Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

For many years in the past – especially in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) settings – the language teaching and learning had focused on the ability to use it for real-life communication with less or little attention on the grammar skill, and advocated proficiency-oriented language programs. However, the pendulum of language study has recently swung back to the importance of grammar, which definitely helps enhance the learners’ metalinguistic knowledge of the language and furthermore improve their speaking competency for communication. One of the characteristics frequently observed among the intermediate-level students is that they are getting better at beginning conversations as well as able to respond to questions with longer answers or even ask questions of their own to keep the conversation going. Even if the intermediate-level students feel successful using a certain grammatical structure, sometimes they find themselves totally embarrassed about losing or forgettin...

Do you love sweet treats? Let us solve candy quiz this week! 😊 Actually, these candies are made in the States. I know this could be a culturally biased quiz for EFL students though...  How many candy bars can you name from the following clues? Choose from the answers given in the box. Chunky,      PayDay,   Bit-O-Honey,    Hersey’s Kiss,   Clark Bar,     M&M’s,   5 th Avenue,     Almond Joy,     Milky Way,     Mars,      3 Musketeers,     Mounds,     Baby Ruth,     Butterfinger,    Snickers,     Oh Henry!,      Kit Kat,     Life Savers,     Hersey’s,    Nestle’S Crunch,     Milk Duds,     Sugar Daddy,    Starburst      ...

When I was teaching English in Seoul long ago, one of the American instructors working with me at the language institute said his English vocab and expressions had been too outdated to teach young people “today’s English” that were being used as he spoke in the States. It is because he had lived in Korea too long to be “idiom or slang- savvy” in English. Yes, looking back on what he said, I guess I would be totally lost in front of a Korean young ones who spit out fast a series of Korean slang or internet-based idioms or clipped words of which I would never get the meaning.   This week, let us take a gander of some frequently used idiomatic expressions in English that are often used in the States today. (*Source fromhttps://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/1026523/100-words-from-urban-dictionary-that-changed-the-world/2)      1.    to play hard ball : (phrase) you are going to get really serious and make every possible effort to get what you wa...

What would you do to employ tedious hours or kill time? How about puzzles or brainteasers? This week, let us solve interesting riddles. Don’t be so serious or overthink to solve these riddles. 😊   1.    What is as big as you are and yet does not weigh anything?   2.    Paul’s height is six feet, he’s an assistant at a butcher’s shop, and wears size 9 shoes. What does he weigh?   3.    What types of words are these: madam, civic, eye, level?   4.    What ends everything always?   5.    When you have me, you feel like sharing me. But, if you do share me, you don’t have me. What am I?   6.    A cowboy rode into town on Friday, stayed three days, and rode out again on Friday. How did he do that?   7.    The person who makes it has no need for it. The person who purchases it does not use it. The person who does use it does not know he or she is. What is it?...

Most of us have one wish in common in life: “ to be happy ” Although I myself am still working on the definition of ‘being happy’, I know for sure that happiness is not lying in comparing me and others. It is found in what I am, what I have, and where I stand right here and now. This week, let us brush up on some idiomatic expressions that are related to or describing the feeling of happiness. (source from https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/7-happy-idioms       &   http://www.grammar.net/top-22-idioms-about-joy-and-happiness) 1.    to be on cloud nine : extremely happy when something wonderful happens. 2.    like a dog with two tails: to look and be very happy. 3.    to be full of the joys of spring: When you are jubilant, energetic, cheerful and happy. 4.    to be as happy as Larry: When you are as happy as Larry, you are, of course, very happy. But who is Larry? N...