

Now you try:

Write down four predictions for 2019 about anything you like – your life, your friends/family members’ lives, your favourite sport, the world in general…

 

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‘Going to’ for Plans or Goals

Secondly, if you want to talk about your plans, goals or intentions for 2019, you should use ‘going to’.

This is the most common way of talking about your New Year’s Resolutions.

For example:

“I’m going to lose weight this year.”

“I’m not going to be late for anything this year.”

Now you try:

Write down your four main resolutions for 2019… what would you like to achieve this year? What would you like to change about yourself?

I hope that you have some interesting predictions and plans for the year ahead… If you would like to share them, feel free to write a comment below or email me at charlottesenglishlessons@gmail.com! Maybe I will share some of my predictions and resolutions for 2019 with you too…!

Brexit in 8 Words

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If you read or listen to news from the UK to help you learn English, you may have read or heard a lot about Brexit. This week, especially, there is quite a lot about Brexit in the news.

But how much do you know about Brexit? Do you read newspaper articles in confusion and give up?!

If so, don’t worry! I will explain a few of the main words related to Brexit below to help you understand a bit better…

 

1. Brexit

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So what does the word Brexit mean?? It is made up of two words: ‘Br’ from ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’ from ‘exit’.

This word is talking about Britain’s exit from the EU.

 

2. EU

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But hang on, what is the EU? The EU is the European Union.

The EU is a bit like a members club which is made up of 28 countries (‘member states’) at the moment, including the UK.

 

3. Eurosceptic

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So why would Britain want to leave the EU? The reason is the Eurosceptics.

Well, what is a Eurosceptic? This is a person who doesn’t like, or doesn’t want to be in, the EU.  (These people are also sometimes called ‘Brexiteers’.)

 

4. Remainer

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And what is the opposite of a Eurosceptic? A Remainer.

A Remainer is someone who wants to stay in the EU.

 

5. Referendum

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Okay, so there are Eurosceptics and Remainers. They both want different things. So how can the UK decide what to do?

Well, a referendum is a vote for the residents of a country to answer a question on their country’s future.

In 2016 we had a referendum in the UK. The question was: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” 51.9% said “Leave” and 48.1% said “Remain”.

So, the Eurosceptics won!

Now, people are talking about a second referendum (sometimes called a “people’s vote“). This means asking people in the UK to vote again about whether we should leave the EU or not. This might happen, but it also might not…

 

6. Politician

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Since the referendum in 2016, politicians from the UK have been talking a lot to politicians from the EU about the UK leaving the EU.

So who is a politician? You probably know this word! A politician is a person who works in politics.

 

7. MP

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Okay, maybe you know the word ‘politician’ but keep reading about MPs – who are they?

MP stands for Member of Parliament: a politician who has been elected (voted for) in an election.

All the different MPs have very different views on Brexit!

 

8. Parliament

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And what is this word Parliament?

Parliament is the group of politicians who make the laws for the country. Parliament is made up of politicians from different political parties.

At the moment, Parliament is considering the Brexit deal Theresa May (the Prime Minister) agreed with the EU.

 

So what will happen next? Keep following the news and find out! Will the UK exit the EU after all??

What do you think about Brexit? Would it be a good or a bad thing for the UK to exit the EU? Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions, by writing a reply to this blog post below, or send me an email at charlottesenglishlessons@gmail.com.