Have you ever heard the famous saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention”? Necessity is a need for something and invention is the creation of something new, something that no one has ever made before.
Many new inventions come about (result) by combining two or more things into something new. Cars are a good example. Hybrid cars (often simply called “hybrids”) are cars that combine an all-electric car with an all-gasoline-burning car to create a car that runs on part electricity and part gasoline. In this case, our need for more efficient and cleaner fuel (power) was the mother of invention.
When speaking of food, we often use the term fusion to talk about the blending of (putting together of; combining of) two or more types of cooking to make a new type of cuisine (fine food; cooking). In Los Angeles, Asian fusion is quite popular, with chefs (professional cooks) combining ingredients (individual parts of food) or cooking techniques of Asian food with those found in French, Italian, Middle Eastern, or other types of cooking. What is the necessity that is the mother of invention here? To please curious palates (mouths; tastes)? To lure (attract) to one place people who like different types of cuisine? The wish to create something new and innovative? Perhaps it’s a combination (fusion?) of all of these reasons.
I recently come across a new and interesting combination in music. You may have heard of the ukulele, an instrument used in traditional Hawaii music. It is a small instrument with four strings. And you all know what a guitar is, an instrument with six strings that no rock musician could do without. But have you heard of a guitalele?
As the name suggests, the guitalele is a cross between (combination of) a ukulele and a guitar. It has six strings like a guitar, but it is closer in size to a ukulele. From the clips (small segments of audio or video) I’ve seen on YouTube, it sounds marvelous. What is the necessity that prompted (encouraged) this invention? To help smaller musicians? To have an instrument with a really funny name that makes you laugh each time you hear it? I’m not sure. Unfortunately, for Americans, the inexpensive guitalele by Yamaha is not sold in the U.S. Why? I can only guess that they are still holding the funny-looking spork against us.
(By the way, “a cross between” is a very useful general phrase meaning a combination of two things. For example, in movies, a cross between a comedy and a romance is called a romantic comedy. With animals, a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey. And when describing Jeff’s looks? He’s a cross between Brad Pitt and George Clooney, of course!)
This is the time of the year when students who want to study in the U.S. next fall (September) begin to worry about taking the TOEFL.
The TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language – measures students’ ability to use academic English, the kind of English that is used in college and university classes. Almost all international students have to take the TOEFL before they can attend schools in the U.S. or other countries where classes are taught in English. More than one million students take the TOEFL every year.
The Problem
When students talk to me about the TOEFL, I’m often surprised by how little they know about it. They know that there are four sections (parts) – reading, listening, speaking, writing – but not much more.
The Solution
Check out (find information about) the TOEFL as soon as possible, before you begin to prepare for it.
On any test, it’s important for a student to know as much about the test as possible. If you do, you will be a better test taker. You can plan your preparation better, and you will know what to expect when you take the test. As a result, you will be more relaxed and more confident when you actually have to take the test.
Finding the Information
The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is the company that is responsible for the TOEFL. Their web site has a lot of information about the TOEFL and other tests, but it is not an easy site to navigate (to find where you need to go). Here are links to three pages on the ETS site that all students should look at when they begin to prepare for the TOEFL:
1. TOEFL iBT at a Glance – a four-page introduction to the TOEFL iBT (Internet-based Test). It briefly describes what’s new about the iBT and how it is different from the older paper-based TOEFL that many students are familiar with. It also contains answers to questions that students frequently ask.
2. The TOEFL iBT Tour – a video tour that introduces you to the TOEFL and shows you examples of each section of the test. Be sure to click on these links: Skills, Read, Listen, Write, Speak.
3. TOEFL iBT Tips – a long document – about 70 pages – that’s full of helpful information. You will find a description of each section of the test, with information about the specific skills (abilities) you need and the kinds of questions you will have to answer. There are also suggestions for how to improve your skills and prepare for the test. Rubrics (instructions for scoring) for speaking and writing will help you understand what you need to do to get good scores on those sections. Screenshots (pictures of the computer screen) show you what you will see when you take the test.
Do it now!
~Warren Ediger – student of many things, but especially language, learning/teaching, and technology; ESL teacher/tutor; musician; husband and father; creator of successfulenglish.com.
P.S. I want to thank Jeff, Lucy, and all of the members of the ESL Podcast family for the warm welcome you gave me after my first post. It’s a privilege and delight to be a part of this great family!
