I had an unfortunate experience last week. I dropped my year old iPhone (first generation) on the ground. The phone dropped face down on the ground which shattered the glass covering the screen. It cost $200 to replace the screen, so I decided to buy the next generation of the iPhone because I love it so much. Anyway, when I went into the Apple store I explained what had happened to the salesperson. He then replied, “Oh, you pancaked it.” - I laughed and went on with my purchase.

The reason I mention this story is that I was intrigued by the use of ‘pancake’ as a verb to mean drop your iPhone (or any glass faced mobile phone I imagine) directly face down on the pavement. ‘Pancake’ is not a verb I was familiar with, and I imagine it is a relatively new verb - probably less than a few years old. Perhaps the salesperson had made the verb up on the spot. The point is, I immediately understood the verb and it made perfect sense. It was a perfec

I just came across these wonderful YouTube videos taking quite a new ’strange’ approach to teaching the elements of style. It uses a number of clips from “The Office” and music videos by weird Al, Eifel65 and others. The pronunciation is not the best, but the content and explanations are excellent. They are most certainly unorthodox. I’m sure many younger learners might learn more watching these two ‘dudes’ teaching the elements of style than in some classrooms!

Warning! Not for those who prefer traditional approaches to education!

Discussion topics include:

puns, extended metaphors, analogies, similes, etc.

Unfortunately, the embedding feature has been disabled for part 1, so you’ll have to visit YouTube to watch yourself.

Presentation of the Elements of Style - Part 1

Presentation of the Elements of Style - Part 2

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For Lower Level English Learners

The internet is a fantastic place to find all kinds of reading materials in English. Unfortunately, the reading level can often be too difficult for students who don’t speak or read English fluently. Luckily, there are some great sites that focus on creating easier English reading selections for those learning English. Here are some suggestions:

Simple English News - This site provides news stories in simplified English for a wide variety of subjects.

The Bangkok Post - The Bangkok Post provides simplified versions of the regular stories provided in its newspaper. The site also includes an audio version of the article.

Easy English Times - This site has been designed specifically for English as a Second Language learners in the United States.

In a previous blog posts (Changing English - The Cluetrain Manifesto) I discussed the importance of understanding your audience in order to help you choose which type of language to use. This is often referred to as ‘register’. In other words, if you are speaking with a friend you’ll use a completely different tone and word choice than you would speaking to a stranger. For example:

To Friend:

Hey John, pass me that paper, please?

To Stranger:

Excuse me, would you mind passing me that paper, please?

In the first instance I use the imperative - pass me that paper - a form which can sound aggressive at times and is really only used when giving instructions or speaking with close friends and family. In the second example, I use an indirect question - would you mind … - which is a rather formal construction often used with strangers and superiors.

In many languages,

Here’s a video I came across today. It features an English teacher in South Korea. During the first few minutes he jokes about teaching English in Asia. I think he’s mainly referring to South Korea, however. In any case, one thing he makes a joke about is the fact that tutoring privately is illegal where he lives. In fact, he compares it to drug dealing - but dealing English grammar instead. He then goes on to speak about life in Asia in general. Once again, I think he’s really talking about life in South Korea as I’m sure life in various countries in Asia can be as different as life in various countries in Europe - you can’t really group such a large region together!

In any case, the video is fun to watch and at times rather funny. It’s interesting to get the perspective of a teacher currently living and teaching in South Korea. There’s some ‘bad’ language in this video, so you might hear some inappropriate expressions an