ESL East Asia

12/12/2022

Things out of hand? Get a grip!

Many English idioms are visually apparent. With out of hand and get a grip are two “figures of speech” that you can almost see the meaning of. What are your guesses?

If a problem or situation is out of hand, that means it is uncontrollable or unmanageable. For example, many people would say the United States let the coronavirus get out of hand.

If somebody tells you to get a grip, that means you need to calm or control your thoughts because you perceive that things are out of hand! Usually, the person telling you to get a grip sees that you are overreacting.

The lesson: While reading or hearing English, Try to “see” what the words are saying. Use your visual imagination. As with most languages, English idioms often communicate through a visual analogy or metaphor. Is that clear? 👀

The term figure of speech is a general term that refers to metaphors that have become common idioms. Here’s another figure of speech that most people can feel when they hear it: “My heart fell to my stomach.” Most people have felt that.

10/17/2022

Everybody knows the birds surveil. Central Park is a drone sanctuary. A white pigeon in a trenchcoat lurks on the track of my East Village exercise grounds (gym-free since COVID!). Sparrows peck out my comings and goings.

A CONSPIRACY group which says it is “fighting lunacy with lunacy” held a huge protest in New York City on Saturday. Birds Aren’t Real, a parody movement claims that all birds in t…

09/25/2022

Fall is finally here! Pumpkin spice lattes leaves changing colors and layered outfits. With the start of a new season comes a set of idioms! Check out some fun fall idioms in our blog post below.

Have you gotten a pumpkin spice latte yet? The season of Halloween and everything pumpkin spice is finally upon us as the first day of fall has arrived. Even our language starts to change with new idioms as the new season comes around. Below are a few fall idioms you might have heard of! Turn over a...

06/22/2022

Motivating and Specifying “Active Reading”

Often I write notes to parents and to students that recount a solution found during a class session. Here’s an instance that helped an 11-year-old student to understand an element of being an active reader.

Today’s assignment was to identify and define words [student] didn't know in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. He came up with a good number of words to define, but as we covered some of the lines, quizzing revealed other words he "guessed at." So we came up with a sentence that describes what to do about this problem and how it benefits [student]:

"When I see a word I usually would guess about, now I’m going to look it up instead to improve my reading comprehension and diction (word choice) in writing.”

I asked him if he knew what moving something to "top-of-mind" meant, and he said yes. Then we agreed this sentence would become top-of-mind while he reads. It specifies an element of the mysterious (to students) term "active reader."

04/16/2022

I needed reminding where Aristotle was born. This was the result. A compelling argument that grammar is (please) not wholly descriptive.

04/16/2022

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/williamgargan_i-needed-reminding-where-aristotle-was-born-activity-6920909615308103680-DH_B?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

I needed reminding where Aristotle was born. This was the result. A compelling argument that grammar is (please) not wholly descriptive....

02/02/2022

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Peter Norvig compiled and wrote a prescient "advanced guide" (cheat sheet) for Wordle about nine years ago. Use it to amaze your friends and find out what kind of boss (or potential mate) you're mixed up with (if you dare).

Will your prowess mean a promotion or demotion? More engagement or a ghosting? https://lnkd.in/dPNmcQHt

English Letter Frequency Counts: Mayzner Revisited or ETAOIN SRHLDCU
norvig.com • 15 min read

Here's what we can do with today's computing power (using publicly available data and the processing power of my own personal computer; I'm not relying on access to corporate computing power):

06/27/2021

https://www.esleastasia.com/post/being-cool

The very cool jazz pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917-1982) The literal and first meaning of cool is “not warm but not very cold.” For example, “It is cool outside. You should wear a sweater.” But cool is also very common slang for a number of concepts. In the early 1700s the word became a...

06/12/2021

Biblical and Melvillian:

"I thought to myself, okay, this is it. This is, I finally, I'm going to die," said veteran lobster diver Michael Packard.

06/08/2021

A hilarious cautionary tale.:"You tell me what happened, and I'll tell everyone to pass it along. What can wrong?"

Marc Ettlinger, Ph.D. posted on LinkedIn