Compelling Conversations for English Teachers, Tutors, and Advanced English Language Learners

What new English words will you learn in 2009? Which English words will you teach?

Do you have a way with words? Are you a lover of word trivia and origins? Are you an English teacher? If so, consider listening to the celebrated public radio show in 2009!

Forget forcing students to memorize boring vocabulary lists. Get your English students engaged in the story of English words, their origins, and multiple uses. Your English students will also learn those that vital academic world list – in context and with a vivid stories.

A Way with Words, another outstanding public radio show, is co-hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett (who writes an annual buzzwords of the year survey for the New York Times.) The hour long program examines the English language as the hosts answer listeners’ questions about intriguing aspects of the English language, including grammar, vocabulary, idioms, slang, dialects, speaking, and writing. Web visitors can also listen to episodes online, down MP3s, and subscribe to podcasts for free.

While the show is better for English teachers and writers than most English language learners or adult ESL students, listeners will gain a greater appreciation for and knowledge of our strange, fascinating language.

Features:
• Free downloads
• Thematic episodes accompanied by a reading text
• Discussion points
• All past episodes are archived chronologically for easy browsing
• Free subscriptions
Site URL: http://www.waywordradio.org/
Word mavens might also be interested in New York Times column on buzzwords:

http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/whats-your-buzzword-of-2008/#comment-2671

Check it out!

Finally, let’s hope that everyone smiles more and sighs less in 2009 than in 2008!

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A bright college student asked a simple vocabulary question that threw me this week. “What is the opposite of jealous“?

What is the opposite of jealous? Generous? Selfless? Confident? I found myself discussing various possibilities with students adding in situations. The simple vocabulary building exercise (create 25 pairs of opposite adjectives) took a more philosophical turn. We had a lively, if a bit wandering, class discussion. I apologized for my memory lapse, urged them to check a dictionary, and promised to get back to students with a better answer.

In the teacher’s room, a fellow teacher noted “The world jealousy includes the word lousy.” We shared a laugh. That’s a good answer. How did he instantly come up with that? Why couldn’t I do that?

I felt discontent, dissatisfied, and displeased with my weak classroom answers. Perhaps the opposite of “jealous” is content, satisfied, and pleased.

Stress comes naturally when driving in Los Angeles, and my commute back home fit the pattern. Many words popped into my head that captured negative feelings, including jealous. Could I be jealous of bus riders? Really? I started to visualize a bus ride home from UCLA, sitting – no, probably standing up, for 40 minutes next to exhausted strangers. Memories of less pleasant commutes on subway rides in New York from 20 years ago returned. No, I didn’t envy or feel jealous of the bus riders.

I eventually arrived home. Boomer, my dog, barked to announce my arrival and licked my face as I entered the front door. He’s great. “Dogs are our link to paradise,” wrote Milan Kundera. Absolutely.

Gratitude. That’s the opposite of jealousy. Gratitude. Why didn’t I think of that in class? Next time.

“Gratitude is heaven itself.” Who said that? Blake? Yeah, William Blake. The great poet-painter-mystic man. Remember that quote the next time an English student asks, “what is the opposite of jealous?”

Teaching English, especially to bright international college students, helps keep me focused and clear. This week I learned the opposite of jealousy and rediscovered a favorite quotation. Consider me satisfied, content, and grateful.

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Have you visited FreeRice this month?

As the price of rice, corn, and other basic food staples increased daily and food riots return to the headlines, we might want to reflect on ways to help the world’s poorest poor. One way that English teachers, dedicated students, and idealists can make a small contribution is by visiting www.FreeRice.com .

This outstanding educational site asks a wide range of vocabulary questions that often appear on standardized exams. Are you studying for the TOEFL, TOEIC, SAT, LSAT, or GRE? Are you trying to expand your English language vocabulary? Do you know relatives, friends, or co-workers in poor countries? Are you an English student, an ESL teacher, a language school administrator, or a global citizen? FreeRice provides practical assistance to adult education students, ESL teachers, immigrants, test takers, and refugees. FreeRice is a powerful vocabulary resource with 50 levels of vocabulary questions, and its addictive too!

Whether you are a word lover or a world lover, this site should appeal to you. For each correct answer, the site sponsors donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations Food Program. Check Free Rice out, test your vocabulary skills, and make a small – yet significant – contribution today. Thanks!

“The satiated man and the hungry man do not see the same thing when they look upon a loaf of bread.”

Rumi (1207-1273), Persian poet

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What are the 1000 most common words in English?

Wiktionary, an offshoot of the wonderful Wikipedia, offers this answer . Looks, sounds, and feels right. No big surprises.

Do I recommend memorizing this list? No. Language is to be used, discovered, and enjoyed. Memorizing long lists of vocabulary words in English, while sometimes effective for standardized tests, seldom helps create compelling conversations. Vocabulary lists, however, can provide a sense of satisfaction and order.

Sometimes lists like this can also help us review and trigger new connections. Yet exploring a personal interest in English will help you generate a more personal, authentic, and meaningful vocabulary in English. So what interests you today? What do you want to learn more about? Where can you find two quality articles on that topic? Why not create your own vocabulary list to match you and your interests? Shouldn’t your vocabulary journal reflect you?

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”  Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), British author

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