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.   #46. The Cat and the Moon (Zen tales by Kai Tsukimi, 2025) This is a compilation of Zen stories that guide you to peaceful temples, tranquil gardens, and quiet moments of reflection, accompanied by an enigmatic cat. Each story encourages you to pause, release overthinking, and notice subtle awakenings—known as “Satori ( 悟り ) ”— woven into everyday life. With soft humor, evocative beauty, and understated wisdom, the stories avoid lengthy explanations, instead allowing you to experience their meaning on your own.   (excerpted from “The Cat who Sat in a Circle”) The children were playing in the temple courtyard, dra...

  20 Incredible Animal Adjectives to Go Wild For!! Are you a pet keeper? Then, I bet you are an animal lover. Today, let us test how many animal adjectives we are familiar with! Here are some examples: -      vulpine : meaning literally “ fox-like” or figuratively “sly/clever/resourceful” -      anserine :   meaning literally “resembling a goose”/ “goose-like” or figuratively somebody acting like a “silly goose” / foolish/ stupid/ silly   Are you ready to explore the world of animal vocabulary?     1.    Be careful because they sting!:   v______ine   2.    Bald is one variety: a____iline   3.    The king of the jungle: l_____nine         4.    Smokey, Grizzly, Polar, or Winnie the Pooh: u_____ne   5.    When something slithers past, making hissing noise: s______tine   6.    family of bir...

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.   #45. Detachment (film, 2011) This is a story of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (played by Adrien Brody) who avoids forming emotional ties and never remains in one school long enough to connect with students or staff. Struggling with his own inner turmoil caused by his traumatic childhood, he arrives at a public school where indifferent students and uninvolved parents have led to a weary, cynical, and discouraged faculty. Unexpectedly, Henry Barthes emerges as a source of guidance for his disengaged students and forms a connection with a teenage runaway who shares his sense of confusion and isolation.  ...

Spring Rain by Jean J. Lee   It’s been raining for days, Clearing all the haze. Preparing the dormant grass braird. My unkempt lawn doesn’t look impaired.   Are swallows hiding in the tree maze? But they are not the ones to faze. They are quietly practicing to be heard. Looking up at the sky but not at all glared.   The first chirpy song arrives at my doorways. Sweet tunes to my ears like a message it relays. April rains bring May flowers truly cared. Time to stretch and make your passions flared.

Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which each word starts with the letters MI-. Ex. Assignment for soldiers --> MI LITARY MI SSION   1. Pageant title for a contestant from Detroit   2. One of the Twin Cities   3. Nickname for the river through New Orleans   4. Super short skirt   5. Neighborhood in Los Angeles that contains Museum Row   6. Just over four times the distance from the earth to the moon   7. Goateed sing-along conductor of old TV   8. a little accident   9. a land-based weapon in America's nuclear arsenal   10. In "Snow White," the evil queen's words before "on the wall"   Answer Keys     1.   Miss Michigan     2.   Minneapolis Minnesota     3.   Mighty Mississippi     4.   Micro-Mini Skirt     5.   Miracle Mile     6.   Million Miles     7....

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.   #44. All the Empty Rooms (Documentary, 2025) “ All the Empty Rooms” is a documentary film created in memory of the children killed in mass shootings that occurred in their schools. The film follows journalist/correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they spend seven years documenting and capturing images of the empty bedrooms left behind by children killed in school shootings. This documentary received the 2026 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. During the acceptance speech, producer Conall Jones wore an “End Gun Violence” pin from Brady, the country’s oldest organization focused on preventing ...