Lesson 144--Opening stuff

We open things every day.  They could be doors, or eyes, even textbooks (at least some of my students do) but we don't always have the vocabulary we need at our disposal.  Today, I present some of these useful words.

 

unscrew the lid

 

 

pop the cap/crack open the bottle

 

 

 

 

 

pop the cork

 

open the can

 

Lesson 143--Winter Vocabulary

Winter is truly upon us, so we had better learn the vocabulary to deal with it.  I have added pictures to make it easier.

 

icicles--the sometimes jagged and cone shaped ice formations that drip from eaves troughs and other parts of buildings

 

 

slush--the ugly, half melted snow that builds up beside the road.

 

 

snow fort--usually a child built wall hoping to protect them in a snowball fight.

 

 

snow balls--just like it sounds, balls made of snow.  The preferred weapons in a winter fight.

 

snowshoes--shoes that make it easy to walk across snow for long distances. 

 

Lesson 142--Merry Christmas World

Though the goal of this blog is to teach English, I thought it important to take a day (or blogpost) and teach something we can all use.  Let's learn to say Merry Christmas in many other languages.  I hope I got them right, but feel free to leave corrections in the comment box.  Also, if I have overlooked your language, sorry.  Again, feel free to leave the information in the comment box.  I tried to put down the language of my students and coworkers....though I seem to have left out Maltese....could somebody help me.

Arabic
I'd Miilad Said Oua Sana Saida

Armenian
Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand

Basque
Eguberri on

Mandarin  Chinese 
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

Cantonese Chinese
Saint Dan Fai Lok

Czech
Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok

Farsi
Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad

French
Joyeux Noël

German
Froehliche Weihnachten

Greek
Kala Christouyenna

Hebrew
Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova

Polish
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia

Japanese
Shinnen omedeto, kurisumasu omedeto.

Latvian
Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu

Hindi
Shub Naya Baras

Korean
Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Russian
Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva s Novim Godom

Serbian
Hristos se rodi

Portuguese
Feliz Natal" "Boas Festas
 
Romanian
Craciun fericit
  Slovakian
Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce

Spanish
Feliz Navidad

Thai
Sawadee Pee Mai

Turkish
Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun

Vietnamese
Chuc Mung Giang Sinh

Lesson 141--A Snowball's Chance in Hell

There are some great expressions which have a winter theme.  Today I present one of them to you.

 

A snowball's chance in hell.

Basically this means it is impossible, or very very very unlikely.

example

Will Timothy win?

He's got a snowball's chance in hell.

Lesson 140--two great expressions with playing

Two great expressions with playing

 

 

 

1.  Playing a joke/trick on someone.

This means doing something to fool a person.

examples

I played a trick on my teacher by writing my report backwards.

My brother loves to play ticks on people.

Because they were twins, Maria and Antonella tried to play tricks on their teachers.

 

2.  Playing a prank on someone.

This also means to trick someone, but this also includes physical humour like unscrewing the lid of the salt shaker, exchanging salt for sugar.

examples

Martha played a prank on her brother.  She pretended to be a secret admirer on Facebook.

April first is the best day to play pranks on people.

 

note:  sometimes pranks are called practical jokes.

Lesson 139--get the jump on someone or something

 

get the jump on someone/something

similar to Monday's lesson, it means to do something first/early, or get ahead of someone.  However, it also can mean to take advantage of someone.

examples

I got the jump on my Christmas shopping.

Mary got up early to get the jump on her day.

To get the jump on their rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs signed the league leading scorer before the end of free agency.

Lesson 138--get a head start

 

get a head start

 

This phrase means to take a lead, or to do something ahead of time.

 

examples

I got a head start on my Christmas shopping. (started it early)

Because Greg knew his year at university would be busy, he decided to get a head start on his reading over the summer.

Jim was not a fast runner.  As a result, his brothers always gave him a 100 metre head start.

Lesson 137--A Quiz Before Christmas

It has been quite a while since we had a quiz.  Remember to check your answers by clicking on the link in the top right corner.  Even if you think you know them perfectly, you should check.

Choose the correct preposition

1. Rhonda is engaged___ Mark.
2. I am fond ____Winona Ryder.
3. Martina and Donald have never been unfaithful __ one another.
4. Who voted ___ Rob Ford in the Toronto Mayor election?
5. Are you familiar ___ this model?
6. Greg's mother doesn't approve ___ his girlfriend.
7. He arrived just___ time for the flight.
8. It takes weeks to recover____ a serious operation.
9. Maria dreams __ owning her own business.
10. Wikipedia provides people ____ a lot of information.

Choose the Correct

11. I used a screwdriver to _____ apart the machine.
12. I _____ the words up in my dictionary.
13. Paul spent 3 hours _____ for a bus.
14. Camilla is ________ of snakes.
15. Dennis ______ across the painting at a flea market in the city.

Lesson 136--Do Me a Favour

 

 

One of the more interesting ways to ask for help are these phrases:

Could you do me a favour?

Could you help me out?

These are quite informal, but you should hear them a lot, with a few subtle changes.  They don't even have to be questions. They still mean the same thing.  Somebody wants your help.

Do me a favour.

I need you to do a small favour.

I need a small favour from you.

Help me out here.

I need you to help me out.

Lesson 135--Keep Your Eyes Open

 

 

Today's lesson is  also about keeping something open.

 

 

keeping your eyes open

This means:

pay attention to your surroundings

There are a lot of dangerous animals in this forest.  Keep your eyes open.

beware of any surprises.

Keep your eyes open for anything unexpected.

It also means look out for something.  It also means to see thing as they really are.

Janine was in love, but her mother warned her to keep her eyes open.  She thought Robert was up to no good.

Lesson 134--Keeping your Options Open

Today's lesson is  about keeping something open.

 

keeping your options open

This means to not close any doors, and to not make any decisions until you see what the big picture is.  If you have a lot of offers, it is better to keep your options open and make a decision when you are ready.

examples

Greg was offered several jobs, but he asked them to wait for a decision because he wanted to keep his options open.

Maria wanted to keep her options open, so she put off booking her vacation.

50 Word Stories

I gave my students a homework assignment to write some fifty word stories.  This seemed like the best way to have them submit them to me. 

For all my students, please feel free to add your stories to the comment boxes below.

Lesson 133--Collocations with time

 

In today's lesson I would like to present some useful collocations with the word time

make time:  to set aside time to do something.

 

I need to make more time for my family.  It will mean spending less time with my friends or at work, but it will be worth it.

 

spend time:  to use time in some way (positively or negatively)

I spent three hours doing my homework last night.

I spent three hours in a traffic jam on my way to Montreal.

Daniel is going to spend a few hours with my children.

waste time:  to use time badly, inefficiently and unproductively

I wasted an hour on the phone to customer service.

kill time:  to waste time on purpose, usually waiting for something else to happen.

I got to the movies early and had to kill 30 minutes before the movie started.

Lesson 132--Promise Collocations

Keeping and Breaking a Promise

 

 

The word promise has some interesting collocations.  Today, I present two of them.

to keep a promise:  to do what you say you will do,

to break a promise: to not do what you say you will do.

I probably don't need to tell you this, but people like you better if you always keep your promises.