Technology & Message: Locky's English Playground App (Alpha)

DEDICATION

In loving memory of my dearest brother

Karon (1989 - 1999)

Locky's English Playground App v1.0.0 (alpha)
Image from Locky's English Playground

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. -- King James Bible

Locky's English Playground has marked yet another milestone yesterday after I successfully created my first Android app! Self-learning is never easy, but has always been a process I enjoy very much! After more than a month of effort and perseverance, I can now tell the world that as long as you continue to work hard, you will see your reward! And my reward, of course, is seeing the birth of this baby!

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find -- 

King James Bible

I must thank all other app programmers who have asked questions on stackoverflow.com in the past because their questions are the key to my success. Without them asking similar questions, I would never have been able to solve my problems. This has proven again that if anyone wants to succeed in anything, asking questions is always the best method.

Since my app is far from perfect, I will call it Locky's English Playground App (Alpha) and will let it be tested by my blog readers and other app developers before putting it on Beta testing phase. Once the app is stable enough and with the documentations ready, I will submit the app together with the documentations to Google Play and then you will be able to get updates much more easily.

Download: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48481471/LEP2013.apk

Installation:

Step 1 Image from Locky's English Playground

Step 2 Image from Locky's English Playground

Because this app is not downloaded from Google Play, your phone will prompt you with a message telling you that you need to allow installation of an app from unknown source. Don't panic, just look at Step 1 of the images above and check Unknown sources then press OK when you see a pop-up. That's it!!!

Interface:
When the app is loading, you will see the bar and the logo on top, and when the loading is done, you will see the cover page, which has 3 clickable images.

Cover page
Image from Locky's English Playground

Swiping to the right and you will see the categories / tags from Locky's English Playground.

Image from Locky's English Playground

You may also want to swipe to the left to find the same menu.

Image from Locky's English Playground

The menu list is also clickable, so once you have selected a category / tag, say "Animals", it will take a few second to download the images from the webpage and then the 6 most recent blog posts will be displayed on the cover page.

6 latest will be displayed for each category
Image from Locky's English Playground

bb Sharky will be helping out by showing his face to promote shark conservation if the image of that post does not exist. Hope the kids will love this idea and learn to protect this amazing creature as well as the rest of the marine animals. 

Don't forget to visit bb Sharky @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/01/animals-doing-my-part-for-sharks.html

and "Like" bb Sharky @ Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/bbSharky

and of course, say "NO" to shark fin products.

bb Sharky replaces empty image boxes
Image from Locky's English Playground

When you click on any one of the images, the respective blog post will be loaded and you will be taken directly to the blog post, just like the image below.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Please offer your precious comments on this app such that I can improve on this app and make your learning experience more interesting and meaningful! (There is a comment section below this post!)

Also, thanks in advance to the XDA Developers for offering me comments and feedback.

Resources:
Locky's English Playground App v1.0.0 (alpha) @ Locky's English Playground
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1f5z4fnkftzlrc0/LEPv1.0.1.apk

[FREE][APP] Locky's English Playground v1.0.1 Alpha @ XDA-Developers
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=44202301#post44202301

Stack Overflow
http://stackoverflow.com

As you sow so shall you reap @ The Phrase Finder
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/48500.html

bb Sharky @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/01/animals-doing-my-part-for-sharks.html

bb Sharky @ Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/bbSharky

Learning Method: Help Yourself With Pronunciation of Medicine Names

Two days ago, I got a really nice question from a student, it goes like

"I work in the hospital and I always have to deal with different names of medicines but they are so hard to pronounce! Are there any ways I can find out the pronunciation of the medicine names?"

Yes! You are asking the right person about medicine!

Normally, people will immediately grab their copies of Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries, but in this case, you will get nothing out of them!

Image from Google Play

If you know IPA, then the fastest way of getting your answer is to use a smartphone app.

The Free Dictionary by Farlex runs the thefreedictionary.com and now it has an app simply called Dictionary which is available in Google Play and App Store (click links to download app).

This app provides exactly the same information as the website does, so you could get the US phonetic transcription representation, IPA, computer-generated sounds in UK and US accents, the meaning as well as the source of the definition depending on the sources. It's a free app and it's pretty convenient.

Take for example, I'm recently doing a lot of reseaches on tuberculosis. One of the key medications is this drug called isoniazid.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Image from Locky's English Playground

However, if you don't like computer-generated sounds because they are not accurate or realistic enough, the slower way and also the way I prefer, is to use YouTube.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Type the medicine name and search for videos with people who will actually read the word to you. I prefer those videos made and read by proper experts in the field as they are more convincing to me, but a few videos from the common netizens are just as good.