Visitors to Los Angeles have many tour options. Many people opt for (choose) star tours, which are tours that take visitors to the site of celebrities’ homes (or at least the outside of what are supposed to be their homes). Others like to visit famous Los Angeles sites, such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, and the beaches.
Now, visitors coming to Los Angeles have a new option: a tour of areas with high (a lot of) gang activity. Gangs–organized groups of criminals, usually of young people–have been part of Los Angeles for a very long time. Creator of LA Gang Tours, Alfred Lomas, thinks it is time for people to learn more about this aspect (part) of the city. Lomas is himself a former gang member, and the goal of the non-profit (not mainly to make money) LA Gang Tours is to make profits (earnings) that can then be used for micro-loans (small loans) for businesses in the community to promote more jobs.
To make the tour safe, Lomas says that he has the assurance (promise) of four gangs that they will not harm or harass (frighten and bother) the tour bus as it goes through their turf (territory). If you go on one of these tours, however, you know that there is some inherent (built-in; essential) danger. In fact, each person who goes on one of these tours has to sign a liability waiver, which is a legal agreement that says that the tour company is not legally responsible for anything bad that happens to you. Even with these dangers, however, the tours are very popular. The tour itself is two hours, includes lunch, and makes 12 stops.
These gangland tours are not without critics (people who think they are a bad idea). Some local leaders believe that the tours will give people an even worse image of these parts of the city, turning away potentialinvestors (people who might put their money into something, which they expect will make them more money).
Here is a quote from the Los Angeles Times story that I think sums up (summarizes well) the controversy:
“Everybody says we are the gang capital of the world, and that is certainly true, no denying that,” said the Rev. (Reverend) Gregory Boyle, who has spent decades trying to steer people out of gangs into legitimate work. “It’s hard to gloss over that. But there are two extremes we always need to avoid. One is demonizing the gang member, and the other extreme is romanticizing the gang.” (see definitions below)
So what do you think? Are tours of this kind a good idea? Are you ready to take an LA Gang Tour?
~ Lucy
to steer = to guide legitimate = legal; following the law or the rules to gloss over = to hide something bad under a false, good image; to make something seem better than it is extreme = highest or lowest; best or worst to demonize = to show something as evil or completely bad to romanticize = to show something as better or more appealing than it is
There’s an old expression in English, “The more, the merrier.” Merry is an old-fashioned word that means to be happy, as in “Merry Christmas.” “The more, the merrier” means the more people you have, say, at a party, the happier everyone is. We usually say this when somebody asks to join our group or some activity, and we want to make them feel welcome. But today I want to talk about not more people, but more money, and not “merry” as in happy, but marry, as in becoming husband and wife.
A new study of marriage in the United States has found that, in 2007, 19% of wives had husbands who were better educated (had more education) than they were, and 20% were married to men with less education. (Presumably (probably, most likely), the rest of the married couples had equal amounts of education, although the newspaper story I read doesn’t mention this.) But in 1970, 28% of wives had husbands who were better educated, and 20% were married to men with less education. In other words, it used to be that nearly 30% of women married men who were better educated than they were, but now that figure (number) has dropped to 19%. In 1970, only 4% of husbands had wives who made more money than they did; in 2007, 22% of husbands had wives who made more money than they did.
What can explain this change? First, this is the first generation of Americans in which more women have graduated from college than men, a change from previous generations when the majority of college graduates were men. With more education typically comes more income, although the relationship between education and income (the amount of money you make) is strong but not perfect. Second, many men clearly do not mind (are not bothered by) the fact that their wives have more education and make more money. It is still true, however, that women with college degrees are more likely to marry today than less educated women, although the overall percentage of the U.S. population that is married has been declining (going down, becoming less).
Is this a good thing, a bad thing, or neither good nor bad?
QUESTION:
Yana from Russia wants to know the meaning of the phrase “mind over matter.”
ANSWER: Mind over matter refers to the ability to use the power of our thinking, or of our brain, to overcome (succeed in dealing with) some difficulty related to our body or the physical world in general. We often use mind as a synonym for “brain,” “thoughts,” and other things related to thinking. For example, when we want to ask what someone else is thinking, we can ask: “What’s on your mind?”
Matter is anything that has a physical form or shape. In science, for example, astronomers (scientists who study space) may talk about studying matter in outer space, the area away from the Earth and its atmosphere.
We can use “mind over matter” in many situations. For example:
Jeff: “How can you resist eating that cake? It’s your favorite kind.”
Lucy: “Don’t worry. For me, it’s simply mind over matter.”
…
Lucy: “You’re too sick to be at work today.”
