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 Monday, Feb. 13, 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: Celsius: or "degrees C," way to measure temperature; created by Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius. Used in most of the world.
  • Language Study: AD and BC: years of this era, and of the one before (this is 2012 AD). Some now use CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era).
  • Business: act of God: unexpected natural event, as a flood or earthquake. Property insurance policies often refuse to pay for such events.
  • Literature: Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest: song from Stevenson's pirate book "Treasure Island" (1883). The "chest" here is a treasure chest.
  • New Words: twenty-four seven: or "24/7"; all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. "I'm yours, baby, 24/7!" "We offer 24/7support."
  • Slang: Naw: a casual way to say "no." A: "Are you going to the party tonight?" B: "Naw, I think I'll stay home and watch TV."
  • Modern History: Grigori Rasputin: (1869-1916) Russian monk, had "magical" power over the czar ("king") of Russia and his wife.

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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