FREE DAILY ENGLISH LESSONS!
In time, these lessons and "stubs" will be migrated to the Buzzwords site.
Until then, consider them historical.


Mini-Lessons from Tuesday, Jan. 10, 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: Test your English, with answers and explanations: http://www.easyenglish.com/index.asp
  • Ancient History: Charlemagne: "Charles the Great," king of France and first Holy Roman Emperor, crowned 800. Encouraged learning as Dark Ages ended.
  • Irregular Verbs: I overcome most problems I have encountered. I overcame the worst one ever last year. I have overcome many problems in my life.
  • Idiom: as the crow flies: in a straight line. "My house is 20 miles from here by road, but only 10 miles as the crow flies."
  • Pop Culture: vaudeville: Early 20th-century stage entertainment with a variety of acts: singing, dancing, magic, animal acts, and so on.
  • Slang: You really know your [something]! : A compliment. Someone's good at computers: "You really know your computers!"
  • Government: zero-sum game: "game" where a win for one means a loss for others. In politics, may be control of resources or land.

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.

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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