‘Quick Fix’ English with Kang Guru English language teachers and learners would agree that learning English is a challenge. Kang Guru is always trying to think of ways to make it easier for you. Quick Fix is a series about common mistakes in English and the things you can do to correct them. If you avoid making these mistakes your English will improve, we promise you. If you have any suggestions of language difficulties to include on future Quick Fix segments then email Kang Guru as soon as you can. ever of course why follow program tourist object catch/take/get meet/see Quick Fix 1-8 Dialogue register socialize agenda items I'm in Year 7 talking about schools shy embarrassed ashamed environment environmental environmentally in on at   refresh refreshed refreshing A Quick Fix Recap

Quick Fix 1 — Radio Program 5301

The first common mistake involves the word ‘ever’. We often use this word in questions when we want to know about the things people have done.

For example, ‘Have you ever traveled in a bajaj in Jakarta?’

I asked a number of people the same question. Look carefully at their answers.

Now, did you notice that nobody used the word ‘ever’? Many English language learners make the mistake of translating the word ‘pernah’ into English and including it in their answer. You do use the word ‘pernah’ in Indonesian but we don't use the word ‘ever’ in English when we're talking about the things we've done.

Quick Fix 2 — Radio Program 5302

Here's another common problem with English. This time it's the expression ‘of course’. The problem with this expression is that some people use it when it's not appropriate.

When I first started at KGRE I asked Kevin the following question:

He said ‘of course’ because I should have known the answer to that question. In other words, the answer was obvious. He's the manager of KGRE so ‘of course’ he's been to Jakarta many times.

However, many people use ‘of course’ instead of ‘yes’. They use it too often, and their English doesn't sound natural. Here's a good example of how to use ‘of course’.

So, now you know when to say ‘of course’ — only when you think the answer is obvious. Try not to use it too often, and your English will sound more natural.

Quick Fix 3 — Radio Program 5303

Sometimes people use the word ‘Why?’ when it isn't necessary. Here's an example of incorrect English.

‘I didn't go to school today. Why? Because I was sick.’

That's incorrect. It's not necessary to use the question word ‘Why?’ when we give a reason for something. We should say,

‘I didn't go to school today because I was sick.’

Or:

‘I failed my English exam because I didn't study.’

Here are some more examples.

‘My niece wants to be a teacher because she likes children.’

‘He didn't buy the green shirt because it's too expensive.’

‘We didn't go to the beach yesterday because it was raining.’

Now look at this short conversation to see the word ‘Why?’ used correctly. Kevin and Sue are talking in the office.

So, when we ask ‘Why?’ it's to get some information from another person. We don't ask ‘Why?’ and then answer our own question.

Quick Fix 4 — radio program 5304

In this Quick Fix series we're talking about common mistakes. So far we've talked about the word ‘ever’, the expression ‘of course’ and the word ‘why’. They're things that learners of English in Indonesia often have a problem with.

But first today I want to talk about the word ‘follow’. Sometimes people say ‘I'd like to follow a computer course during the holidays’, but this is incorrect.

In English when we talk about a course we can say:

‘I'd like to do a computer course during the holidays.’

‘I'm doing a French cooking course this year.’

‘I spent a month in Yogya doing an Indonesian language course.’

So, remember that we do a course, we don't follow it.

Another problem is the word ‘actually’. Some people use it too often, when it's not appropriate. We should use ‘actually’ when we want to correct some information that's wrong or provide more complete information.

Look at this conversation between Sue and Adi.

Sue uses the word ‘actually’ to correct some information that's wrong.

Here's another example of how to use ‘actually’.

Kevin uses the word ‘actually’ to provide more complete information.

Quick Fix 5 — radio program 5305

In this Quick Fix we're going to look at some words that people often use incorrectly. The first one is ‘program’. One day I was talking to a teacher about her holidays. Her answer is incorrect.

Listen again. This time her answer is correct.

Here's another example of incorrect English.

Listen again. This time the English is correct.

We don't use the word ‘program’ when we're talking about our plans. Let's look at better English again.

The second word is ‘refreshing’. In English we usually use that word to describe something that makes us feel fresh again when we're hot or tired. Iced tea is very refreshing. A cold shower is refreshing when we've been working in the garden on a hot day.

But when you talk about what you're doing you don't use that word. You use the word ‘relaxing’. Here's an example. This is a phone call.

So now you know that sometimes you should use ‘plan’ instead of ‘program’ and ‘relaxing’ instead of ‘refreshing’.

