Vocabulary

Idioms

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Big deal! – So what? That doesn’t really matter.

Example 1: You won five dollars in the lottery? Big deal!

Example 2: Your father has a job with a big company in New York City? Big deal!

(to) give someone the cold shoulder to be cold to someone on purpose; to snub someone

Example 1: When Lisa saw Amber at the mall, she didn’t even stop to talk to her. She really gave her the cold shoulder.

Example 2: I can’t understand why Joe would give you the cold shoulder. I thought you two were good friends!

(to) hit the nail on the head – to be right

Example 1: Dawn hit the nail on the head when she said that Tiffany is jealous of Amber.

Example 2: Steve hit the nail on the head with his idea of moving his company’s manufacturing facility to China.

piece of cake – very easy

Example 1: Nicole finished her physics test in just 25 minutes. It was a piece of cake.

Example 2: The driving test is a piece of cake. Don’t worry about it.

(to) twist someone’s arm – to persuade someone; to convince someone

Example 1: Ted didn’t want to get another tattoo on his back, but Amber twisted his arm.

Example 2: Okay, you’ve twisted my arm. You can borrow my new car and drive it across the country.

Make sentences with these idioms and type them in a comment box.

Useful Vocabulary for the Resume and Interview

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acted, accomplished, adapted, administered, advanced, advised, allocated, analyzed, applied, approved, arbitrated, arranged, assisted, attained, blended,brought, built, carried out, changed, classified, collaborated, compared, completed, computed, conceived, conducted, constructed, consulted, contracted, controlled, cooperated, coordinated, corrected, counseled, created, edited, dealt, decided, decreased, defined, delegated, derived, designated, detected, developed, devised, directed, discovered, distributed, documented, doubled, encouraged, engineered, enlarged, escalated, established, estimated, evaluated, examined, expanded, experienced, explored, facilitated, finalized, formulated, founded, functioned, governed, grouped, guided, handled, harmonized, harnessed, headed, identified, implemented, improved, increased, indexed, initiated, inspected, installed, instituted, interpreted, introduced, invented, investigated, justified, led, localized, located, made, managed, maintained, mechanized, merged, moderated, motivated,negotiated, opened, operated, organized, originated, overcame, perceived,performed, pioneered, planned, prepared, presented, presided, processed, programmed, promoted, provided, purchased, raised, recommended, recorded, recruited, rectified, redesigned, repaired, replaced, restored, reversed, reviewed, revised, saved, screened, selected, serviced, set up, solved, sorted, sparked, specified, started,stimulated, strengthened, summarized, supervised, supported, systematized, tested, trained, transacted, transcribed, transformed, tripled, upgraded, validated, varied, verified, vitalized, won, wrote.

Optimist or Pessimist?

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This short story illustrates how different people can look at things in different ways.

Many years ago two salesmen were sent by a British shoe manufacturer to a far away land to investigate and report back on the market potential there.

The first salesman reported back, “There is no potential here – nobody wears shoes.”

The second salesman reported back, “There is massive potential here – everyone needs shoes.”

Halloween

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How to carve a pumpkin

We would like to thank Jack for this video.

Lesson Plans for Lower Levels.

Haunted House Writing Activity for L4-6

Tracing Activity for Pre-Lit Students

Crossword for Higher Level

Crossword for Intermediate Level

Interactive Jigsaw Puzzles

Listen to a scary story. High level

Read a scary story. L 4-6

Look at home-made Halloween costumes and guess who these children are.

Phrase Builder: All Levels

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Oxford University Press offers Phrase Builder Activities for all levels.
Open your phrase books, get pens ready and start practicing now. You could listen to a phrase, read it, study what it means and test yourself.
Click here.

Please leave a comment for us. Was this exercise useful for you? Did you like it? What new expressions did you learn today?

Extreme Weather: Hurricanes

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Hurricane Earl downgraded to Category 3, still threatens NC Coast.
(CNN) — Hurricane Earl made its presence known Wednesday despite being hundreds of miles from the East Coast of the U.S., menacing swimmers with dangerous rip currents and large swells as forecasters expanded a hurricane watch northward from North Carolina into coastal Virginia.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Ocracoke Island, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and Cape Lookout National Seashore. read more (high level)

Watch Hurricane Earl (live)

Vocabulary: Hurricane, typhoon, cyclone,spiraling, spiral, cyclonic, circling, spinning, humidity, humid, moisture, moist, tropical

What is a hurricane?

Hurricane Related ESL Exercises

Weather quotes

Funny English Mistakes about Weather

Spelling Bee Time

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A spelling bee is a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States. Today, National Spelling Bee competitions for English are held in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Indonesia, among others.

Spelling Bee Interactive Game-listen to a word and spell it.

Official Spelling Bee Website


Happy Independence Day!

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Isn’t it great to have a long weekend to celebrate the Independence Day?
Do you want to know about this wonderful holiday? Click on this link http://www.elcivics.com/esl_fourth_of_july , Listen to an article about the Independence Day.
Do an Independence Day Vocabulary exercise, Take a Quiz with Answers
Print a Worksheet with Answers
Watch a Video for ESL students
And don’t forget to relax and come back to class rested.
Happy Independence Day!