(TESOL Worksheets--Daily Vocabulary)
Showing posts with label Daily Vocabulary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Vocabulary. Show all posts
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Monday, April 20, 2020
Ain't: Daily Vocabulary
(TESOL Worksheets--Daily Vocabulary)
Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub-- Slideshow (slides, pub), Playlist--Songsheets: Ain't Got No I Got Life, Ain't No Sunshine, Ain't no Mountain High Enough, I ain't Marching Anymore
(Recycling some material from a previous lesson. Also recycling previous TESOL songsheets from HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE).
Ain’t
Youtube: https://youtu.be/_WkJ9oyR9sM
Today's vocabulary is: ain't. Ain't is a very useful word to know because it is so common in everyday English conversation. It's so common. You can hear it all the time, and yet in my experience, many students of English don't know this word. At least that's been my experience. And I think this is because, even though this word is very common in conversational English, it's considered informal and so teachers don't teach this word in the classroom. But let me know what your experience has been. Did you learn this word? If so, where did you learn it? Did you learn it in the classroom?
Ain’t is used to mean “not”. More specifically, it can be used instead of “am not”. “is not”, or “are not”.
For example:
“I am not a doctor”, can become “I ain't a doctor”.
“He is not a teacher” can become “He ain't a teacher”.
“You aren't a policeman” could become “You ain't a policeman” et cetera.
Now, notice that ain't does not inflect. For example: I am not, you are not, he is not, they are not, et cetera, becomes: I ain't, you ain't, they ain't, he ain't. It's always ain't. Ain’t doesn't change.
Ain’t can also be used instead of has not or have not.
For example:
“I haven't got any money”, can become “I ain't got no money”.
Or “You haven't seen anything yet,” can become “You ain't seen nothing yet.”
Somewhat less commonly, ain't can be used instead of don't, doesn't or didn't, but this isn't as common. Most commonly it's used instead of am not, is not, are not, has not, and haven't.
When I was at school, I was taught by teachers not to use ain't. The teachers told us that ain't isn't a word, and so we shouldn't use it.
When we were children, we used to say a rhyme or a chant: “Ain't ain't a word, so I ain't going to say ain’t anymore”, which translated into standard English would be: “ain’t isn't a word so I'm not going to say ain’t anymore.” But as children we thought it was funny to use the word ain't in the same sentence saying that we weren't going to use ain't. We thought we were quite clever when we were children. It was usually said with a chant or a singsong type voice, for example: “Ain't ain’t a word so I ain't going to say ain't anymore.” Or something like that.
But in fact, ain't is a word. In fact it’s a very old word and is a perfectly fine word. It is in a lot of English songs and music. It's in a lot of English movies and TV, and it's even in a lot of very respected English literature, for example The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn also by Mark Twain. These are some of the most famous and some of the most well-respected works of American literature, and the characters in these books use ain’t all the time. So it is a word, and it is something that you will hear in conversation a lot and you will also hear it in English movies and TV shows and music.
However some people think that the word is associated with uneducated people or that it's low-class, and for that reason some parents or teachers will tell their children not to use it. In my opinion it’s a perfectly fine word, but you should be aware that there are some situations where you can use it, and some situations where you shouldn't use it. It's informal, English, so you shouldn't use it in any formal situations. For example if you are writing a business letter, you shouldn't use ain’t and if you are writing a report for your school, you shouldn't use ain’t and if you are taking any kind of standardized English speaking test like the TOEIC or the TOEFL or the IELTS, you shouldn't use ain’t. However if you're in conversation with your friends, it's perfectly fine to use this word in friendly conversation.
