Mini-Lessons from Friday, Apr. 6, 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: Improve your listening skills: http://www.zozanga.com/listeningskills.htm
  
• Ancient History: Ming Dynasty: rulers of China 1368-1644, a time of great government leadership and growth of culture.
  
• Irregular Verbs: "Shake the bottle before opening it." "I shook it already." "But have you shaken it enough?"
  
• Idiom: fits and starts: starting and stopping; not steadily. "You do your homework by fits and starts; that's why it takes you so long."
  
• Pop Culture: "John Henry": song about a legendary black railroad worker who won a contest against a machine, but died doing so.
  
• Slang: (I) told you so: "Things happened as I predicted." A: "Well, you were right: the boss hated my proposal." B: "Told you so!"
  
• Government: franchise: The right to vote. Those who have no power in a democracy (like US women before 1920) are called "disenfranchised."
  

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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.

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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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