MIDTERM TEST REVIEW

CLICK HERE and check the answers for the 137 vocabulary items we didn't have the time to answer in class.

LESSON 136 - questions for class discussion

A sample of the teacher's and the students' performance upon such questions as those from the textbook.

Lesson 136: Newspaper Article

Black English is a rich part of American Speech

by William Raspberry

The Miami Herald

You would not be surprised to hear, say, your local judge use one style of speech as a participant in a neighborhood softball game, another when he's on the bench, and a third when he offers a prayer at church.

Linguists call it "code-switching," the ability to change from one language style to another, as circumstances dictate. It's what most successful adults do without thinking about it, and its' what most of us - including the parents at Burnt Mills Elementary School - want our children to learn.

But burnt Mills, in suburban Montgomery count, Md., is trying to accomplish a specific type of 'code-switching: to teach black children to shift easily between the "Black English" that many of them speak and the more formal dialect of the classroom, the public forum, and the personnel office.

For some black parents, it's too specific for comfort.

Too Specific for Comfort

Their objection is less to the idea of having their children learn Standard English than to having them singled out on the basis of race for the voluntary program. The letter announcing the after-school program went only to parents of the school's black fifth graders. The creators of the experimental project, a group of minority speech and language pathologists, believe that it makes more sense to work with students who speak more or less the same informal language rather than include white of foreign-language speakers, who may have different problems.

But for some parents, the singling out suggests racial insensitivity.

"Clearly I think all youngsters in this society need to be taught the standard language," Hanley Norment, president of the Montgomery Chapter of the NAACP, said. "Otherwise, they cannot be meaningfully employed as they grow up. But the assumption (at Burnt Mills) was that all black kids obviously have a problem whit the language and that their parents undoubtedly do, too, so we'll just use a broad-brush approach rather sensitively look at the needs of each child."

2nd semester 2010 - How big can a classroom be?

Those are the guys, that is the classroom. The book is that red one, I'm behind the camera and still in the spotlight. Really wish I had been able to mean something, not only to you. Welcome to your blog.

FINAL REVIEW

1. VOCABULARY

1. TIMING
2. JUSTIFY
3. UNBORN
4. GET SOMETHING ALL WRONG
5. MYSTICAL
6. STAY AWAY
7. TOOTHLESS
8. FATTEN UP
9. BURY
10. NUPTIALS
11. FROWN ON
12. SPLIT OUT
13. FORGIVE
14. QUEER
15. NOT TO GET SOMEONE WRONG
16. BARTENDER
17. HOLD ON
18. CANCEL
19. MAKE A SCENE
20. OUTDATED
21. FEATURE
22. PASS OUT
23. BURST
24. MOVE HEAVEN AND EARTH
25. TAKE A SHOT
26. CONDOLENCE
27. COLLECT ONE'S THOUGHT'S
    
28. MATURE
29. SPIN
30. SINK INTO THE GROUND
31. MORTGAGE
32. TO THE TUNE OF
33. LIQUIDATE
34. ASSET
35. GET/HAVE SOMETHING COVERED
36. STRAIGHTEN OUT
37. POP
38. PUT ONE'S MIND TO SOMETHING
39. GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT
40. BUTT
41. -
42. FOREHEAD
43. STACK
44. HUG
45. SLAM
46. SET UP
47. SHAKE
48. TERMS
49. NOD
50. FLAT-CHESTED
51. SURGERY
52. NOVELTY
53. EVENTUALLY
54. KNOCK OFF
55. MESMERIZE
56. CLUE
57. PICKY
58. MATE
59. TRAP
60. CONTESTANT
61. NEBULA
62. OUTER SPACE
63. GIBBERISH
64. GIVE AWAY
66. TO SWEAT
67. WARM FRONT
68. CHILLY
69. COOL
70. MATTER OF FACT
71. SCORCHING HOT
72. BE COMING UP
73. KICK IN
74. RECORD
75. HIT
76. LOOP
77. MOISTURE
78. DRIFT
79. LULL
80. SHORE
81. BITTER
82. BADGE
83. DISH UP/OUT
84. FLICK
85. FOUR-STAR
86. FUME
87. HAG ON TO
88. LASH OUT AT SOMEONE
89. SNATCHER
90. SOAK UP
91. THROW ONESELF AT SOMEONE'S MERCY
92. UPPER HAND
93. VINTAGE
94. WISECRACK
98. -
99. -
100. -
101. -
102. -
103. SINK ONE'S TETH INTO SOMETHING
104. RAZOR-SHARP
105. LET GO OF SOMEONE
106. TURN TAIL
107. EARN
108. BARRAGE
109. JOHN
110. GUSH
111. SPREAD
112. PRANK
113. SMEAR
114. RECKLESS
115. -
116. WELL-OFF
117. -
118. WIND UP
119. -
120. -
121. -
122. -
123. -
124. DETACH
125. KICK
126. -
127. SHOOT POOL
128. OVERTIME
129. CAUGHT UP ON SOMETHING
130. -
131. SHOULD
132. BURGLAR ALARM
133. -
134. -
     

