(disclaimer: This category of posts is designed to accumulate the terms I encouter on every-day basis and I'm not familiar with them OR I find them useful to put down for everyone to see. Some are phrasal verbs, some phrases, some idioms, some just various terms for things, etc. I'll try to always include the context of use.)
to mull over = to think about smth. deeply and carefully, to contemplate something
You don't need to decide right now. Mull it over and let me know in the morning.
to jump the gun = to do smth. hastily or before you were supposed to do (from racing - to start running without the starting signal)
I guess I jumped the gun on calling you a liar. It turns out you were right all along.
coming or going = to be very confused
I'm so busy I don't know if I'm coming or going.
to pick up (usually a girl or a woman) = To make casual acquaintance with, usually in anticipation of sexual relations
Me and my friend Tony are going picking up girls this Friday night.
also: pick-up lines (American) or chat-up lines (British) = common phrases used while picking up girls
spoon-feeding = to treat someone with too much care or help
A teacher shouldn't spoon-feed his students - they must be able to deal with the assignment on their own.
a greengrocer = a grocer who sells fresh fruits and vegetables
digress = to stray from a subject
You shouldn't digress when you are giving a lecture.
a heckler = someone who purposefully interrupts a public speaker with aggresive comments or pointless questions
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Fossilized errors
Fossilized errors are those errors students make without even realizing it because they have made the error so many times in the past it has become a natural part of their speech. The error then becomes a habit and cannot be easily corrected. The only way to do so from teacher's part is close monitoring of individual students and emphasizing the error he or she is making. Only by keeping focus on the error, the student will become aware of it and try to correct himself/herself.
Speaking for myself, there are several instances of fossilized errors that I am aware of that are present in my speech and they can be traced to two issues - either I speak too quickly before I think about what I'm saying and therefore don't take the time to realize I'm making the mistake (that comes two seconds later), or it is subconscious.
The example of my subconscious fossilized error would be the use of the word concrete. I vividly remember the moment from my school years when my teacher stressed that this word has only one meaning in English and that would be the noun meaning (the building material), and therefore we can't use it in place of Czech "konkrétní" (=particular). He was actually making a case for a false friend. And even though I know now it to be not true, I have a block in my mind that prevents me from using the word concrete in its adjective form. Harsh, huh? Well, we all have our crosses to bear...
The examples of the "speaking before thinking" error are more numerous (especially in my case). I will provide two most recent (they're both from the last night actually):
For some reason, when I want to say that I am looking after someone or something, I always use the phrasal verb watch over instead. Though the meaning is somewhat related (look after = to take care of, watch over = to be in charge of), there is a slight difference. There's no deep insight here, it's just what I do...
The other example has to do with drinking - for some reason in place of the phrase bottoms up!, I use an expression to top up the glass instead (which is an utter nonsense, you don't top up a glass of a drink, you top up a battery when it's out of juice). You can see some resemblance between the phrases - both use the direction up and one speaks of a bottom while the other of a top, so if I had to look for a reason for this error, that would be my best educated guess. (This would make for a good study - the most common mix-ups in English phrases - but unfortunately I think this matter is so individual that it would be extremely difficult to arrive at any sort of generalization.)
This post and the examples of my faulty language were designed to give you an idea about what a fossilized error is and what form it can take. From my own experience I can say that old habits indeed die hard so teachers, be nice to your students, they may be very well doing their best and that one damn error slips away anyway.
Speaking for myself, there are several instances of fossilized errors that I am aware of that are present in my speech and they can be traced to two issues - either I speak too quickly before I think about what I'm saying and therefore don't take the time to realize I'm making the mistake (that comes two seconds later), or it is subconscious.
The example of my subconscious fossilized error would be the use of the word concrete. I vividly remember the moment from my school years when my teacher stressed that this word has only one meaning in English and that would be the noun meaning (the building material), and therefore we can't use it in place of Czech "konkrétní" (=particular). He was actually making a case for a false friend. And even though I know now it to be not true, I have a block in my mind that prevents me from using the word concrete in its adjective form. Harsh, huh? Well, we all have our crosses to bear...
The examples of the "speaking before thinking" error are more numerous (especially in my case). I will provide two most recent (they're both from the last night actually):
For some reason, when I want to say that I am looking after someone or something, I always use the phrasal verb watch over instead. Though the meaning is somewhat related (look after = to take care of, watch over = to be in charge of), there is a slight difference. There's no deep insight here, it's just what I do...