Jeff: “It’s a case of mind over matter. If I believe and behave like I’m well, then I’ll get well more quickly.”
…
QUESTION:
Parham from Canada asks: “What does ‘relationship chicken’ mean?”
ANSWER: In this situation, chicken refers to someone who is a coward, someone who is not brave, someone who does not have courage to do something, or someone who behaves in this way. A relationship chicken, then, is someone who is afraid of being in a romantic relationship.
You can call someone a “chicken” for any perceived (what you see as) fear or weakness. For example:
Used as an adjective:
A: “Let’s not go to school today and go the beach instead.”
B: “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
A: “Why not? Are you chicken?”
… Used as a noun:
A: “Here’s my new pet snake. Do you want to hold it?
B: “No way! I’m a chicken when it comes to snakes.”
…
QUESTION:
Robert from Czech Republic asks: “What does ‘not even close’ mean?”
ANSWER:
Not even close means not nearly, far from the answer, or far from the truth. Here are a few of examples of how this can be used:
Lucy: “Are you done recording this week’s podcasts?”
Jeff: “Not even close. I haven’t even finished the first one!”
…
Lucy: “Jeff, you’re so smart. You must read 10 books a week!”
Jeff: “Not even close. I only read five books a day!”
…
Lucy: “Try to guess how old I am.”
Jeff: “You’re 60.”
Lucy: “You’re not even close. I’m 29…still!”
…
Thanks, to all, for the questions. I hope this is helpful.
Most universities require their students to pass (complete successfully) certain courses (classes) in order to graduate. Usually, these are what we call general education classes, classes on topics that the university thinks everyone should know about to be considered an educated college graduate, such as literature, history, math, foreign language, and science. During the early part of the 20th century (remember the 20th century?), Cornell University (in Ithica, New York) began requiring student to pass a swim test, thinking that knowing how to swim was part of a “complete education.” Other universities followed suit (did the same thing), and by the 1940s, tests and classes related to one’s physical abilities (such as swimming) became more common at American universities.
By the mid-1990s, however, only five percent of U.S. colleges required students to take a swim test, and the vast (large) majority required no physical education (sports, exercise) courses at all. My alma mater (university from which I graduated, literally from the Latin meaning “nourishing (one who feeds) mother,” because universities “feed” you knowledge), the University of Minnesota, did not require any physical education classes, for example, which is a good thing for me, since I have zero talent for sports. The few universities that still require a swim test today include some quite famous ones, including Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and Notre Dame.
The tests vary (are different) from university to university. At Columbia, you must swim 75 yards (that’s 68.58 meters for the rest of the world), using any style or method (except with a surfboard, I guess). For Dartmouth, it’s 50 yards (45.72 meters), and for Notre Dame, 100 yards (91.44 meters). Most students pass the test, but those who don’t have to take a swimming class in order to (to be able to) graduate.
Is it fair to ask college students to know how to swim in order to get their degree? I’m not sure, although growing up in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” (Minnesota), I can see how it would be a useful skill to have. Could I have passed such a test had it existed when I was in college? Well, let’s just say I have never been, and never will be, confused with Michael Phelps (the swimmer who won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics).
In last week’s English Cafe, we talked about hip-hop culture. A big part of hip-hop culture is hip-hop dancing, or street dancing. Hip-hop dancing has been around for a long time, since the early 1970s, and it has continued and developed a lot since that time.
Hip-hop or street dancing is known for its battles, formal or informal dance competitions, where each dancer tries to out-dance (dance better than) his or her competitor. Although many dancers dance alone, many others dance in dance crews. A crew is a group of people who work together to do a job, especially a job that involves physicallabor (work using one’s body). Dance crews are known for their coordination (ability to dance at the same time or in relation to each other) and their dance tricks (moves that are physically difficult to do and impressive to watch).
In 2008, the popular cable music television channel MTV debuted (showed for the first time) a show called “America’s Best Dance Crew.” On the show, dance crews from all over the country competed for a cash prize and the title of (the position of) America’s Best Dance Crew. Many of these crews developed on the streets, that is, without formal training and not in a formal dance studio, while others met in formal dance training and decided to form their own crew.
Here are a few examples of the type of dancing these amazing dancers can do.
Today we have a guest blogger, Warren Ediger. You can read his explanation of 2009 buzzwords in the next post. (What’s a buzzword, you ask? Read Warren’s post to find out!) Warren will be writing posts every now and then (sometimes) about American culture and English, and we are very happy to have him writing for us. He is an experienced ESL teacher here in Southern California, as well as one of the top (best) online English tutors I know.