LESSON 143 - headline 1

Yecch! Killer shark spits out victim and flees because he smells so bad.

Paul Barnes from Australia was attacked by a killer shark while out swimming. The shark sank its razor-sharp teeth deep into his right thigh, but immediately let go, turned tail and swam away.

Barnes said he was spared because he smelled like rotten meat. Barnes attributes his body odor to a serious weight and perspiration problem.

headline 2

Congressman booed over racial remark

During a debate in Congress, Representative Fortney Stark said that Health Secretary Louis Sullivan, an Afro-American, was a disgrace to his profession and race because of his opposition to abortion and National Health Insurance. The remark earned Stark a barrage of criticism from congressmen. Stark said mentioning race had been a mistake and later made a public apology. However, he was booed for voicing more objections to Sullivan's policies while the apology.

headline 3

Family flipping its lid over potty potergeist:

"Our toilet is haunted - BY A PLUMBER'S GHOST!"

The Sterns of New York City claim their toilet is haunted by the ghost of a dead plumber. The plumber was crushed to death in a freak accident at their house. They say his spirit causes their john to smoke, gush water and burst into flames all by itself. They also claim to have seen his face in the bowl.

Afraid to use their own toilet, the Sterns decided to call Terry Shawn, a professional ghostbuster who confirmed the authenticity of the ghost. Shawn says that although getting rid of the ghost could take either weeks or months, the Sterns appear to be taking the situation in stride.

headline 4

A million sheepskin condoms seized in health-label dispute.

Federal agents seized a stock of more than one million Trojan condoms made from sheepskin. The manufactures failed to warn users those condoms might not be effective the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. Sharon Snider of the Food and Drug Administration said the condoms should have a warning label to that effect.

headline 5

Man superglued to train seat:

a Railroad passenger trapped a fellow commuter in a train,

authorities say - by sticking him to his seat with superglue!

While riding a train, a man fixing a ring with Krazy Glue pulled a prank on a fellow commuter. The practical joker smeared glue on the headrest of the other passenger. Within seconds, the head of the passenger was stuck. However, the glue victim was able to detach himself and did not require medical care. The pankster wound up charged with third-degree reckless assault by the police.

headline 6

Stupid yuppies make big bucks and live like hoboes!

You can't tell the homeless bums from the rich folks since those snotnose yuppies began horning in on America's honest-to-goodness hoboes.

The 4,000 members of the highbrow Hobo club are a new breed of hobo. They're well-off people with jobs, credit cards and even cars, who like to wander around the country and live like real hoboes. Real hoboes are people without very much money who live a nomadic existence riding trains illegally from one place to another.

The real hoboes think that for the yuppies trying to be a hobo is just another kick. They also say the yuppies know nothing the real meaning of the hobo lifestyle.

GET READY FOR THE FINALS IN ADVANCE

You know the time is coming and it flies. So prepare yourself with some of those tradicional exercises that we took from Francisco Nakajima's review. Soon we'll post the answers for those exercises, ok? See you next class.

LESSON 140 headline 1

BOOB JOB NIGHTMARE. Woman's breast implants move to her back!

