Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films, listening to pop music, or reading books? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.   #35. The Human Stain (film, 2003) In The Human Stain, Coleman Silk (played by Anthony Hopkins) is a respected and sophisticated professor whose career is abruptly derailed and defamed after he unintentionally utters a remark perceived as racially offensive. Desperately determined to restore his reputation, professor Silk begins documenting his story with the help of his friend and fellow writer Nathan Zuckerman (portrayed by Gary Sinise). As the narrative unfolds, Zuckerman uncovers a deeply buried secret that the professor has concealed for decades. At the same time, Silk becomes romantically involved with Faunia Farley (p...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films or listening to pop music? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.   #34.   Michael Jackson’s Song : “Why You Wanna Trip On Me?”   “They say I'm different, they don't understand But there's a bigger problem that's much more in demand You got world hunger, not enough to eat So there's really no time to be trippin' on me So tell me (why) Why you wanna trip on me”   => The slang “ trip on someone ” goes back to the 1990s urban expression that means “to overreact/ to make an issue out of something/ to get upset, to make trouble/ to act irrationally, or to create obstacles”.   In this song, Michael Jackson is criticizing people who pay unnecessary or bothersome attention/ ...

Today's puzzle is called "To Be Announced." Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with the letter T- and the second word starts BA-.   Ex. Subject of a treaty restricting nuclear weapons   -->   T EST BA N   1. Object hit at Wimbledon   2. Plastic product made by Hefty   3. On a smartphone screen, indication of a so-so wi-fi connection   4. Head honcho   5. Public place to wash oneself in Istanbul   6. Tentative announcement to gauge public opinion   7. Body of water leading to Japan's capital   8. Supermodel who created and hosted "America's Next Top Model"   9. Group that plays another group's music, like Led Zep-again for Led Zeppelin   10. Sheriff's insignia in old westerns   11. Establishment serving Polynesian-style drinks   12. Common thank-you gift for donating to public television      ...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films or listening to pop music? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the he most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it. # 33. What about ME? (Documentary Film, 2016) This documentary film follows a six-year journey of exploring a mysterious disease called “Myalgic Encephalomyelitis” (ME) that affects twenty million people and still has no cure. These people have been misunderstood as malingerers who lack ‘will power’ to manage their own bodies or might have psychological problems by the medical and constantly ignored by political authorities.   “(ME patient): People say “you don’t look sick. You need to get up, get out, and do something. Then it’ll be gone.” That is not true. I’ve had this for 20 years. I lost four friends to this disease.” ð  ...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you take delight in watching films or listening to pop music? For English learners, movies, songs, and books are one of the he most wonderful sources to explore the language! You can indulge in your favorite pastime and still learn some expressions, words of wisdom, and oftentimes good lessons while you’re at it.   # 32. Manchester by the Sea (film, 2016) When his older brother Joe died, Lee Chandler (played by Casey Affleck) is left not only in shock, but strongly burdened with a responsibility he never asked for—becoming the sole guardian of his teenage nephew, Patrick. Leaving behind his quiet, isolated life as a janitor in Boston, Lee reluctantly returns to his hometown Manchester-by-the-Sea, a place filled with painful memories he has long tried to escape. Every street and shoreline reminds him of a past marked by bitter loss and regret, including the irrevocable collapse of his marriage to Randi (played by Michelle Williams). Surrounded by a...

What I Think and Feel about Ebonics                   by Jean J. Lee Have you heard of the word “Ebonics”? Ebonics can be interchangeably used with another term African American Vernacular English (AAVE), especially among Creolists (e.g., Rickford & Dillard) who believed that AAVE were strongly connected to African origins. In other words, Ebonics were viewed as a normal and uniquely separate language which has its own linguistic system. (e.g., phonological features such as /r/ deletion or monophthongizing the diphthongs, morphological features such as zero-copula). This belief can be called “autonomy”, which refers to the language user’s subjective feeling that their language (i.e., Ebonics, here) is different from other languages. In this sense, they argue that Ebonics/ AAVE is not a substandard variety or dialect of English. With this assertion in mind, there was an effort to teach Ebonics in the classroom as a “linguistically and pe...