WEEK 14
INSTEAD OF WRITING AN ESSAY:
1. WRITE A LIST OF 25 IDIOMS.
2. SELECT FIVE OF THOSE IDIOMS AND DESCRIBE HOW THEY CAME ABOUT (THEIR
HISTORY).
3. INTERVIEW ONE FOREIGNER AND DESCRIBE WHAT THEY FIND TO BE THE MOST
DIFFICULT PART OF LEARNING ENGLISH.
4. WRITE A ONE-PAGE SUMMARY ABOUT RICHARD LEDERER (SEE BELOW).
Most of you are probably not familiar with Richard Lederer. Do a bit of research on him and write an in-depth one-page summary about him. He is THE expert when it comes to writing about how crazy the English language is. You can hear him on the radio on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. (repeats at 5 p.m.), on KPBS, 89.5 FM. His essays about the English language will make you chuckle. In keeping with the spirit of that fun, write about this same concept. It would serve you well to interview two or three students or friends who are new to the English language and ask them what they find the most confusing about it. We have a lot of idioms that are really quite strange and confusing! For example, when we tell someone to "mind their p's and q's," (i.e., be careful), we have to wonder where that expression came from. There are two theories: (1) This was an instruction from teachers to young students warning them not to transpose the two letters when learning to write; or (2) from the British pubs as a warning to their patrons to mind their pints and quarts ("don't get drunk"). (Liquor was sold by the bottle, not the glass.)
Are you still working on your research papers? You should have about 50 references by now.