Cafetalk Tutor's Column

Quick tips: groups of animals

Did you know that English has many words to describe different groups of animals? Here are the most...

It's time to build a puzzle!

Image: The Halloween puzzle that I built this year.I think that building things is a lot of fun! Yo...

A cinematic Halloween

Halloween was unusually warm in Toronto this year, with temperatures reaching 20 degrees Celsius, w...

Halloween word origins

Photo: A Halloween decoration in my neighbourhood in Toronto.Halloween is a holiday which has been ...

Talking about fall/autumn leaves in English

Fall is here and the leaves are changing colour in Canada, so today I’d like to share some vocabula...

Northern Ontario road trip

In September, I took a long road trip with my father, driving for 5 days through the province of On...

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The juice is loose!

The original Beetlejuice movie, a quirky blend of horror and comedy, came out way back in 1988 (whe...

Quick tips: slide vs. slider

The word “slider” is sometimes used in Japan to refer to a long, smooth structure that one can slid...

My top 5 fun activities for autumn

Exploring When the weather cools down in the fall, it’s time to get out and start exploring again!...

The little monster that’s not so scary

We don’t have a lot of scary or dangerous insects in Canada, but the house centipede is one that mi...

Quick tips: learn vs. learn about/of

This is a tricky one because both “learn” and “learn about/of” refer to gaining new knowledge/infor...

No-see-ums attack!

Have you ever heard of a “no-see-um”? Until just a couple of days ago, I hadn’t! They’re tiny insec...

Talking about festivals and holidays in English

This week’s column topic is Summer festivals, so today I would like to share some ways to talk abou...

The Canadian National Exhibition

The Canadian National Exhibition is a festival that takes place in Toronto and marks the end of Sum...

Summer meals in Canada

People often ask me about the food that is typically eaten in Canada, and I usually answer that Can...

Hot topics in Canada

Photo by Ali Tawfiq on UnsplashIn weather news, heat alerts and warnings have been issued across Ca...

Happy Canada Day!

Photo bysebastiaan stam onUnsplash July 1st is Canada Day, so let me share a few facts about my co...

Quick tips: pregnancy

As one of my students pointed out to me recently, there are many ways to express the idea of being ...

Quick tips: have + time vs. spend + time

To talk about the quality or duration of your experiences, you can use “have + (quality adjective) ...

Visiting Niagara Falls

This week I visited Niagara Falls for just the second time in my life. The bus ride from Toronto’s ...

Canadian sweets: Nanaimo bars

Dating back to 1953, the Nanaimo bar is a Canadian dessert that is named after the city of Nanaimo ...

Plans for summer 2024

The days are getting longer in Toronto (sunset is around 9 pm now) and summer will be here soon. Be...

Studying with textbooks: Survey

Today I’d like to ask some questions about people’s experiences learning with textbooks! I would lo...

Talking about humour in English: Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the basics, some common phrases, and different types of humo...

Talking about humour in English: Part 1

Since the weekly column topic is about humour and laughing this week, I’d like to share some vocabu...

Doors Open Toronto

Photo: Me in front of the ostrich food stall at the Evergreen Brick Works farmers marketThis weeken...

Too close for comfort

Although Toronto is still relatively safe compared to other major cities around the world, it has b...

It’s heating up over here!

It’s the day after the Victoria Day long weekend here in Toronto and the weather is really heating ...

Talking about weather in English (verbs): Part 3

(Unfortunately, the first time I wrote this article, I lost the file, and it has taken quite a whil...

Tim Hortons turns 60!

Tim Hortons is a cafe chain that can be found across Canada and also in 12 other countries worldwid...