Five Most Common Native Languages of English Learners All around the world, English is seen as a way to connect to a larger group of people living outside your hometown. If you live in Japan, you'll encounter tourists speaking in English in order to ask for directions or locations. The same goes for Thailand, Vietnam, [...]

By Joseph DeMarini My students often ask me, “How can I improve my writing?” It’s a great question, and also one that has an unsatisfying answer; without an editor or native English speaker, it can be difficult for even high-level ESL students to self-correct and edit their writing with absolute accuracy. Unlike with speaking, a [...]

By Joseph DeMarini Smart phones have impacted every aspect of our lives—from social networking and instant communication, to the augmented reality of Pokémon GO. Here at Explore English, we’ve fully embraced the 21st century and like to upset the old order of “no phones in class” by telling our students to switch on their phones [...]

[ish_image image="3991" size="full" align="center" show_caption="yes" tooltip_color="color1" tooltip_text_color="color3"] Stomachs, get ready to GRRRUUMMBLLE!! Coming up the weekend of July 29th-31st, Melbourne is hosting the Sweet Tooth Truck Festival, featuring all the sugary goodness your heart desires—with plenty of options for vegans, too! The event will be hosted at The Food Truck Park on High Street in [...]

By Joseph DeMarini In the world of teaching English as a second language, there are several options for proper certification. The options range in price and hours of instruction, and beyond that into learning in a classroom and teaching real students. Many can be taken totally online, but typically the best and most widely accepted [...]

It’s the middle of winter here in Melbourne, but fortunately we live in a milder climate and winter here isn’t brutal enough to keep us indoors for the season, so there are plenty of activities to keep busy! Docklands happens to be one of the better areas for this, too—especially on Friday nights for the [...]

At Explore English, we all enjoy Italian pasta, Spanish Paella and English Fish & Chips… well, maybe not this last one. But what is sure is that Europe, also known as the Old Continent, is one of the most, if not the most, diverse and culturally rich continents in the world.   In some cases [...]

Since IELTS (International English Language Test System), or ELTS as it was first known (English Language Testing Service) was set up in 1980, it has grown in popularity, demand and global student usage. The Pearson Test of English, on the other hand, was launched in 2009, for non-native English speakers to improve their standards of [...]

In English, like bread and butter or tea and biscuits; a sentence using phrasal words really does make the world go around. You may not have noticed that you’re actually using them, most of the time – because a phrasal verb is a combination of a verb + adverb or a verb + preposition, mostly [...]

How apt to begin a blog of the language we promote, than to refer to probably the most famous English poet of them all, William Shakespeare; to guide us into thoughts about this day of vernacular celebration. For it was Shakespeare who changed the way modern English has become, with its many ways of expressing [...]