ESL in Ho Chi Minh City

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1- Which of these expressions mean "at a time in the future"?

some day

one of these days

one of those days

these days

2- Which of these sayings would you like to hear?

That'll be the day

Your days are numbered

This is definitely not my day

You made my day

3- Which is the odd one out?

all day and everyday

day in, day out

day by day

day after day

4- Which one means "from the beginning"?

from day to day

from one day to the next

from day one

from that day forth

5- When you are getting married, you certainly ... ?

end your days

name the day

save for a rainy day

have seen better days

6- Which of these animals can be eaten?

a home bird

a fatted calf

a cold fish

a sitting duck

7- Which does not mean “to have a lot of money”?

in the money

have money to burn

made of money

on the money

8- Which guy is rich?

Thomas

Achilles

Midas

Alec

9- Who is the most wanted by girls?

Uncle Sam

Prince Charming

plain Jane

John Q. Public

10- Which is the odd one out?

Mr Parkinson

Mr Big

Mr Nice Guy

Mr Right

11- Which means "money is not important"?

Money is nothing

Money is no problem

Money is no object

Not for love or money

12- Which doesn't emphasize the power of money?

Money makes the world go round

Money talks

Money makes money

A golden key opens every door

13- Which has nothing to do with money literally?

on the money

value for money

have your money’s worth

have a good run for your money

14- Which of the following isn't about money?

golden handshake

peanuts

goose egg

nest egg

15- Which means lots of money; money earned with hard work?

easy money

pin money

good money

money for old rope

16- How should you spend your money?

throw money around

put your money where your mouth is

spend money like water

money burns a hole in your pocket

17- Complete this proverb " A miss is …"

as happy as the day is long

as pretty as a picture

as cool as a cucumber

as good as a mile

18- Which noun can go with “black and white”?

elephant

sheep

spot

issue

19- What can't you bite?

teeth

fingernails

tongue

lip

20- Complete this proverb "Better the devil you know than…"

a country bumpkin

the black sheep of the family

the devil you don't

the devil's advocate

21- Which one did not originate from Latin?

bona fide

alumnus

carpe diem

fait accompli

22- When having your picture taken, you have to

say when

say cheese

say what

say the word

23- Who is important?

the back-room boys

the boys in blue

the boy next door

the blue-eyed boy

24- Which "old" in these expression is "old, ancient”?

old flame

old woman

old man

old maid

25- What would you say if you do not believe what somebody has said?

a tall story

a sob story

a likely story

a cock-and-bull story

26- Which one is not close to ""What a life!"" in meaning?

Such is life

This is the life

That’s life

C’est la vie

27- Which one doesn’t mean “talk a lot”?

talk a hind leg off a donkey

talk a blue streak

talk nineteen to the dozen

talk turkey

28- Which “talk” do couples prefer?

talk big

talk dirty

talk shop

talk back

29- Which of these two expressions are similar?

facts and figures

the facts of life

the birds and the bees

the fact of the matter

30- Which “big” isn’t good?

big cheese

big name

big mouth

big fish

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***WARNING - This podcast contains adult subject matter - Listener discretion is advised ***

Due to the sensitive nature of this subject, please write to [email protected] for the transcript or exercises based on the material covered in the podcast. Thanks.

Exercise 1: Match the animals with their definitions

Donkey, whale, shark, goose, eel, parrot, tiger, fly

A large fish with very sharp teeth and a triangular fin on its back

This fish is a mammal and it breathes through a hole on its head

This animal is a water bird; it looks like a duck but larger and is famous for being a house keeper

This bird can be trained to copy human voice.

You can see this animal in a zoo. It normally has black stripes. It belongs to the cat family.

It’s a long thin snake-like fish

It’s a small insect with two wings. You can find it in dirty places.

It’s a horse-like animal with long ears.

This insect can jump very high and it has long back legs and only eats plant.

