Tag Archive for 'vocabulary'

Cool Music!

Hi Languagelab students,

Last week I went to two really cool gigs, one of them was in a basement bar that used to be a public toilet in West London! The band I went to see is called ‘Empire of Lights‘ and they are a very cool Indie band that has a single coming out. The word Indie means independent and not so commercial sounding. Other famous Indie bands include The Smiths, Nirvana and the Klaxons. For more information about Indie music click here.

The other band that I went to see are a soul band with 12 people in it ! They had great energy and fantastic voices.  My friends and I danced all night and had a wonderful time as one of the singers is my friend! The band is called Hula Groove – check our their video.

Make some sentences about you favourite kinds of music:

  1. classical
  2. concert
  3. country
  4. dance
  5. disco
  6. download music
  7. good beat
  8. heavy metal
  9. jazz
  10. lyrics
  11. mp3 player
  12. music
  13. pop
  14. radio
  15. rap
  16. rock
  17. stereo
  18. punk
  19. opera
  20. hip-hop/ rap
  • be crazy about / love / like
  • dislike / hate / can’t stand

See you soon !

Jessie Teacher

False friends, czyli strzeżcie się fałszywych przyjaciół!

Każdy, kto uczy się angielskiego z łatwością zapamiętuje słowa, które brzmią prawie tak samo jak w języku polskim. „Geography” to geografia, „anatomy” to anatomia, „dissertation” to dysertacja. Słowa te pochodzą z łaciny lub greki i maja takie same znaczenie. Nie zawsze jednak można stosować tą prostą przekładnie. Niektóre słowa, które nazywamy false friends brzmią podobnie w dwóch językach, ale różnią się – w niektórych przypadkach diametralnie – znaczeniem. Dlatego u lekarza nie poprosimy o “receipt”, bo angielskie “receipt” oznacza “paragon”, a nie “receptę”, a prezentera w telewizji nie określimy jako “speaker”, bo po angielsku oznacza to “głośnik”. Śmiech może spowodować użycie angielskiego „preservative”, czyli „środka konserwującego”, na określenie „prezerwatywy”. A obrażony poczuje się ten, kto lunatykuje w nocy, jeżeli nazwiemy go angielskim słowem “lunatic”, które oznacza “wariata”.
Dlatego aby uniknąć niekomfortowych sytuacji i wyrażać się precyzyjnie, musimy zdemaskować fałszywych przyjaciół. Aby wam w tym pomoc przygotowaliśmy specjalną listę najbardziej popularnych false friends.

Kliknijcie tutaj, aby ja ściągnąć!

Powodzenia w walce z fałszywi przyjaciółmi!

FYI – Abbreviations and Acronyms Part 1

Abbreviations and Acronyms Part 1 – FYI

Sometimes when people are typing very quickly, they like to use ways to make the words shorter. We do this in English all the time.
In this blog I’ll try and show you the most common abbreviations and acronyms teachers and students sometimes use when they are in their
Languagelab English class

What’s an abbreviation,?

An abbreviation is when you make a word smaller. We do this in English all the time.
I’d like a drink = I would like a drink
I’m hungry
Although we use this a lot in standard English, people who type in the ‘chat box’ often use abbreviations.
How r u? = How are you?
C U soon = See you soon.
Ur welcome = you’re welcome
This isn’t good English really, but people use it a lot.

What are Acronyms?
An acronym is a word that is made from the first letters from other words. These are used a lot in English.
UN – United Nations

USA- United States of America
WHO – World Health Organization
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

These are also used in languagelab. Many students and teachers use them so they can explain things very quickly.
Below is a list of the most important ones. If you know any more, write them down at the bottom of this blog in the big box that says ‘comment’.

