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LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES # 31. Manchester by the Sea (film, 2016)

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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.   # 31. 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...
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What I Think and Feel about Ebonics

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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...
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Learn the idioms from Movies or TV shows!!

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Are you interested in learning idiomatic expressions? Many of the phrases we use today actually originated from or often used in the movies and TV shows. Now, I’d like you to complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks with the correct words so they make sense.       1.    (Robert Redford’s line in the film Our Souls at Night: “He is a real p_________ of w______ .” (meaning “(a negative connotation) referring to his son’s controlling, selfish, and sometimes cruel behavior, especially his opposition to Addie and Louis's relationship and his tendency to demand financial help while acting entitled)       2.    The 1944 movie (starring Ingrid Bergman & Charles Boyer) with the same title is responsible for giving this term its modern meaning, which describes a form of psychological manipulation that causes someone to doubt their own sanity . As reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the expression “giving s...
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LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES #30. After Love (British Film, 2020)

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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.   # 30. After Love (2020, British Film) Set in the port town of Dover, South England, a mid-aged white British Muslim woman named Mary Hussain converted to the religion to marry her husband. She is abruptly widowed after her husband’s unexpected death. Just one day after his burial, she happens to uncover a hidden secret (i.e., a French woman Genevieve who is the husband’s lover living in Calais and her son) he kept only twenty-one miles away, across the English Channel in Calais. In the midst of mourning, she discovers a series of messages on her husband’s phone to Geneviève. When Mary finally meets Geneviève, she is struck silent, overw...
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Fancy the latest Sunday Puzzle from NPR? Try to change one consonant to a vowel of each given word to spell a new word!

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I'm going to give you some seven-letter words. For each one, change one consonant to a vowel to spell a new word. Ex. CONCEPT   -->   CONCEIT   1. REVENGE   2. TRACTOR   3. PLASTIC   4. CAPTION   5. SCUFFLE   6. POMPOMS   7. MOBSTER   8. LINKAGE   9. TEMPERS   Answer Keys      1.   REVEN G E: G => U    REVEN U E     2.   TRA C TOR: C => I     TRAI T OR     3.   P LASTIC: P => E    ELASTIC     4.   C APTION: P => U     CA U TION     5.   S C UFFLE: C => O   S O UFFLE     6. POMPO M S: M => U   POMPO U S     7.   MO B STER: B => I   MO I STER     8. LIN K AGE: K => E   LIN E AGE     9.   TEMPER S : S => A   TEMPER A
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LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Series #29. Leonardo Da Vinci (authored by Carlo Pedretti)

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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.   # 29. Leonardo Da Vinci (authored by Carlo Pedretti) This book, which has been translated in various languages, seeks to describe who this remarkable genius was and explore the reasons behind his creativity across many disciplines. Although his work was grounded in rigorous science and traditional knowledge, it was his natural curiosity that truly guided him throughout his life. His questioning mindset pushed him to explore every area of learning, and his life’s achievements represent a unique blend of art, science, and technology, brought together through both theory and hands-on experience accumulated over many productive years. ...
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LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE SERIES #28. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

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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.   # 28. NEXUS: A Brief History of Information Networks from The Stone Age to AI (authored by Yuval Noah Harari) This book explains and moves beyond the usual apocalyptic fears that we have surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) to highlight a quieter yet potentially more alarming risk in the near future. Rather than focusing on job loss or machine rebellion, the author suggests that the real danger lies in AI’s capacity to shape the narratives we create—stories that form the backbone of human society. For the first time, it is not humans but AI that increasingly decides which stories we encounter, pass on, and are unnoticeably made to b...
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