Archive for October, 2009
Halloween wordsearch
Halloween is the night of the 31st October when people dress up in costumes as ghosts, witches, skeletons and devils, and try to frighten each other.
According to tradition, Halloween is the night of the year when it was believed that ghosts and witches are very active and they return to the earthly world. People would dress up as ghosts and witches to look just like one of these spirits so they would not be recognized or harmed by them.
On Halloween, people decorate their houses with jack-o’-lanterns. A jack-o’-lantern is a lantern made from a hollowed-out pumpkin with holes carved into it to look like a human face. People put a lit candle inside the pumpkin; as in the photo above.
Some children go trick-or-treating on Halloween. They dress up in costumes and go from house to house asking for treats such as sweets or candy. If a treat isn’t given the children might play a trick on the homeowner or their house.
See how many words you can find in our Halloween wordsearch. Use your mouse cursor to highlight the words when you find them.
Is Halloween celebrated in your country or culture?
Photo of pumpkins by YAXZONE
Making and keeping notes
Do you have a favourite way to make and keep notes during and after your English lessons?
One of the most important things you can do to help you learn English well is to have a good system for making and keeping notes.
If you have folders full of many loose sheets of notes and handouts, you won't be able to easily find the work you need to look at again for revision or for completing your homework.
And a notebook crammed full of your rough notes is not very useful if, for example, you can't easily find information about a grammar point your teacher has discussed with you, or the title of a recommended English language study book.
A good system for making and keeping notes will help you:
- complete your homework e.g. write a letter or a report;
- gradually build your knowledge of English e.g. with vocabulary and grammar lists;
- understand the language points you are being taught in your lessons;
- keep a record of useful books, web sites, films, newspapers, magazines etc;
- understand your strengths and weaknesses in your language learning;
- prepare for exams.
What is the best way to make and keep notes?
The best way is the one that works for you and you will need to try a few ways to see which ones work best for you, but here are a few suggestions that might help.
Be organized and create a folder for your notes (this can be a paper folder or a folder on your computer), and divide it into as many sections as you need. For example:
- grammar
- vocabulary (grouped by topic);
- outlines for formal and informal letters, reports and presentations;
- assignments or homework;
- cultural and historical background information;
- recommended resources to help with your English learning such as audio books, films, DVDs, dictionaries (including electronic dictionaries), newspapers (and news web sites), magazines and radio stations;
- exam notes.
Make notes during your English lessons, and at the end of each lesson update your folder: add new words to your vocabulary list, file or write up new grammar points and organize any new information on assignments, resources and exams.
Writing up and organizing your notes will also help you to learn and remember the work you completed in your lesson.
Vocabulary lists
If you keep a vocabulary list have a new page for each topic, for example:
- greetings;
- shopping;
- the weather;
- booking a holiday,
- a list of items of furniture.
Split each page into two columns. Write the English words in one column, and their definitions in the other column in your own language – or in English if you can.
Remember to make a note when words have irregular plurals.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. How do you make and keep notes for your language learning? Do you have any different ideas?
Image by The_Ladd
Word of the week: gamp
Gamp is a colloquial word for an umbrella (in British English).
The word comes from a character called Sarah Gamp in Charles Dickens’ novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4). Sarah Gamp always carried a big umbrella. It’s an interesting word, but not one you will hear used very often.
Charles Dickens was an English author who lived from 1812 to 1870. His books are famous for their descriptions of the hard lives of working class people in Victorian England, and his memorable and vividly described characters.
colloquial – used in familiar or informal conversation.
Photo by DREAM MERCHANT
Idiom: send to Coventry
To send to Coventry is to punish someone by not speaking to them.
It is thought that this idiom might have originated in England in the seventeenth century during the Civil War between King Charles I and Parliament (1642-6).
Royalist prisoners were sent to Coventry, where some of them were beheaded, and the expression ’sending to Coventry’ became associated with punishment for disloyalty, and later with punishing someone by not speaking to them.
Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and is in the Midlands, the central part of England.
Coventry suffered major damage by bombs and fire during Word War II and many of its historic buildings were destroyed, including Coventry Cathedral in the picture above.
Image of Coventry Cathedral by Paul Stevenson
