Helping Mexicans with Their English
Last updated September, 2023
Having Mexican friends makes a difference they make in your quality of life as an expat. They help you feel safer and more at home. As an expat or new resident you can choose either to hang out only with other frequently-bewildered expats, or enjoy a the company of healthy mix of compatriots along with people who always know what’s really going on - Mexicans.
Many, many Mexicans want to learn at least some English. With just a little imagination and tools like the ones below you can make friends of all ages by helping them achieve their goal. Keep this list of resources and possibly make a new Mexican friend. It’s all up to you.
Their children all study English in order to enhance their future employment opportunities and increase the likelihood of getting into certain schools. Parents are interested in an activity they can share with them. You would be amazed how terrible class resources are. After several years, Mexican friends still thank me for turning them on to certain teaching websites,
My language exchange partners in Spain told me about many of these resources. Many of the sites are hosted in England. As Spain is Cervantes, England seem to show more interest in perpetuating the language of Shakespeare than does its most successful former colony.
Share the list below with Mexicans you meet who have mentioned they are learning English, or keep it handy for when Mexicans want to practice their English with you.
Tools for learning English to share with your Mexican friends
Richard Vaughn English - Coming from Oklahoma and remembering what the Spanish thought of my American accent when I studied in Valencia, I was amused to learn that a Texan of all people had built an English-teaching empire. It’s a site very popular among my friends in Spain.
BBC Learning English a terrific tool because it contains both short podcasts and their transcripts.
Expresso English - The most important thing in learning a new language is consistency, to as least spend 15 minutes a day on it. Mexicans are just as busy as we are and really appreciate short little podcasts like Expresso English on Spotify.
Saber Ingles - (Saberingles.com.ar) Has a snazzy little feature English and Movies that will help both of you. They are not movies clips, they are the written dialogues in English, with key words and phrases translated in Spanish at the bottom. I have students read these dialogues and at times, paraphrase them.
Kahoot - Several of my friends in Spain like this game-based site.
Mansioningles.com - Recommended by one of my language exchange partners in Valencia, Spain, the tools is comprehensive enough that one friend says it's all he uses (and his English is quite good). I’ve shared his tip with my other practice partners and they’ve all like it.
Digital Dialects - Great for beginners, the U.S. site uses games to teach basic vocabulary in 80 languages.
Duolingo - Also for beginners, the most popular online tool for beginner Spanish students is also available for those learning English. The bite-sized lessons use lots of repetition. Gaming elements keep up the pressure to learn. You can compete with friends too making it a little like having a study partner. This one is good to gain enough basic vocabulary to form easy sentences and where many people start.
Deep English - If you're helping another adult learn English, it's surprisingly difficult to find stories at the right difficulty level, topic, and length that would interest them. This site curates interesting stories that make for great tools for reading out loud or discussion.
Voice of America - Voice of America has been just that since 1942, delivering U.S. news in slow English to the world. News junkies exist in every culture. This site is for news junkie English students.
Blabbinit English is a YouTube station that my Sevillian practice partner likes.
LingQ - A bit more advanced, this is terrific free program with lessons from beginner to advanced, usually in the form of a story to read, with a vocabulary lookup feature. You simply highlight the word to get the meaning.
Lyrics Training - teaches English through music and lyrics to popular songs. The song video is broken up with subtitles in English to follow along. Song artists include Adele, Green Day, Evanescence, Maroon Five, The Chainsmokers and Halsey.
CISL - Is a language school in California with helpful blog and English lessons.
Quizlet - One of my go-to’s when I have 15 minutes to kill for vocabulary, students post lists of vocabulary words or terms of the language they are learning. The program enables you to manipulate the list into flashcard games and other tests-made-fun.
Studies have shown you learn three times more from tests than from studying. Students can create their own study sets of the words they find themselves using most.
Blog para Aprender Inglés - Also suggested by my language practice partner in Seville, Spain has lessons, idioms and videos.
Readlang - Readlang’s best feature is its library. Students learning English can select stories in at their level. The program allows 10 free word-look ups per lesson.
BUSUU - For intermediates, BUSUU has both English and Spanish language lessons and online language exchange. This site will help English learners with their writing, as the site emphasizes language exchange. Students can find language partners, write in the second language, get corrected by native speakers and correct others’ writing for points. Also has mobile app.
My Language Exchange is a site to facilitate finding native speakers to practice with. Generally you speak half the time in one language and the other half in the other (although I have one partner where I speak only Spanish and he speaks only English). Once a person is at beginner intermediate level, exchange partners are an absolute non-negotiable for anyone really seeking to be conversant unless they have daily access to native speakers.
Memrise - The Memrise community of students submits language lesson plans to share. Most of the lesson plans concentrate of vocabulary. Phone app available too. It’s a more visual site for the YouTube crowd.
Linguee - Is a phrase look-up tool that comes in very handy for speaking and writing and comes in all romance languages.
The New York City Public Library list of online resources for learning English.
Biggest sticking point for students of English
English uses literally hundreds of phrasal verbs. To an English student, it seems like half the English language consists of phrasal verbs and they drive students of English crazy.
Examples of phrasal verbs are:
I hung out with him.
He brought up the subject.
Let’s make out!
I worked through the problem.
It went off the charts.
He got off the bus, went up the stairs and took off his shirt. A whole sentence of them! (In Spanish, for the last example, they would use unique verbs bajarse, subirse, and quitarse, all without that annoying participle).
What to do for them?
Fast Brain tv- (YouTube) - Hector Codonero’s multi-video series on his easier system for phrasal verbs on his channel FastBrainTV. He is a knit-capped, guay Columbian and very fun to watch. Codonero provides a different approach, a system of understanding phrasal verbs.
About the author:
I’m Kerry Baker and am a partner with Ventanas Mexico and author of "If Only I Had a Place" with my system of systematically renting well as an aspiring expat.
The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico is my second book. Most recently, I published The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico, a cookbook for travelers, snowbirds and expats trying to cook healthy meals in Mexico.
The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico has 150 easy, healthy recipes that you can make in any simple kitchen no matter where you are.