Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

Around this time of year with only a couple of days -that are filled with mixed emotions - left in the calendar, I find myself curled up in my own good old blanket with a cup of tea, reminiscing about what it’s been like for the past 12 months. Has it treated me right? Yup, it has to a certain degree. By the end of 2017, my husband and I had to be jet-setting between our old home in Illinois and this new place in Texas in the midst of the process of inter-States moving. Keeping the old house in tip top shape and presentable to sell in the local housing market was physically and mentally exhausting. (Especially, dealing with grass management ‘till our house was sold was so challenging when we are literally not living there anymore. What frustrated us more was coming to realize that our 10-year-old neighborhood had filed a report to the city about our UNKEMPT LAWNS so that we’d pay a fine. UGH. “Thank you very much for having been such a nice friend of ours for a decade before ...

Got plans to celebrate the end-of-the-year and Christmas with your loved ones? Here are some easy breezy Christmas quiz for English learners. Ready to solve the fun quiz? (source from https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=christmas-words ) 1. This is a traditional Christmas drink made of beaten eggs, milk or cream and sugar. A. Custard B. Milkshake C. Eggnog   2. In places where winter is very cold, they usually have this place to make fires and to keep warm. A. Fireplace B. Chimney C. Heater   3. This plant is often used as a Christmas décor and people are given a kiss when they are found to be standing underneath it. A. Mistletoe B. Pine C. Poinsettia   4. Santa’s reindeers pulled this over ice and snow. A. Car B. Sleigh C. Truck   5. This is the scene showing the birth of Jesus Christ. A. Nature scene B. Christmas scene C. Nativity scene   6. They are Santa’s helpers; they help him p...

Looking back on my life, especially here in the States, I’ve come to realize that I have always been viewed by people around me as the one in a rush most of the time. “Hurry! Make it quick! Bustle around! Step on it! No time to lose!” must have been the unhealthy modus vivendi that’s been established deep inside of my life. Back in my days during master’s program of TESOL, I studied night and day to understand all the theories and concepts of teaching ESL/EFL, trying hard to stay ahead of course schedules. Topics for term papers were chosen in two weeks, written and revised by week 3, and then submitted way in advance. Even for the four-day long ‘take-home comprehensive exam’, I had prepared for the culminating project by making myriads of example questions and answers that could be on the test since one full year before the D-day, and was lucky enough to complete the 26 page-long papers to turn in only within two days. I’d even told my little son Hans to turn in his arts-and-...