This article is intended to give you a sense of the type of curriculum and program consulting work that we at Ginseng have done in the past, and can do for you! Our team of ESL and curriculum consultants all have advanced degrees in relevant fields (TESOL, applied linguistics, education, instructional design), as well as decades of experience planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating programs in a range of contexts. These contexts include K-12 schools, adult education/ESOL, post-secondary/higher education, English for specific purposes, intensive English language programs (IELPs). Area ..read more

Home Grammar Verbs Simple Present Simple Present vs Present Perfect The simple present and present perfect verb forms are both used to describe actions or states that are currently happening or have happened recently, but they have some key differences that are important to understand. The simple present tense is used to describe actions or states that are currently true or that are generally true. For example: I eat breakfast every morning. (This is a general statement that is always true.) He plays soccer on the weekends. (This is a current action that is happening regularly.) The present ..read more

Home Learning English Studying in Boston History Culture Universities Where to Study English in Boston Intensive English Language Programs in Boston TALK English Schools Center for English Language & Orientation Program at Boston University (CELOP) Boston International Academy (BIA) New England School of English (NESE) ASC English School Target International Student Center Community ESOL Programs in Boston If you don’t need an intensive program, studying in a community-based organizations can be a cheaper or free option. Boston Public Library ABCD Boston Community ES ..read more

Home Learning English Studying in Philadelphia Many international students who want to study in America go straight to Boston, with dreams of Harvard and MIT. Boston can be a great city to study English in, but it’s a small, often expensive city. If you are thinking about Boston, we really recommend you consider studying English in Philadelphia. History Philadelphia is a city full of history. The city was founded by William Penn (who the state of Penn-sylvania is named after) in 1682, between the Delaware River and the Schuylkill River. The name comes from the Greek words for love (philos) a ..read more

Determiners are one of the nine parts of speech in English grammar. In English, determiners come before nouns and help us to understand how we are referring to the noun. Not all languages have determiners, so they can be difficult when you are learning English. There are several different types of determiner: demonstrative determiners, possessive determiners, definite and indefinite articles, and quantifiers ..read more

There is one definite article in English: the. Articles are a kind of determiner, a part of speech which we use before a noun. We use the definite article the before nouns that refer to specific things, things that have already been mentioned, and things that are already known to the people in the discussion. The is the most common word in the English language ..read more

There are two indefinite articles in English: a and an. Articles are a type of determiner, a part of speech which we use before a noun. We use the indefinite articles a and an before nouns that refer to things that are new ideas, not already known, or that are not specific. We only use indefinite articles before singular, countable nouns. When to use Indefinite Articles One very common situation when we use indefinite articles is when we are introducing a new idea that hasn’t been mentioned before. It is very common to use following there is. Here are a couple of examples: There is a blue hou ..read more

Home Learning English Tech Trends to Change Language Learning We may have come a long way from the days of filling the blackboard with Latin declensions, but the field of language teaching is still relatively young. The demand for language instruction is surging: the British Council anticipates two billion people studying English by 2020—and that’s just English. While this field is growing, new technologies are changing nearly every industry out there, so without a doubt, technology will dramatically reshape what language learning looks like within our lifetime. Let’s take a look at some dev ..read more

Home Grammar Verbs Future Perfect Continuous The future perfect continuous is an English verb form used to describe an action that starts in the future and continue up to another time or action in the future. This can be a time or date, or it can be another action. Often a duration is specified for the verb in the future perfect continuous. This verb form alone does not specify if the action will continue after that point. This is a very rare verb form. Less than .1% of English verbs are in the future perfect continuous. Do not use this verb tense unless you are absolutely certain that ..read more

Home Grammar Verbs Ginseng English Verb Tense Test The Ginseng English Verb Tense Test is an assessment that tests your knowledge of all 12 English verb forms (3 verb tenses and all 4 aspects). The test and access to results are completely free! Loading ..read more