My name is Steve Ford and this week I have two great questions from Emma from Israel and Renato from Brazil

So let's take a listen...........

There is a great mnemonic trick you can use to help remember new words

What you want to do is create a big funny picture in your mind and describe it with words that you know

in your language. So I learned a new word in Russian the other day

the verb “to understand”

In Russian it is ponimat

or as the Russians say ponimat'

So how the heck can I remember this new word?

Well, you can paint a picture in your mind of a "pony" sitting on a "mat" or small rug saying "I don't understand"

really crazy, right? not really, I still remember ponimat until this day as being to understand in Russian

When I was learning Portguese I remember this term: é verdade

which means it's true or that's true

So to memorize the pronunciation I thought of "ever Daddy" in my own language

and that way I could remember it

Music enters our mind so easily when the song is catchy, when you can remember it for days and days

Music is a very powerful tool for you to learn and remember new vocabulary from pop songs

so pick one that you really like and learn and sing it over and over again

Repeating the same words over and over again is boring, but with music it's a piece of cake, it's easy!

Hello Renato and Hello Brazil, Ola Brazil tudo bem?

Well Renato you have a big chance here to make some fast progress with your fluency in listening and speaking in English.

Hopefully the ESL school you'll be attending here in North America will have a good mix of students from all over the world

This is an excellent chance to understand how non-native speakers of English talk face-to-face

It's also a great way to share your culture and find out things you've got in common

I get many students who are always surprised that I understand what they are saying even if they have a strong accent and don't speak like a native speaker

Well hey, I am from Toronto and live in Vancouver where half of the population is immigrants

So it's not just me who can understand people who have a strong accent

there are a lot of people who come here and they can make themselves understood very easily

So this comes as second nature to me and many others here and hopefully your experience studying in the USA will be just as rewarding

it really depends on where you go

was that everybody at the meetings talked: fast! fast! fast!

They didn't slow down their speech and do any favors for my student

Now, you might also find that sometimes native speakers will make "inside jokes" that only they can understand

This could be anything from regionalisms to references to movies like: you're not in Kansas anymore"

What does that mean? It comes from an old American movie, The Wizard of Oz

and it simply means that you are now in a new place which is unfamiliar

Well everybody, I hope you found my lesson useful and enjoyable

and you're always welcome to record your question at the link below this video

Bye for now!

that could be in sssss, from sssss baaaa

well it's a multicultural experience in every sense

hopefully the ESL score.........score.......score