Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

Life By Jean Lee Tossed into the light Loved by parents in delight Learn to walk and talk Sometimes stop and balk Grow up and live Find some ways and gather much to give Make a lot of mistakes and hope for pardon Reached midlife, feel blessed to be in my sunny garden Pray for another day with ailing mom and pop Realize that the end doesn’t prepare you for a teardrop Come back to your good old chair Breathe in the age-old air Sing a song of lamentation from yesterday and of faint memories that are not so gray Ready to patiently sit Reading the words of wit Feel alright looking back Grateful that I’ve been on the right track Holding nothing much left in my pocket But relieved to survive this lunatic world of sprocket Not defined with one simple word Because my life has many a side unheard Learn to say with silence Still sometimes roar in defiance Hoping to be remembered as a good friend Even long after my days end

Students make a lot of sentences either in the form of speaking or writing or sometimes body language, and the teacher is busy spotting the wrongful use of grammar, inaccurate pronunciation, or awkward collocations in the students’ output created in the target language they learn. It is not an uncommon scene in a language learning class. However, there is not one best way for teachers to find their students’ errors and correct them throughout the course. When I first became an instructor for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, one of the major foci in my class was to point out my students’ errors or mistakes. What is the difference between errors and mistakes? Errors are the results from students’ lack of knowledge of the correct norms of target language. Burt (1975) explains that errors interfere with communication and affects overall sentence organization, whereas mistakes are the deviation or processing problem in learner language that happens when they fail to perfo...

Some may say money is the root of all evil, while others argue that money talks. Some would agree that money can’t buy happiness, whereas others’ ultimate goal in life is to become a multi-millionaire. Regardless of what your take on moolah might be like, living in a capitalistic society – especially in the States where consumption is encouraged more than any other countries in the world – keeps us think about the value or worth of money in life.  This week, let us work on some interesting idiomatic expressions which contain or are related to money. (*source from https://www.learnenglish.de/vocabulary/moneyidioms.html and http://www.learn-english-today.com/idioms/idiom-categories/money/money2_deep-house.html ) Fill in the blanks to complete the following sentences with a proper expression for each (using the clues given below the questions) 1.    I love this house because it gives me a sense of coziness, but the other _________________________ is that it is v...

There are some topics that have been tabooed to talk about in public. Depending on cultures, it could be religion, political inclination, prostitution, some diseases like AIDS, and asking women’s age in public to name a few. Above all, the subject of “ death ” makes most people feel emotionally charged and frustrated. If anyone (who is in the right mind or does not have a totally aberrant idea about life or death) happened to learn about someone’s death, they would stop for a second and feel their heart welling up with sorrow. What makes people get serious or uncomfortable about death? How should we respond to the end of one’s life? Are we supposed to prepare for the finale in a somber mood? Otherwise, could it possibly be somewhat festive or convivial ? I have personally seen deaths of my close family and friends both in my home country and here in the States as well. As most of you may already know, when the family says their final farewells at the funeral home , the pallbe...

Each time I see people who look incredibly fresh and young for their age, I start my guesswork like ‘She must be taking some kind of elixir plants ’ or ‘Does he sleep in an Oxygen chamber or what?!’. In most cases, their ‘younger-than-physical age’ lineaments can be attributed to their active life style. As a recreational but dedicated runner, I know why so many people drag themselves out of bed in the wee hours and head out to the gym or take to the streets. Exercises pump up their days and stay upbeat throughout their lives. *Expressions elixir plants : herbs/ plants that would give you immortality lineaments : a distinctive feature or characteristic, especially of the face attribute A to B : regard A as being caused by B. Let us take a look at some gym terms this week. (Source from http://www.coachmag.co.uk/lifestyle/4234/28-gym-slang-terms-explained ) 1. beasting it up : intensity training, anything involving intense effort and mentality e.g.  “Tha...

(source from www.dictionary.com ) The Chinese letter 人 means “human being”. The letter is from the hieroglyph of two humans leaning on each other. Figuratively and literally, humans can hardly live alone. Living in this incredibly connected world of instant messaging, emailing, and social networking, we might feel more lonesome than those in the old days when people were happy with snail mail and seeing one another only in the offline world. However, we can make the best use of today’s super fast-paced ways of contacting and greeting, can’t we? Even though it might not seem to have the old day’s romanticism, we can let our precious friends know how much we think of them at any time. Instant messaging does not have to mean instant love. This week, I would like to share many heartwarming quotes about true friendship. 1.    "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." ...Aristotle 2.    "The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just g...

I still remember the day like yesterday when my son Hans felt so frustrated at the news that his 8 th grade English teacher (i.e., final year in the middle school) had not recommended him for an honor’s English class in high school. FYI, Hans’s grade in English subject had been A+ throughout the four years of middle school.  His participation in class activities and extra credit projects had always been praised by his teachers. Since we were not able to find a clue behind the teacher’s decision, Hans and I talked with her over the matter. What she said about the reason why she did not recommend Hans for the honors English course left us all dumbfounded. She said as follows: "Hans is a great student who always goes all out in preparing for class, class participation, writing assignments, quizzes and tests, and always gains perfectly wonderful grades in them all. However, I believe that honor’s English course in high school is for students who are inherently talented and still d...