Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

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.   #25. The Illiterate (authored by Ágota Kristóf) The Illiterate is a memoir by Hungarian-Swiss writer Ágota Kristóf, composed of stark, concise vignettes that recount her childhood in Hungary, her flight to Switzerland in 1956, and her difficult adjustment to a new life and language. In particular, she grapples with French, which she regards as an “enemy language” that endangers her native tongue. The work reflects on themes of displacement, loss, and the enduring influence of language.   "It is here that my battle to conquer this language begins, a long and arduous battle that will last my entire life. I have spoken French for mor...

  AI and Me by Jean J. Lee   In the blink of an eye AI and I see eye to eye My expectations for all get high Finding myself deceived in illusions that belie   Fast and convenient life is dry Missing out on raw feelings passing by Losing my righteous doubt to deny Easily to accept and comply   I take a moment to pry and purposefully look awry So that AI cannot defy and later on, I won't get to sigh   I know it'd be difficult to try to be completely away from AI But as long as I keep asking why My perspectives will never die

 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.   #24. Matter of Time (Documentary Film, 2025) Matter of Time (2025) is a documentary that captures Eddie Vedder’s deeply moving benefit concert in Seattle, alongside the efforts of the EB Research Partnership to find a cure for Epidermolysis Bullosa. The film presents the heartbreaking realities faced by those living with EB—many of them young children—and reveals the profound toll the disease takes on both patients and their families in the absence of an effective treatment.   “For me, my approach to life would be to live in each moment to the fullest and not dwell on the things that you can’t change.” ð   This is a q...

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.   #23. Mrs. Kennedy and Me (authored by Clint Hill, 2012) The book was written by Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who was tasked with protecting the highly private First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy from 1960 through the period following Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 election. He recounts those years, from the most captivating experiences to the most tragic day, not only as a devoted guardian of the White House’s most prominent woman but also as her trusted confidant.   “She was standing there, still in her pink suit. Less than six hours earlier, I had seen her in Room 850 at the Hotel Texas, putting on the finishing touches – the hat,...

St. Patrick’s Day —celebrated annually on March 17—is filled with parades, symbols of good fortune, and everything green. Originally a religious observance, it has gradually evolved into a broader celebration of Irish culture. Today, let us have an easy breezy ‘fast fact quiz’ on St. Patrick’s Day! (*Some Qs are a little bit confusing, though.)       1.    Of which country is St. Patrick the patron saint? a.    Scotland b.    Germany c.    Ireland d.    United States       2.    How many leaves does a shamrock have? a.    Two b.    Three c.    Four d.    Five       3.    What will you get if you don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day in the United States? a.    A pinch b.    A prize c.    A kiss d.    No homework       4.    What co...

Today's puzzle is BAD! Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase in which the first word starts BA- and the second word starts D-. Ex. Where you leave your luggage after checking in for a flight   -->   BA GGAGE D ROPOFF   1. Where a pitcher and catcher play   2. Waltz, tango, or foxtrot   3. Rear entrance to a house   4. Total of 13 items, as doughnuts   5. July 14, as celebrated in France   6. New Year's Eve event at Times Square   7. One who gives instructions from the rear of a car   8. Frozen cocktail made with rum and a yellow-skinned fruit   9. What you might prepare a casserole in   10. If you've already paid $15 on a $20 invoice, then $5 would be this   11. Term of endearment similar to "sweetums" or "honeybunch"   ANSWER KEYS       1.   BA SEBALL D IAMOND     2.   BA LLROOM D ANCE     3.   BA CK...

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.   #22. Blind (film, 2007) The story is about a solitary and emotionally fragile young man named Ruben who lost his vision as a child. Ruben’s mother has been doing her best taking care of her son. She has hired book readers for Ruben multiple times, but they weren’t able to stand his uncontrollable behavior. Then, one day a book reader named Marie came. She has a lovely voice and deep appreciation for books and storytelling. One thing that makes Marie self-conscious, withdrawn, and insecure is her skin disease called Albinism. It is a rare inherited genetic disorder marked by a major reduction or complete lack of the pigment melanin in the sk...

LIVE, LEARN, & LOVE Do you tak 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.   #21. My Lobotomy (Memoir by Howard Dully)  This memoir tells the story of Howard Dully. In 1960, when he was just twelve years old, he underwent a lobotomy—an outdated and controversial neurosurgical procedure that cuts the nerve connections between the frontal lobes and the rest of the brain to treat mental illness. First introduced in 1936, the procedure was intended to calm patients by damaging brain connections, but it often resulted in emotional dullness, serious cognitive impairment, and lasting changes in personality. The medical doctor who performed the surgery was the man who invented the “ice pick” lobotomy. The author of thi...

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.   #20. The Year of Magical Thinking (authored by Joan Didion, 2005) “It was in fact the ordinary nature of everything preceding the event that prevented me from truly believing it had happened, absorbing it, incorporating it, getting past it. I recognize now that there was nothing unusual in this: confronted with sudden disaster we all focus on how unremarkable the circumstances were in which the unthinkable occurred, the clear blue sky from which the plane fell, the routine errand that ended on the shoulder with the car inflames, the swings where the children were playing as usual when the rattlesnake struck from the ivy.”   ð  ...