Mini-Lessons from Thursday, Jan. 12, 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!

• Tip: Learn from context. Look at the words around a word you don't know, and try to figure it out.
• Proverb: A word to the wise is sufficient: If someone is smart, he will do what you advise. You won't have to convince him.
• Academic Vocabulary: utilize: To use. Noun 'utility' means 'usefulness': "A car has little utility for a dog."
• Literature: wolves in sheep's clothing: People who appear good in order to cheat you. From words of Jesus in his famous "Sermon on the Mount."
• Art: quartet: Group of four singers or musicians. "I heard a wind quartet in a concert last night."
• Slang: no one: May mean no person. But may mean "It's not important" or "I don't want to tell you." "Who was on the phone?" "No one."
• Geography: Volga River: The main waterway and longest river in Russia, running from Moscow to the Caspian Sea.

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NOTES:

1. Academic Vocabulary is the Academic Word List from Oxford University Press. This is "a list of words that you are likely to meet if you study at an English-speaking university."
2. The Proverb, and the Literature, Art, and Geography words are from lists in the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. I wrote the definitions and examples myself.
3. The Tip and Slang 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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