Exercise 2: Match these animals with their babies

Goat, dog, cat, horse, cow, frog, duck, goose, pig, bear

Duckling, gosling, puppy, kitten, foal, cub, calf, kid, tadpole, piglet

A petite story:

They met when she was an au pair for an English nouveau riche family and he was a chauffeur for the next door cafe owner. They had to work their way through college although he was the son of a chargé d'affaires and she was the daughter of a bureau de change owner. It was coup de foudre. Both shared an interest in music genres such as ballet and opera. They were au fait with music themes and could go on and on about them without making any faux pas. They had a great passion for cuisine. They loved to have croissants or omelettes for breakfast. For entrees, it had to be always a sauted or a flambéd dish. And their favorite beverage was red wine. They had many romantic rendezvous that were beyond description. She dreamt of becoming a coiffeur and a couture designer and was on her way to make her first debut. He wanted to be a fashion connoisseur and manage the creme de la creme of the fashion houses.

However she made friends with a few faux amis and they were jealous of her dream like relationship. They tried to sabotage her liaisons with him.

Her laissez-passer was expired and she couldn’t have it renewed at that time so she had to return to Italy. They maintained their great rapport par avion. After a few months being away from her, he decided she was the one and his only raison d'être. He started to move in with her and flew back and forth between the two countries.

Now she was a femme fatale working for a haute couture in Milan. He was an entrepreneur possessing many boutiques in London. In terms of appearance, she’s a brunette with a unique dressing style. She looked stunning all the time whether she wore her hair au naturel or not. He’s a homme du monde always wearing things a la mode. They were a chic matching couple. After five years de facto marriage, she agreed to become his fiancé. They even chose a venue for a soiree to announce their engagement. Then en route to a mansion, which he was going to buy as a wedding present for her, she had a car accident.

Now go ahead and write the ending to this story using French-inspired English words from the vocbulary lesson and other French words not in the lesson. The following exercise may help you with that.

Exercise One -

Here are other familiar English words borrowed from French, let’s see if you know when and how to use them:

attaché

à la carte

coup d'état

hors d'oeuvre

entourage

c'est la vie

avant-garde

carte blanche

cul-de-sac

déjà vu

double entendre

fait accompli

je ne sais quoi

laissez-faire

Mardi Gras

nom de guerre

protégé

risqué

RSVP

touché

voilà!

tête-à-tête

tout de suite

par excellence

matinee

Which "word/ phrase" ...

is eaten before the main course?

is used at the end of an invitation card?

is seen on a menu?

describes a holiday celebration?

can describe art or new ideas?

means a dead-end street?

is used to advise people to accept a bad situation?

is a movie shown during the day?

can be a type of briefcase?

can be a group of friends?

do governments guard against?

is a name you earn in battle?

is one that you can’t quite put your finger on?

is one of the best?

wouldn’t you use in front of your granny?

means “finished?”

is an art of word play?

gives you creative freedom?

needs to get done immediately?

wants to be left alone?

wants to be instructed and guided?

is shared between friends?

is shared between opponents?

is that gut feeling you just experienced?

is the only one left from our French word list?

ABC of Love - Version One with idioms

A is for apple. You’re the apple of my eye.

B is for blind. I choose to be blind willingly.

C is for conquer. Our love conquers all.

D is down. You never let me down

E is for eyes. I only have eyes for you.

F is forgive and forget. That’s how you are.

G is short for gold. I struck gold when I found you.

H is when I’m head over heels in love with you.

I is short for if. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it: I love you.

J is joy; my heart jumps for joy when I see you everyday

K is for kiss. I’m glad we have never had to kiss and make up

L is large. You are larger than life.

M stands for mean. You mean the world to me.

N is never. With you I never say die.

O is as in One. You’re the one and only

P is for promised land. Together, we have arrived in the Promised Land.

Q is quiet; I find peace and quiet when I’m with you

R is rhyme or reason. My love for you defies rhyme or reason.

