The Sheep that thinks it's a Wolf: Recent Episodes
Stuart Wiffin
Here are some famous paintings- can you see which painting the student is describing?
errors
a picture correct pronunciation here
a video on the schwa here or with Tim or Sian
More here on the schwa
a painting natural- classic French word order!
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a society is not a business or a company- it is the people who live in a country
(a famous quote by Margaret Thatcher: There’s No Such Thing as Society)
mission is usually associated with Apollo or Star Trek but I can’t find a better word for a mid term work assignment so we’ll go with mission.
amelioration is a French word- it’s also an English word but we would usually say improvement see footnote
see here
sometime should be sometimes
He’s in holiday- he’s on holiday
Still always already again
I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
You’ve already told me that versus You’ve told me that before
He can work again should be- He can still work
more here
footnote
amelioration can refer to improvements in various areas such as:
-
Sanitary Improvement: Enhancing sanitation facilities as a means to build and empower communities.
-
Semantic Change: The transformation of a word’s meaning from pejorative to neutral or positive, like the evolution of “nice.”
-
Continuous Improvement: Ongoing efforts to enhance processes and maintain competitiveness, as seen in business practices.
-
Software Enhancements: Introducing new features or bug fixes in software updates to improve functionality.
Amelioration is often contrasted with pejoration, which is the opposite process where a word’s meaning becomes more negative over time.
Personally I’ve never used the word pejoration, I would say deterioration but perhaps this just demonstrates my impoverished vocabulary.
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Overall, excellent communicative ability.
The problems are mostly words you use in French which are really English words, such as comfort zone, culture, company, consultants, scientists, engineers and entity. Be careful where to place the emphasis/word stress (or better, where to take away the stress).
Also for names, to anglicize the names or not to? London or Londres, Paris or Pari, France or France, Pauline or Pauline?
see the schwa here or with Tim or Sian
More here on the schwa
Also, be careful with plurals- It’s one of the value of the company
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fas cin at ing https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/fascinating
fascinating
adjective
/ˈfæsɪneɪtɪŋ/
/ˈfæsɪneɪtɪŋ/
accent
accent
noun
/ˈæksent/,
/ˈæksənt/
/ˈæksent/,
/ˈæksənt/
the human being https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/human_1?q=human
woman
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/woman?q=woman
why they do that?
Why do they do that?
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Why they want to stay isolated?
Why do they want to stay isolated?
Why they want to live like that…
Question forms
Wh Aux Subj Verb
Why do the want to live like that?
Why they don’t accept
Why don’t they accept
How they do to get/have children
How do they have children?
What do they do to have children?
How do they manage to have healthy children?
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A famous meme- do men think about the Roman Empire?
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A few minor pronunciation errors- tree full days- three full days (push the tongue out- put your finger to your lips- it should be touched by your tongue), architecture should be arc-(h)-itecture (silent letter).
Grammar- Not you can found, but you can find.
The errors do not interfere with comprehension.
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stuartwiffin.substack.com
Steve Jobs on failure
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stuartwiffin.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stuartwiffin.substack.com
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This was from a lesson on Jensen Huang- the boss of Nvidia.
Here is the quote from Huang- “resilience matters in success...I don't know how to teach it to you except for, 'I hope suffering happens to you'..greatness comes from character & character...is formed out of people who suffered..I wish upon you ample doses of pain & suffering"
https://x.com/TheTranscript_/status/1767204790226846080?s=20
This inspired my student to tell me an anecdote about his father. First, at a communication level, the meaning is clear.
If we want to improve the English, the most important errors are:
After show… After seeing (or after being shown)
that remembers me a story….. reminds me of
he say… he said to us, or he says, if you’re telling the story in the present tense
pron of favourite
looking the candy … at
pron of saw should be saw not shore
But none of these errors impede communication.
Resources:
Cambridge English dictionary
Scott Thornbury on which errors to correct
From Whats App- long press on message then share on the 3 dots
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Get full access to The Sheep that thinks it's a Wolf at stuartwiffin.substack.com/subscribe
Get full access to The Sheep that thinks it's a Wolf at stuartwiffin.substack.com/subscribe
Get full access to The Sheep that thinks it's a Wolf at stuartwiffin.substack.com/subscribe
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stuartwiffin.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stuartwiffin.substack.com