Explore language with Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble
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A community college instructor from Arkansas and an international student from Taiwan (pictured) talk about academic writing in the United States |
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Martina Mbayu Nana encourages her students to write to each other to practice their English -- but not to use shorthand when they text her |
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Leila Mouhanna talks about her eclectic approach to teaching English at a university -- and why she avoids social networking sites |
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"You take your students outside, and then you use everything you see to practice the language point you learned in class," says Volamena Randrianantoandro |
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"I think what has given phrasal verbs a reputation for being difficult is the way they are traditionally taught," says Lida Baker |
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"It's a serious issue," says David Denby, author of the new book "Snark: It's Mean, It's Personal, and It's Ruining the Conversation" |
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"You can be 'shovel-ready' even if you don't have a shovel," says dictionary editor Ben Zimmer, who explains that and other terms such as "zombie bank" |
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Kelly Maxwell, in the second of two parts, says dialogue is about "together, deciding how an individual feels, but then how various groups feel about particular issues" |
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Kelly Maxwell, co-director of the Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan, discusses how it works, in the first of two parts |
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"There are fifty to seventy common reduced forms that everyone should know from a listening point of view," says English teacher Nina Weinstein |
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In cases where an interpreter is not available in person, telephone and video technology offers ways to provide trained language assistance from anywhere |
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"You don't want an agreement that the parties are signing right when they're getting ready to walk down the aisle," says lawyer Marlene Eskind Moses |
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"Even if you make a grammar mistake, or if you accidentally use the wrong word, it's your kindness and your intention that comes across," says Lida Baker |
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Grant Barrett from the American Dialect Society discusses the results of the group's 19th annual vote for words of the year -- including 'recombobulation area' |
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Our New Year's tradition: the music group Riders in the Sky, joined by Johnny Western, tell the story of a fellow with a strange habit of speaking only in palindromes |
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From the Wordmaster archives, the classic children's tale as retold by Slangman David Burke; plus, find out about his latest project |
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"This is a topic that you never see in E.S.L. textbooks. And yet it's so important," says English teacher Lida Baker in the first of two parts |
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Researcher Rohini Ahluwalia says it does not matter much if a local company uses a local language or English; not so for multinationals in global markets |
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"Art of Mingling" author Jeanne Martinet says: "One of my mingling survival rules is that nobody is thinking about you, they're only thinking about themselves" |
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A group urges Americans to record and share oral-history interviews. Also, an anthropologist bases a book on stories of people she met on intercity buses. |
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"I think everybody's scared, this is something that we haven't seen in decades, and I think especially for the younger students," says English teacher Nina Weinstein |
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Second of two parts: ''He was a great moralist. His moralism pervades the definitions throughout the book. He tells us how to behave." |
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First of two parts with Arthur Schulman, who compiled "Websterisms: A Collection of Words and Definitions Set Forth by the Founding Father of American English" |
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"There's a lot of baseball expressions that really focus on people making mistakes, because errors in baseball are sort of what make the game interesting" |
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Linguist Steven Weinberger talks about accents and his Speech Accent Archive; also, we read seven short -- really short -- stories from audience members |
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Atefeh, first interviewed in 2005 when she was studying English literature at a university in Iran, talks about her switch to teaching English as a foreign language |
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David Thatcher, a retired English professor in Canada, has started a Web site called Saving Our Prepositions, with a free ''Guide for the Perplexed'' |
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More of our conversation with Ben Zimmer from the Visual Thesaurus, looking at the origin of terms from the presidential election campaign |
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Linguist Ben Zimmer explains battleground/swing state, red/blue state, absentee ballot and Hail Mary pass in the first of two parts |
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We look at two terms used in connection with efforts to rescue financial companies from bad loans and end the crisis in the U.S. financial system |
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Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, co-director of the National Writing Project, discusses its history and work in trying to improve writing in U.S. schools |
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A project is giving high school students an opportunity, and an audience, to write a persuasive letter; we are doing the same for English language learners abroad |