I prefer this method over the earlier simply because hearing actual pronunciations from real people gives me a better proof of the reality.

This method will also work with famous brand names which are often in French and Italian, give it a go if you have the need and leave for me a comment below if you have any suggestions.


Resources:
The Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
http://thefreedictionary.com

The Medical dictionary - by the Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

Dictionary by Farlex @ Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50ZmQubW9iaWxlLlRmZFNlYXJjaCJd

Dictionary by Farlex @ App Store
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dictionary./id379450383?mt=8

Learning Method: Learning English From Sport Blogs and News

Jeremy Lin (left) and Kevin McHale (right)
Image from Houston Rockets/Facebook

I have always talked about the importance of reading, especially in helping us learn new words, expressions and idioms. With that said, Hongkong English learners are often reluctant to read anything related to sports, unless they are real sport fans of course. Some say they are not interested in sports, other doubt the usefulness of reading sport news; however, this is not a good mindset and I hope that I can break you free from it.

As starters, we can simply read the titles of the sport news to learn words.

The first article titled Jeremy Lin shackling hurts the Rockets: Almost treated with Tim Tebow disdain already gives us 2 words to learn. From the vocabulary section below we can tell that the actual meaning of the title is "Preventing Jeremy Lin from playing is hurting the Rockets (basketball team) and he is being treated with the type of disrespect that Tim Tebow has suffered".

Sergio Aguero, shown celebrating after scoring for Atletico Madrid against
Real Madrid in 2011, could be returning to the Spanish capital - in a white shirt
Image from Dani Pozo/Getty Images, caption from ESPN

In the second news, Real Madrid eye move for neighbour's ex, the word "eye" is a verb, not a noun, meaning "interest in"; a "move" means "signing a player", and "neighbour's ex" refers to the ex-player of Athletico Madrid which is Madrid's other big club.

Combining all that information, the title means Real Madrid is interested in signing an ex-player of Athletic Madrid.

As you can see, even if you are not planning to go deep into the story, there is already quite a bit you can pick out and learn.

Then of course, reading the articles definitely benefits us much more!

Image from Houston Culturemap

"languish" means to leave Jeremy Lin is left on the bench and seldom get to play.

Image from Houston Culturemap

"lack of touches" means lack of match practice. A "novelty act" is an artistic performer.

Image from  ESPN

"be under a cloud" refers to the fact that Balotelli has lost popularity at Inter Milan, especially after he has thrown the club's jersey to the ground.

And there are many many more, so you see, you don't have to be a fan to find a good reason to read sports news.

Vocabulary:
break sth/ sb free from sth -- to force something to detach from something; to get something out of the hold of something else
shackle --  (vb)[I] If you are shackled by something, it prevents you from doing what you want to do:
disdain -- (n)[U] formal the feeling of not liking someone or something and thinking that they do not deserve your interest or respect:
eye -- (vb)[T] (present tense eyeing or eying, past tense and past participle eyed) to look at someone or something with interest:
languish -- (vb)[I] to exist in an unpleasant or unwanted situation, often for a long time:
novelty act -- (n)[C] A artistic performer with an act that is strongly linked to some particular gimmick that makes it stand out from the crowd, even though it has little intrinsic value, and is therefore likely to wear out its audience quickly
be under a cloud -- to not be trusted or popular because people think you have done something bad:



Resources:
Jeremy Lin shackling hurts the Rockets: Almost treated with Tim Tebow disdain @ Houston Culturemap
http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/03-18-13-jeremy-lin-shackeling-hurts-the-rockets-almost-treated-with-tim-tebow-disdain/

Real Madrid eye move for neighbour's ex @ ESPN
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/realmadrid/id/1143?cc=4716

Balotelli: Italy increased my popularity @ ESPN
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1386930/balotelli:-performances-for-italy-increased-my-popularity-?cc=4716

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/break+free
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/shackle?q=shackle
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/eye_4
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/languish?q=languish
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=novelty%20act
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/be-under-a-cloud?q=under+a+cloud

Learning Psychology & Methods: Learning Q & A

Image from susky.me

Everyone has their moments of confusion in life. 'Everyone' of course includes myself too. Normally if the trouble isn't serious, I might

1. take a stroll, 
2. look at the blue sky and some green trees, 
3. close my eyes and feel the breeze, feel my own existence, 
4. free myself from work and talk to myself in the head,
5. tell myself that none of these matters to me because they aren't worth my time and energy,
6. tell myself that I am not the first and won't be the last to face such trouble, thus there is nothing to fear,
7. write a blog entry to share my feelings with all my friends and readers,

Sometimes, helping others to solve problems actually helps myself too, especially when I face similar situations.

