Replies for everyone!

Hi there - great to hear from you Kiran! And thanks for such an informative post. I love the map showing where all the readers are, what a great idea! I'll comment on your post in more detail when I write my next blog... either later today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile here are some replies to all the comments that our readers have been writing. Remember that your comment might not have appeared by the time I wrote this but don't worry! I'll reply to any comments that appear later on next week.

Hi Beatriz - I hope you managed to find a notebook and that it’s a bit warmer now!

Hello again Wisarut - nice to hear from you! Louie is fine and enjoying playing with his little brother, I’ll post some photos of them both soon.

Hi Fuji - nice to meet you :-) I hope you’re managing to keep up the 5 a day… I think it’ll get easier once it becomes a habit.

Hello Silwal - great to hear from you again! Well done on the vocabulary from my first post but double check the meanings for ‘to get up to mischief’, ‘to get hung up on something’ and ‘to get the idea’. It must be nice having a student blogger from Nepal!

Hi again Hyoshil - ooh sounds like you’ve been having a tough time. I hope things are getting better. Thanks for the questions, we’ll have a look at them next week. I look forward to hearing more from you too :-)

Hello Christine - nice to hear from you. I’m glad you liked the 5 a day idea… keep it up!

Hi there Ana Paula - great to hear from you. Well done on the vocabulary definitions. Double check ‘a brainwave’ though – it’s not quite the same thing as a brainstorm. The Congada sounds really interesting, I’ll look it up on the internet. More soon!

Hello Djalma - how’s the 5 a day going? Try experimenting with different ways of recording the words, like using pictures, example sentences, putting similar words together, etc. It might help!

Hello Dante - nice to meet you. Yes, it’s the size of the supermarkets that I find scary! And there’s so much choice! It takes me hours to go shopping because I always try and compare the prices. I’ve always wanted to visit Montreal… must be nice living there.

Hi Betty - best wishes for your family too :-) Remember with language learning it’s better to do a little bit everyday rather than lots on one day and then nothing for a while.

Hello Paulraj - thanks for all your comments. Yep, looking after my kids is the hardest job I’ve ever had… it’s very rewarding though. I was so sorry to hear about the tragedy in Himachal – I heard about it on the news :-( Morris dancing also reminds me a bit of the dandia dances from Gujarat – have you seen them?

Hi Pary - great to hear from you again :-) Well done on the vocabulary – just double check the definitions with the ones I have posted. Sorry to hear about the blackouts :-(

Hi Mahjabeen - I’m glad you’re enjoying the blogs and thanks for the link – I’ll have a look at it in a minute. Try doing those passive sentences again – the ones you’ve written are past simple active… if you say ‘I was sure’, ‘sure’ is an adjective, so it’s just in the past simple. Have a look here for some more help.

Hi Pritam - lovely to meet you. You’ve asked lots of questions so I’ll try and answer them… yes, I think many people in India have excellent English language skills and the numbers are only increasing. Louie and Oslo were both born in India, but they don’t get Indian citizenship :-( We’re definitely going to be back in India soon for a holiday – next year, hopefully. Castles and forts are almost the same thing, the architecture is just a bit different. You can find out more about the train we took here. More soon!

Hello Jorge - nice to meet you too! Hope to hear from you again soon.

Hi Cristina - I feel like I know you already as I read your posts when you were blogging in April! Lovely to hear from you. Your passive sentences are great, but I think sentences 2 and 3 would sound more natural in the active voice, what do you think?

Hello Redouane - thanks for the link, I’ll have a look when I’ve finished writing this. Great questions for my Granny – we’ll look at them next week. Thanks!

Hi Bruno - nice to meet you and welcome to the blogs! Hope to hear from you again soon.

Hello Maione - well done on the vocabulary, your sentences are very good and that’s a great way to learn the words. Keep it up!

Hello Zaya - that’s interesting about how Canadians say ‘getting to grips’. There are lots of little differences like that between British English and the other types. Hope to hear from you again soon!

Hi Leila - lovely to hear from you! I enjoyed reading all your posts when you were the student blogger. By the way, technically speaking it should be ‘kick up the butt’, not on :-) That’s so nice about your connection to Polperro, it is a very nice place. I’ll tell you all about where I’m living now soon!

Hi Concetta - the Occitanian dances sound very interesting. Have you heard of Breton dancing? It’s not quite the same but I like it a lot. I don’t think you’re being materialistic, I feel the same way! Well done on the homework.

Hi Habooba - hope the 5 a day diet is going well!

Hello again Filippo - congratulations on your job! I love that expression, half a loaf is better than none, I hadn’t heard it before!

Hi Trinie - just do as much as you can… I know it’s hard when you’re working full time. Try not to worry too much about making mistakes and remember… practice makes perfect! :-)

Hi James - nice to hear from you! I really enjoyed your posts too when you were the student blogger. :-)

Hello YPW - hope you are managing to do the 5 words a day! Just do as much as you can.

Hello Ricardo - thanks for your interesting question, we’ll have a look at it next week. Try experimenting with how you record the vocabulary – you might find that drawing a picture to show the definition is more memorable than writing it in words…

Hi Vijay - thanks for the interesting link, the dancing is amazing. It’s a bit more energetic than morris dancing though! :-) Your idea of recording your vocab on your computer is great. Try and concentrate on words which you think will be useful.

Hello Naweed - great to hear from you. I visited Kabul a few years ago and I remember experiencing lots of power cuts! We had lots in Delhi too. Hope to hear from you again soon!

Hi Ernesto - yes it was just like a story book. Thanks for your question for my Granny, we’ll have a look at it next week!

Hello Bereni - thanks for the questions from my Granny… I’ll post the interview next week!

Hello Felicitas - I’m sorry I didn’t get your earlier comment, perhaps it will appear later on. Thanks for the great questions, we’ll look at them next week!

Hi Adriana! Great to hear from you :-) I often wonder how you are doing and what you’re up to. Those are interesting questions… let’s see what my Granny says! More soon!

Hi Farha - thanks for all your great questions! I’ll choose some of them to ask my Granny and I’ll post the answers early next week :-)

Hello Bia - I’m sorry I don’t have the key on my keyboard to do the double dots above the ‘i’ in your name! Thanks for your questions… we’ll look at them next week.

Hi there Mauricio - yes I absolutely agree. I think we forget what a mine of information the older generations are. Thanks for the interesting question… let’s see what she says!

Hi Pilar - nice to hear from you. Thanks for the interesting questions! :-)

More soon!

Amy

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