This word is very common in a lot of English music. A lot of famous songs use this word. In fact you may have already heard this word while listening to English pop songs. I'll give you the titles of some of the more famous songs that have this word, and it may be useful to find these songs on YouTube and listen to the-- just to get some idea of how common the word can be. For example “Ain't no Sunshine” or sometimes “Ain't no Sunshine When She's Gone” or “Ain't Got No--I got Life” or “Ain't No Mountain High Enough”. I’ll write the names of these songs in the description to this video down below so you can see the titles and search for these songs on YouTube. If you can find a copy of the song, it may be useful to listen to it, just to see how the word ain't is used in real songs.
One more thing about the word ain’t is it's often used in what we call double negative sentences. So a double negative sentence could be something like: “I don't have no money.” So don't is a negative marker and no is a negative, so we have two negatives in this sentence. So we call it a double negative. Now, in formal English it is usually thought that the two negatives can cancel each other out. For example, “I don't have no money” would mean actually I do have some money. But in informal English, double negatives are often used for emphasis--to make the phrase stronger. So, for example, “I ain't got no money” means I don't have any money and it's a stronger way of saying it, or “Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,” means there isn't any sunshine when she's gone, and it's just a stronger form, or “Ain't no mountain high enough,” means there isn't any mountain high enough. Et cetera. So, be aware that quite often when you see ain't used in conversation or in sentences it may have two negative markers in the sentence, but that's often used in informal English to make the negative stronger.
So let me know in the comments what your experience has been learning ain't in schools, if you study English as a second language, and also if you would like some practice, try using ain’t in a sentence in the comments below, and I can give you some feedback about how natural or unnatural the sentence sounds.
Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub-- Slideshow (slides, pub), Playlist--Songsheets: Ain't Got No I Got Life, Ain't No Sunshine, Ain't no Mountain High Enough, I ain't Marching Anymore
(Recycling some material from a previous lesson. Also recycling previous TESOL songsheets from HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE).
Ain’t
Youtube: https://youtu.be/_WkJ9oyR9sM
Today's vocabulary is: ain't. Ain't is a very useful word to know because it is so common in everyday English conversation. It's so common. You can hear it all the time, and yet in my experience, many students of English don't know this word. At least that's been my experience. And I think this is because, even though this word is very common in conversational English, it's considered informal and so teachers don't teach this word in the classroom. But let me know what your experience has been. Did you learn this word? If so, where did you learn it? Did you learn it in the classroom?
Ain’t is used to mean “not”. More specifically, it can be used instead of “am not”. “is not”, or “are not”.
For example:
“I am not a doctor”, can become “I ain't a doctor”.
“He is not a teacher” can become “He ain't a teacher”.
“You aren't a policeman” could become “You ain't a policeman” et cetera.
Now, notice that ain't does not inflect. For example: I am not, you are not, he is not, they are not, et cetera, becomes: I ain't, you ain't, they ain't, he ain't. It's always ain't. Ain’t doesn't change.
Ain’t can also be used instead of has not or have not.
For example:
“I haven't got any money”, can become “I ain't got no money”.
Or “You haven't seen anything yet,” can become “You ain't seen nothing yet.”
Somewhat less commonly, ain't can be used instead of don't, doesn't or didn't, but this isn't as common. Most commonly it's used instead of am not, is not, are not, has not, and haven't.
When I was at school, I was taught by teachers not to use ain't. The teachers told us that ain't isn't a word, and so we shouldn't use it.
When we were children, we used to say a rhyme or a chant: “Ain't ain't a word, so I ain't going to say ain’t anymore”, which translated into standard English would be: “ain’t isn't a word so I'm not going to say ain’t anymore.” But as children we thought it was funny to use the word ain't in the same sentence saying that we weren't going to use ain't. We thought we were quite clever when we were children. It was usually said with a chant or a singsong type voice, for example: “Ain't ain’t a word so I ain't going to say ain't anymore.” Or something like that.
But in fact, ain't is a word. In fact it’s a very old word and is a perfectly fine word. It is in a lot of English songs and music. It's in a lot of English movies and TV, and it's even in a lot of very respected English literature, for example The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn also by Mark Twain. These are some of the most famous and some of the most well-respected works of American literature, and the characters in these books use ain’t all the time. So it is a word, and it is something that you will hear in conversation a lot and you will also hear it in English movies and TV shows and music.