Here are some of the questions my students have raised, and I shall read out my thoughts. Hopefully you can find your answers here too if you also feel the same.

Concern 1:

Being a non-native English speaker, I feel (for a while already) that no matter how hard I try, I still not as good as others, or quite far behind others (my colleagues studied overseas). Know its normal but its quite frustrating sometimes. Seems like completing with others on my weak area..haha! Not easy just like what you said. It really need patience and belief that it worths!

Suggestion: Here's the thing, you are right, it can be a bad bad feeling to be inferior. There are several ways to look at this. You can either try to let this difference settle peacefully in your mind, and continue your life as usual, or you can take a more optimistic approach, turn this weakness of yours into a power to continue learning. For me, I think the later one will help you more if you really cannot control that competitive sense in you.

Plus, being able to speak better isn't everything nowadays, knowing more is. Say you might not be as good in English compared with your colleagues, but you can learn many other things related or not related to work, just to pack that useful brain of yours with knowledge, like what this English Playground is about, then you will naturally feel stronger and have more confidence when dealing with your colleagues.

Remember, we can't always be better than others in everything, but we can always try to be better than ourselves continuously.

Concern 2:

I want to know how to find the topic that you will feel interesting on it. I feel hardly to find my interesting topic and stuff.

You just keep reading and exposing yourselves to everything to find what you like. If you don't see, how do you know? 

A girl might go window shopping for weeks until she finds one thing she likes. Finding a topic you like is no difference. Don't limit yourself by time, don't set a deadline, keep searching. Open your eyes and see more! If you stop at topics which you'll spend longer time reading up, that might just be the hint!

Concern 3:

I want to be able to hear every word of every TV show and understand them. How can I do that?

Well, that is very difficult task indeed. Even at my level now, I can't guarantee I can hear every single word of every TV show.

There are various reasons for us not to hear certain words, the video quality, the sound quality, the speakers dropping their volume as they speak, noises from background, etc. So I will say, no one can really hear 100%.

But for me, I don't keep track of words I don't hear, I just don't feel there are words I don't understand.

When students ask me for this word or that expression they don't hear in videos, I realised I don't actually HEAR them, I follow the story, the context, adding my experience of what people usually say in similar situations, adding with the tones, the answers just APPEAR in my head. In other words, I know the words without actually hearing them clearly as long as the tones are right. Thus my advice is, we can aim 100%, but don't be frustrated when we don't get 100%, just keep going, keep listening, as your experience builds up, you will be able to understand more even without your noticing.

Concern 4:

I have no money. Are there any free English speaking classes in Hong Kong?

Well of course, there are English Corners around the world, people who just want to learn English will gathering each other on social networks and then meet regularly in certain places. I'm not sure who you will meet and what kind of people you will meet, but for some safe suggestions, you can visit universities websites for their open forums, seminars and talks, such as the Big Mouth Corner organised by the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, it is opened to the public and then meet once every Thursday from 7-8pm. For details, please see the link under Resources.

I have written another entry in August 2010, titled, Learning Methods: Have No Fear when Learning, and Learning Method & Psychology: Why Can't I Speak Fluent English?  you may be able to find more questions and hopefully answers from there.

Image from AArambh VIT (VASTRA-SAMAN)

"If you don't try, you won't know." -- Locky

Vocabulary:
stroll -- (vb)[I] to walk in a slow relaxed manner, especially for pleasure
inferior -- (adj) not good, or not as good as someone or something else

Resources:

Learning Methods: Have No Fear when Learning @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2010/08/learning-methods-have-no-fear-when.html

Learning Method & Psychology: Why Can't I Speak Fluent English? @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2010/02/learning-method-psychology-why-cant-i.html

Big Mouth Corner
http://myweb.polyu.edu.hk/~ecegclub/bmc.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/stroll?q=stroll
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/inferior?q=inferior

Academic Research: What are the top phrasal verbs to learn?

Phrasal verbs are essential for anyone who wants to master the English language, particularly in spoken English, they appear ever so often in daily conversations. For one reason or another, they are usually not the main focus of teaching in schools.

I have a few predictions I want to make.

