Cafetalk Tutor's Column

All
Country Flag
  • A late night out in Toronto

    I’m not a night owl. I can’t even remember the last time I stayed out after midnight, but last nigh...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    95
    Jul 11, 2025
  • Quick tips: expressing surprise with “holy”

    There are many ways to express surprise and shock in English, but one of the most common and casual...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    2
    222
    Jun 26, 2025
  • What is “mad money”?

    Photo byPiggyBank onUnsplash With my birthday coming up on June 17th, my father, as he always does...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    1
    289
    Jun 16, 2025
  • More things to do in Niagara Falls

    Photo: Birds hanging out at the Bird KingdomI wrote a short article about Niagara Falls after my vi...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    263
    Jun 11, 2025
  • The cost of being a sports fan in Canada

    Photo: The Hockey Hall of Fame in TorontoBeing a sports fan doesn’t have to be expensive, but if yo...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    305
    Jun 7, 2025
  • How we measure things in Canada

    Photo by William Warby on Unsplash In many areas of Canadian culture, we find a mixture of various ...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    1
    408
    May 31, 2025
  • Talking about function, purpose, and method in English: Part 2

    Continuing from Part 1, today we’ll look at how to explain the method of doing something and the to...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    362
    May 26, 2025
  • Talking about function, purpose, and method in English: Part 1

    It can be tricky to figure out which structure to use when talking about how to do an action, why a...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    383
    May 24, 2025
  • How I organize my work desk

    As I describe the setup or layout of my work desk today, I’d like to introduce some ways to talk ab...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    354
    May 15, 2025
  • The LEGO man

    Image: LEGO Super Mario taking a napI’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time playing by myself w...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    451
    Apr 29, 2025
  • Jury duty

    Photo by Wesley Tingey on UnsplashToday, for the second time in my life, I received mail from The M...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    590
    Apr 21, 2025
  • Talking about luck in English: Part 2

    Continuing from where we left off In Part 1, today I’d like to introduce some lucky actions as well...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    515
    Apr 3, 2025
  • Talking about luck in English: Part 1

    The weekly column topic is Do you have a lucky item? this week, so today I’d like to share some way...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    2
    527
    Mar 31, 2025
  • Adventure!

    Image: A “roper” monster from the event (which you can defeat by hitting its tentacles when they li...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    582
    Mar 29, 2025
  • Quick tips: weary vs. wary

    Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more English speakers mixing up the adjectives “weary” and “wa...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    2
    692
    Mar 18, 2025
  • Quick tips: adverbs of place

    Adverbs of place tell us where an action takes place. For example, in the sentence “I went downtown...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    470
    Mar 13, 2025
  • The tales of Edgar Allan Poe

    These days, I’m reading The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, which is a collection of ...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    592
    Mar 2, 2025
  • Winter in Toronto

    Image: Icicles on the building across from my homeToronto is one of Canada’s southernmost cities, s...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    891
    Feb 22, 2025
  • Role models

    Image: My father and I (during a trip to Manitoulin Island last year)When I was a child, my role mo...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    1081
    Feb 2, 2025
  • Quick tips: ungrammatical (?) questions

    Most languages have ways to reduce the grammatical forms of questions, and English is no exception!...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    921
    Jan 22, 2025
  • Toronto’s unofficial mascot

    Thanks to all of the parks and green spaces in Toronto and across the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), t...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    1008
    Jan 16, 2025
  • Talking about fictional worlds in English

    Many adjectives in English have nuanced synonyms that can be tricky to use. In my most recent artic...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    1135
    Jan 9, 2025
  • The Boy and the Heron (君たちはどう生きるか)

    The Boy and the Heron, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is a Studio Ghibli movie that came out in 2023, ...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    887
    Jan 7, 2025
  • Talking about New Year’s resolutions in English

    In my most recent article (titled Goodbye 2024 - Hello 2025!), I reflected on the past year and tal...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    928
    Jan 4, 2025
  • Goodbye 2024 - Hello 2025!

    Happy New Year, everyone! As I look back on 2024 and look ahead to 2025, these are some of my refle...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    901
    Jan 3, 2025
  • Holiday decor: Part 2

    In Part 1, I introduced some of the most common Christmas decorations, and today I’d like to add a ...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    640
    Dec 20, 2024
  • Holiday decor: Part 1

    Photo: My grandmother’s living room, decorated for Christmas. If you’re not accustomed to celebrat...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    754
    Dec 18, 2024
  • Eggnog

    One drink that I only consume during the winter holidays is Eggnog. My father loves it and always b...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    688
    Dec 13, 2024
  • The “Tough Guy Santa” genre

    Santa Claus has long had the image of a gentle old man with a big smile and a jolly laugh, but in r...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    1042
    Dec 12, 2024
  • Holiday gift ideas

    Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash       I have four suggestions for holiday gifts this year, a...

    Tutor Profile Photo

    Zach McLaughlin

    0
    867
    Dec 3, 2024
Got a question? Click to Chat