This entry is part of a series about connotations. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class.

Most teachers—and students—know that taking a few minutes ‘off’ to play a game, or just chat, can help you re-stock your energy before getting back into the ‘work’ of learning English. But, is it okay to take a few minutes off at work? Is working without stopping always the best thing to do?

In today’s installment of the connotation dictionary, Î want to talk about how you can describe working—or not working—with different connotations. After all, what’s the difference between:

• An industrious worker,
• A conscientious worker
• Screwing around, and
• Blowing off steam?

I know that you want to know all about these things, so feel free to download (as a PDF) and use the second part of the connotation dictionary: ‘people at work.’

This entry is part of a series about connotations. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class.

After talking about what a connotation is, it’s hard to learn to use a connotation. After all, speaking English masterfully means using the language not just to convey meanings, but to convey feelings.

How can you learn these feelings?

I’ll get into general answers in a bit (that’s a code for: I have some ideas, but none of them are really good), but there’s something I’ve started doing for my students and that I want to share here: my connotation dictionary.  (Downloadable as a PDF)

Today, we’re going to discuss problems.

We all have problems at work, but what are the other words you can use? What feelings do they convey? Is there a difference if you say that. . .

• I have a problem at work.
• The situation at work is difficult now.
• We face a few challenges at work.

These are all things you can read and learn about in the first installment of the connotation dictionary: ‘work problems.’

Note: I know that there are a few English teachers who read my blog. I’d be thrilled if you gave me some feedback on this. How do you convey connotations? Is a resource like this useful? What do you think of the ’story format?’

This entry is a part of the series about hidden meanings. I’ll be adding more as time allows. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercise. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

I said in the last post that the connotation of the word is the ’second meaning’ of a word. A connotation will say if a word is positive, or negative. It will include the feelings of approval—meaning you think something is good—and disapproval. (That means the opposite, of course.)

Let me try it with a more poetic example: if you think of a conversation as paper, and think of the words meaning as what you write on the paper. . . the connotation will be the color you write the word in, and if you write it in bold, italics, or UPPERCASE. And these things, we know, can change the meaning of the word.

In the recording today, I’ll talk about connotations more exactly, and I’ll use a few examples. And, in the coming posts, I’ll try to include a few more concrete examples.

For now, here are some exercises.

1. If something at work isn’t going well, what words would you use to describe it? How would you try to describe it in a positive light?
2. One of your colleagues is known for working hard—long hours, no breaks—but not very quickly. (The work he does, though, is good work.) Can you describe this colleague positively? Can you describe him negatively?
3. You’re at a job interview and they want to know what you did at your last job. What you actually did was make hamburgers and put them in paper wrappers. Is it possible to describe this job so that it sounds like a good work experience?

There are a lot of words in English. A lot of them have almost the same meaning, or meanings that are related. But, often, picking one word over the other can weaken the meaning of your sentence and—in the worst case—even hurt feelings.

Consider a few questions:

• Would you rather be faced with a challenge or a problem?
• Would you rather that someone called you a ‘natural leader’ or a ’skilled leader?’
• If someone takes five minutes to make a decision, would you call them ‘deliberate’ or ‘indecisive?’

Our problem—I’m sorry, I mean our challenge—is that these word pairs have very similar meanings, but can result in misunderstanding if you don’t choose the right one.

What’s the difference? The difference is the connotation of the words. We’ll talk more, soon, about the meaning of connotation, but for now it helps to say this: the connotation of a word is its ’second meaning.’ Often, we use the words ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ to describe this: a challenge is a positive thing, a problem is a negative thing. But it can be more than that.

Why does it matter? If you’re speaking to a native—or fluent—speaker who is aware of the connotation of the words you use, it’s very possible that misunderstandings can happen when you say in English what you’d normally say in your native language.

In the next days and weeks (I don’t know how fast I can prepare stuff) I want to talk about this idea. We’re going to start with some vocabulary to describe this, we’re going to cover specific examples, and we’re going to talk about how you can find out connotations on your own. (After all, every word has some kind of connotation.)

Normally, I’ve organized my lessons at Bite Sized English into different levels: from pretty simple to native level. The lessons we work on for this topic will be all ‘native level.’ You’ll need pretty good English to really make use of them. (Though, it never hurts to learn the extra vocabulary.)

This entry is part of a series about fraud. This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

My name is Toby. I don’t think it’s possible to really steal my name. . . after all, if you did, wouldn’t that mean I was left here, nameless? And that’s just not possible. But, it’s possible for you to take my name—and probably my birthday, my social security number and maybe other personal data—to use my name by pretending to be me.

