What is Big Tick?

Big Tick Productions is a

Hong Kong based developer

of apps designed to help

learners with their English.

We aim to produce simple,

cheap, useful, effective apps

to help learners develop

good speaking habits.

Who is Big Tick?

Right now it is just me, Nick

Westerman.

I am a graduate of Macquarie

University (B.Ec.) and the University

of Western Australia (MBA) and have

been teaching for the past 17 years.

For the past 7 years I have been

teaching English as a Second

Language.

Who is Big Tick?

I come up with ideas based on

problems I have seen students having

with certain aspects of English.

I write question and answer data sets.

And I get my friends at JAS Solutions

to do the programming for me.

And hopefully this produces an app

that is useful and effective.

Why Big Tick?

As a teacher I know

students want a ‘Big

Tick’ for their work!

So I hope that these

apps will help you get a

‘Big Tick’ for your

English.

What Apps?

Available Now

● Talking About Numbers

● Using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ adjectives

In Development

● Using Binomials

● Using ‘of course’

Talking About Numbers

When learning a language numbers are some of the first things

new learners have to learn. Most learner quickly grasp the basic

counting system.

However numbers in use can be more complex and ESL

students can gets confused as to how to read and/or speak

about numbers when they are part of dates, currencies,

percentages, decimals, fractions etc. Often learners adopt apply

the habits of their native language when talking about numbers,

but this may not be the way English is spoken.

Using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ Adjectives

Typically, ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ adjectives are verbs that are used to

describe the way you feel, or the way something makes you feel.

It is very easy for non English speakers to make mistakes.

All too often you will hear someone say ‘I am boring’ when they

mean ‘I am bored’. Comical, but not accurate.

The app tests users by getting them to answer simple multiple

choice questions.

Users determine which form - verb, ed adjective, ing adjective or

noun - is needed to make the sentence grammatically correct.

Using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ Adjectives

I am __________ every time I hike in the hills.

challenge (v)

challenged

challenging

challenge (n)

The view from the top is __________

inspire

inspired

inspiring

inspiration

Using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ Adjectives

I am __________ every time I hike in the hills.

challenge (v)

challenged

challenging

challenge (n)

The view from the top is __________

inspire

inspired

inspiring

inspiration

Using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ Adjectives

These raspberries look very __________.

temp

tempted

tempting

temptation

It’s a great __________ to try some.

temp

tempted

tempting

temptation

Using ‘ed’ and ‘ing’ Adjectives

These raspberries look very __________.

temp

tempted

tempting

temptation

It’s a great __________ to try some.

temp

tempted

tempting

temptation

Using Binomials

Binomials are a combination of two words typically

combined with and / or to form a common phrase in

English.

The words should be stated in the correct order and

synonyms are not used to replace them.

Ultimately the only way to learn them is by memory -

which makes an app a great learning tool for these

phrases.

Using Binomials

Why do we eat fish and chips and never chips

and fish?

Why do we have brothers and sisters, never

sisters and brothers?

Why is it always about us and them and never

about them and us?

Actually there is no rhyme or reason, you just

have to grin and bear it and learn to say these

binomials the way English speakers do.

And if you love the red, white and blue, or just

like to hop, skip and jump, you’ll need to learn

some trinomials too!

Using ‘of course’

For some non English speakers there is a habit of using the

phrase ‘of course’ as a straight synonym for ‘yes’.

In actual fact ‘of course’ is a synonym, for ‘certainly’ or

‘absolutely’ and it is used to show enthusiasm for a

request.

When used as a synonym for ‘yes’ the term ‘of course’ is

actually somewhat impolite as it implies the person who

asked the question should have known the answer.

Would you like more coffee?

‘Of course’ is impolite here

It implies the person who asked the question should

have known the answer.

It is better to say ‘Yes please’ or ‘No thank you’ to a

question like this.

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