Quick Fix 6 — radio program 5306

The first common mistake is heard all over Indonesia, and it's ‘tourist object’. We don't say that in English. In Indonesian you say ‘obyek wisata’ but in English we say ‘tourist attraction’.

Listen to Sue and Ogi talking about Ogi's trip to Australia.

Can you name some tourist attractions in your area? Perhaps they aren't well known outside Indonesia, but lots of Indonesian people go to them. One that I know is WBL, or Wisata Bahari Lamongan in East Java. Every day many buses from all over East Java take people there. Another tourist attraction that many foreign and Indonesian tourists go to is Borobudur in Central Java. That could be the most famous tourist attraction in Indonesia.

Another common mistake is made by people in shops, hotels and restaurants all over Indonesia. It's very easy to correct this mistake. Listen as Sue leaves a restaurant after a very good meal. Can you hear the mistake?

Did you hear the mistake? ‘Thank you for your coming.’ is incorrect English.

Here's the correct way to say it.

We say ‘Thank you for coming’ or ‘Thanks for coming.’ That's correct English and it's easy, isn't it? I think that's the easiest Quick Fix in the series.

Quick Fix 7 — radio program 5310

Do you have your copy of the September KGRE magazine? The front cover has photos of modern and traditional forms of transport. Well, some people don't know how to talk about using public transport in English. So read this conversation between Sue, Adi and Ana talking about their holiday plans. They use the words ‘catch’, ‘take’ and ‘get’ to talk about travelling by bus, ferry and train.

Ana's going to ‘catch’ two buses and a ferry. Sue's going to ‘take’ a bus, a ferry and a train. Adi's going to ‘get’ a bus, a ferry and two trains.

Now, do you know to talk about using public transport in English? You can practise by asking your friends some questions. For example: How do you go to school? How does your brother go to university? How does your grandmother go to the market? How did you go to your grandparents' house at Idul Fitri? How did you go to Jogja during the holidays? Now here's a good idea for an activity in class or an English club meeting. You'll need a map of Indonesia. Imagine that you are planning to travel from Sabang to Merauke by public transport during your holidays. Wouldn't that be fun? Tell everyone about your journey using the words ‘catch’, ‘get’ and ‘take’. Here's an example.

‘I'll get a ferry from Sabang to Banda Aceh, then I'll take a plane to Medan. From Medan I'll catch a bus to Lake Toba and then get a boat to Samosir Island.’

Do you think that would be a good activity to practise using those words? I think it would be a lot of fun. And perhaps there could be a prize for the person who uses the biggest number of different types of public transport.

Quick Fix 8 — Radio Program 5408

This Quick Fix is very easy to remember, and if you get it right your English will sound much better. The two important words are ‘meet’ and ‘see’.

When we meet people for the first time we can say, ‘It's nice to meet you’ or ‘It's good to meet you’.

This is what happened when I introduced Jossie and Ana for the first time.

So, the first time we meet someone new we can say ‘It's nice to meet you’ or ‘It's good to meet you’.

However, when we meet that person again we say something different. We say ‘It's good to see you’ or ‘It's nice to see you again’.

Here are Jossie and Ana again, a few months later.

So, don't forget. The first time we meet someone we say ‘meet’, but after that we say ‘see’.

Quick Fix 9 — Radio Program 5412

Here's a conversation using many of the problem words and expressions in Quick Fix 1 - 8.

Try using these Quick Fix words and expressions when you talk to your friends. Your English will sound much better!

Quick Fix 10 — Radio Program 5501

Do you have meetings at school, university or at your English club? In this Quick Fix I have some suggestions about how you can improve the English used at your meetings.

One word people often use in Indonesia for ‘mendaftarkan diri’ is ‘registrate’, but that's not a word. The correct word is ‘register’.

‘If you want to go camping with the club next weekend you must register and pay for your bus ticket today.’

Here's another word that is often used incorrectly. It's ‘socialise’. In English this means to spend time with your friends or just go out and meet new people. Here's an example.

‘Adi loves to socialise. He goes out with his friends almost every night.’

If we want to tell everyone about something new at school, such as an English club, we don't use the word ‘socialise’. We use the words ‘promote’ or ‘publicise’.

‘We want more people to join the camping activity so we plan promote it at school.’

‘The local newspaper is going to publicise the camping activity with a big story next week.’