Be sure to take a look at Warren’s website, SuccessfulEnglish.com, which has some excellent resources and tips for improving your English. Those interested in online tutoring can contact Warren via (using, by means of) email by going to his website.
Let’s give Warren a warm (friendly) welcome to the blog!
In Jesus Christ Superstar, a rock opera and movie from the 1970s, there’s a song called What’s the Buzz? In the song, the apostles (disciples, Jesus’ followers) ask Jesus the same question again and again:
What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening!
They wanted to know what everybody was talking about.
Have you ever walked into a room full of people – perhaps at a party – and listened to the sound of all the conversations in the room? You can’t hear the words, but you can hear the buzz (activity, noise, excitement) of all the conversations.
Buzzwords are words that quickly become fashionable, or popular. They are words people use frequently, sometimes to impress other people. They show that you know what’s going on (what’s happening in the world around you).
Buzzwords don’t usually last (continue to be used) for a long time. In fact, we often get tired of hearing them and wish they would go away. On the other hand, buzzwords can tell us a lot about what people were talking about at a particular time, like last year.
Some buzzwords become a regular part of the language. Usually they begin as colloquial words or expressions – informal, everyday words that are used in casual conversation but not in formal speech or writing.
This morning several buzzwords from 2009 were in the news. One of them – unfriend – was named the word of the year by the people who publish the Oxford dictionary. Unfriend is a verb that means to remove someone as a “friend” on Facebook or some other social networking site.
Here are some other 2009 buzzwords that were considered (thought carefully about) for word of the year:
sexting – sending sexual messages or pictures by mobile telephone
birther – someone who believes that Barak Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and, as a result, shouldn’t be president
netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer for going onto the Internet
death panel – a committee that decides which patients receive medical treatment or, supposedly (used when we aren’t sure), are left to die. Some people in the U.S. believe that death panels were included in the new health care program introduced by President Obama, but they weren’t.
~Warren Ediger – a student of many things, but especially language, learning and teaching, and technology; mentor-teacher; musician; husband and father; and creator of successfulenglish.com.
Yesterday, I offered a little ditty to help us all get through Monday. Today, I have a little joke for you. If we get past Monday and Tuesday, then we should be able to get past hump day, right? Hump day is what we informally call Wednesday. A hump is a round area that is higher than the area around it. If you encounter (meet) a hump in a road, you’ll need a little extra gas to get over it. (A hump is also what’s on the back of some animals, like camels (see photo).) If we can get past Wednesday, the hump, than the rest of the week will be a cinch (something easy to do).
Here’s a little language joke, which also helps to explain why Cody was looking for Jeff and how he knew about ESL Podcast.
…
There was a mother mouse who was scurrying (running quickly) across the kitchen floor with her six little mice in tow (following). All of a sudden (suddenly), she came eye-to-eye with a very large and very mean-looking cat. Mother mouse was terrified (very afraid)! But she pulled herself up to full height (stood up as tall as she could) and said at the top of her lungs (as loudly as possible), “Bow Wow!”
The cat nearly jumped out of his skin (was very shocked, very scared) and in the blink of an eye (immediately; very quickly) ran up a tree two blocks away. Meanwhile, mother mouse gathered her little ones around her and explained, “Now, my dears, you see what I’ve always told you about the importance of learning a second language!”
* “Bow wow” or “woof woof” is the way we represent in English the sounds a dog makes when “speaking.” Of course, it’s different in every language.
…
I wish you a good and easy Tuesday!
Have you ever heard the famous saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention”? Necessity is a need for something and invention is the creation of something new, something that no one has ever made before.
This is the time of the year when students who want to study in the U.S. next fall (September) begin to worry about taking the TOEFL.
Visitors to Los Angeles have many tour options. Many people opt for (choose) star tours, which are tours that take visitors to the site of celebrities’ homes (or at least the outside of what are supposed to be their homes). Others like to visit famous Los Angeles sites, such as Disneyland, Universal Studios, and the beaches.
Yesterday, I offered a little 
There was a mother mouse who was scurrying (running quickly) across the kitchen floor with her six little mice in tow (following). All of a sudden (suddenly), she came eye-to-eye with a very large and very mean-looking cat. Mother mouse was terrified (very afraid)! But she pulled herself up to full height (stood up as tall as she could) and said at the top of her lungs (as loudly as possible), “Bow Wow!”