Penny Smith, an attractive young woman, decided to have a breast enlargement because she was flat-chested. After receiving two large implants, she started working as a topless dancer. Serveral months after her surgery, she noticed her breasts were moving wider apart. In a matter of days, both of the artificial breasts moved to her back. However, far from affecting her career as a stripper, the anatomical novelty is making her more money than ever. Ms. Smith says she wants to continue dacing for a couple of more years before having corrective surgery.

headline 2

British intelligence? Spy saga borders on spoof

Joseph Wilson and Arthur Price called Alexander Madrichyk, a Soviet official, to try to sell him secret acoustic tiles. Those secret acoustic tiles make American subs undetectable to sonar. Madrichyk dismissed the call as a joke. However, the British secret service, which routinely monitors phone calls to the Soviet Embassy, didn't. The police and secret service finally arranged a meeting between Wilson, Price and "Nick", a British spy. "Nick," pretending to be Russian, tried to imitate a Russian accent but kept forgetting that the Russian word for "yes" is "da," not "ja." Nor could he pronounce the word "Moscow" properly. Security service men tried to take pictures of the meeting, but they forgot to remove the lens caps from their cameras. Despite the comedy of errors, Wilson and Price were eventually arrested and convicted.

headline 3

Firemen think wax dummies are alive - & rescue them!

When Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London, England caught fire, firemen rescued not only people but wax models as well. The firemen claimed the smoke was so thick they couldn't tell the difference between the people and the wax figures.

headline 4

LOOK into my eyes - this is a stickup!

Bank robbers HYPNOTIZE tellers... and get away with a whopping $100G

A group of three bank robbers in Italy have knocked off nine banks and stolen more than $100,000 in cash by hypnotizing unsuspecting tellers. Talia Agostini, a bank teller, recalls that she saw three very handsome men in expensive suits walk into the bank one day. One of them walked up to her and mesmerized her with his look. When he told her to give him all the money, she said she was unable to resist. The police still have no clue who the robbers are.

headline 5

When it comes to love... Jumbo is a flop!

Passionless pachyderm refuses to breed, say frustrated zookeepers

28-year-old Sahib, a six-ton elephant, is unable to mate. Zookeeper John Taylor of St. Thomas Wildlife Park in England attributes the animal's problem to the early separation from its mother and to the fifteen years it spent performing in the circus where sexual activity was not encouraged. When introduced to three very willing female elephants, Sahib showed very little interest. Taylor also says that elephants, like humans, are very picky when it comes to choosing their partners.

headline 6

Parrots dazzle, but extinction risk looms

Recent scientific research has revealed that parrots, in great demand as pets in the United States, may have mental abilities at least equal to those of chimpanzees and dolphins. Dr. Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona published a paper in which she describes a study about a parrot called Alex. According to Dr. Pepperberg, Alex was trained to recognize objects and colors, and when questioned, to say their names in English.

Parrots are facing extinction because humans are hunting and trapping them and destroying the tropical forests where they live.

REVIEW - LESSON 141

REVIEW KEY - vocabulary

These are the answers for the exercises from Francisco Nakajima's review. If you are curious about him, check his website. Very inspiring. Let's go:

1 - stage manager
2 - stunt man
3 - stunt
4 - martial arts
5 - dull
6 - tarantula
7 - practical joke
8 - whopee cushion
9 - catastrophe
10 - bloody
11 - backfire
12 - bowling
13 - bad sport
14 - beat
15 - strangle
16 - do something with one's bare hands
17 - approval
18 - stamp of approval
19 -win one's stamp of approval
20 - feature
21 - misfortune
22 -role model
23 - set the scene
24 - live broadcast
25 - broadcast
26 - proper
27 - backstage
28 - newscaster
29 -tick away
30- cue
31 - indisposed
32 - spokesman
33 - doomed
34 - subsidize
35 -misguided
36 - fake
37 - host
38 -make something up
39 -run
40 - to do wheelies
41 -buildup
42 - struggle or attempt
43 - stack
44 - sunset
45 - sunrise
46 -to push something over
47 - thud
48 - failure
49 - mannequin
50 - roll it
51 - make believe
52 - live
53 -to start with
54 - get into it
55 - spot
56 - molt
57 - virgin
58 - unable or memorable
59 -originally
60 - participant/ contestant
61 - nebulae
62 - outer space
63 - gibberish
64 - give away
65 -to get one's breath
66 - sweat
67 -figure
68 - to be taken aback
69 -unsettling
70 - smoothly or no curves
71 - auditor
72 - gipsy
73 -to be dying
74 - hot water
75 - word has it
76 - station wagon
77 - a lemon
78 - seminar
79 - pedant
80 - to boast/to brag
81 - accomplish
82 - observation deck
83 - hot wire
84 - juvenile correction center
85 - nightmare
86 - showtime
87 - conductor
88 - toasted
89 - dressing room
90 - bother or bores the heck out of
91 - doze off
92 - vulture
93 - hover
94 - principal
95 -assumption
96 -thereby
97 -aside
98 - crippling
99 -to lie
100 - peer
101 -profound
102 - accent or speech pattern
103 - standart
104 -sub-par
105 - radio
106 - airliner
107 -midair
108 - tangy
109 -wacky
110 - freak
111 - bask
112 - to be in spotlight
113 -new found
114 - forbid/ban
115 - fitness
116 -fraud
117 - bound for
118 - inevitable or unavoidable
119 -poorly
120 - feature
121 - famished
122 - to rid or to do away with something
123 - a role model
124 - glutton
125 - deceive or to exploit
126 - delight
127 - climatologist
128 - twister, tornado, hurricane
130 - famine
131 - plague
132 - foresee
133 - blessing
134 - widow
135 - widower
136 - shoot down
137 - bail out
138 - get in touch