However some people think that the word is associated with uneducated people or that it's low-class, and for that reason some parents or teachers will tell their children not to use it. In my opinion it’s a perfectly fine word, but you should be aware that there are some situations where you can use it, and some situations where you shouldn't use it. It's informal, English, so you shouldn't use it in any formal situations. For example if you are writing a business letter, you shouldn't use ain’t and if you are writing a report for your school, you shouldn't use ain’t and if you are taking any kind of standardized English speaking test like the TOEIC or the TOEFL or the IELTS, you shouldn't use ain’t. However if you're in conversation with your friends, it's perfectly fine to use this word in friendly conversation.
This word is very common in a lot of English music. A lot of famous songs use this word. In fact you may have already heard this word while listening to English pop songs. I'll give you the titles of some of the more famous songs that have this word, and it may be useful to find these songs on YouTube and listen to the-- just to get some idea of how common the word can be. For example “Ain't no Sunshine” or sometimes “Ain't no Sunshine When She's Gone” or “Ain't Got No--I got Life” or “Ain't No Mountain High Enough”. I’ll write the names of these songs in the description to this video down below so you can see the titles and search for these songs on YouTube. If you can find a copy of the song, it may be useful to listen to it, just to see how the word ain't is used in real songs.
One more thing about the word ain’t is it's often used in what we call double negative sentences. So a double negative sentence could be something like: “I don't have no money.” So don't is a negative marker and no is a negative, so we have two negatives in this sentence. So we call it a double negative. Now, in formal English it is usually thought that the two negatives can cancel each other out. For example, “I don't have no money” would mean actually I do have some money. But in informal English, double negatives are often used for emphasis--to make the phrase stronger. So, for example, “I ain't got no money” means I don't have any money and it's a stronger way of saying it, or “Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,” means there isn't any sunshine when she's gone, and it's just a stronger form, or “Ain't no mountain high enough,” means there isn't any mountain high enough. Et cetera. So, be aware that quite often when you see ain't used in conversation or in sentences it may have two negative markers in the sentence, but that's often used in informal English to make the negative stronger.
So let me know in the comments what your experience has been learning ain't in schools, if you study English as a second language, and also if you would like some practice, try using ain’t in a sentence in the comments below, and I can give you some feedback about how natural or unnatural the sentence sounds.
Friday, April 17, 2020
How are you doing? : Daily Vocabulary
(TESOL Worksheets--Daily Vocabulary)
Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub
How are you doing?
Youtube: https://youtu.be/8biVkJQ94AU
Today's vocabulary is: How are you doing?
I wanted to make this video because I've noticed students often get confused when I use this phrase. If I meet a student for the first time, I might say “Oh, hey, how are you doing?” And then the student will often panic and not know how to answer, and they may something-- they may say something like “I'm talking to you” or “I'm studying English”. Quite often the students are unfamiliar with the phrase “How are you doing?” and they think it means “What are you doing?” But it doesn't mean “What are you doing?” “How are you doing?” is the same as “How are you?” The grammar is a little bit different, but the meaning is the same, and it's used in the same situation.
Now I've discovered this problem in many different countries I have been teaching in: in Japan, in Cambodia, in Vietnam. And I believe the problem is the students, when they study English in school, they only learn: “How are you?” But actually, in real conversation, we have a lot of different phrases which have the same meaning, and in fact “How are you?” is not used so often in natural conversation. It sounds a little bit stiff, a little bit formal. People will often use more conversational expressions, for example:
“How are you doing?”
“How's it going?”
“How have you been?” and
“What's up?”
There are others, of course, but these are some of the more common ones you will hear instead of “How are you?” They all have the same meaning and the answer to all of these can be the same. You can just say, “I'm fine”.
