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, Feb. 21, 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: Listen to conversations: http://englishconversations.org/?s=podcast
  • Ancient History: Fall of Rome: 5th-century end of the Roman Empire, partly because of attacks from outside, and partly because the last emperor quit.
  • Irregular Verbs: Mike grinds coffee every morning. He ground some for me yesterday. He probably has ground a ton in his life!
  • Idiom: pie in the sky: an unreal hope. "Thinking you can learn English without studying is just pie in the sky."
  • Pop Culture: Ella Fitzgerald: African-American jazz and pop singer. Specialized in jazz-style "scat singing" (making a new tune, with no words).
  • Slang: Why so glum, chum?: "Why are you sad (glum), friend (chum)?" We like words that rhyme, like "glum" and "chum."
  • Government: theocracy: nation ruled by religious leaders, with religious law stronger than civil; like some Islamic countries, the Vatican, etc.

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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