Another word for you to think about is ‘agenda’. In English the word ‘agenda’ includes everything that we do at a meeting or at a workshop.

‘Today we have a very busy agenda. The first item on the agenda is the opening speech by the chairman of the committee. The second item is the report of the last meeting.’

So, you can see that ‘agenda’ means the program. Individual activities on the agenda are called ‘items’.

At the end of a speech people sometimes say ‘That's enough.’ However, this is not a good way to finish a formal speech. There are many ways to finish a formal speech, but here's one.

‘Finally, I'd like to say thank you for coming today. Now I'd like to introduce our guest, Kevin Dalton from Kang GURU Radio English.’

However, some meetings are informal. If it's an informal meeting you could say:

‘Well, that's enough from me. Now let's welcome our guest, Kevin Dalton from Kang GURU Radio English.’

Think about using those words correctly and your English will really improve. And if KGRE visits your school or university or club for a meeting or workshop we'll be very impressed!

Quick Fix 11 — Radio Program 5505

As you know, the theme of the March KGRE magazine is education. So, this Quick Fix is about school. Listen carefully to these suggestions about how to improve your English.

If you ask Australian students which year they're in at school they might reply: ‘I'm in year 8’. They don't often say that they're in primary or high school because it isn't necessary. Sometimes SMP 2 students in Indonesia say ‘I'm in year 2’. This can be very confusing for people who don't know the Indonesian education system!

Here's how to talk about the Indonesian and Australian systems.

When we talk about school we say:

‘I go to Nurul Ulum Junior High School.’

‘I go to Senior High School 3 in Denpasar.’

Let's ask a couple of people about school.

School students often talk about their plans for the future. Here's how you can say it in English.

‘After I leave school I want to go to university.’

‘After I leave school I'm going to work in my family's business.’

Now here are Ana and Yuni talking about themselves.

‘Hi. My name's Ana. I go to Nurul Ulum Junior High School. I'm in year 9. After I leave school I want to go to university.’

‘Hello. I'm Yuni. I'm in year 12. I go to Senior High School 3 in Denpasar. After I leave school I'm going to work in my family's business’.

Thanks Ana and Yuni. So, practise with your friends, and next time you meet someone who speaks English you'll know what to say about school.

Quick Fix 12 - Radio Program 5512

The March Kang Guru magazine is all about education, and today’s Quick Fix is about education too. Joyce is here again to help me because she teaches Indonesian language. Ssometimes people don’t know the words to use when they talk about education.

In Australia all children must go to primary school. That’s the same as elementary school. In Indonesia children go to Junior High School for three years and Senior High School for three years. Then many students go to university, or uni. Indonesian students study more subjects at school than Australian students do but their lessons are about the same length – around 45 minutes. The new word for kepala sekolah is school principal, or just principal. Headmaster is a little old fashioned. It really isn't used a lot these days.

Quick Fix 13 - Radio Program 5608

Sometimes when we don’t know the local culture we can make mistakes. Do we use the word ‘shy’, ‘embarrassed’ or ‘ashamed’ to describe how we feel in those situations? The Indonesian word malu means all of these words in English, depending on the situation we are talking about. In English we cannot substitute one for the other, but learners of English in Indonesia often do.

We use the word ‘shy’ to describe people who are uncomfortable talking and interacting with other people.

‘Dewi’s very shy and always hides if anyone says hello to her. Hasan’s just the opposite. He’s very outgoing. He talks to anyone.’

The word ‘embarrassed’ is also used to describe the way we feel in certain situations. We also use the word ‘embarrassing’ to describe the situation.

‘I forgot to put my wallet in my bag so I couldn’t pay the restaurant bill after lunch. I was so embarrassed!’

‘After the meeting I realized that I had been calling the school principal ‘Ibu Ikan’ all day instead of ‘Ibu Ika’. How embarrassing.’

The word ‘ashamed’ is used to describe the way many people feel after they have deliberately done something wrong, especially when other people know about it too.

‘You should be ashamed! Taking money from your grandmother’s purse is a very bad thing to do. It’s stealing. Please give the money back and say you’re sorry.’

RECAP - Shy dalam konteks kalimat diatas itu berarti pemalu. Dewi adalah orang yang pemalu. Embarrassed dalam konteks kalimat diatas itu berarti merasa malu. Sedangkan ashamed itu berarti merasa malu dalam konteks yang berbeda.

Quick Fix 14 - Radio Program 5706

Sometimes English language learners are confused about the correct use of the various forms of the word environment, environmental and environmentally.