S is sweet- you’re just perfect for my sweet tooth.

T is for take. You take my breath away every time you whisper in my ear

U is under; you have me under your spell

V is short for Venus. When we’re together, you make me feel like Venus

W is for wish. You’re a wish that comes true.

X stands for X’s and O’s. My hugs and kisses are countless.

Y is for you. Thank you for having stolen my heart.

Z is for Z’s. Lying next to me, you cannot catch some Z’s.

Definitions are dictated in the podcast

ABC of Love - Version Two exercises

Please complete these exercises before listening to ABC of Love version 2

Re-arrange these words to make meaningful lines of ABC of love.

A is for addicted: you/ to/ addicted/ I’m.

B is for bliss; you/ to/ bliss/ is/ know.

C is from/ I/ long/ caressing/ you/ which/ for.

D is for are which is to what me darling you.

E is for your embrace, never can I get something of.

F is for fun. you/ of/ me/ no/ fun/ bring/ end.

G represents give. you/ my/ all/ I/ heart/ give.

H is for home. with/ home/ I’m/ you/ last/ at/ at.

I stands for impossible. With/ impossible/ you/ is/ nothing.

J is for join. joined/ we/ sooner/ I/ have/ could/ wish/ hands.

K : kisses/ better/ make/ your/ only/ things/ can.

L is laughing/ created/ loving/ and/ we/ have/ memories.

M stands for match; heaven/ made/ match/ in/ our/ is.

N is me/ in/ you/ the/ thing/ is/ which/ best/ naughtiness/ out.

O is as in One; I’m pretty sure you’re the one

P is passion; I’m/ for/ we/ the/ glad/ share/ each/ passion/ other/ same.

Q is for queen. a/ queen/ like/ me/ you/ treat.

R is for/ we/ have/ each/ other/ respect.

For the rest of the letters, complete the sentences by adding your own words:

S is for strength. Your ______ gives me strength.

T is for tears. Tears of ________ that I will never _________.

U I hadn’t _______________ until I met you.

V is short for valentine; I’m _______ to be yours.

W is words with wings that you____________________.

X stands for extra super special; now you know ____________________.

Y is yes- your _______ to all my __________.

Z I feel like a zillion dollars when ________________________________.

green belt

give someone/ get the green light

be/ go/ turn/ make someone green with envy

have a green thumb

green about the gills

the green-eyed monster

a grey area

grey matter

men in grey suits

be in the pink

see pink elephants

be tickled pink

brownie points

turn/ go/ be as red as a beet

be in the red

catch somebody red-handed

roll out/ put down/ lay out the red carpet

a red herring

a red letter day

red tape

see red

paint the town red

yellow streak

grow grey-haired

Exercise 1: Collocation: Match these colors with their appropriate noun combination.

Pink

Green

Grey

Red

Yellow

Carpet

Matter

Elephant

Streak

Thumb

Exercise 2: Fill in these sentences with the above expressions:

They rolled out the _____________ for two special guests.

This is a complicated problem. You need to use your ______________

If you want any gardening tips, you need to ask John. He has a _______________. All the tomatoes he has grrown are big, red and juicy.

John saw ________________ again last night. He kept calling his exgirlfriend’s name last night instead of mine.

He really showed his ______________ when confronted by an elephant. He wetted his pants and ran for his dear life.

Exercise 3: Decide if these sentences are True , False or Not Given

Jill’s father and Jack hit it off from the beginning.

Jack met Jill outside of the city.

Jill was a beautiful girl.

Jack did many illegal acts to please Jill’s father.

Jack and Jill had a very big celebration the day when he proposed to her.

To kindle your creativity as well as make light work of your English learning, we thought of an activity called “Life project”. If you look "life" up in a dictionary, you will find its transcription; “life” ends with a dipthong: the vowel sound /ai/. We would like you to find all possible words ending with this /ai/ sound. Below are our examples classified according to their parts of speech.

