Mini-Lessons from Monday, Apr. 2, 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!

• Tip: Do exercises. It's not enough just to read something; it's better if you answer questions, fill in blanks, etc., like in a textbook.
  
• Proverb: A miss is as good as a mile: Missing your goal by a little is like missing it by a lot. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable.
  
• Academic Vocabulary: fundamental: basic, serious, essential. "There is a fundamental difference in how men and women see themselves."
  
• Literature: Job: a man in the Bible who had many bad things happen to him, but never lost his patience. "The patience of Job" is a saying.
  
• Art: gallery: a place where art is shown; may be a room in a museum (one museum may have many galleries) or a private business
  
• Slang: mope around: hang around in a sad mood. "I know your boyfriend dumped you, but stop moping around and go out and have some fun!
  
• Geography: Eurasia: physically, a single continent; culturally divided into Europe and Asia, so usually counted as two continents.
  

---

NOTES:

1. Academic Vocabulary is the Academic Word List from Oxford University Press. This is "a list of words that you are likely to meet if you study at an English-speaking university."
2. The Proverb, and the Literature, Art, and Geography words are from lists in the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. I wrote the definitions and examples myself.
3. The Tip and Slang 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."

---