Hello!
Hello, everyone!
Yesterday was Alex’s last day as teacher blogger. I’m sure we’d all like to thank him for his inspired blogs and handy tips on the English language. Cheerio, Alex! Now you can enjoy a bit of a rest.
From today, I’ll be the new teacher blogger. I’d like to say ‘hello’ to everyone, and I hope I can fill Alex’s shoes and help you to improve your English, even if only a little bit!
But first of all I should tell you a bit about myself. My name is Jo Kent and I’m a freelance writer and editor specialising in materials for students of English, or to use the jargon term, ELT (English Language Teaching) materials. You know those textbooks you had to study in school? The ones that contain reading comprehension exercises, writing tasks and grammar explanations? That’s the kind of thing I write. Sorry if I’m responsible for any of you having to do lots of homework!
I live in Hampshire, which is a county in southern England. I don’t live in or near a city. In fact, I live way out in the sticks, near a little village called West Meon. There is very pretty countryside all around me and, thanks to e-mail and the Internet, it’s easy for me to keep in touch with everyone. I lived in big cities for a while, but now I like the peace and quiet of the countryside. The only problem is that if you want to go shopping, you have to get in your car and drive. But I’m not really a shopaholic, so I don’t suffer from cravings.
When people see my name, they often think I’m a man. I’m not! Look at my picture at the top of this web page – I hope I don’t look like a man, do I? If you see the name ‘Jo’ in English, that person will always be female. ‘Jo’ is short for ‘Joanne’, ‘Joanna’ or less commonly ‘Josephine’. The male name ‘Joe’ has an ‘e’ on the end. Native speakers often get this wrong too – I’ve lost count of the number of letters I’ve received addressed to ‘Mr Jo Kent’.
I’m looking forward to getting to know the student blogger and everyone reading out there, and of course answering your questions and reading your comments. This is the first time I‘ve ever written a blog, so I’m pretty excited about it!
Until next time, yours very femininely,
Jo
Vocabulary
Handy – something that is ‘handy’ is useful.
Cheerio is an informal and friendly way of saying ‘goodbye’. You’ll hear it most often in spoken English.
If you fill someone’s shoes, you try to do something as well as that person has done it.
freelance can be a noun and an adjective. If you work freelance, you are self-employed, and usually work for several clients.
jargon is technical language, often used by a specific industry or group of people.
Someone who lives in the sticks lives in the countryside, a long way away from a big city.
The word shopaholic is a combination of ‘shopping’ and ‘alcoholic’. We use it to describe someone who is addicted to shopping. Another word like this is ‘chocaholic’ (addicted to chocolate).
A craving is a strong desire for something.
Comments
Hello Miss Jo Kent, Teachers on the BBC English learning teacher blogger have been doing a good job, How or where did BBC find those guys? Best regards James
Hello Jo, Before clicking in the “comment on this entry” link, I was smiling because at the same time I was reading you were not a man and asking us to have a look to the picture. You just exactly looked like Alex. It is just a way of welcome you. I know pretty well that it is a matter of refreshing files or give some time to the last texts of the previous month to be read. After having entered and isolated your first blog for comments your picture appears “proving” what you have said. So welcome to the blog.
Hi,Jo.I would like to give you a big warm hug from China. The first time i see your amiable face, I have the craving of catching up with your every blog. Hope you enjoy your time with us virtual students,meanwhiles, i wish my comment will reach you safely. How to read English-Version novels by famous masters like Shakespears? For after i read the wholly paragraph, i can't quite get the meaning right away, so can you give me some handy tips.I am very appreciated. Best wishes .
Hello, Miss Kent! I am one of the avid readers of that blog. Despite I didn't write often during last two months, I read almost all posts and comments, published here. Now I am in anticipation of reading you next blog. To start with, could you explain if the last phrase 'yours very femininely' is a common one in English and what it means? I have never come accross it. Thank you in advance! I am more than sure you will meet here many assidious learners so be prepared to answer our question.Good Luck,Miss Kent! Regards! Diema
Hi Jo, I just want to say 'hi' to you. As we are learning something new in this teacher blog which makes us to remember not only the English stuffs but also the person who teach. So whatever we learn in your forthcoming blog will help us to improve our English, and of course will remember you whenever we come across those vocabularies, phrase and some interesting facts if you mention in this blog. Hope we will a have nice time. ciao, Vijay
Hi Mrs. Jo.... Welcome.... I hope you enjoy reading and answering to all this international students.... See ya.. Bruno
Hello Jo, it's nice to meet you, even through this blog. I'm very glad that you are the next teacher blogger, bearing in mind your specialisation. I'm sure that this month's blog will be very useful for my English, although all teacher bloggers were really fantastic. So I wish you warm welcome to the blog and I'm looking forward for your next blog! P.S. you definitely look like woman, a pretty one if I can say that!
