Mini-Lessons from Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012

These Mini-Lessons are posted on Twitter, and in China on Weibo, throughout the day. You can follow them there!

To get the most from them, you should try to use them in sentences, or discuss them with friends. Writing something on Twitter or Weibo is a great way to practice!

• Link: Fill-in exercises: prepositions, modal verbs, more: http://www.nonstopenglish.com/
• Ancient History: Dark Ages: To the early Middle Ages, just after the Fall of Rome. Learning was uncommon, but some culture was preserved.
• Irregular Verbs: I like to outdo my friends in sports. I outdid them in a race yesterday. But sometimes, they have outdone me!
• Idiom: to fly off the handle: to become very angry suddenly, shouting etc. "Please don't fly off the handle, but they lost your luggage."
• Pop Culture: Laurel and Hardy: Early 20th-century comedians film in derby hats. Laurel was a thin, foolish Englishman; Hardy a fat, angry American.
• Slang: Yikes! : Said when surprised or frustrated. Not a happy sound. "Yikes! You stepped on my foot!" "Why can't I turn this on? Yikes!"
• Government: imperialism: policy of one country ruling another's politics, economy, or culture. May also be holding colonies or other territories.

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NOTES:

1. The Idiom, the History and Government words, and some of the Pop Culture words, are from lists in the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. I wrote the definitions and examples myself.
2. The Link was found online; the Slang words, the Irregular Verbs, and some of the Pop Culture words are from my own lists, and I wrote the definitions and examples myself.

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This lesson is ©2012 by James Baquet. You may share this work freely. Teachers may use it in the classroom, as long as students are told the source (URL). You may not publish this material or sell it. Please write to me if you have any questions about "fair use"

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