Archive for 2009
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
Hatred. We can hate places, foods -- just about anything.
Example: I hate the color called lime green. I don't care if it's the fashion color this year. I can't stand it and I won't wear it.
Hostility, rage, fury, resentment, indignation, anger, a fit of temper, a quick temper, angry:
...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Electrons sometimes communicate with each other instantly even if they are billions of miles apart. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 inches or 10 billion miles apart. This was discovered in 1982 at the University of Paris by a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect. He discovered that ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
I notice that the sea level is rising. I notice wars and poverty. I notice that I need a haircut. Having good looking hair is a social necessity. It's like having pleasant manners and knowing when to say "Thank you." And when I'm having a bad hair day, that means ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
His name was Angelo. Angelo climbed the stairs backwards on his buttocks every day after work to get to his apartment on the third floor. He was in pain and there's no elevator in this building. He worked for the bakery downstairs. Angelo was born in this building. His mother ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
People talk about the danger of the spread of contagious diseases. What about the spread of contagious desires?
When I feel bad because you have something I don't have, that's called envy. Envy keeps the juices of modern commerce flowing.
When my co-worker has just bought a condo, while I'm still living ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
My student smiled and said, "Your odor is nice today." She did not know that the word odor has a very negative meaning, like food rotting in a garbage can. Here are some words that always mean a bad smell:
Odor: There's an odor inside the refrigerator. Maybe some food has ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
I have heard that when a Japanese worker is laid off from his job, he might throw himself in front of a train. Suicide is crazy. No sane person would kill himself. Just because the world is crazy, doesn't mean we have to be crazy, too.
The news in the media ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Someone sent me an e-mail that Sheryl Crow, the singer, got breast cancer from drinking bottled water that had been left in a car. The heat inside the car, the e-mail said, caused dioxin to leach out of the plastic bottle into the water she drank. Dioxin is one of ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Around the year 1640 AD in France, René Descartes noticed that he was thinking. From this he concluded: "I think, therefore I am." Descartes was a mathematician and a very important philosopher in the West.
Even though we are not philosophers, we are often asked to define our ...
Posted in English lesson conversation topics, Language learning, Online learning | Comments Off