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"I'd be very careful to make sure that the discussion and the assignments are really closely linked to the topic," says Rutgers University professor Barbara Lee |
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''The lore is that northern Europeans gesture less than southern Europeans,'' says psychology professor Susan Goldin-Meadow; second of two parts |
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Susan Goldin-Meadow, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, finds that people have a common language when they let their hands do the talking |
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Dileri Borunda Johnston, author of "Speak American: A Survival Guide to the Language and Culture of the USA," discusses differences between U.S. and British English |
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"We have about four different ways of saying `you' which is 'ya,' 'ja,' 'cha' and even 'ju,'" explains David Burke, better known as Slangman |
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''Learners of English really have to master the rhythms of English early, and the teaching has to be aimed at rhythm,'' says linguist Herb Stahlke |
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Kate Rankin, a neuropsychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, discusses the cues of sarcasm, and why some people are unable to recognize them |
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The comedian died June 22 at age 71; he was a 1970s counterculture figure and the subject of a Supreme Court ruling on indecency |
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You'll be tickled pink as English teacher Nina Weinstein explains some common idioms that involve animals, foods, colors and more |
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VOA's Adam Phillips has the second part of his interview with William Safire, the New York Times language columnist and editor of Safire's Political Dictionary |
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VOA's Adam Phillips talks with William Safire, the New York Times language columnist and editor of the newly updated Safire's Political Dictionary |
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A two-part interview with lexicographer Sol Stienmetz, author of the new book ''Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meaning'' |
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English teacher Stephen Churchville explains LessonWriter.com, which he spent almost six years developing; it creates activities based on any text |
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Lee Spencer, a college instructor in New York, discusses the challenge of getting her class to use English as the medium of communication |
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Professor Shujaat Hussain sees a recognition that ''even if we want to have this break with our colonial hangover ... we've got to learn English'' |
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Francisco Matete, president of the Angolan English Language Teachers Association, says Angolans have to be "English-friendly" to work with foreign oil companies |
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Azadeh Leonard, who arrived a year and a half ago and teaches immigrants in New York, has found herself moderating spirited political discussions in class |
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Safwan Abdulsalam Kadoora is director of the English department at the Karma Language Center, which opened in Damascus in 2006 |
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A 2002 interview with John Slatin, who became an activist for the disabled after losing his sight; he died March 24 after losing a battle with leukemia |
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More advice on crafting a personal statement for U.S. schools, from Rachel Toor, a creative writing professor, college consultant and former admissions officer |
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First of two parts with Rachel Toor, author of ''Admissions Confidential: An Insider's Account of the Elite College Selection Process'' |
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Slangman David Burke tells the story of Cinderella, who throws her hat in the ring, figuring herself a shoe-in because the incumbent is a lame duck |
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Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith solicited six-word memoirs from strangers for a new book; now, they extend an invitation to WORDMASTER fans |
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In the second of two parts, English teacher Lida Baker discusses accent improvement methods, and the best time to correct students who make errors in class |
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An online English teacher in the Philippines, Arnel Camba, asks for advice; we turn to our friend the English teacher Lida Baker |
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''Field Guide to Gestures'' explains more than 100 gestures and their various, and sometimes multiple, meanings around the world |
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''If I see an empty textbook, then I'm seeing a student who hasn't interacted well with a text,'' says English teacher Maria Spelleri. Second of two parts |
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Many international students ''just imagine all the potential for forgetting that lies within the covers of those books,'' says teacher Maria Spelleri |
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''Smile before you pick up the phone, because the callers can hear it,'' says Nancy Friedman, also known as the Telephone Doctor |
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More with Philip Dodd, author of ''The Reverend Guppy's Aquarium: From Joseph P. Frisbie to Roy Jacuzzi, How Everyday Items Were Named for Extraordinary People'' |
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Philip Dodd is author of ''The Reverend Guppy's Aquarium: From Joseph P. Frisbie to Roy Jacuzzi, How Everyday Items Were Named for Extraordinary People'' |
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Susan Schwartz, an English as a Second Language teacher in Massachusetts, aims to turn Nexus, an online journal she published, into a global classroom |
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