ESL! ESL! ESL!
For some of you who don’t know what that means - English as a Second Language.
Since the moment we landed here we started to learn English.
First we started to take classes at night school at Jewish Vocational Center, then we moved up to a community college, then work (the best education – communication with real people!). For 20 years we never stopped.
I constantly learn something new. I also need to thank my two sons, with their help I graduated from elementary school twice, I am now in a middle school for the second time and pretty soon will be moving on to high school. Those spelling practices really paid off!!
Recently I decided to improve my English skills, so I’ve signed up for
Word of the Day on dictionary.com.
It has been close to 2 months and so far, to my disappointment, I don’t know any of the words.
Here are some of them:
Imbroglio – A complicated and embarrassing state of things. (my state of mind now – embarrassed for not knowing what imbroglio means).
Doppelganger – A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person. (really?)
Rakish – Smart; jaunty; dashing, (who knew?!)
Gung-ho – Wholeheartedly enthusiastic and loyal; eager; zealous (I am very eager to memorize this word, but I am not sure I can pronounce it)
Paphian - Of or pertaining to love, esp. illicit physical love. (I am not even going to try..)
Lickerish (this is the only word I recognize, once again thanks to my boys).
Please don’t tell me you know all these words and English is really, really my second language.
Your English is perfect and your expressions totally charming….
I subscribe to “word of the day” too, Rada! I rarely EVER know those words. They are only words that I read in books because I don’t think many people use them in everyday conversation. However, if Alex still plans to take the GRE, you should pass these along to him because the test has a huge verbal section that is all advanced vocabulary.
Yeah, I get very excited when I know the word of the day because that is a rare thing. xoxo
Also, as an “ESL” myself :
Can anyone explain “Alarm goes OFF” phrase ….? Why it’s OFF if it makes noise ?
I teach EAL (English as an Additional Language) to children age 4-12 here in Ireland. I have to say, I have huge respect to anyone who can learn another language. I don’t think I could do it!
Ps. The word of the day words are very obscure. I knew what some of them meant but I have never used any of them in my whole life!