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 Saturday, Feb. 4, 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: carbon 14 or radiocarbon dating: a way to find the age of old things by seeing how much radiation their carbon (C) molecules make.
  • Language Study: imagery: effort to create a "picture" with words. When Shakespeare writes, "Juliet is the sun," he is creating imagery.
  • Business: franchise: a right or license to run a business, from a government (e.g. the electricity franchise) or a company (like McDonalds).
  • Literature: Don Quixote: crazy "hero" of a book (1605 and 1615) by Cervantes, he believes he is a knight, and must go around doing good.
  • New Words: wi-fi: a way to send data through the air; especially, so people can use the internet on their laptops in a cafe without using a cord.
  • Slang: bummer: "That's too bad." A: "Oh, no! I failed my final exam!" B: "Bummer, man."
  • Modern History: Winston Churchill: (1874-1965) prime minister of England during World War II, and again later. Great speaker, successful writer.

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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