Day One
Welcome to the Refresher Course on English
Workshop Content Preview
Workshop Dynamics: Team Formations for Fun English Learning Games
Ready, Get Set, Go!
Top Priorities: Practical English Concerns
Essential Grammar for Practical Use
Overview of Language and English
The Permanent Reality of Language Change
Surprise Tidbits: The Sound of Old English & Middle English, Shakespeare & Modern English
The Market Levels of Usage
Standard, Informal, Non-standard
The Need for Standard Writing awareness
Get to the Bottom of It: Top Priority English concerns for Practical Use
e.g. of typical errors: irregardless, routinary, with regards to, appreciate if, result to
Oxford or Harvard? Cambridge or Yale?
Which is better: British or American English
Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Spelling
Focus on word meaning
e.g. bimonthly, table an issue
Back to Professional Basics:
Parts of a Sentence
Parts of Speech
The Gargoyles of Grammar
The Quirks of English
It's Function, Not the Part of Speech!
A Review of Gerunds & Other Verbals
The Verb Is the Life of a Sentence!
Overview of Simple Forms, Progressive & Past Participle Forms
Focus on the Present Tense
Agreement of Subject & Verb
Clarifying plural forms of special nouns
e.g. evidence, baggage, information, jewelry, feedback
Agreement of Noun & Pronoun
The Thrilling Trouble with Idioms:
Priority Concerns on the Idiomatic Use of Prepositions
e.g. on the ship, in the banca, on the bus, in the jeep
Idioms as Figures of Speech
e.g. keep me in the loop, in the black/red, dressed to the nines
Fun Team Grammar & Word Games
Mind Your F's and P's & Vowel Sounds (including schwa)
Priority Pronunciation Concerns
e.g. vacate, vis-a-vis, supervisory, gross
Typical Vowel & Consonant sound errors
e.g. there are more than five vowel sounds!!!
e.g. voiced & voiceless consonants (p/b, f/v, th)
Are You a Person with a Past?
Past Tense Awareness
Quick Review of Past Tense Forms
Focus on Irregular Verb Forms
e.g. speak-spoke-spoken, put-put-put, come-came-come
Consistency & Sequence of Tenses
e.g. He said that he would. . . .
What's So Perfect about Perfect Tenses?
Rationale for the Perfect Tenses
Uses of the Present Perfect
Formula & Samples
Uses of the Past Perfect
Formula & Samples
Uses of the Future Perfect
Formula & Samples
The Confusion between Past & Present Perfect
The Confusion between Past & Past Perfect
Something To Stir Your Grammar IQ
Spoken English Strategies Requiring Grammatical Correctness
With Verb Forms
Short responses e.g. yes it is
Tag Questions e.g. isn't it?
Sentence Style for Men only, but not for boys
Application of Short & Tag Verb forms
e.g. The plaintiff did not reply and neither did the defendant.
e.g. The judge's staff is here and so is mine.
Fun Team Grammar & Word Games
Your Native English Slip Is Showing
Pronunciation focus on placing the stress on certain words
e.g. inventory
Focus on Words often Mispronounced with the wrong emphasis
e.g. circumstances
British & American journeys
e.g. not hot pot
e.g. dropping of the terminal r sound
British intonation: a peek at its musicality
One Definite Native English Giveaway
Short and Tag Questions
A review of verb phrase constructions
One solitary main verb
Modal verb + main verb
Verb forms of the verb be
Formulas for Short & Tag questions
Contraction forms
Pronoun use
Affirmative/Negative constructions
Conversational emphasis
Fun Team Grammar & Word Games
Day Two
Of Surprised Husbands & Astonished Wives
Exact Word Choice
British cf. American (in review, again)
e.g. appraise cf apprise
e.g. two meanings of perusal, bimonthly, to table the issue
Emerging Uses of Words
e.g. celebrant
Malapropisms
Correct Me If I'm Wrong? Unfortunately. . .
Positive Word Choice
The Customer-Friendly Word Awareness
Avoiding Negative Words
e.g. what's your argument, you failed to. . .
How to be politically correct:
avoiding racist & sexist language
Sentence Sense and Punctuation Power
Sentence Construction & Punctuation Marks
Dangling constructions & commas
Misplaced modifiers
Illogical constructions
Sentence transformations
The overuse of
which is
Hyphens cf. Dashes
Abbreviations: i.e. e.g. cf. nb.
Fun Team Grammar & Word Games
The Iffiness of And and But etc.
Conjunctions & Clauses
Understanding the Clause (cf the sentence)
Conjunctions in phrases cf in sentences
Dependent clauses & subordinate conjunctions
Independent clauses & coordinate conjunctions
The Subjunctive Mood
The
If & I wish clauses
Formulas of verb phrases for special cases
When You Wish Upon a Star: Of Wishes and Possibilities
The Subjunctive Mood
The I-Wish phrase
Three If cases
Verb patterns and formulas
e.g. if he is going, if he went, if he had gone
Special verb forms that require simple forms
e.g. nominate that, request that, necessary that
Word Games
Akin to Newfoundland and Yosemite
Pronunciation
Additional words for pronunciation drills
Proper Nouns: Some Names & Places
e.g. O'Donnell, Roosevelt, Maldives, Cebu
Intonation
Seven major patterns
Avoiding Filipino or Local intonation while using English words
Blending & Rhythm
Placing life in speaking
Comprehensive Exercises on English Grammar
Multiple Choice Exercise (Scoring is Not Required)
Sentence exercise: determine what is non-standard
Surprise! Surprise! Commonly Mispronounced Words
And Now, the End Is Near
Integration of Key Learning Points
Action Steps
A Final Learning Perspective:
Which Is Better-Written or Oral?
Unique Benefits of Each Channel
Final Exercises
English Proficiency
Effective Writing: Paragraph
Immediate Feedback
Final Corrections and Clarifications of Concerns
Q & A
Note: If you like this seminar, you may also find of interest to attend our one-day topic entitled,
Write Right for Positive Results! to be held on Friday, June 9, 2017 at EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City, Philippines.
Click here to see Full Details