Category:

Vocabulary: St Paul's - Heroes and Executions. Wednesday 31st July 2013

5/8/2013

Dear all
Thank you to all of you for participating in the English Conversation Walk around the St Paul's area. We were so lucky with the weather and the most rain we got, was a few spots!

Below, is some of the vocabulary that we went over together in the pub at the end.

I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Best Wishes
Gail

Vocabulary: Heroes and executions – Wednesday 31st August 2013

To drown (verb): To die in water because it’s not possible to breathe. E.g. the boy fell in the river and drowned.

To sink (verb) (pt sank pp sunk): a) to go down or make something go down under the surface of water (or other liquids). E.g. the little girl put her paper boat on the pond and watched it sink.

b) to be sunk (expression): When something bad has happened to you and you feel hopeless. E.g. He lost all his money and now he feels sunk.

steep (adjective): a) (used about a hill, mountain etc). When a hill rises or falls quickly, at a sharp angle. E.g. Snow Hill is the highest hill in the City of London but it’s not very steep!

b) to be steeped in something (adj): having a lot of something, full of something. E.g. London is steeped in history.

steeple (noun): The tower on the roof of a church.

A barrel (noun): a) A large, round, wooden (or plastic or metal) container used for liquids. It has a flat top and bottom and is wider in the middle. E.g. In the 18th century, a gang called the Mohock Gang kidnapped elderly women and placed them in a barrel. Then they rolled the barrel downhill!!

b) a barrel of laughs (idiom): If someone is a barrel of laughs, they are always making jokes and you find them very funny.

c) roll out the barrel (informal): Originally a popular song from World War Two. Today, it’s used when a group of people plan to drink a lot of alcohol and they say: ‘Come one, roll out the barrel!’

a pub crawl (noun): When a group of people go from one pub to another and have a drink in each one.

hodgepodge (noun): The same as mishmash.

a barrow (noun): A small thing on two wheels on which fruit, vegetables etc are moved or sold in the street, especially in a market.

a deck (noun): a) a floor on a ship or bus.

b) on deck: on the part of the ship which you can walk on outside.

c) a deck of cards: a pack of cards.

d) a double-decker bus: a bus with a downstairs and upstairs.

e) a deckchair (noun): A chair that you use outside, especially on the beach. E.g. we saw some deckchairs in one of the squares that we walked through. Business people were sitting in them eating their lunch.

a high chair (noun): A special chair with long legs and a little seat and table. It’s for a small child to sit in when eating.

stationery (noun): writing and other office materials e.g. envelopes, paper, pens, paper etc.

stationary (adjective): When something is not moving, it is ‘stationary’. E.g. the car was stationary when the accident happened.

A slum (noun): An area of a city where living conditions are extremely bad, and where the buildings are dirty and haven’t been repaired for a long time.

To shadow (verb): To follow and watch somebody’s action. E.g. the police shadowed the suspect for three days.

Cutlery (noun): The knives, forks and spoons that you use for eating food.

Grade I listed and Grade II listed: A listed building in the UK is a building that has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural interest. They are protected by law. Some open land in the UK is also listed and, therefore, protected.

0 Comments

Vocabulary: St Pauls - Heroes and Executions, Saturday 19th January 2013

23/1/2013

0 Comments

Hello to all of you who joined this English conversation last Saturday. I so enjoyed seeing you all again and thank you for working so hard on the English Worksheet, the research and contributing throughout the walk.

I've posted the vocabulary (see below). If I've missed anything, please do add it!

I look forward to seeing you all on the next walk. I'll sort out the next date very soon ...

Best Wishes
Gail

Vocabulary: Heroes and executions – Saturday 19th January 2013

to scratch (verb): When something sharp makes a shallow cut in our skin. E.g. my cat scratched my hand this morning.

an itch (noun): a) When we feel an irritation on our skin that makes us so uncomfortable that we want to scratch it!

to itch (verb): a) E.g. that mosquito bite itched like mad! b) (expression): I’m itching to go on holiday (means = can’t wait, restless, really wants to do something)

you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours (proverb): If you do me a favour, I’ll do one for you too

to start (something) from scratch (phrase): To begin or learn something from the very beginning. E.g. I’m learning Spanish from scratch. E.g. I cooked this dinner from scratch.

on hold (phrase): E.g. I put my career on hold while the children were very small.

rife with (adjective): Usually used in as a negative, something not wanted or pleasant. Widespread, of common occurrence. Full of (something) e.g. We saw this word outside St Sepulchre’s church when we read the history of the area. It said that Newgate Prison was ‘rife with ghost stories’. E.g. Chicken Pox is rife at my daughter’s school.

circa (preposition): approximately. It is usually used with a date E.g. The Hall was built circa 1600.

