Chinglish III

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/26/content_2100041.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

[Note: These lessons were written for a Chinese newspaper. If you're not Chinese, you can also think of some typical problems that speakers of your language have with English.]

Questions:
1. Mark describes several more problems. Do you make any of these mistakes? Which ones? How can you correct them?
2. Make a dialogue using some of the wrong expressions. Then rewrite it and correct them.
3. What other "Chinglish" problems can you think of?

Chinglish II

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/25/content_2098488.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

[Note: These lessons were written for a Chinese newspaper. If you're not Chinese, you can also think of some typical problems that speakers of your language have with English.]

Questions:
1. According to Mark, what effect does poor grammar have on listeners?
2. Make some sentences with word pairs like "bored/boring" or "excited/exciting" used correctly.
3. When can you never use "ever"? Give examples of proper uses.

Chinglish I

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/21/content_2095656.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

[Note: These lessons were written for a Chinese newspaper. If you're not Chinese, you can also think of some typical problems that speakers of your language have with English.]

Questions:
1. According to Mark, what is the #1 "Chinglish" problem?
2. What other two verb problems does Mark mention?
3. Which of these can very NOT modify: a verb, an adjective, an adverb?

China's Provinces

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/19/content_2092310.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. How many Chinese provinces can you name?
2. According to the lesson, what's the difference between an SAR, an autonomous region a municipality, and a regular province?
3. What ethnic groups live in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Ningxia, and Guangxi?

A. Lincoln

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/18/content_2090284.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Describe the causes of the American Civil War, as given in the lesson.
2. What else do you know about Abraham Lincoln, besides what's in the lesson?
3. Look at the terms at the end of the lesson. Read the lesson carefully and be sure you understand each one.

Chaucer and Middle English

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/14/content_2084883.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Have you ever heard of Chaucer? Have you read anything by him? Either talk about him, or read a little more to learn about him.
2. Do you know any French words? Can you use your dictionary to find some French words in English?
3. Look at the opening lines of "The Canterbury Tales" in the lesson, and compare them to the translation. How many can you connect (like "shoures" and "showers")?

Give Me a Hand

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/12/content_2081847.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Point to parts of your hand and name them. Give more than one name, if possible.
2. What are the names of the fingers called in your language? How would you translate them into English?
3. Many cultures have "finger games" for children to play (songs and so on). Describe one from your culture.

China's Cuisines

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/11/content_2080424.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Which is your favorite Chinese cuisine? What are some of the typical foods in that cuisine?
2. Can you cook anything? Describe something you can cook, and talk about the ingredients. If you can't cook, talk about your favorite dish to eat.
3. Why do you think China has so many different cuisines?

France

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/07/content_2075260.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Name the sights in the lesson. What do you know about each one? Which one(s) would you like to see?
2. What is your favorite "cuisine" in the world? What do you know about French cuisine?
3. Do you know anything about French art? What's your favorite French painting? (By the way, the "Mona Lisa" was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian.)

Punctuation Marks

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-06/04/content_2070220.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Name each of the punctuation marks in the lesson, and tell how it's used.
2. Practice writing some sentences and try to use each punctuation mark properly.
3. Why do you think we use punctuation marks when we write? That is, how are they helpful?

The Three Teachings

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/31/content_2065891.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What are the "Three Teachings" (in English)? Tell a little about each one: Who taught it? What's it about?
2. Which "teaching" do you think is the most important in China today? Why?
3. Why is "Dao" sometimes written "Tao"? Explain the reason.

Napoleon

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/28/content_2060298.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What's a "palindrome"? Are there any palindromes in your language?
2. Tell the life of Napoleon in your own words, as described in the lesson.
3. Have you heard the idiom, "to meet one's Waterloo"? Tell about someone who met his or her Waterloo, and how it happened.

Sir Isaac Newton

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/24/content_2056143.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What is gravity? How did Newton help us understand it?
2. What else is Newton famous for?
3. What is theology? Why did Newton keep his thoughts on theology quiet?

Old English

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/21/content_2050479.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. According to the article, how many kinds of English are there? What are they?
2. Have you read, or seen a movie of, "Beowulf"? Find out more about it.
3. Look at the Old English words of "Beowulf," and then the translation Mark gives. Can you find any very similar words (like "We")?

Reference Books

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/17/content_2046465.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Which of the reference books named have you used? Which is the most useful for you?
2. When would you use: a thesaurus? an atlas? a book of quotations?
3. Do you think it's ok to just use the internet for these things? Or do you think it's still important to have books? Why?

Grimm's Fairy Tales

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/14/content_2041283.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Have you ever read (or seen a movie of) a fairy tale by the Grimms? Tell about it.
2. Can you think of any "disgusting" things in a fairy tale?
3. Have you ever heard of Freud or Jung? What is their connection to fairy tales?

