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 Wednesday, Jan. 11, 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!
  • Science: physics: science that studies matter and energy, and relationships between them. Includes mechanics, optics, electricity, heat, more.
  • Language Study: satire: a work of literature that makes people or societies look silly. Gulliver's Travels is a famous satire of British society.
  • Business: declare bankruptcy or "go bankrupt": tell a court that one (or one's business) is unable to pay what is owed.
  • Literature: Captain Hook: the pirate "bad guy" in Peter Pan. He lost one hand to a crocodile, and so has a hook instead.
  • New Words: sexting: sending sexy messages by SMS (text) to someone you like, as a way to get them interested in you.
  • Slang: What are you talking about?: Another way to say, "Are you crazy?" It means the person is talking nonsense.
  • Modern History: Jack the Ripper: late-19th-century criminal who killed several women in London, England. He was never caught.

NOTES:
  1. Except for the Slang words, all the words in these Mini-Lessons came from lists either on the Oxford University Press site or in the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. I wrote the definitions and examples myself.
  2. The Slang words are from my own list, 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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