Hi — I’m Doug.
I’m a TEFL-certified English teacher, and for the past eight-plus years I’ve taught online at OpenEnglish.com, Latin America’s largest online English school. That adds up to a lot of classes, a lot of students, and one big lesson for me as a teacher: most learners don’t need more grammar. They need real English — the phrases people actually use at work, at the airport, and over coffee.
I kept meeting students who could pass a grammar test without blinking, but froze when a colleague asked “How’s it going?” Textbooks teach you to say “Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you.” Nobody talks like that. Somewhere between the textbook and real life there’s a gap, and that gap is exactly what English in Hand is for.
What English in Hand is
Short, practical lessons for intermediate and advanced learners. On the blog you’ll find lessons on the things that actually trip people up — phrasal verbs, confusing word pairs, sounding polite without sounding cold. On TikTok and Instagram I post short video lessons. And the free English in Hand phrasebook puts the real phrases native speakers use — small talk, workplace English, travel — in one place you can keep on your phone.
Where to start
Grab the free phrasebook — that’s the heart of it. Then try the word-pairs quiz to see where you stand, and have a look through the lessons. If you like learning from short videos, come find me on TikTok — that’s where I spend most of my time these days.
Questions, ideas, something you’d like me to cover? Get in touch — I read every message.
See you in a lesson.
— Doug