Archive for the ‘Word origins’ Category

“The surprising thing to most observers, including some historians of language, is that contact varieties of English came to ‘belong’ to other populations, that Americans and Englishmen who use EIL/ELF (English as a Lingua Franca/ English as a Lingua Franca) are not automatically authorities on it. If they want to use it, they must learn to do so from the Africans, Indians, Chinese who are expert (if, by definition, not native) speakers. Usually, the native speakers of English are quite clumsy in their attempts to use EIL/ELF; they are often objects of mockery to more proficient users” All- American English J L Dillard pg 14   (more…)

It might have just been an excuse to quit my gym session early, but got a sudden urge to sort TEFLtastic out. That means that my new favourite site has helped me convert all the Medical and Pharmaceutical worksheets into easily printable pdf files, and I’ve stuck them in as Word documents so you can correct my spelling mistakes before you use them as well.

Now that you can download Word documents and make all the changes you like, I’ve also started including stuff that is the raw material for a good Medical English lesson but that I didn’t get to make into a good worksheet before all my Medical English classes disappeared:

More words from Greek

More medical word roots

And don’t forget to have a look at my own personal Usingenglish page for new stuff on there:

We’re down to curried TEFL Xmas now, so it’s very nearly the end… 

“We were at the end of Christmas lunch. The turkey and the pudding were settling nicely and the wine had rendered us conversational in that idling way in which nothing said is of any great significance. My son Brian mentioned that he ought to find a new hobby; I replied that he might try steel engraving. He and my wife stared at me in utter confusion and amazement. “Why would anybody want to do that?” she demanded. “Well,” I replied, “It came to my mind because I’ve just been reading about a nineteenth-century artist who did it.” Brian shook his head in puzzled exasperation. “Stealing gravy?”

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‘When [the family] would have an avocado salad the father would point out that the word “avocado” originates in the Aztec “ahucatl” meaning testicles and his mother would happily tell everyone that the word “salad” comes from salt and hence they were eating “salted testicles”‘ (more…)

Putting the seasonal cheer back into grammar (and putting the grammar back into Xmas)

Some of you might be thinking that the problem with Xmas today is an excess of commercialism or the lack of real religious feeling, but the way I see it the problem is an excess of worksheets teaching students vocabulary like “holly” that they will have forgotten by the same time next year (if they even understand the concept of holly anyway) and a lack of tie ins between those seasonal worksheets and everything else students do in the classroom. For those that agree with me that what is needed to make your Xmas complete is lots more grammar, here are some ideas on how to tie in your Xmas lessons with whatever grammar point you are studying at the time (the ideas should work with other major festivals and celebrations too)…

See below for not only shed loads of good grammar ideas in the continuation of this article, but also a whole stocking full of other ideas for Chrimbo-themed lessons for kids (from pre-school) to adults- “Christmastastic fun for all the family” (R)

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