ESL RULES, LLC Newsletter         December 2009
marjorie                                                                           
 
 lynda picture 

Lynda Katz Wilner, of Successfully Speaking,
  
 
and Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker, of The Whittaker Group, join together to form
ESL RULES, LLC for their joint workshops and training materials. Visit their individual websites at 
www.successfully-speaking.com
and 
www.prospeech.com.  
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Dear Friends and Colleagues, 

As the holiday season approaches, we want to wish everyone a happy and healthy year ahead.  We have much to be thankful for and are so grateful to our enthusiastic and loyal colleagues, clients and customers.
RULES Tip of the Season
Med Speaking book
 
      Article Usage
 
Many non-native speakers ask us, "When do you use an article?" We'd like to share some of the idiosynchratic rules of using articles.
 
  • Use "the" before rivers, but not lakes, e.g., The Delaware River vs. Lake Michigan.  
  • Use "the" before mountain ranges, but not individual mountains, e.g., The Rocky Mountains vs. Mount Everest. 
  • Use "the" before major roadways, but not local streets, e.g., The New Jersey Turnpike, The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, The Lincoln Tunnel vs. Constitution Avenue, Main Street.
  • Use "the" before countries with multiple names and plural forms, but not for other countries, e.g., The United States of America, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, The Bahamas  vs. Brazil, India, Nigeria. Of course there will be some exceptions, e.g., The Congo.
We have many more rules for articles in our "Articles and Demonstrative Pronouns" chapters of RULES and Medically Speaking RULES.

Released on December 18th!

 
We are excited to announce the release of RULES BY THE SOUND. This adaptable and flexible program offers you the ability to download, print, and distribute sound-loaded sentences and stories. These stories can be used for independent assignments, individual and group work, etc. The electronic version can even be emailed to students/clients. 
 
If you order by December 31. 2009, you will receive a 10% discount.
 
Take a sneak peak at another one of our stories. Thomas Caruthers  We have other sample stories on our website.
In the News
 
Lynda and Marjorie presented a workshop entitled, "Innovative Techniques to Teach Stress and Intonation," at the November 7, 2009 Maryland TESOL Conference. They also showcased their newly released RULES BY THE SOUND PROGRAM.
 
Both the presentation and materials were extremely well-received by ESOL teachers working in the United States and abroad.  For a sample of one of our stories from the book, please click on the following link. Thomas Caruthers
 
Marjorie and Lynda will be presenting and exhibiting at the International TESOL conference to be held in Boston March 24th-27th, 2010. To find out more or to register for the convention, please click here.
 
Lynda was interviewed in "Our Sunday Visitor" about her accent modifcation and communication skills training with international clergy. Check out the article.
Happy Holidays,
 
Lynda Katz Wilner
 
Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker
 
marjorie
  
  ESL RULES, LLC
 
 410.356.5666