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, Apr. 16, 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: satellite: an object that orbits (goes around) another in space. The moon is earth's satellite; there are also man-made satellites.
  • Language Study: e.g.: Latin "exempli gratia" meaning "for example." "I love old stories, e.g. myths, legends, and fairy tales."
  • Business: obsolescence: becoming outdated (obsolete). Some products with "planned obsolescence" need to be replaced more often.
  • Literature: transcendentalists: New England philosophers like Emerson and Thoreau, believed humans are good, especially when self-reliant.
  • New Words: man cave: a room or other area made into a comfortable place for a man to use. "Stay out of the garage; it's my husband's man cave."
  • Slang: to sleep on something: to think about something, at least overnight. A: "So, do you want to buy this car?" B: "Let me sleep on it."
  • Modern History: Fourth of July: informal name for America's Independence Day, when a group of citizens made the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

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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