Resources: Notes on Life and Language in the United States

If you are taking private conversation English lessons for the first time in New York or Boston, you might be comparing your experience to the English classes that you took many years ago in your home country.

The best way to learn more about the ways in which culture impacts our lives is to talk to people who have experienced the life challenge of moving to a new country to live, work and/or study.  A few weeks ago, I sat down with Rodrigo, a Bolivian law student who moved to Boston about a year ago, to talk about his adjustment to life in the United States. During our conversation about culture, we talked about what was challenging for him about moving to the US, differences in communication styles here and what it's like to be interviewed for graduate school in the US. We would like to hear about your experiences as well.  If you would like to share your thoughts about life in the US and US culture and help us with our latest project, please contact us and we will arrange an appointment.

How can we talk about cultural differences without putting people into boxes and stereotyping them? Today, cultural awareness is becoming more and more important in our globalized world. In places like New York and Boston and other major cities around the world, we are starting to realize that if we investigate how cultural differences affect our interactions with other people, we can benefit from the enormous potential for creativity and success that an intercultural workplace or community provides. So we know that cultural differences are important and we also know that stereotypes are dangerous.  How do we develop our cultural awareness and avoid relying on stereotypes to deepen our knowledge of other cultures? Keep reading for the answer to this question and more.

This has been a summer of crazy weather! In July, we had a heat wave and just last week we felt an earthquake! Today, as hurricane season gets started, we are dealing with Hurricane Irene, a rare storm which is passing up the east coast and hitting New York City as well as Boston. As you know, Americans love to talk about the weather. We have many English idioms that are related to weather and it is a common small talk subject. So, today I would like to give you some English vocabulary words that you can use to talk about this hurricane.

What are the 6 stages of culture shock and how do they affect you, as an international professional or student in Boston or in another part of the United States?

What kind of person tends to get the most from their private lessons and learns to communicate in English naturally? I have worked with many different adult English students over the past five years and I have noticed that those who learn quickly and learn the language well tend to have certain character traits and skills.  In this article, I will tell you what these traits are. If you don't have these traits, don't worry! It doesn't mean that you can't learn English. It just means that you will now know what you can work on. So keep reading to find out what the six character traits and skills are that help you learn to communicate in English.

What are the advantages of being bilingual? For an international professional in the United States and his or her family members, being able to switch between English and their native language might be tough in the beginning. However after living and working here for a while, expatriates find that if they immerse themselves in the English language, they will learn to speak English naturally. They can create a bilingual household. A lot of researchers believe that being bilingual has real advantages for brain development. In today's post, I will review an article from The Daily Beast by Casey Schwartz called "Why It's Smart to Be Bilingual".

If you are doing business in the USA this year in one of the great cities like New York or Boston, you have a fantastic opportunity to do more than just advance your career. You can improve your English and learn about American culture by getting out and experiencing life in these urban centers. A lot of our English students at English and Culture are assigned to positions in New York or Boston for a short term project (a few months) or for a long term position and they stay for a year or more. Regardless of how long you are here, you should take advantage of your chance to experience American culture outside of your office. Do you have a free Saturday afternoon? Get out of your hotel room or your apartment and do some exploring! Why is this so important? Keep reading to find out.