1. There are too many phrasal verbs, which ones should I learn first?
2. Which ones are more useful, common and popular?
3. There are so many different meanings with the same phrasal verb. How to learn all?
4. Phrasal verbs are formal enough, why should we teach it?

No matter what the reasons are, it will be great to know which are the most frequently used phrasal verbs. Like I mentioned in the last entry Usage: "No" & "Not"? Is That Even A Problem?, it will be biased to make a claim such as "the most popular phrasal verbs" without stating the boundaries, and so, in this paper "Pointing Out Frequent Phrasal Verbs: A Corpus-Based Analysis" by Gardner & Davies (2008), they have only chosen the data from the British National Corpus which includes both spoken and written English data.

In their research, they have filtered out the some of the top 20 Lexical Verbs (LV) in phrasal verbs and achieved the following finding,

Then the authors continued to locate the number of occurrence for the actual phrasal verbs and obtained the following data, 

For me, I have narrowed it down to Top 10 among the top 20 lexical verbs functioning in phrasal verbs listed, top 10 combinations of phrasal verbs are:

Go on          -- 14,903 Carry out     -- 10,798 Set up          -- 10,360 Pick up        --  9,037 Go back      --  8,065 Come back  --  8,029 Go out         --  7,688 Point out      --  6,984 Find out       --  6,619 Come up      --  5,523 Total = 88, 006 Total  count in the research = 278,780 Which means that Top 10 account for 31.6% of the total number of phrasal verbs appeared on the British National Corpus (BNC).

This is an amazing finding because among 100% of the phrasal verbs used in this research from the entire BNC, 31.6% of it comes from these top 10 phrasal verbs!!!! So the next step is simply to learn the Word Senses ( = different meanings in the same phrasal verb).

The following table lists out the number of word senses found in the BNC, for examples, "Go on" has 5 different meanings, "Carry out" has 2 different meanings, "Set up" has 15 different meanings, and so on.

For the meanings of each phrasal verb, I will leave this for you to find out as a training, but if you ask me which are the phrasal verbs to learn first, I can now say, according to Gardner & Davies (2008) from their 

corpus research using data from the BNC, the Top 10, 20 or 100 are as listed above.

"An argument must have strong support to be convincing." -- Locky

Resources:

Usage: "No" & "Not"? Is That Even A Problem?  @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/03/usage-no-not-is-that-even-problem.html 

"Pointing Out Frequent Phrasal Verbs: A Corpus-Based Analysis" by Gardner & Davies (2008)

https://www.twu.ca/Library/tqd_2008/VOL_41_2.pdf#page=105

Vocabulary: A Helpless Man Sponge Naitard @ Locky's English Playground

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/10/vocabulary-helpless-man-sponge-naitard.html 

Speaking: A Story Of My Learning

Article 4 on Singtao Student Page:


An anecdote of my learning experience -- my doubts and enlightenment.

This is how I learn
Image from directory.ac

When I wrote the first entry of my blog, Locky's English Playground, I put the following quote just beneath the blog title, "Languages are tunnels that lead to the worlds of infinite knowledge -- Locky", in other words, languages are tools for us to gain knowledge. This may be common sense, but truly understanding the essence of it cost me years of time.

Some students in schools consider learning English boring, I agree, because that was exactly what I used to feel. Dully spelling words and getting the grammar correct will not make the learning experience meaningful, we have to go beyond knowing English language itself. It is only fun to learn a language if one will eventually make meanings out of it. An easy question to ask ourself is, "What can I do with English if I am good at it?"

I did not like reading news when I was in schools. I always kept in mind, "Why should I like it? It will not do anything good to me!" No matter how my teachers made me subscribe to news magazines and how many reading periods went by, I just could not find any meanings in knowing about wars and politics. I was still a school kid!

But then, meanings slowly appeared when I started teaching.

At that time, experienced English teachers in my workplace memorised English grammar so well that given any unit numbers, they could recite the entire grammar lesson . On the other than, some new Caucasian teachers knew little about grammar, but students enjoyed talking to them because these teachers knew about their home countries better than anyone else. There had to be something more than just learning English, I supposed.

Following the school's guidelines, I taught my very first week of classes and I was already bored to death. I thought to myself, "I like grammar, but how can I not feel bored doing the same things over and over again?" It was then I began to go online and explore the world of knowledge on my desktop computer.

I selected some topics which I found fun and intriguing from the internet, merged it into my lessons, and the responses from my students were remarkable! Since then, I have continuously expanded my circle of interest and my knowledge has grown exponentially.

For me, I enjoy the feeling of knowing anything and relevance is the key to my interest in learning.