it’s a drag (noun informal): When something or someone is boring. E.g. I found that class this morning a real drag!

tunnel vision (noun informal): When we focus (think about) only on the things we want to.

dead quiet: When a place is really, really quiet. E.g. I went to Covent Garden yesterday and it was dead quite because of the snow. Usually, there are crowds of people there!

mishmash (noun): A confused mixture. E.g. London is a real mishmash of buildings and styles. The old historical buildings are mixed up with the new, modern ones.

hodgepodge (noun): The same as mishmash.

ish (adverb): E.g. We’re meeting at 6ish, aren’t we? E.g. A: Are you hungry? We could find somewhere to eat, if you like. B: I couldn’t eat a huge meal but I am peckish. E.g. A: Are you busy? I could do with some help. B: Yes, ish. Give me another 10 minutes and I’ll help you then.

to pelt (verb): To throw something at someone or thing. E.g. when the prisoners from Newgate Prison were executed, the crowds pelted them with tomatoes and rotten fruit.

pelting with rain: When it rains very heavily, we use this expression. We say ‘it’s pelting with rain’ or ‘the rain is pelting down’.

a bailey (noun): A wall used to protect a city. The original City of London was surrounded by a bailey (wall), some of which can still be seen today.

a hostage (noun): When a person (or lots of people) is held by one group in a conflict as a way to fulfil certain conditions. E.g. They said that they won’t free the twenty hostages until the government frees the prisoners. N.B.: you can only use ‘hostage/s’ with certain verbs i.e. a group has taken hostages in Algeria. i.e. to take someone hostage.

stationery (noun): writing and other office materials e.g. envelopes, paper, pens etc.

stationary (adjective): When something is still and not moving, it is ‘stationary’. E.g. the car was stationary when the accident happened.

a frieze (noun): A horizontal strip of paper or clay or wood (any material) that is mounted on a wall. It can be painted or sculpted to create a series of pictures that tell a story or show a process. E.g. We looked at the frieze above Cutlers’ Hall. It shows the traditional process of making knives and other sharp instruments.

To demolish (verb used with an object). a) When we pull down a building or other structure, we say us the verb ‘to demolish’. E.g. They demolished the building next to the library and built a new hotel.

b) We also use ‘to demolish’ informally. E.g. If we are very hungry and eat our dinner very quickly, we might say ‘I demolished that lot quickly!’ or ‘he demolished his meal in no time!’ or ‘she demolished that chocolate bar!’

c) demolition (noun). The act of demolishing something. E.g. Demolition work began on the old office building this morning.

To destroy (verb): When we ruin something (a building, painting, dinner or any other object or thing), we use the verb ‘to destroy’. E.g. During the riots, the toy shop was destroyed in the fire. E.g. She poured paint everywhere and destroyed my work.

Pronunciation:

Note that comb, thumb, bomb, tomb, dumb all have a silent ‘b’.

Other:

A: did he erect all the tablets?

B: I think no. (Correction: ‘I don’t think so’ ü or ‘I think not’ ü

///

A two bedroom flat no plurals – because

A four lane motorway all these nouns are being used as adjectives

A 95 year old woman

0 Comments

New Vocabulary: St. Paul's - discover heroes and executions

20/7/2012

0 Comments

Hello everyone
It was lovely seeing so many familiar faces last Sunday and I really enjoyed sharing this walk with you (even the gruesome bits). Thank you for working so hard as well. I was so impressed with how much you were able to research about the history of the places that I gave you ... well done! When you read out the information and shared it with us, it was done so well and you made it incredibly interesting.

Below is the vocabulary that we shared at the end of the walk. I'm sure that there is more so please do add it if you'd like to.

I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
Best Wishes
Gail

To drown (verb): When someone is underwater and cannot breath, they die. We say that they ‘drown’. Some of the memorials to the heroes in Postman’s Park drowned when they tried to save another person.

To pelt (verb): To throw something at someone or thing. E.g. when the prisoners from Newgate Prison were executed, the crowds pelted them with tomatoes and rotten fruit.

Pelting with rain: When it rains very heavily, we use this expression. We say ‘it’s pelting with rain’ or ‘the rain is pelting down’.

A pelt (noun): The skin of an animal with the fur, hair or wool still on it.

Cigarette butts (noun): The ends of cigarettes after they have been smoked. We see lots of them on the pavements and the ground!

Fag ends (noun): The same as cigarette end. This is very informal English, slang.

Fags (noun): Cigarettes. This is very informal, slang.

A butt (noun): A bum, bottom or arse (on a person).

A pew (noun): The long, wooden seat that we find in churches. We talked about where the pews would have been if the church hadn’t been destroyed by bombs. Today, there are rose bushes there instead!