Now, if you want to get technical, the grammar could be a little bit different. For example:
“How are you doing?” “I'm doing fine.”
“How's it going?” “It's going fine.”
“How have you been?” “I've been fine.”
“What's up?” ...I don't know. “I'm fine.” “What's up?” is a strange one.
But the answer is usually just, “I'm fine”. So technically the grammar could be different, but in real conversation this is one of those cases where nobody cares too much about the grammar. In this case. So the answer to all of these could just be: “I'm fine”.
“How are you doing?” “I'm fine.”
“How's it going?” “I'm fine.”
“How have you been?” “I'm fine.”
It's okay.
It's also useful to remember that in English, this is just used as a greeting. It's most often used as a greeting. So the person asking you is usually not really concerned with how you're really feeling., They just want to say hello. So the appropriate answer is usually “I'm fine”. Even if you're not fine, it's probably best just to say “I'm fine”. Unless this is a real close friend who really cares about your feelings.
I've noticed that often students will give honest answers to this question, for example:
“How are you doing?” “Oh I'm sad because my grandfather died.”
Now I've been teaching English for a long time, so if a student says this to me I don't get annoyed, I don't get upset. I understand that the student has misunderstood the question. But it is useful to remember if you're going to an English speaking country, or if you have a lot of English speaking friends, that most commonly, this is just used as a way to say hello, and the person asking you just expects you to say “I'm fine”. And then the conversation can move on after that. If you have any problems you want to talk about, those usually will come up later in the conversation.
So, to sum up, if somebody says to you, “How are you doing?”, don't panic. It means the same as “How are you?”
Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub
How are you doing?
Youtube: https://youtu.be/8biVkJQ94AU
Today's vocabulary is: How are you doing?
I wanted to make this video because I've noticed students often get confused when I use this phrase. If I meet a student for the first time, I might say “Oh, hey, how are you doing?” And then the student will often panic and not know how to answer, and they may something-- they may say something like “I'm talking to you” or “I'm studying English”. Quite often the students are unfamiliar with the phrase “How are you doing?” and they think it means “What are you doing?” But it doesn't mean “What are you doing?” “How are you doing?” is the same as “How are you?” The grammar is a little bit different, but the meaning is the same, and it's used in the same situation.
Now I've discovered this problem in many different countries I have been teaching in: in Japan, in Cambodia, in Vietnam. And I believe the problem is the students, when they study English in school, they only learn: “How are you?” But actually, in real conversation, we have a lot of different phrases which have the same meaning, and in fact “How are you?” is not used so often in natural conversation. It sounds a little bit stiff, a little bit formal. People will often use more conversational expressions, for example:
“How are you doing?”
“How's it going?”
“How have you been?” and
“What's up?”
There are others, of course, but these are some of the more common ones you will hear instead of “How are you?” They all have the same meaning and the answer to all of these can be the same. You can just say, “I'm fine”.
Now, if you want to get technical, the grammar could be a little bit different. For example:
“How are you doing?” “I'm doing fine.”
“How's it going?” “It's going fine.”
“How have you been?” “I've been fine.”
“What's up?” ...I don't know. “I'm fine.” “What's up?” is a strange one.
But the answer is usually just, “I'm fine”. So technically the grammar could be different, but in real conversation this is one of those cases where nobody cares too much about the grammar. In this case. So the answer to all of these could just be: “I'm fine”.
“How are you doing?” “I'm fine.”
“How's it going?” “I'm fine.”
“How have you been?” “I'm fine.”
It's okay.
It's also useful to remember that in English, this is just used as a greeting. It's most often used as a greeting. So the person asking you is usually not really concerned with how you're really feeling., They just want to say hello. So the appropriate answer is usually “I'm fine”. Even if you're not fine, it's probably best just to say “I'm fine”. Unless this is a real close friend who really cares about your feelings.
I've noticed that often students will give honest answers to this question, for example:
“How are you doing?” “Oh I'm sad because my grandfather died.”
