Do you know someone who wants to speak English better? Here are some resources you might like to suggest to them: the Mango Languages link on the library's home page offers 100 lessons for Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Polish speakers to learn how to converse in English. (You can also use it to learn a foreign language such as German, Japanese or Mandarin.) The bilingual Oxford Picture Dictionary is a great resource for those seeking to improve their basic English vocabulary. “I understand every word but I don’t know what they mean,” remarked an English Language Learner to me the other day. She was referring to “idioms” like “bite the bullet” and “hit the hay” that we liberally weave into our conversation and writing. 101 American English Idioms may be the answer! The Languages Pavilion at the Central Park Library and the Adult New Reader Collections at the Central Park and Mission libraries have easy-to-read books and tapes to help adults learn English. If you would like to find community resources to help an English language learner, you can search the Community Information Network (CIN) database on our library’s website using the keyword “ESL.”
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