Cafetalk Tutor's Column

Asking rhetorical questions in English

A rhetorical question is a question that you ask without expecting an answer. It is used to make a ...

Back to the cinema!

I went to the cinema for the first time in about 3 years yesterday and saw Jurassic World: Dominion...

Corrective feedback in language learning: Part 6

Welcome back to my article on corrective feedback in language learning! Today we will continue by l...

Corrective feedback in language learning: Part 5

Welcome back to my article on corrective feedback in language learning! Today we will continue by l...

Corrective feedback in language learning: Part 4

Welcome back to my article on corrective feedback in language learning! Today we will continue by l...

Corrective feedback in language learning: Part 3

Welcome back to my article on corrective feedback in language learning! Today we will continue by l...

Corrective feedback in language learning: Part 2

Welcome back to my article on corrective feedback in language learning! Today we will continue by l...

Corrective feedback in language learning: Part 1

Whether you are a language learner or a language teacher, you probably have some opinions about the...

Do Canadians say “sorry” too much?

Image: (From CBC article linked below) Calgary Transit engaging in some typical Canadian 'live and ...

Summer plans

Summer is just around the corner, and I have lots of plans! The last class of my MA program will be...

Rainy days II

Photo from DH News Rainy day box When I was an elementary school student, everyone had a rainy day...

Are you really living?

Photo by Mr Xerty on Unsplash I came across the following interesting quote recently: “Many people ...

If you build it, they will come

Image: Sudbury's Big NickelMany cities around the world have famous sightseeing attractions, but I’...

The Starry Night: Painting with LEGO

The Starry Night was painted by Vincent van Gogh in June 1889, but it didn’t become famous until lo...

Identity poems: Where I’m from

I recently did an activity with my colleagues to get to know each other better and it was a kind of...

Getting serious about UFOs

Image: An alleged UFO seen from a farm near McMinnville, Oregon, 1950 from https://www.britannica.c...

Talking about NHL hockey in English: Part 2

The teams A hockey team typically dresses (has) 20 players, 18 skaters and 2 goalies (goaltenders/g...

Talking about NHL hockey in English: Part 1

I recently posted about the NHL Playoff Season and promised to add another post with more vocabular...

NHL Playoff Season

Ice hockey (usually just called hockey) is one of Canada’s national sports (the other is lacrosse)....

Coming soon to a galaxy near you

Image: Star Wars Day promotion from LEGO.com May the 4th is unofficially known as Star Wars Day, a...

Talking about birthdays in English

In my last column, I wrote about celebrating birthdays, so today I’d like to introduce some words a...

Enjoying your birthday

Childhood is usually a time filled with amazing birthday parties with themes and lots of friends, f...

Something funny and something creepy

Image: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill WattersonAlthough I enjoy reading a variety of genres, the only bo...

Before I was a teacher

Image: Armistice by Zach McLaughlin (pastel)I started teaching in 2010, but before that I had sever...

Talking about learning during the pandemic in English (Part 1)

The past two years have made us all more familiar with working and learning online, and this situat...

The news in Canada: April 2022

Although international news continues to dominate the headlines in Canada, there are some interesti...

More good tunes

Image: Franglish - Vibe (2021) album cover I’ve written a few column posts about my favourite music...

My captains

There are many people that I admire, some real and some fictional. I’ll introduce one of each today...

Spring holidays in Canada

Photo: LEGO Brickheadz Easter ChickAfter Valentine’s Day is over, the next holiday that people star...

Using motion verbs in English

There are a couple of ways to express motion in English. One way is to use a simple motion verb wit...