Come on! There is no such a thing as a difficult language! There are several million people who speak English! If they can do it, so can you! Okay, so you may make so mistakes and some people may snigger! What will that do? Make you feel a bit awkward for a while and then life moves on! You live and learn!  The more you learn, the better you get, the sniggers become fewer... and suddenly they are gone! You've done it. If you need any help go to www.theenglishlearningchannel.com
and join one of our easy and economic courses! 

The Appeal of English

The appeal of English around the world is quite mystifying, yet there it is - the language of Technology, the language of Law, the language of Celebrity! Even if English is not the only international language used by the United Nations, it is certainly one of the prominent ones.
Maybe it is because America speaks English, I thought, and this may be a major appeal. It turns out that assumption is correct - 231,122,908 English speakers there. Then there's the European Union with 256,876,220, enough reason to see why it is so popular.

These are the numerical reasons why it is so appealing; but why does one choose to learn a language? Think about why you chose to learn any language other than your mother tongue. Most people learn a language to learn about a culture, and when a language spans so many cultures, albeit from a colonial past, it adds to its appeal. Local writers enrich the language, making it at once both global and local, painting pictures of their cultures, emotions and thoughts weaving it into a tapestry, rich in form and hues, as to make it easy for a person from any part of the globe to relate with.

There are few languages that come close to English in this regard and it is probably one of the strongest reasons why this language is so entrancing! 

Language is about communication, transference of ideas and it is equally about sharing emotions. The last thing I want to do now is to irritate you with lectures about Grammar and spelling, but what I do want to do is to encourage you to take the plunge- go ahead and write about your thoughts your opinions, in English , especially if you are unfamiliar with it and I will volunteer as much as it is humanly possible for one person and a computer to mirror your compositions with a grammatically correct version in reply.
Do you know that 'Grammarly' is a tool that you can use to do this in an automated way? The site is very good, and if you use Chrome you get a free extension. However, if you would like to add a personal touch, feel free to send an email to info@theenglishlearningchannel.com!  

The history of the English language

The United Kingdom or Britain , as we know it today, was conquered , either partially or fully by peoples from several  regions. Initially inhabited by the Celts , who lived in many areas including France, Spain and almost all of Europe excluding Scandinavia , it was later invaded by 3 Germanic tribes, the Angles (yes, there were people who were actually called that) the Jutes (not the plant!) and the Saxons.
They were followed by other invasions, from the Romans, the Vikings  and finally the French. Hence their language , English has been influenced by the languages of all these peoples, and probably contributed to a culture that was incredibly resilient and flexible.
Small wonder that they eventually built an empire that, for a period of time, had the Sun never setting on it !
The Romans brought along Greek though it may have reached Britain through cultural exchanges even before that.
Here is an interesting link to some information about the English language
http://www.johnchaple.co.uk/language.html

The idea for this channel started a little before 15th August 2013, when I reached Hong Kong from New Zealand. I didn't see why there would be a need for me to teach English in a place that had been run by the British for almost 100 years.
When I did arrive, I saw that  the English language was sparingly used by people in the New Territories, a little more commonly used in the Kowloon peninsula, and used very frequently on the commercial centre of the Hong kong island, though understanding of the language is fairly widespread in all these regions.
I started teaching little children the very next day after arriving and have never looked back. My muse and wife, Florence, has helped me understand the people of Hong Kong and their sensitivities wonderfully, and I have loved teaching in Hing kong over these years.
We will try to teach in an interesting natural manner so that our students will learn with minimal effort and use technology, to make learning interesting and fun!