Nice to meet you, Katya.
One water lesson · English only · we talk more than we read
Tap any question to hear it. Pick a side. Tell me why. There are no wrong answers here — only interesting ones.
Answer with a full sentence. Start with one of the phrases above. I want your real opinion, not the "correct" one.
Six short phrases. Tap the play button, hear it once, say it back the same way. Notice the tone — English isn't monotone; it goes up and down.
Imagine three photos from your last month. One place. One person. One moment. Tell me about each — three or four sentences.
Photo 1A placewhere were you?
Photo 2A personwho was there?
Photo 3A momentwhat happened?
The place was a tiny café near my grandmother's house in the countryside. It has this one small window that looks straight into an apple tree, so the light inside is green. We went there every morning because my grandmother wanted her cappuccino. The best moment was when the owner remembered our order after two days. That was random and honestly quite sweet. I felt really at home there — even though I only knew it for a week.
Hi, I'm Lera. I moved to Moscow with my family last week. So — my first week was a whole thing. On Monday we found our new flat. It's small but the kitchen has a huge window and the view is honestly underrated. On Wednesday I got lost on the metro. I took the wrong line and ended up somewhere near the river. I actually loved it — the walk back was so chill. My mum was less chill about it. The food here is random — my neighbour brought us hot pastries with cabbage and I lowkey want them every day now. I'm not really into big cities usually, but Moscow in summer? I think I'm into it.
1. My little brother is ⋯ the funniest person I know.
2. The new café near school has such a good ⋯ — soft lights, warm bread.
3. I got a totally ⋯ message from an old friend today.
4. That book everyone talks about? Honestly, it's just ⋯.
5. Right now I'm really ⋯ podcasts about the human body.
6. This little park near my house is completely ⋯ — no one comes here.
7. My Sunday was slow and quiet — very ⋯.
8. The trip took six hours by train but the view at the end was totally ⋯.
Twelve sentences, twelve tenses. If you're not sure — skip and move on. This is a radar map: I only need to see which ones you already own and which we'll build together this year.
Bank order is randomised on load. Same skip-rule: if you're not sure, leave the gap.
1. I ⋯ breakfast every morning.
2. She ⋯ for her exams.
3. They ⋯ their homework.
4. I ⋯ here for five years.
5. We ⋯ soccer when it started raining.
6. I ⋯ Paris before I went to London.
7. He ⋯ for an hour when the bus finally arrived.
8. We ⋯ in that house for ten years before we moved.
9. He ⋯ to the party tonight.
10. They ⋯ to travel to Europe next month.
11. She ⋯ her project by tomorrow.
12. She ⋯ abroad next semester.
Why I like early mornings now.
I never used to be a morning person. Waking up was a whole thing. But this summer something changed. I started going to bed by eleven and getting up at seven. The city is quiet then. The light is soft. I have time for a slow breakfast, and my head is clear before anyone messages me. I still like nights — nights are for music and thinking. But mornings are for me. That's the difference.
Copy the structure. Write or say one paragraph starting like this:
A good conversation goes both ways. I've asked you a lot today. Now you get three questions back. They can be about English, about me, about anything.
Before our next lesson, send me one voice message in English (30–60 seconds). Topic: "One thing from my week." Use at least one phrase from Section 2 and one word from Section 4. Don't rehearse — I want to hear how you actually talk.
| Tense | Formula | Signal words | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | |||
| Present Simple | I / you / we / they work he / she / it works |
every day, usually, always, often, sometimes, on Mondays | I walk to school every day. |
| Present Continuous | am / is / are + V-ing | now, right now, at the moment, currently, today | She is studying for her exams at the moment. |
| Present Perfect | have / has + V3 (past participle) | already, just, yet, ever, never, since, for, so far, recently | They have already visited that museum. |
| Present Perfect Continuous | have / has been + V-ing | for, since, all day, lately, all morning | We have been waiting for the bus for over an hour. |
| Past | |||
| Past Simple | V2 (regular -ed, irregular list) | yesterday, last week, in 2020, ago, when I was 10 | He played soccer with his friends yesterday. |
| Past Continuous | was / were + V-ing | while, when (long action interrupted), at 5 pm yesterday, all day yesterday | She was reading a book when the phone rang. |
| Past Perfect | had + V3 | by the time, before, after, already (in the past), when + past simple | They had already finished their dinner when I arrived. |
| Past Perfect Continuous | had been + V-ing | for / since + past reference, all night before | We had been studying all night before the exam. |
| Future | |||
| Future Simple | will + V (or) be going to + V |
tomorrow, next week, in 2030, soon, one day | I will go to the party tomorrow. |
| Future Continuous | will be + V-ing | at this time next week, this time tomorrow, all day tomorrow | They will be travelling to Europe next month. |
| Future Perfect | will have + V3 | by + future time, by then, by the end of the week | She will have completed her project by the end of the week. |
| Future Perfect Continuous | will have been + V-ing | by X (for Y hours / years), by next year for ten years | By next year we will have been living in this city for ten years. |