The other example has to do with drinking - for some reason in place of the phrase bottoms up!, I use an expression to top up the glass instead (which is an utter nonsense, you don't top up a glass of a drink, you top up a battery when it's out of juice). You can see some resemblance between the phrases - both use the direction up and one speaks of a bottom while the other of a top, so if I had to look for a reason for this error, that would be my best educated guess. (This would make for a good study - the most common mix-ups in English phrases - but unfortunately I think this matter is so individual that it would be extremely difficult to arrive at any sort of generalization.)
This post and the examples of my faulty language were designed to give you an idea about what a fossilized error is and what form it can take. From my own experience I can say that old habits indeed die hard so teachers, be nice to your students, they may be very well doing their best and that one damn error slips away anyway.
Who Wants to Be a Millionare? English quiz
This is an example of a revision quiz themed as the once popular TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionare? Here is the link to the quiz. The Flash site uses authentic sounds and graphics and can be used to create your own customized quizzes. We used it in our teaching group as a revision before handing the students the actual exam. According to their feedback, they enjoyed the experience very much :-)
- Jimmy (age 10): I (go) to school every day. (am going, went, go, am go)
- (There is) a dog in the picture. (there are, there is, is, is there)
- I play tennis twice a week. I (often) play tennis. (always, often, never, seldom)
- Barbara (reads) a lot of books. (is reading, read, reads, reading)
- John doesn’t like (dancing). (dance, to dancing, danced, dancing)
- I (be, never) to France. (never was, was never, never have been, have never been)
- (Have) you ever tried bungee jumping? (Did, have, do, has)
- The women in the picture (are shopping). (is shopping, shop, shopping, are shopping)
- Michael (bought) a nice pair of shoes yesterday. (buyed, bought, has bought, has buyed)
- (Did) you go to the cinema last week? (have, has, did, do)
- I can’t help you in the kitchen. I (am watching) TV at the moment. (watch, am watching, am watch, watching)
- I have never done yoga before. I (would like to) try it one day. (want, am wanting to, would like, would like to)
- The Earth (goes) around the Sun. (is going, went, would like to go, goes)
- I only bake cookies at Christmas and Easter. I (occasionally) bake cookies. (often,frequently, occasionally, never)
- Are you now ready to take the test? (Yes I am, Yes I do, Yes I will, Yes I have been)
Afterwards, we awarded students with a coupon allowing them to take the mid-term exam :-)
Saturday, November 16, 2013
My Vocaroo recording
Vocaroo is a simple web service that can be used to record your voice or voice of your students, just like I did here in this post. The recording can be then shared via e-mail, link, tweet, web embedding, whatever...
Friday, November 15, 2013
Connected speech
Words in connected speech often get pronounced very differently than they would on their own. This can be very troublesome for English learners. Consider the difference in pronunciation of the following simple sentence between its written form with emphasis on every word and the same sentence in the form how it would be commonly spoken:
What do you have got there? –> [vot dů jů hef gat thér]
What you have got there? –>
What you got there? –>
Whatcha got there? [uotča gat thér]
The sound changes can be roughly categorized as following:
Catenation (Linking) - a word starting with a vowel joins to the previous word
She’s out again [ší zautegen]
In an afternoon [i nen afternůn]
Here is [hi ris]
an apple [e neple]
each other [í čadr]
Intrusion (r) (j) (w) - an extra sound (that is not present as a letter in the text) links a word starting with a vowel to the previous word
Intrusion (r)
Law and order [ló ren ódr]
here and there [hi ren thér]
Intrusion (j)
I am [ajem]
They are [thejár]
I agree [ajegrí]
the idea [thíajdíja]
Intrusion (w)
You are [juár]
go off [gouof]
grow up [grouap]
blow away [blouevej]
Assimilation (a sound changes) - sounds next to one another in connected speech may influence and change each other, typically the sound at the end of a word changes because of the first sound in the following word
In bed [imbed]
Did you…? [didžju]
this shop [thišop]
good boy [gubój]
bad girl [bégrl]
last year [lásčír]
have to go [heftgou]
do you want [djuvont]
Elision (a sound disappears) - some sounds dissapear in order to ease pronunciation, it is easier to pronounce them in the reduced form than it would be in their full form (contraction is the special case of elision because it is represented by the spelling - “I’ve done it”)
Next week [neksvík]
I don’t know [idonnou]
got to [gata]
chestnut [česnat]
strictly [strikly]
past perfect [pásperfekt]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)