Here are some examples of the correct way to use them.

Environment (noun) -

There are many ways we can care for our local and global environment.

All the local schools took part in a clean-up day to create a healthy, pollution- free school environment.

I hope you take care of the environment around you. Now let’s hear Jeanette give some examples of how to use the word environmental.

J Environmental (adjective) -

Careless disposal of plastic bags causes severe environmental damage.

Environmental awareness is essential for the preservation of the planet.

Finally lets hear how to use the word environmentally correctly.

People who are environmentally aware try to apply the ‘four Rs’: rethink, reuse, recycle and reduce to issues of waste, water, air, energy and biodiversity.

Dewi‘s class ran a competition to find the most environmentally friendly way to reduce the amount of plastic bags used in their local community.

Quick Fix 15 - Radio Program 5707

Hi Maggie, nice to be here in the new KGRE studio too. Great, isn’t it?

It is great and brand new. Darmika and Mahendra, our KGRE technical people, are very happy working here in their new studio.

So Maggie what’s the Quick Fix for today.

It’s pretty simple really Chris. For example, this new KGRE Recording studio was opened in June 2007. But so often in Indonesia people say …….

Oh I know this one Maggie. So often people say ON June when it should be IN June, right?

That’s correct Chris. So often people say ON June when it should be IN June.

Another example is this –

‘I am going to Australia on December this year’.

When actually it should be –

‘I am going to Australia IN December this year’.

And the reason people get this wrong? It’s because we use the preposition ON when we include the actual date such as in this example –

‘I am going to Australia on December the 5 th this year’.

That’s right Chris. Use the preposition ON when you include the date – and use IN when you just say the name of the month. Here is another example from Ana –

I went to Jakarta last year. I visited a friend of mine. It was her birthday on June the 21 st. And guess what? She is coming to visit me soon, in December I think. Maybe on December the 14 th or 15 th. We’re not sure of the exact date yet.

Quick Fix 16 - Radio Program 5710

This week’s Quick Fix is about a word which is often misused by learners of English.

Have you ever heard anyone say:

‘I went home to my village for refreshing’

‘ Last weekend we went to the mountains for refreshing’?

In English we never use the word refreshing when what we really mean is to relax. What Ana should have said is -

‘I went home to my village to relax for a few days. The break was really refreshing'.

Refreshing is an adjective used to describe an experience which makes you feel revived or revitalized. For example -

The weather was really hot and humid so we jumped in the pool for a refreshing swim.

After working hard all year our family holiday in the mountains was really refreshing.

Refreshing is an adjective used to describe an experience which makes you feel revived or revitalized. For example -

The weather was really hot and humid so we jumped in the pool for a refreshing swim.

After working hard all year our family holiday in the mountains was really refreshing.

If you want to use the word refreshed, this is how to use it.

Refreshed is also an adjective which we use to describe how we feel and after we have had some rest. For example,

Iwan felt absolutely exhausted. He had studied hard all week and completed 3 assignments. After spending 2 days relaxing and hiking in the mountains, he felt refreshed.

So don’t forget – next time you go home you go home or to the beach, you go to relax. When you get back home you are refreshed. Hope you’ll feel relaxed after listening to this next song.

Quick Fix 17- Radio Program 5712

In this Series of Kang Guru we have talked about some common mistakes in English in our Quick Fix segments. Do you remember them? Two of the problem words and expressions we talked about were ‘on', and ‘in’. Today we will recap and hear some more examples.

So here's Maggie and Chris having a chat together.

It’s pretty simple really Chris. For example, this new KGRE Recording studio was opened in June 2007. But so often in Indonesia people say …….

Oh I know this one Maggie. So often people say ON June when it should be IN June, right?

That’s correct Chris. So often people say ON June when it should be IN June.

That’s right Chris. Use the preposition ON when you include the date – and use IN when you just say the name of the month.

Did you get that? Use IN when you just say the month and IN when you include the date. Here’s Ana with a couple of examples.

He took his IELTS test in October.

Nidji are playing in Semarang in December.

I will go to Surabaya on the 17 th October.

The new T shirts will be on sale on the 5 th of November

A little language activity for you now - fill the gaps. Can you?

Adi was awarded an ADS scholarship. He went to Australia …. the 5 th Of June.

I’m going to visit my friends in Sumbawa …….. September.

The man can’t fix the computer until next month. He said he’d come ….. the fifteenth.