Welcome Jo! I'm sure we'll enjoy reading you 'cause your life looks pretty different from Alex's! Kiss
Hi Jo!!! Welcome and good luck with your blog. I´m sure we´ll learn a lot with you. Oh... Hmmm... I have to come back to work, I´m a little late. :-) I hope hear from you soon. Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Hello Ms Kent, Thank you for pointing out one way of recognizing sex through English names. You are not definitely a man thanks to your nice picture :-) I am suprised that you like living in countryside rather than in big cities since you seem to me not old enough to have hobby like this. I am sure that student bloggers will learn a lot from you about English and the country of England. Good work!
A beautiful new teacher, a lot of friends blogging from all over the world and this gloomy day here in Italy suddenly looks less boring. Welcome Jo! My name is Violante, am I a man or a woman?
Hello Jo. Nice to meet the new teacher who's not a traditional teacher! It's a great and exciting innovation on here. Thanks for shedding light on "Jo", we know now Jo without a "e" letter is always a female name. So, your name is Jo and you write... It reminds someone... The fictional character from "The four daughters of Dr March"! You'vre written that you were here to help us to improve our English "even if only a little bit"... I was smiling when reading this sentence because for sure you'll succeed to learn us much more than you believe :) I'm eager to learn about your professional living.
Hello there Teacher and Hello to all of you commentators. This is my first time being here, so, you, our Teacher, and me, your student, we have one thing in common. This is this month teacher's first blog and I've just decided to break the ice and to post my first comment ever and to post it exactly on the BBC Learning English Blog. Teacher, I wish you all the best with your work here. Benka
Hello again Jo! Err... Well, I have a little problem with prepositions, and I don´t know if I used the right preposition in the comment that I sent to you today. I´m in doubt now. So... Could you give me a help, please? Should I say I learn with you, or I learn from you? Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Hello Jo :) I liked Alex's blogs vey much and I'm sure I'll like yours, too. Maybe I'm not very good at grammar, but my favourite pastime is to look for mistakes in teachers' blogs. Don't you think it's a good way to lose my inhibitions? I'm weird, aren't I? Best wishes, yours very masculinely :) Adek
Hi Jo, Nice to meet you! I will think your name is a male name if you didn't mention. Because in my mind, your name is equal to Joe Ken.I believe I can learn a lot in this website. Best Wishes, Virginia
Hello,Jo.And welcome to the teacher blog!I'm happy to be one of your blog readers.:)
Dear Jo, every two months I ‘m waiting for introducing new teacher and it is exciting moment for me, because during the last six months that I ‘m following this blog (as a active reader not active writer) I’ve discovered excellent teacher who are best in their profession with great idea about everything. I am sure that I will be familiar with another good teacher and of course friend in my life. Welcome Jo, and good luck
Hello Kent, Welcome both you and me! I'm probably one of the above-quoted virtual students in the BBC Learning English Website. But first of all I must proclaim that I don't know if it's necessarily to register as the website student. I feel like having a job as you have which makes life much more easier to work at home. I'd like to thank you for telling us the truth of your name "Jo" stands for. When I see the picture posted at the top of this web page, your sweet smile determined me to try not missing remembering to read your every blog and comment on each of it. Even though I have a demanding job and it takes a whole lot of time everyday. All the best. David
Hello there . Thank to the first entries , I would like to read it very much but at this stage the university is recently opened in the following days.So I have not commented it in time. To introduce myself ,I am a biotechnology student university in Northeast of Thailand as senior. I am 22 years old . The next years I will study a higher science degree as international course in Thailand. Thus I am organizing my time in order to prepare for Tofel examination. After I read all details , I know much more about your job , self-interest,house.That is fine !! Interestingly I am dying for getting informative blogs especially JARON TERM. As in my view, you may be give an advise when students confuse about chapters much more.I am looking forward to reading in another blogs. All the best.
Hello Kent, I would like to heartly welcome and I am sure we, the new English Language learners, will have more chance to learn more about the English. I am also new in this site. Sometime I confused which is the best one to learn english. Stephane column, teacher blogs, message board. I tried to read and write more all these. Thanks to BBC and you English Popple for your help to improve english as the foreign language. I hope we will be at same platform for long time and we will be beneffitted from your long experiance in freeliance writing and your mother language. All the best.
Hi Jo. We all love your lessons and comments, they are very didactic and useful. I´d like to raise a question about an expression I´m not sure whether it´s right or wrong: "prepare an exam". Can we say it, or it is not right according to collocation rules? Bye
Hello Jo... I wish to improve my English with your help... So I want to apply all your teaching... I like so much this language, the English culture and for me England is a beautiful country... GOD bless us during our journey...
hello mr.jo i wiil thanks you for your good jod i m from kosovo of europe so we didnot talk english but i love english languige i cant talk very well but i hope in the future i will stady english
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