Who knows what you could do with my name: spend my money, borrow money, get married. . . lots of stuff. (I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone getting married under a stolen name.) When that happens, it’s possible that I could lose a lot of money. . .and maybe even wake up married.

When this happens, this is called identity theft. My identity is stolen. Today we’re going to talk about different kind of identity theft. (Because I don’t know much about this, I got my information from the Wikipedia page, if you want to read it there.) We’re going to talk about:

• Financial Identity Theft

• Criminal Identity Theft

• Medical Identity Theft

After You’ve Heard the Recording
Do you worry about this happening to you? Do you think it’s very possible? What do you to protect your identity from theft?

This entry is part of a series about fraud! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

I like to teach English that’s happy and positive. Because, well, that’s the way I try to see the world. Unfortunately, though, that’s not always how things are. And so, today we’re going to talk about two words that I hope you never really need.

For today’s recording you’re going to need thevocabulary words honest and dishonest. And, of course, truth and lies. It’s pretty simple, really: truth refers to something that’s a fact, something that’s true, or information that’s real. A lie, on the other hand, is a ‘fake fact.’ A lie is when someone tells you something that they know isn’t true, it’s ‘fake information.’ We all know people we can trust to tell us the truth: these are honest people. And, unfortunately, we know people whom we can’t trust to tell us the truth: these are dishonest people.

Now, you have the vocabulary to listen to today’s recording. The vocabulary you’ll learn in the recording is:

• Deceit – Deception

• Fraud

After You’ve Heard the Recording
I hate to ask this question, because I hope the answer is no, but do you have a story about deceit or fraud? Have you ever deceived anyone? Have you ever been the victim of fraud?

This entry is part of a series about Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

Thanksgiving is this week and, if you’re going to be in the U.S. during this week, you’ll hear some unusual vocabulary. And so, in today’s recording, I want to talk about two of the words that I, personally, associate with Thanksgiving, a short version of the Thanksgiving story, and the answer to the oldest question of all: why is turkey a traditional part of the thanksgiving meal.

The words you’ll be hearing in this recording are:

• Pilgrim

• Mayflower

After You’ve Heard the Recording
Is there a holiday like Thanksgiving in your country? What’s the story behind it?

This entry is part of a series about fitness. Get ready to sweat this week! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

Like all things, fitness vocabulary can be used for more than just fitness. A lot of what we’re going to talk about today could also be used to described something like. . . learning English. (After all, you’re here to learn English.)

Still, today’s recording is going to introduce you to five terms that can be used to describe fitness, but you’ll hear a lot of examples that aren’t just for learning English. To help you—and because some of these words are a little crazy to spell—here’s the vocabulary we’ll cover in this recording:

• Excel / Exceed

• Endurance

• Cardiovascular

• Plateau

• Conserve

This entry is part of a series about older workers. We’ll defy stereotypes all week! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

When the conversation turns to ‘older workers,’ or to ‘immigrants’ or to ‘Americans in Germany’ (I guess, really, I’m in all three of those groups, but I’m not that old) it’s difficult to have a fair conversation. After all, we’re talking about groups of people and. . . that means we’re speaking in stereotypes.

A stereotype is a general statement about a group of people: “Americans are fat and lazy.” “Immigrants don’t learn the language.” “Police officers are all good people.” The problem is that not all people in a group are the same, and so a stereotype can never be more than mostly true.

In this recording, we’re going to talk about stereotypes.

After You’ve Heard the Recording
What stereotypes will other people have of you? What groups do you belong to? Do you think you fulfill the stereotypes, or do you defy them? Do you defy any stereotypes intentionally?

This entry is part of a series about shopping. More shopping all week! This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3)

A lot of people learn the English vocabulary to go shopping: ‘how much does it cost?’ and ‘can I try it on?’ are pretty good examples. But, if you’re shopping in New York City and want to talk to someone—maybe one of the famously friendly New Yorkers—about your shopping, will you have the vocabulary to do it?

There’s a lot of ‘normal’ vocabulary that you can use to describe how you shop. Today, I want to introduce you to two phrases that are common when we talk about shopping. And they’re phrases that come from opposite ends of the shopping spectrum: spontaneous and very deliberate. The phrases are:

• Impulse buy

• Comparison shopping

After You’ve Heard the Recording
Which of these two phrases best describe you? Are there any special things that you might buy on an impulse? Things that you always comparison shop for? Does the price make a difference in how you shop?