Now I've been teaching English for a long time, so if a student says this to me I don't get annoyed, I don't get upset. I understand that the student has misunderstood the question. But it is useful to remember if you're going to an English speaking country, or if you have a lot of English speaking friends, that most commonly, this is just used as a way to say hello, and the person asking you just expects you to say “I'm fine”. And then the conversation can move on after that. If you have any problems you want to talk about, those usually will come up later in the conversation.
So, to sum up, if somebody says to you, “How are you doing?”, don't panic. It means the same as “How are you?”
Thursday, April 16, 2020
All roads lead to Rome: Daily Vocabulary
(TESOL Worksheets--Daily Vocabulary)
Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub
All roads lead to Rome
Youtube: https://youtu.be/xQWMYByxXtk
Today's vocabulary is a proverb. A proverb is a wise saying which gives you advice about how to live your life. Today's proverb is: All roads lead to Rome. Now this is an older proverb. It comes from the days when Rome was the most important city in Europe. In fact, I've been told that this proverb exists in many European languages, although I don't know that for myself. So if you speak another European language, please let me know if you have this same proverb in your language.
So in the days when Rome was the most important city in Europe, all of the main roads would go to Rome. So if you were on one main road, you could get to Rome, but if you were on another main road, you could get to Rome just as easily.
You can still hear this proverb used nowadays in the context of roads and directions. For example, if you're going to any big city, New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or any big city, you will often find that all of the main roads around that city lead into the city. So it doesn't really matter which road you're on, they will all go into the city. So you might hear a conversation like this:
“You're going the wrong way. That's not the road to Chicago.”
“Relax, this road also goes to Chicago. Remember, all roads lead to Rome.”
However the proverb also has a more metaphorical meaning, and this more metaphorical meaning is the way it's more commonly used. The metaphorical meaning is there are many different ways to do something. So you can do a task using one way, or you can do a task using the other way and as long as the result is the same, it doesn't matter. So, for example you might hear this conversation:
“No, you're doing the project all wrong! We have to do it like this.”
“Relax. This way is perfectly fine. As long as the project is finished in the end, nobody cares how you do it. Remember: All roads lead to Rome.”
So let me know whether you agree or disagree with this proverb and also let me know if you have any other similar proverbs in your own language.
Youtube Video--Google: docs, pub
All roads lead to Rome
Youtube: https://youtu.be/xQWMYByxXtk
Today's vocabulary is a proverb. A proverb is a wise saying which gives you advice about how to live your life. Today's proverb is: All roads lead to Rome. Now this is an older proverb. It comes from the days when Rome was the most important city in Europe. In fact, I've been told that this proverb exists in many European languages, although I don't know that for myself. So if you speak another European language, please let me know if you have this same proverb in your language.
So in the days when Rome was the most important city in Europe, all of the main roads would go to Rome. So if you were on one main road, you could get to Rome, but if you were on another main road, you could get to Rome just as easily.
You can still hear this proverb used nowadays in the context of roads and directions. For example, if you're going to any big city, New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or any big city, you will often find that all of the main roads around that city lead into the city. So it doesn't really matter which road you're on, they will all go into the city. So you might hear a conversation like this:
“You're going the wrong way. That's not the road to Chicago.”
“Relax, this road also goes to Chicago. Remember, all roads lead to Rome.”
However the proverb also has a more metaphorical meaning, and this more metaphorical meaning is the way it's more commonly used. The metaphorical meaning is there are many different ways to do something. So you can do a task using one way, or you can do a task using the other way and as long as the result is the same, it doesn't matter. So, for example you might hear this conversation:
“No, you're doing the project all wrong! We have to do it like this.”
“Relax. This way is perfectly fine. As long as the project is finished in the end, nobody cares how you do it. Remember: All roads lead to Rome.”
So let me know whether you agree or disagree with this proverb and also let me know if you have any other similar proverbs in your own language.
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