Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

       1.    What is a cryptid? ______ a.    an ancient hole in the ground b.    a puzzle that’s impossible to solve without knowledge about animals c.    an animal whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated        2.    Which one of the following choices is the definition of "cryptozoology"? a.    The cultivation and production of edible crops or of animals for food; agriculture; farming b.    The science or branch of biology dealing with extinct animals c.    The study of evidence tending to substantiate the existence of, or the search for, creatures whose reported existence is unproved, as the Abominable Snowman or the Loch Ness monster        3.    A "leshy" is a male forest spirit that protects animals but also kidnaps young women, he is missing eyebrows, eyelashes, and his right ear; in which myt...

  What I have learned from my students in EFL/ ESL classes by Jean Lee   I still remember the first day of my ESL teaching. I was full of passion, anticipation, and dreams of helping my students reach their common goal of improving English. I was a firm believer or a naïve educator who expected each and every student (waiting for me to show up in the classroom) to welcome the moment of being singled out to speak up about their thoughts and feelings of the day and the reason to learn English with an innocent smile on their faces. As I stepped inside the classroom, the noise among the students stopped right away. There was no such thing as willingness to greet in high note or eagerness to become vocal about anything in store for them in class. JUST SO QUIET. I mean TOO QUIET for me to imagine if I’d be able to make them open up their mouths or even their minds in that class.  Throughout my teaching years, I’d come to learn how to approach my students on day one and le...

This last Sunday’s NPR on-air challenge of word puzzle was changing the Spanish words into English words by rearranging letters. You are given five-letter words in Spanish. For each one, rearrange the letters to spell a common, uncapitalized word in English. Example: CESTA (basket) --> CASTE       1.    TODOS (all or every)       2.    TRUCO (trick)       3.    BANCO (bank)       4.    ARROZ (rice)       5.    CINCO (five)       6.    JABON (soap)       7.    TORRE (tower)       8.    PECHO (chest)       9.  HUESO (bone)       10.   ODIAR (to hate)     Answer Keys     1.   stood     2.   court     3.   bacon     4.   razor ...

Time to play the puzzle (created by Will Shortz) from this last week's NPR Sunday On-air challenge! Let us complete the following compound words!   (picture source: https://inspiration.design/posts/573221-why-skip-website-spot-illustration-pbj-insights)  The theme of this puzzle is P, B & J. I'm going to give you three words starting with the letters P, B and J. You give me a fourth word that can follow each of mine to complete a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase.   Example: Parking, Back, Job --> LOT (parking lot, back lot, job lot)   Starting with three-letter answers:   1. Penalty, Boom, Juke   2. Power, Buzz, Jig   3. Present, Birth, Judgment   4. Pill, Bed, Jitter     Now four-letter answers:   5. Perp, Board, Jay   6. Paddle, Basket, Jump   7. Parting, Big, Jell-O   8. Plymouth, Bed, Jailhouse   Some five-letter answers:   9. P...

  What type of person are you? What kind of person seems right up your alley? Let’s check out some fun expressions in English that describe people’s personality.        1.    a card .:    Someone is a bit funny/ somewhat eccentric or strange/ entertaining/ quick-witted.       2.    a dark horse : someone who reveals little about his or her activities, especially one who has unexpected talents or abilities       3.    a good egg/ a bad egg : a nice person or a nasty person       4.     a good laugh : a fun or amusing person to be around       5.    thick as a plank : somebody who is more than stupid or dumb       6.    a social butterfly : someone who is VERY social and easygoing; can be either a male or a female. Usually these people don’t belong to a particular group, but rather jump from o...

Time to play this last Sunday’s on-air challenge of word puzzle by Will Shortz from NPR! Every answer today is a word or phrase in which the only consonants are P and R — repeated as often as necessary. The other letters are all vowels. Let us play the following easy peasy puzzle!   Example: More mature, as fruit --> RIPER   1. What beats rock but loses to scissors in a children's game 2. Musician with a flute 3. Partner of salt 4. Fix, as an appliance 5. Brand of bottled water 6. Open grassland, as in Kansas and Nebraska 7. Like reasoning by theoretical deduction (2 words) 8. Come into view again   Answer Keys     1.    paper     2.    piper     3.    pepper     4.    repair     5.     Perrier     6.    prairie         7. a priori     8.    reappear P    ...

Check out your grammar capability! Choose the right one:  RISE or RAISE? (source from English Grammar Quizzes: level V)       1.    In ancient Rome, the peasants ___ up against the Emperor many times.     a.   raise    b. raised    c. rose                          2.    He is an early ___ but he hates to stay up late.          a.    riser     b. roser   c. raiser        3.    Gradually the beanstalk ___ higher and higher until it reached the sky.          a.    rise     b. rose    c. raise          4.    To taste good, bread must ___ properly.          a.   ...