Join Britta and Johnson as they talk about verb tenses, and specifically, the present perfect. What makes this tense challenging?  When is  it appropriate to use it? We take a deep dive into this tricky verb tense. Our hosts discuss some tips to help you gain confidence in using this verb tense.

This week's guest host is Johnson Bresnick. Johnson is the Director of Learning & Development at ACA, and has worked at ACA since 2011. He has also taught ESL and had extensive experience in curriculum development. He has a background in Linguistics and is researching acquisition of grammar in second language learners.  

In the show: 

• Johnson recommends a good courtroom drama to practice the present perfect and other tenses, such as The Good Wife. 
• Britta recommends Duolingo, an app for language practice. It’s free, and offers a fun way to build your vocabulary and language skills. 

Come check out our website, at lesbonsmots.ca. You can see Lauren’s video covering the use of the simple past and present perfect tenses, and read Nathan’s blog posts on news, culture and language learning. We will also have our episode transcript available there. We’d love to hear from you at [email protected]. 

Join Britta and Clémence as they answer some common questions about pronunciation and discuss strategies for improving pronunciation, no matter what language you are learning! They talk about learning how to produce new sounds, how to practice them, what minimal pairs are, and more!

This week's guest is Clémence Grison. Clémence is part of the teaching team at ACA, and has a bachelor’s degree in english literature along with a master's degree in English studies, and a master's degree in journalism. She’s taught ESL in France and Quebec, and has a deep understanding of the difficulties of mastering pronunciation in a second language. 

You can find our blogs, videos and episode transcripts at lesbonsmots.ca. Do you have questions or ideas for future episodes? We’d love to hear from you! You can reach us by email at [email protected]. 

Join Britta and Clémence as they talk about pronunciation! What makes pronunciation so difficult? How important is it? How can you improve your pronunciation? Our language teachers offer you information and advice to help you improve your pronunciation as you learn languages. This week’s episode takes a dive into English and French pronunciation.

This week's guest is Clémence Grison. Clémence is part of the teaching team at ACA, and has a bachelor’s degree in english literature along with a master's degree in English studies, and a master's degree in journalism. She’s taught ESL in France and Quebec, and has a deep understanding of the difficulties of mastering pronunciation in a second language. 

In the show: 

• We mention Gretel Kahn’s essay for CBC about her accent, and how her feelings about it changed. You can read or listen to it here. 
• Clémence recommends Likewise, a website and app which offers suggestions for everything from books and movies to restaurants and places. She likes it because the recommendations come from other users, not an algorithm. Check it out here. 
• Britta recommends Ted.com, a website that offers videos with excellent support for language learners. You can watch videos on thousands of topics from experts around the world and use subtitles in many languages as well as interactive transcripts to improve your understanding. 

Come check out our website, at lesbonsmots.ca. You can see Lauren’s video on the “th” sound, one of the trickiest sounds in English, and read Nathan’s blog posts on news, culture and language learning. We will also have our episode transcript available there. We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].