Stationery (noun): Items such as writing paper, envelopes and other office materials, traditionally made of paper. Today, stationery shops sell other items such as pens and plastic folders.

Stationary (adjective): When something is still and not moving, it is ‘stationary’. E.g. the car was stationary when the accident happened.

A frieze (noun): A horizontal strip of paper or clay or wood (any material) that is mounted on a wall. It can be painted or sculpted to create a series of pictures that tell a story or show a process. E.g. We looked at the frieze above Cutlers’ Hall. It shows the traditional process of making knives and other sharp instruments.

To damage (verb): When an object is ruined in some way, we say that it is damaged. E.g. I damaged the door when I knocked the chair into it. Now it’s got a hole in it. Note: we do not use ‘damage’ when we hurt ourselves (NOT I’ve damaged my knee. We say, I’ve hurt my knee or I’ve injured my knee)

To injure (verb): When harm is done to a person or if we hurt ourselves. E.g. I injured my leg when I fell over. It really hurts. E.g. He was injured in the car accident.

A stained-glass window (noun): The coloured glass that is used to make pictures in windows like church windows.

A barrel (noun): A container (usually wood) that is cylindrical and bulges in the middle. It has metal hoops around it. When beer is carried from the brewery to the pub, it is carried in ‘a beer barrel’. We saw some lovely ones outside The Mitre Pub in Ely Place.

Cellar (noun): A room below ground in a house. Cellars are often used for storing wine or other items. Traditionally, they were used for storing coal.

A cell (noun): A small room where a prisoner is locked up. On this walk, we learned that prisoners in Newgate Prison were locked up in terrible conditions ... they had vermin (rats and mice) running over them and were tortured before they were executed (unless they had lots of money!).

An inmate (noun): A person who is locked up in prison or a hospital.

To demolish (verb used with an object). a)When we pull down a building or other structure, we say us the verb ‘to demolish’. E.g. They demolished the building where The Four Aces Club was and built a new library.

b) We also use ‘to demolish’ informally. E.g. If we are very hungry and eat our dinner very quickly, we might say ‘I demolished that lot quickly!’ or ‘he demolished his meal in no time!’ or ‘she demolished that chocolate bar!.’

c) demolition (noun). The act of demolishing something. E.g. Demolition work began on the old office building this morning.

To destroy (verb): When we ruin something (a building, painting, dinner or any other object or thing), we use the verb ‘to destroy’. E.g. During the riots, the toy shop was destroyed in the fire. E.g. She poured paint everywhere and destroyed my work.

A stump (noun): a) When someone has to have a part of their leg cut off (or arm), the part of the leg that remains is called ‘a stump’. We discovered that there was a pub next to Newgate Prison called The Magpie and Stump ... and this the suffix, ‘stump’ was added as a joke because of the large number of headless bodies executed at the prison!!

b) When we cut a tree down, the round wooden part that is left in the ground is also called ‘a tree stump’.

c) An expression: I’m completely stumped. If someone asks me a question and I don’t know the answer because it’s too difficult, I can say ‘I’m completely stumped!’ or ‘You’ve stumped me!’

The bride (noun): A woman on her wedding day is called ‘the bride’.

The groom (noun): The man on his wedding day is called ‘the groom’.

Copper (noun): a type of metal that is a reddish-brown colour.

A copper (noun): A police officer.

A fair cop (idiom): If someone catches me doing something wrong, I can say something like, ‘Fair cop. You’re right ... I blah blah blah’. It is something we say when we admit that another person has caught us out doing something wrong!

Under (preposition): a) When something is beneath or covered by something. E.g. The food fell under the table. E.g. We waited under the tree for the rain to stop. b) If something is below the surface we can use ‘under’ as a preposition. E.g. The fish swam under the water (of course!).

Under (adverb): If we talk about something that is below or beneath something. E.g. go over the fence, not under.

Underneath (preposition): Situated just below something else. E.g. Harry’s office is underneath English Walks!

A stain (noun): If I drop food down my t-shirt and it leaves a coloured patch there that I cannot wash out, it is a stain. E.g. The red wine left a stain on the table cloth.

To stain (verb): To mark something with dirt or coloured patches that we cannot get rid of or remove easily. E.g. the beetroot stained my fingers. E.g. His shirt was stained with blackcurrants.

Other:

It is interested – we say, ‘it is interesting’ or ‘I’m interested in ... (something)’.

I forget person’s names – we say, ‘I forget people’s names’ or ‘I’m not very good at remembering people’s names’.

To make a note or to make notes.

0 Comments

Vocabulary: St Paul's - Heroes and Executions. Wednesday 31st July 2013

Vocabulary: St Pauls - Heroes and Executions, Saturday 19th January 2013

New Vocabulary: St. Paul's - discover heroes and executions

Archives

Author

Categories