Lifecycle of the Butterfly

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/10/content_2036743.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Have you ever found a caterpillar or a cocoon? Did you ever watch it turn into a butterfly? If not, have you seen a movie of this? Talk about it.
2. Can you think of other animals that undergo a metamorphosis, like from living in water to living on land?
3. Some natural processes may SEEM like magic. Can you name some others?

Colors of the Rainbow

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/07/content_2031855.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What's your favorite color? Why? Is it one of the "rainbow colors"?
2. What's the difference between a "primary color" and a "tertiary color"?
3. Make some dialogues using some color idioms; then practice with a friend.

Ten Worst Jobs

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-05/03/content_2027988.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Be sure you understand all of the jobs (broadcaster, butcher, etc.) and what each one does.
2. Which job would you want the most? Which would you find "yucky"?
3. Which is more important to you: A stable but boring job, or an exciting but unstable one (like the entertainment business)? Why?

Top Ten Jobs

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily: http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/26/content_2022345.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Look up the meaning of each of the ten jobs and be sure you understand what they are.
2. Which of these jobs would you like to have? Why? Which would you hate to have? Why?
3. Is there another job--not on this list--you'd love to have? What is it? Why would you like to have it?

Parts of Trees

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily: http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/23/content_2016267.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What are the parts of the tree mentioned in this lesson? How did each word get its meaning?
2. What are some other meanings of these words?
3. With a friend, use each word in a sentence. Your friend must answer with a sentence using a different meaning of that word. See how many sentences you can make for each word.

Horoscopes II

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily: http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/19/content_2010747.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. According to Becky, what's the meaning of your "sign"?
2. Which mnemonic do you think is better, the one from the previous lesson, or this one? Why?
3. Becky said before that she just read her horoscope for "fun," and that knowing about the zodiac is "great for meeting girls at parties." Do you think this is a good reason to learn about it?

Horoscopes I

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily: http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/16/content_2006346.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Use Becky's "mnemonic" (As The Great Cook Likes Very Little Salt, She Compensates Adding Pepper) to learn the names of the zodiac signs.
2. Becky's sign is Cancer, the crab. What's yours?
3. Do you agree with Mark, that reading one's horoscope is "ridiculous"? Why or why not?

Irregular Plurals

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily: http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/12/content_2000861.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What are the "four categories" of irregular plurals used by Lederer?
2. I have given eleven more categories of irregular plurals ("-fe changes to -ve," etc.) Can you think of more examples for each category?
3. Do the "little test" at the end of the article.

Funny English

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily: http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/09/content_1994588.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Practice reading each of the "funny" sentences aloud, pronouncing the key words (like "number" and "number" in the first sentence) properly.
2. Have you ever been "stumped" by any of these words, or by words with similar difficulties?
3. Look carefully at the definitions in the notes. How many of these words do you know?

Technical Usage

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/05/content_1989569.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Think of some examples of each kind of word: jargon, dialect, saying, humorous, TM, ironic, and figurative.
2. Does your language have these different levels? Can you give examples and translate some of them?
3. When would you use a humorous word instead of a serious one? When would you use figurative language?

Levels of Language

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-04/02/content_1987826.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. Think of some examples of each kind of word: literary language, formal and informal expressions, slang, offensive expressions, and taboo expressions.
2. Does your language have these different levels? Can you give examples and translate some of them?
3. What is the purpose of "taboo" words, such as swear words? How are they used in English? In your language?

Approving and Disapproving Words

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-03/29/content_1983138.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What is "denotation"? What is "connotation"? How are they different?
2. Can you think of some words with approving connotations? Use them in sentences.
3. Can you think of some words with disapproving connotations? Use them in sentences.

IT and THEY

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-03/26/content_1977911.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. In what three unusual ways can we use "it"?
2. In what two unusual ways can we use "they"?
3. Are you "a natural" at anything? Talk about it.

How to Read a Book

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-03/22/content_1973904.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What are the "four layers" of reading a book? What is the purpose of each one?
2. Think of a book you know well, and explain what you'd learn by reading that book in each of the four layers.
3. In the same book, what symbolism is used? Are there any metaphors? How can the book be applied to your life?

Instruments of the Orchestra

Lesson from the Shenzhen Daily:
http://szdaily.sznews.com/html/2012-03/19/content_1969259.htm

Practice the conversation; study the vocabulary; then discuss the questions with a friend in English.

Questions:
1. What are the four sections of the orchestra? Describe each one.
2. What is unusual about the piano, according to Keesha? Why is this so?
3. To what section does each of these belong? Trombone, oboe, cymbals, viola, triangle, French horn, bass, saxophone