Looking back, I wish my teachers in my schools had at least told me how to build interests in news, or anything such as maths and science, rather than telling me to repeatedly read them. Had I known the fun and joy of knowing, I would have collected much more amazing knowledge in my brain.

When I was training my students for oral examinations, many of them possess common knowledge, but few have actual substance. Student must have quality knowledge in order to impress the examiners, or as a matter of fact, to mature as a human being in the long run.

Although Locky's English Playground on Singtao Daily has only lasted 4 weeks, my blog is always online. If you would like to learn more about everything through English, do visit Locky's English Playground at http://lockyep.blogspot.com/ or simply Google it.

I will see you there, thrice a week. Have fun with English! Goodbye (to my Singtao readers) for now!


Vocabulary:
anecdote -- (n) [C] a short often funny story, especially about something someone has done
enlightenment -- (n) [U] the state of understanding something
beneath -- (prep) in or to a lower position than, under
dully -- (adv) not interesting or exciting in any way; boring
Caucasian 
to death -- until you die
intriguing -- (adj) very interesting because of being unusual or mysterious
remarkable -- (adj) unusual or special and therefore surprising and worth mentioning
exponentially -- (adj) formal describes a rate of increase which becomes quicker and quicker as the thing that increases becomes larger
relevance -- (n)  [U] (also relevancy) the degree to which something is related or useful to what is happening or being talked about
as a matter of fact -- as a matter of fact (also in (actual) fact) used to add emphasis to what you are saying, or to show that it is the opposite of or different from what went before
in the long run -- at a time that is far away in the future




Fun Tasks For You:

1. Sit together with a group of friends or classmates and share your learning timeline, focus on what are the most successful and unsuccessful in your past learning experience.
2. Ask yourself,  "What can I do with English if I am good at it?"
3. Ask yourself,  "What do I enjoy learning and knowing?"
4. Once you have the answer for question 2 and 3, start to focus on achieving your goal.

Grammar:
Third Conditional -- an unreal situation; something which cannot be changed any more because it has already happened, to express regrets or past possibilities

if + past perfect --- would have + past participle

eg.

1. If I had practised more speaking, I would have passed the oral examination.
2. Had I practised more speaking, I would have passed the oral examination. (Variant of 1)
3. Had I known the fun and joy of knowing, I would have collected much more amazing knowledge in my brain. (Because I didn't know, so I did not collect those amazing knowledge)
4. If I had not decided to make a change, I could have lived a boring life teaching repetitive lessons. (Notice the use of "not" and "could")

Resources:
Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/


http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/anecdote?q=anecdote
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/enlightenment?q=enlightenment
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/beneath_1?q=beneath+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dull_1?q=dully
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/death?q=to+death#death__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/intriguing?q=intriguing+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/remarkable?q=remarkable
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/exponential_1?q=exponentially
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/relevance?q=relevance+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fact?q=as+a+matter+of+fact+#fact__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/in-the-long-run?q=the+long+run#in-the-long-run__1

Learning Method & Vocabulary: Post-Valentine's Sugar & Sweet

Article 3 on Singtao Student Page:


Valentine's Day has ended but learning has just begun. This week, I will share with you a memorisation method and some new words.

Sugar is all sugar and spice to Gingy
Image from vkontakte.ru

Dear lovely readers, hope you and your parents had an excellent Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is a day of  "sugar and sweets" and thus everyone deserves to have their share of loving moments, if you still have not had the time to celebrate this marvellous day, you had better make it up to your love ones this weekend or Sunday.

As for me, Valentine's Day has not only offered me a reason to love, but a cue to learn. This time, I am interested in words to do with "sugar" and "sweet" in love and relationships.

One of the memory techniques I love to use after looking up new words in a dictionary is to create examples which I find easy to remember, funny or ridiculous ones work best for me -- I call this Memorisation By Examples (MBE). Its effectiveness, like all memory techniques, depends on individuals. However, it is worth a try. If MBE works for you,  at the end of the day you will be able to recall the words and meanings easily for writing and speaking.

Here are some scenarios I have created:

Sugar-coated gum drops
Image from allpostersimages.com

Jane: Why this promise you've just made sounds sugar-coated?
John: Coz it IS a trap and I want you to fall for it.

John: Jane, I'm sorry, I've made a tiny little scratch on your favourite painting.
Jane: Don't sugar the pill! What's the damage?
John: Well, actually, I cut it into 2 halves ...

