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Compromise : The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.

Classic : Books which people praise but do not read.

Smile : A curve that can set a lot of things straight.

Office : A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.

Etc. : A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do.

Committee: Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together.

Experience : The name men give to their mistakes.

Philosopher: A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead.

Father : A banker provided by nature.

Criminal : A guy no different from the rest … except that he got caught.

Boss: Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early.

Politician : One who shakes your hand before elections and your confidence after.

Doctor : Person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you with his bills.

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Naturally, those in power at the beeb had to be seen to act against homophobic attitudes, and quite rightly so. What they failed to acknowledge, however, is the fundamental shift in the lexical range of this word. Just as the meaning of gay shifted dramatically from being a reference to all things carefree and happy-go-lucky in the 40s and 50s to being synonymous with homosexuality and same-sex lurrvvve, it has again changed in meaning to the point where it is now an adjective often as not used to describe lameness and lack of cool. When Clarkson says that such a car isn’t to his liking because ‘it’s just gay’, it’s my feeling that he isn’t suggesting that the car isn’t suitable for him as its target market is the homosexual community of which he isn’t a part, rather that it’s merely lacking in that certain cool factor.

This is an important point for us language teachers as shifts in word meaning / lexical coverage are not handled very well by our industry / profession. Not that subjects such as homosexuality are dealt with in course books (much too controversial), nor that the shift in meaning has meant that gay no longer has any, er, gay connotations, it’s that Clarkson’s show is available to a worldwide audience and the BBC’s assertion on this matter was just wrong. This idea of flexibility and changeable meaning has to gain more prominence or we’ll find ourselves having to justify definitions that are outdated and just plain wrong.

Nothing new there, I hear those of you who have just spent the last week explaining why ‘whom’ is still a vitally important part of English say. Maybe, but we shouldn’t be waiting for published materials to catch up with real language, as I feel is too often the case. In Turkey, I find myself faced with societal attitudes towards the issue of homosexuality which differ to my own. Whilst I may feel that attitudes towards this issue are archaic, I respect the fact that Turkish society can do without an outsider imposing his opinions on what he feels is right and wrong. When it comes to archaic language, however, what I can and must do is make sure that the language my students learn is not outdated.

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Arkansas: In a move that can hardly be considered revolutionary, Northwest Arkansas teachers have created a targeted vocabulary list this year to help students with limited English skills score better on state mandated Benchmark exams. The list shows specific words that students must understand to meet the state’s learning objectives.

The vocabulary was identified after teachers realized that students designated as English-language learners were using words (shock, horror) without fully understanding their meanings, said Buddy Auman, director of the cooperative and newly emerged from the dark ages, one would presume.

I don’t know whether such a story should be newsworthy in the 21st century, but, hey, if you really must, read the full story here.

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‘I love both English and American literature, but words such as “poem” or “metaphor” or “symbol” always sound really frightening to my students. How can I make them less scared? I would like to let them realize the “magic” of words?’

How do you go about getting your students to realize the magic of words?

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The basic idea is that some rice is donated to someone in need every time you click on the correct vocab definition from a list of four for a given word. Doesn’t that sound like fun? It hets quite challenging as the words get more difficult as you progress. If you get up to the mid thirties vocab level on the game (not sure how they calculate this) I reckon you’re doing pretty well.

Don’t forget to download the free journal:

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Covering old favourites such as hangman, battleships and blockbusters, as well as variations on common adaptable classroom fun activities, Not Hangman Again is a comprehensive guide to playing games in the ELT class.

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