June 2010 – Yvonne Crawford

Life of a Cheerleader

When I was in high school I was a cheerleader. It was a lot of fun. My favorite part was being able to wear my uniform to school every Friday during football season. We also put little cow bells on our sneakers. So, whenever we walked around, everyone could hear us coming. Football season is August through November.

Every week we had cheerleader practice after school. We would practice our cheers, make up skits, learn dances, plan pep rallies and paint huge posters for the football game. We also cheered during basketball games. All and all it was a blast!

In order to become a cheerleader, there were cheerleader try outs. We had to perform a cheer in front of the entire school and the students would vote for who they liked best. The 6 people who received the most votes would win. Also, in addition to student votes, the teachers were allowed to vote to make sure the students were good citizens. Tryouts were held in May, the last month of the school year, for the upcoming year.

In the summer, before the next school year, the cheerleaders would go to cheerleader camp. Here, we learned new stunts, cheers and dances. It was a lot of fun, but stressful as well because of the competition between schools to see who had the best cheerleaders.

Please let me know if you have any questions about cheerleaders. And for your amusement, here is a video of me doing a cartwheel. I took this the other day. Don’t laugh too hard!

That stinks!

I’m in one of those silly moods I often get into. So, I thought I’d write a post about different ways to say that something smells bad.

Wow, that stinks!

Piu (pronounced Pee-yew), you need to throw that trash out.

That smells gross.

That smells disgusting, please don’t cook it again.

What is that funk that I smell? (slang)

Oh, that is a foul odor.

There is a God-awful stench in here!

Yummy!

Food is always a fun topic for practicing your English. Here are some vocabulary words that you can use.

delicious – This means something tastes good.
Wow, that bread you made is so delicious.

yummy – This means the same as delicious, but slang.
The pudding I cooked last nice was so yummy.

tasty – This also means that something tastes good.
My mom’s apple pie is incredibly tasty!

to die for – This means you really love something.
These chocolate chip cookies are to die for!

snack – It’s something you eat between meals.
Everyday at 3pm, my daughter eats a snack.

bedtime snack – A snack you eat right before bed.
I ate too many nachos before bed. I really should cut out my bedtime snack!

brunch– This is eaten around 10am. It’s a bit late for breakfast, but a little early for lunch. The word is combined “br” (from breakfast) + “unch” (from lunch) = brunch.
Do you want to meet for brunch on Sunday?

Emergency words in English

In case you come to visit the US, you might want to learn these emergency words.

911 – This is the number you dial when you have an emergency. You call it for a medical, police or fire emergency. 1 number connects you to all 3 organizations.

EMS – Emergency Medical Services – This is who comes to your house if you have a medical emergency.

EMT – Emergency Medical Technician – A member of the EMS team.

Trauma – A serious injury or shock to the body.

Doc in the Box – (after-hours doctor) – This is where you go in the evening or on the weekend when your regular doctor’s office is closed, yet you are not sick enough to go to the ER

ER – Emergency Room – This is where you go if you have any kind of medical emergency. For example: if you break a leg, get a cut that needs stitches or any other thing you could imagine.

Ambulance – This is a vehicle that takes you to the ER if no one is able to take you or if your condition requires it.

Treatment – The management of a patient. This is what the doctor decides to do for you to help your condition.

Prognosis – This is a predication the doctor gives you about what he thinks the outcome will be for your disease or illness.

Triage – This is where you go to first at the ER. They take your vitals. Vitals includes, blood pressure, temperature and then they ask you questions about your problem. Triage is run by nurses. After Triage, you will be put in a room and then a doctor sees you.

House Idioms

I think it’s easier to remember vocabulary words and idioms when they are grouped together with something in common. Here are some idioms with the word house or home in them.

bring the house down – to receive a lot of praise and applause
The Jonas Brothers brought the house down when they sang the American National Anthem.

on the house – something free and paid for by the bar or restaurant.
She flirted with the bartender and got a few drinks on the house.

make yourself at home – to treat the place you’re at like your own home.
“I’m so glad you came to visit me today. Come in, sit on the couch and make yourself at home,” Betty said.

in the doghouse – to be in trouble.
Jim forgot his wife’s birthday, so he’s in the doghouse now.

hit a little too close to home – There is something that you heard or saw that you could really relate to.
I saw an old lady having difficulty breathing, it hit a little too close to home for me.

eat someone out of house and home – To eat a lot of food – pig out.
My son has been eating so much lately, he is going to eat me out of house and home.

nut house – a mental institution.
I think Gloria is insane, she belongs in a nut house.

Writing with details

Today I wanted to get you to expand on your writing and tweeting. I asked one friend of mine on twitter what was new and he wrote 7 tweets. He had lots of English practice from those tweets. Isn’t that wonderful?

Below is an example of expanding thoughts. It’s still concise, but has many more details.

“Today I went walking in my neighborhood with my family. We saw many frogs and crabs. We went to the playground and my kids played on the seesaw. It was really sunny outside. After playing, we took a drive down to the ocean. We hung out at the beach and watched the waves. I was so beat! Finally, we went home and I put my kids to bed. It was time for some alone-time. I watched movies and read a book by myself. It really helped to relax me.”

My challenge to you is for you to write a comment or a tweet me and really describe everything you did today in your free time.

Business English

One of my specialities in teaching English is teaching Business English. I’ve worked in the business sector for many years, so I have experienced it. Here are a few phrases that you can learn that might help you in a business meeting.

Ambitious – eager and showing effort
Ralph was an ambitious worker. I think he is trying to get promoted to director within the year.

Groundwork – foundation or basis
We need to lay the groundwork for this project today, if we are going to start it next week.

To scrap – to discard
I think we may have to scrap this project. The projections are not looking promising.

The extras – things that are not necessary and are in excess
One thing we can do in order to stay within our budget is to cut out the extras, like giving the employees free cokes.

Go back to the drawing board – Return to the beginning and start again because the idea was not successful before
Bob made us go back to the drawing board and start over because he did not like our new marketing idea at all.

Don’t see eye to eye – when two people do not have the same opinion about something
Peter and his boss don’t see eye to eye about his role in this company.

Call a meeting – to bring people together to talk about a particular piece of business
I think we need to call a meeting in order to discuss the future of our team.

Cost projections – estimate of future financial performance
The CEO discussed cost projections and ensured us that our company was growing.

I don’t agree – to have a different opinion
“I don’t agree with Sally!” Ted said as he stood up in the meeting, “I think we should continue with the project and not start over.’