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES - LESSON 137

Linking words to their definitions or examples. That's the purpose of this exercise, although you can also work on the layout of your article, like giving it a nice picture that really illustrates it. Do your best for you and the future generations.

headline 1

STARSHIP RADIOS AIRLINER

Alien voice saves jet from close encounter of the worst kind - A midair collision!

On a flight bound* for Stalingrad, the pilot of a Soviet airliner with 168 passengers aboard spotted a giant alien spaceship coming right at his plane. A collision the two appeared unavoidable until a radio message sent from the spaceship instructed the pilot how to avoid danger. In that same message the spaceship claimed it was unable to change its course.

*In "bound", see for "bound for"

headline 2

Mermaid EATEN by hungry fishermen!

Scientific find of century turned into tangy dinner!

After catching a mermaid-like creature with poorly defined but recognizable human features three famished South Korean fishermen cooked it and ate it.

Scientists who later saw pictures of the creature, thought it was a tragedy the mermaid ended up in the fishermen's stomachs instead of in a science lab. The scientists said they could have learned a lot from studying the creature.

headline 3

Old Saint Nick is BAD for your kids, say health nuts - WACKY FITNESS FREAKS WANT SANTA CLAUS BANNED.

Australian (number 1) health enthusiastics Peter and Myra Cordovan are starting a movement to do away with (number 14) Santa Claus. The Cordovans say that Santa Claus is a bad role model for children because he is an overweight gluton who smokes too much, never shaves, and sits around doing nothing all year round. The Cordovans feel that Santa Claus should be replaced by the image of someone who promotes health and fitness.

headline 4

"Missing" 27-inch man basks in spotlight

The world's smallest man, 27-inch Nelson de la Rosa was reported missing by his patron Awilda Vega who feared he had been kidnapped. Vega thought de la Rosa's childhood friend Rafael Tavares had kidnapped him in order to make money exhibiting him. When de la Rosa reappeared a day later he told the police he'd left on his own free will because he felt he was at times being exploited. At a press conference that same day, de la Rosa was interviewed and asked to pose for photos. The world's smallest name seemed delighted by the attention he received.

headline 5

Genious or fraud? Either way, forecaster calls newfound fame "a curse"

John Browning, a 72-year-old climatologist, has made and continues to make accurate projections on when natural disasters such as storms, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions will happen. He also makes projections on when revolutions, famines and plagues will happen as a result of those natural disasters. Although he is a controversial figure (number 9) in the scientific community, Browning claims his projections are based on scientific research. However, he says that being able to foresee disasters is more of a curse than a blessing because he knows many lives will be lost.

headline 6

Letters help reader find family of Vietnam hero

The widow of a Vietnam vet, James Bradley, sent two letters, on two different occasions, to Ann Landers nationally syndicated column. In the first letter, she explains that on Nov. 20, 1967, a plane carrying James Bradley and Capt. John Murray Martin was shot down in Vietnam. Although James Bradley managed to bail out and write a letter home describing what happened that day, he was later killed in action. Capt. Martin was mistakenly listed as missing-in-action.

In her first letter, Mrs. Bradley says for years she has been trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with the Martin family to tell them what really happened to Capt. Martin.

