We may not get the opportunity to teach much slang in the classroom, nevertheless it can be important when listening to native speakers. This can be in real life, films tv or music. The more you understand slang the easier it will be to appreciate the cultural aspects of English. Below are just a few examples of some common slang words.

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airhead: stupid person.

"Believe it or not, Andy can sometimes act like an airhead!"

awesome: great and impressive.

"Andy is truly awesome!"

beat: tired.

"I'm really beat because I was awake all night."

biggie: something important.

"I was hoping to get my homework completed, but it's no biggie. "

bonkers; go bonkers: crazy.

"If Andy works too hard, he sometimes goes slightly bonkers!"

booboo: a mistake.

"I made a booboo on the last question of the exam."

booze: alcohol.

"The CCBEU  party was fun, even though there wasn't any booze."

bushed: extremely tired.

"I'm completely bushed."

cheesy: cheap; outmoded.

"Why are you wearing such cheesy clothes?"

chicken: coward.

"Don't be such a chicken!"

cool: excellent; superb.

"Andy is totally cool!"

couch potato: a person who watches too much television.

"Why did I have to marry such a couch potato?"

crap [offensive]: something worthless.

"My furniture is a bunch of cheap crap."

freebie: something that does not cost money.

"My trip to New York was a freebie."

get it: to understand something.

"Sorry, but I just don't get it."

go bananas: go slightly mad.

"This project is causing me to go bananas!"

grub: food.

"Where's the grub?!"

guts : courage.

"It took a lot of guts to ask his boss for a raise."

hot : popular.

"Brad Pitt is really hot now."

humungous: really big.

"American supermarkets are humungous."

jerk: stupid or annoying person.

"How could you go out with such a jerk?"

knock: condemn.

"Don't knock it unless you've tried it."

laid back: relaxed; calm.

"I always feel laid back at the beach."

 

make waves: cause problems.

"Teachers don't like students to make waves."

neat: cool; great.

"Isn't my new car neat?"

party animal: someone that loves parties.

"Andy has been known to sometimes be a party animal."

peanuts: very little money.

"I love my job, but the pay is peanuts."

pee: to urinate.

"I always have to pee after drinking beer."

piss: to urinate. (impolite)

“I need to go for a piss”

 

pissed (off): angry; upset.

"I'm really pissed (off) at you."

rip off (1): stealing.

"Someone ripped off my car."

rip off (2): fraud.

"I paid $10,000 for my computer. What a rip off!"

rubbish: nonsense; not true.

"That rumor is a bunch of rubbish."

screw up: to make a mistake.

"I screwed up on the driving test, so I didn't pass."

screw-up: a person who makes a mistake.

"Why are you such a screw-up?"

suck: to be bad and unacceptable.

"That song really sucks!"

turn-off: something that repulses a person.

"Bad breath is a real turn-off."

umpteen: many; countless.

"I've asked you umpteen times to show me the money!"

zero: an unimportant person.

"If you don't work hard, you'll end up a zero."

What are proverbs?

Every culture has a collection of wise sayings that offer advice about how to live your life. These sayings are called "proverbs".

How can you use proverbs to learn English?

It's good to know the really common English proverbs because you hear them come up in conversation all the time. Sometimes people say the entire proverb to give advice to a friend. More often, someone will say just part of a proverb.

1.                 "Two wrongs don't make a right."

When someone has done something bad to you, trying to get revenge will only make things worse.

2.                 "The pen is mightier than the sword."

Trying to convince people with ideas and words is more effective than trying to force people to do what you want.

3.                 "When in Rome, do as the Romans."

Act the way that the people around you are acting. This phrase might come in handy when you're traveling abroad notice that people do things differently than you're used to.

4.                 "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

You can get better service if you complain about something. If you wait patiently, no one's going to help you.

5.                 "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Strong people don't give up when they come across challenges. They just work harder.

6.                 "No man is an island."

You can't live completely independently. Everyone needs help from other people.

7.                 "Fortune favors the bold."

People who bravely go after what they want are more successful than people who try to live safely.

8.                 "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones."