Noun: light, sight, tight, knight, night, height, fight, flight, sky, line, eye, dice, ice, rice, lice, mice, spy, spice, pie, kite, side, size, nine, five, knife, wife, wine, why, sci-fi, vice, mind, site, guy, bike

Pronoun: mine, I

Verb: fly, buy, tie, drive, ride, hike, type, write, rise, shine, hide, lie, die, pry, whine, slide, might, find, like, bite, sigh, sign, dive, invite, provide, decide, surprise, design

Adjective: my, right, bright, tight, nice, fine, kind, polite, shy, sly, blind, slight, high

Adv: quite

Prep: behind, by, beside

Exclamation: hi

After you finish listing all the /ai/ sound ending words, try to put them in a meaningful sentence. Here are a few tasks for you:

1 Find an expression that contains an /ai/ sound ending word.

Ex: One’s stomach is bigger than one’s eye

2 Make a sentence that ends with an /ai/ word

Ex: I don’t know why you said goodbye. (Boulevard lyrics)

3 Make a paragraph in which all sentences finish with an /ai/ word. This is slightly the same as task 2 but all your sentences must connect in some way.

In this lesson, we are going to teach you proverbs that have at least one /ai/ dipthong word in them. Proverbs are sayings that date back from long ago and give us useful advice. Here are three proverb exercises:

Exercise 1: Re-arrange these sentences to make meaningful proverbs:

mice/ cat/ will/ play/the/ when/ is the/ away

in/ beauty/ of/ beholder/ the/ is/ eye/ the

the/ spare/ and/ spoil/ child/ the/ rod

right/ wrongs/ a/ don’t/ two/ make

is/ while/ hot/ the/ strike/ iron

the/ life/ variety/ spice/ is/ of

time/ a/ saves/ stitch/ in/ nine

wishes/ beggars/ horses/ if/ might/ were/ ride

comes/ fall/ pride/ before/ a

life/ hope/ is/ there/ where/ is/ there

Exercise 2: Match the above proverbs with their meanings

If you do not punish a child for behaving badly, he/ she will behave badly in the future

If you are too proud or confident, something may happen which will make you look foolish

People enjoy themselves more and behave with more freedom when the person in charge of them is not there

Do something immediately because now is a good time to do it

What one person thinks is beautiful may not seem beautiful to somebody else

Wishing for something does not make it happen

If someone does something bad to you, it doesn’t give you the right to do the same way to them

A variety of different activities, interests, people, etc. makes your life more enjoyable

In a bad situation, you must not give up hope because there is always a chance that it will be better

If you act immediately when something goes wrong, it will save you a lot more work later

Exercise 3: Use the above proverbs in the correct context

A: Beauby is a spoiled little brat. Did you see how Rich pampered her? No wonder the other day she talked back to her teacher at school.

B: ______________________________

A: Have you met John’s girl friend? I can’t wait to be introduced to her. He kept talking about her. I bet she must look great.

B: Well, __________________________. Believe it or not, she’s just a plain Jane.

A: It seems all doors are closed to Mike. He was fired; his wife left him and his own company went bankrupt.

B: He still has a house and I heard he’s done with the mortgage. ______________________

He can start it over.

A: Pitt keeps bragging about his success.

B: He went over my head to present his idea of a new robot with the director. Just he waits; ____________________. Let’s hope his new product won’t make any mistakes.

A: Why are you sitting here? Aren’t you supposed to be writing that sales report?

B: Give me a break! _______________________________________. The director is on vacation until next week, and I don’t think I should prove myself to you or anyone else here.

A: Mike deflated my tyre after school the other day and I had to walk home for 30 minutes. I’m going to play a prank on him this time.

B: Come on! ___________________________. If you do it, you’re not different from him.

When asked what they wanted in life, my students normally said they wanted to have lots of money, a big house, a sports car, a beautiful wife. But when I asked them how they would get those things, they had no idea. Then I would say to them “_______________________________”