Jane: I can be sugar and spice to my boyfriend.
John: You? Sugar and spice? I would be vomiting hard if I were him.

Jane: I cooked you your favourite Carbonara for dinner tonight?
John: Sweet!!!

Jane: Have you ever told a sweet lie?
John: No, but here's one, "I love you!"
Jane: I hate you!

Jane: Don't you ever think you can sweet-talk me into trusting you!
John: Well, how about the fact that you let me marry you 10 years ago!

Jane: I bet those two over there are saying sweet-nothings to each other.
John: No, they can never talk romantic, they are brother and sister, says on their Tee-shirts.

Sweet Tooth
Image from deviantart

John: Why do all women have sweet-tooth?
Jane: Coz men aren't sweet enough and so we need to help ourselves with sugary food to stay happy.

John: I'm so sorry! How can I make you happy again?
Jane: If you want to keep me sweet, start by flushing the toilet after use!!!

John: Jane is sweet on all Disney products and her room is packed with them.

John: My childhood was full of bittersweet memories... I was naughty, dad punished me, and then mum punished dad, and I laughed at him every time!



Fun Tasks For You:

1. Try think of a funny or ridiculous example for "silver tongue" or "silver-tongued".
2. From now on, whenever you see a word which you think is worth memorising but is very difficult to memorise, try this MBE technique.
3. Pick any word such as "tongue" or "heart" and see how many related words or idioms there are.

Suggested answer for last week's Fun Tasks: Which words have the same pronunciation as "Q"?

• cue and queue

Discussion Questions:

1. With your classmates, share some useful memorisation techniques and discuss their effectiveness.
2. How many students in your class will need to memorise anything these days? What are they?
3. The advancement of technology is helping us memorise lesser and lesser. Is that good or bad? Discuss with examples.
4. Discuss the benefits of practising memorisation, give examples.

Usage:
had better
Had better actually refers to the immediate future and does not involve the past in any sense. It is a strong advice for someone and it is stronger than should and ought.
eg.

1. You had better stop playing smartphone games!
2. You had better not whistle at that dog! (note the position of not)
3. You'd better get out of your bed and get dressed for school now!!!! (note the 'd)

Pronunciation:
Compound verbs and nouns such as sweet-talk and sweet tooth are stressed on the first part of the word whereas adjectives such as sugar-coated and bittersweet are stressed on the second part of the word. However, there are always many exceptions in any languages and learners should take special attention to the pronunciation of each word while looking up words in a dictionary.


Vocabulary:
make it up to sb -- to do something good for someone you have upset, in order to become friends with them again
cue -- (n) [C] a signal for someone to do something
sugar-coated -- (adj) disapproving An announcement or promise that is sugar-coated is intended to seem positive or pleasant, although in fact it will result in something unpleasant or unacceptable.
sugar and spice -- If you describe someone, especially a woman or a girl, as being sugar and spice, you mean that they are behaving in a kind and friendly way
sugar the pill -- UK (US sweeten the pill) to make something bad seem less unpleasant
sweet -- (adj) (informal) Very good; pleasant; agreeable.
sweet lie -- (n) [C] When someone who doesn't truthly have interest in you makes you fall hard for them and you end up with a broken heart. 
sweet-talk -- (vb) [T] informal to talk to someone in a pleasing or clever way in order to persuade them to do or believe something
sweet-nothings -- (plural n) humorous romantic and loving talk
sweet-tooth -- (n)[S] If you have a sweet tooth, you like eating sweet foods, especially sweets and chocolate.
keep sb sweet -- to try to keep someone satisfied and pleased with you
be sweet on sb/sth -- old-fashioned informal to like someone / something very much in a romantic way
bittersweet -- (adj) containing a mixture of sadness and happiness
silver-tongued -- (adj) literary If you are silver-tongued, you speak in a way that charms or persuades people.

Resources:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/make-it-up-to-sb#make-it-up-to-sb__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/search/british/?q=sugar
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sugar-coated_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sugar-and-spice#sugar-and-spice__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sugar-the-pill#sugar-the-pill__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/search/british/?q=sweet
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sweet
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sweet%20lie
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sweet-talk
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sweet-tooth
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sweet-nothings
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sweet-tooth?q=sweet-tooth
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/keep-sb-sweet#keep-sb-sweet__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/be-sweet-on-sb#be-sweet-on-sb__1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bittersweet_1?q=bittersweet

Adam Sandler Sweet on 'Candy Land' for Sony @ Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/31/idUS39840534320120131

Practical English Usage by Michael Swan, Oxford