Cafetalk Tutor's Column

Quick tips: eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Have you ever heard someone say “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” when trying to choose something? There are...

Talking about weather in English (verbs): Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at verbs for rain and snow. Today, we will continue by taking a...

Salty winters in Canada

Photo: my boots, covered in salt, after walking outside for 20 minutes in the winter When snow, sl...

Quick tips: news headlines

News headlines in English may be a little tricky to understand because they are grammatically diffe...

New year, new books: The Wager

One of my resolutions for 2024 is to get back into reading (paper) books and spend a bit less time ...

My 2023 in the rearview mirror

My biggest achievement of 2023 was finally visiting Nova Scotia for the first time in my life. In J...

Quick tips: exaggerating numbers

Many languages have words for large but indefinite numbers, and English is no exception! In fact, t...

How will AI affect language learning in the future?

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash   Two years ago, during my Master’s degree program, I took a cou...

Christmas movies: New(ish) favourites

Today I’d like to share two Christmas movies that are fairly new (they came out within the last 5 y...

Autumn/Winter 2023: Tutor Column Award

I know I haven’t been posting articles as often as usual during this busy holiday season, so I was ...

Talking about weather in English (verbs): Part 1

You’re no doubt familiar with common weather words like “snow” and “rain,” but do you know how to d...

Winter decor

For a long time, I didn’t really decorate my apartment for Christmas. Because I always spent Christ...

Quick tips: British vs. American spelling

Some of the differences between British and American English spellings follow well-known patterns, ...

The Sourtoe Cocktail

Many Canadians will tell you that the history we learn in school is not particularly interesting, b...

Is it winter yet?

Photo by Morgane Le Breton on Unsplash It’s been a while since I posted anything and that’s becaus...

Happy Halloween!

The pumpkins are carved and the spider cookies have been made. The house has been decorated and the...

The world’s oldest dog

How long do you think a dog can live? The average lifespan of a dog is 10 to 13 years, but Bobi, th...

Halloween traditions - bobbing for apples

Halloween traditions have changed a great deal over the years, but one of the oldest Halloween trad...

Talking about ghosts in English

Different types of ghosts Halloween is fast approaching, so today I’d like to introduce some diffe...

Autumn home decor ideas

Photo byJenny Kalahar onUnsplash While I love autumn decor of all kinds, I make an effort to use n...

Working at a chocolate shop: Part 2

In Part 1, I introduced SOMA, a chocolatemaker in Toronto. But what is it actually like to work the...

Working at a chocolate shop: Part 1

As some of you may know, my wife is the manager of a chocolate shop in Toronto called SOMA, and I a...

Talking about fall in English

Autumn vs fall: Is there a difference? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “Both are used...

Planning a fall getaway - busy October

Photo - Leaves changing colour near my homeI feel like I missed fall last year because I had Covid ...

Quick tips: in the blink of an eye

There are plenty of ways to express the quick passage of time in English. The most well-known is pr...

Changing language trends at work

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash Business Insider published a new article recently detailing the ...

The kitchen faerie

Photo byTracey Hocking onUnsplash Earlier this year, I went into the kitchen after dinner and foun...

Talking about retirement in English

In a recent post, I talked about pensions and retirement, so today I’d like to share some vocabular...

Pensions and retirement

Photo byAaron Burden onUnsplash Many people are concerned about their retirement and pension these...

Quick tips: stressful vs. stressed (out)

When it comes to adjectives, one of the most common mistakes I hear is when people use the word “st...