FYI – For your information LOL- (I’m) laughing out loud NP – No Problem
FYI – For your information ASAP – As soon as possible GL – Good Luck
TY- Thank you OMW – On my way BRB – Be right back
YW – You’re welcome AFK – Away from Keyboard (write this if you leave you computer for a minute) BTW – By the way
BTW – By the way SL – Second Life LL – Languagelab
LM – Landmark IM – Instant Message TP – Teleport

There is also a very big list at http://www.abbreviations.com/acronyms/CHAT

Next week: Acronyms Part 2: Emoticons

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SIMILAR WORDS

Similar words

Did you try our 7 day free lesson trial? We are sure you will enjoy studying at Languagelab.
Some words have similar meanings but are used differently like: “go” and “come”

Let’s go to the Grammar House.
You should come to the Grammar House.

Fill in the gaps:

Fit the word text

Well done! Check below for answers. Now go and try our level test. Enjoy!!!

New Languagelab features:

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  • 7 day free trial!
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  • (our new professional actors to help you study in real life situations)

    ANSWERS:

    1. You should listen to your English teacher/ Can you hear your English teacher?

    2. Can I borrow your dictionary?/ I will lend you my dictionary.

    3. That shirt fits the teacher perfectly./ The teacher’s new hair cut suits him.

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    Vocabulary Quiz Answers

    I love the English language and discovering new words, that’s right, even teachers need to keep learning new words.   One of my favourite things is called ‘Word a Day’, it gives me a new word every day to learn and improve my vocabulary, why don’t you have a look?


    Vocabulary Quiz Answers

    a
    7
    b
    6
    c
    5
    d
    1
    e
    8
    f
    2
    g
    3
    h
    4

     

    English is a language that is constantly growing, especially with new technology and better and faster communication because of the internet.  It is very important to have a wide vocabulary when you are learning a language, so you can understand films, podcasts and your class mates and teachers. 

    Here are some of my tips to improving your vocabulary:
    1. Read as much as you can, but read things that you enjoy so you don’t get bored.

    1. Make a note of your new words in a vocabulary book; this will be like your own dictionary.
    2. Listen to people talking and ask them what new words mean, teachers, others students and the City People love sharing new words.
    3. Try to practice the new words you have learned, if you have seen a new word or learned a new word in class, go and visit the City People and try to use it in a conversation.
    4. Set yourself a goal, for example learning 1 new word every day and how to use it well, you will feel great when you look back at your progress.

    Here are some extra links for you to check out:
    http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blinternet.htm
    http://www.esl-lab.com/vocab/v-computers.htm
    http://a4esl.org/q/h/vc-subjects-lb.html

    Grammar Girl’s Vocabulary Blast


    What does ‘art’ mean?

    There are three very important questions you should ask yourself when learning a new word:

    - What does it mean?
    - What’s the grammar of the word?
    - How would you use it?

    What does it mean?

    When you look up a word in a dictionary it can be confusing because there are so many different meanings for one word. Try and think about where you found the word and what the sentence was about. This post is about the word ‘art’ because I’ve just taught two lessons on the subject of responding to and appreciating art. So the meaning of ‘art’ that best goes with my lesson is that it is a creation of a work of beauty or other special significance.

    What’s the grammar of the word?

    Art is a noun. We can also use this word to talk about all art so you can also call it a ‘collective noun.’ You can describe a person as ‘artful’ but, strangely, this is usually a negative adjective. Another, very positive, adjective is ‘artistic.’ Even although language changes and develops all the time to adapt to our needs, I’ve not yet heard of art used as a verb.

    How would you use it?

    We can use this words with lots of other words to create ‘phrases.’ You can talk about
    a work of art

    fine art
    the arts
    the art of …(with any gerund like building, drawing, dancing, shopping)
    arts and crafts
    graphic art
    cyberart

    The list goes on and on. For more phrases with art and suggestions for how to use it go to to wikipedia here .

    I’ll leave you with the origins of the word.

    Celtic Mythology: Art

    [Irish, bear, in the sense of champion]

    A name borne by several legendary heroes, of whom the best known is Art mac Cuinn, as well as some figures in genealogies. The name is sometimes confused with Arthur but Art is not derived from Arthur