Don't criticize other people if you're not perfect yourself.

9.                 "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."

Bad things might happen, so be prepared.

10.           "Better late than never."

It's best to do something on time. But if you can't do it on time, do it late

Understanding how you learn best may also help you.

There are different ways to learn. Find out what kind of learner you are in order to better understand how to learn more effectively.

The Seven Learning Styles

·         Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

·         Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.

·         Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

·         Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

·         Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

·         Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

·         Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

Visual

Visual learners learn best through what they SEE and are probably the easiest to connect with through typical classroom instruction. By writing words down or students reading information in textbooks or on the internet, you receive visual input and are able to absorb the material presented.

        Aural

Aural learners acquire information best through SOUND. Sometimes these learners are classified as auditory or musical. For these students, listening to lectures, videos and themselves talk all help them learn. Listening activities in class where students listen for a specific structure may be beneficial.

Verbal

Verbal students learn through WORDS, both spoken and written, and probably learn languages more easily than other types of learners. 

Physical

Also known as kinesthetic learners, physical learners benefit from using their bodies and sense of TOUCH as they learn. By using techniques like, for example, something as simple as writing answers to questions, which engages the hands as you hold the pen, will help you cement the knowledge into your minds

Logical

Do you have any mathematical geniuses in your class? They are probably logical learners who are using reasoning, systems and LOGIC to absorb information. For these students, language learning will come most easily from a linguistic approach. Linguistics, known as the science of language, defines rules and patterns that languages follow in their grammar, syntax and phonology, syntactic or phonological rules. Diagramming sentences will also help them understand the grammar that is beneath the surface structure of English sentences.

Social

Social learners enjoy and benefit from WORKING IN GROUPS as they learn. Since so much of language learning is communicative in nature, social learners will probably have many opportunities for quality learning through discussion groups and learning activities such as jigsaws.

Solitary

Students whose strongest learning style is solitary function best in self-learning environments and working ON THEIR OWN. Because the goal of language instruction is communication, these students may struggle with group activities or discussions in class.

As you may have read in the last issue of Speak Up, many seemingly strange phrasal verbs and idioms in English have a logical origin. In Speak Up they talk about where the phrasal verb "hang out" comes from (read the article in 323 about neighbors if you want to know). This week I thought I would look at some common idioms and their origins.

Red Tape

This is a very common idiom. We use the term "red tape" to denote anything that may delay or hold us up, whatever the process may be. It also refers to a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy or paperwork.

This term originated from the fact that legal and official documents were tied up or bound with red tape since the 16th century. By doing so, it was often difficult to access them. Hence, the term "red tape."

"it's Raining Cats and Dogs!"

Now, this is an interesting one.

This must sound like a very odd expression to someone just learning the language for the first time. There are a lot of things I have seen falling from the sky, but cats and dogs are not one of them.

How did this expression come about, then?

It's quite simple, really. It originated in England in the 1500's, when houses had thatched roofs. A thatch roof consisted of straw piled high, with no wood underneath. In cold, foggy England, this was sometimes the only place for an animal to get warm. Cats, and other small animals, like mice, bugs, and the occasional dog would go  on the roofs.

When it rained really hard, some of the animals would slip off the roof and wash up in the gutters on the street. Hence, the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs" ended up referring to a heavy rain.

thatched roofs        telhado de palha

foggy     nebuloso

gutters   calhas

An Arm and a Leg

"That's going to cost you an arm and a leg!"

This is a common phrase that means simply it's going to cost to the point of sacrifice. It's going to hurt. The price is high.

Where did such a phrase come into existence?

If we step back in time to George Washington's day, we would not see any cameras. For a portrait to be taken, it had to be painted, or sculpted.

This is a rather interesting fact, but if you notice old pictures, you will notice the paintings are of faces, or perhaps a person with one arm behind their back, or both arms. The truth is, in these times, portraits were not charged by the number of people who appeared in the picture, but rather, by the number of limbs that were painted.

If they wanted a cheaper painting, then it would "cost them an arm and a leg."Artists knew it took more time and effort since arms, hands and legs were more difficult to paint.