In the second letter, Mrs. Bradley says that the entire Martin family read her first letter and got in touch with her the same day it was published. The Martins said that although they had hoped Capt. Martin might still be alive, the news, painful as it was, came as a relief.

LESSON 134 SITUATION 4

A very short one, with some relevant vocabulary, especially for those who live in big cities.

LESSON 134 SITUATION 3

This one's got a very heavy vocabulary. Some of you should really check a Portuguese dictionary for the meaning of some cognates, it's going to increasy your vocabulary in both languages.

The return of the Hiperlinks ;)

ROLL IT (sound)
A LIVE TARANTULA (video)
GOT INTO IT (sound)
EVERYTIME THEY MOLT THEY'RE A VIRGIN (sound)
THAT WOULD BE EXCITING (sound)
I THINK WITHOUT QUESTION (sound)
PRACTICAL JOKE, AN APRIL FOOLS' (sound)
I NEVER EXPECTED ANYTHING TO COME FROM THIS PEOPLE (sound)
THE WHOLE AUDIENCE KNEW ABOUT THIS (sound)
THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE ON THE SHOW (sound)
LEANING BACK LIKE THIS (sound)
FIGURE (sound)
I WAS SO TAKEN ABACK (sound)
ONE SMALL SLIPUP (video) (sound)
I NEED THE ENVELOPE WITH THE NAMES (sound)
MAILMAN JUST ISN'T THERE (sound)

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

It's next week, March 17. What do you know about this important Irish feast day? Find out more by clicking HERE.

Hiperlinks :D

EXPECTED BECOMES THE UNEXPECTED
STUNTS
LIFE NEWS BROADCAST(Novos Apresentadores)
NEWSCASTERS
BACKSTAGE TO FIND OUT WHERE THEY ARE
WHAT A CATASTROPHE
INDISPOSED[Indisposto]
LET ME OUT OF HERE
YOU CAN'T FAKE
TO MAKE THEM UP
MARTIAL ARTS MASTER
WITH HIS BARE HANDS
DULL THUD
YOU COULD GET HURT DOING IT
MANNEQUIN
A LIVE TARANTULA

Lesson 133 - Life's most embarrassing moments.

This is the last part about the filling for the blanks of the video for the first lesson of our book.

MAKES THE MOST OF
I COULD CHOSE THEM OUT OF THE AIR
ON THE WAY TO THE THEATHER TONIGHT
THE VERY THING HAPPENED
I WAS DYING
YOU'RE BEEN A GREAT SPORT
YOU'RE NOT ALONE

Lesson 133 - Life's most embarrassing moments

This is the filling for the blanks of the video for the first lesson of our book. That can be useful for those who missed the classes in which this exercise was done.

EXPECTED BECOMES THE UNEXPECTED
STUNTS
LIFE NEWS BROADCAST
NEWSCASTERS
BACKSTAGE TO FIND OUT WHERE THEY ARE
WHAT A CATASTROPHE
INDISPOSED
LET ME OUT OF HERE
YOU CAN'T FAKE
TO MAKE THEM UP
MADE AN ENTRANCE
MARTIAL ARTS MASTER
WITH HIS BARE HANDS
DULL THUD
YOU COULD GET HURT DOING IT
MANNEQUIN
ROLL IT
A LIVE TARANTULA
GOT INTO IT
EVERYTIME THEY MOAT THEY'RE A VIRGIN
THAT WOULD BE EXCITING
I THINK WITHOUT QUESTION
PRACTICAL JOKE, AN APRIL FOOLS'
I NEVER EXPECTED ANYTHING TO COME FROM THIS PEOPLE
THE WHOLE AUDIENCE KNEW ABOUT THIS
THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE ON THE SHOW
LEANING BACK LIKE THIS
FIGURE
I WAS SO TAKEN ABACK
ONE SMALL SLIPUP
I NEED THE ENVELOPE WITH THE NAMES
MAILMAN JUST ISN'T THERE

Lesson 133 after video presentation

This week, we saw all the situations for lesson 133. As we were talking about practical jokes during one of the situations, we also read the Cultural Note about April Fools' at the end of the lesson. We started filling in the gaps in the script of the video "Embarrassing Moments". That's a long one, and not really easy to understand. Soon, we'll post the gaps for those who missed classes. Here, the students talk about what they understood from the first presentation of the video.