Do Words Fascinate You? Check out A Way With Words Public Radio Program

A Way With Words: Another Resource for English Teachers and Word Mavens

Do you have a way with words? Are you a lover of word trivia and origins? Are you an English teacher? If so, consider listening to the celebrated public radio show!

Forget forcing students to memorize boring vocabulary lists. Get your English students engaged in the story of English words, their origins, and multiple uses.

A Way with Words, another outstanding public radio show, is co-hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett (who writes an annual buzzwords of the year survey for the New York Times.) The hour long program examines the English language as the hosts answer listeners' questions about intriguing aspects of the English language, including grammar, vocabulary, idioms, slang, dialects, speaking, and writing. The friendly format also demonstrates excellent discussion skills. Web visitors can also listen to episodes online, down MP3s, and subscribe to podcasts for free.

While the show is better for English teachers and writers than most English language learners or adult ESL students, listeners will gain a greater appreciation for and knowledge of our strange, fascinating language.

Features:
• Free downloads
• Thematic episodes accompanied by a reading text
• Discussion points
• All past episodes are archived chronologically for easy browsing
• Free subscriptions

Site URL: http://www.waywordradio.org/

Check it out!

Word mavens might also be interested in New York Times column on buzzwords:
http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/whats-your-buzzword-of-2008/#comment-2671
As you might suspect, I recommended "lifequake" as a buzzword for 2008 because so many lives suffered sudden changes, like in earthquakes.


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It was an Earthquake, not a Lifequake! We're Lucky!!

It was an Earthquake, not a Lifequake!

As CNN and the other global news organizations rushed to tell the world, a 5.4 earthquake hit Los Angeles yesterday. The earth shook, people got scared, and fears of “the big one” entered the minds of millions. The shaking lasted for almost a minute, many pictures fell from walls and books left their shelves.

Yet nobody was killed, no bridges fell, and very few injuries were reported. This hometown earthquake was, in many ways, a non-event.

It was an earthquake, not a lifequake!

A lifequake, as slang experts and blog readers know, is an event that suddenly changes your life. Being hit by a falling building, injured in a car accident, getting diagnosed with a terrible illness, or losing a job is a lifequake. The 5.4 earthquake spooked many Los Angeles residents, but it was only an earthquake. It wasn’t a lifequake.

Let’s hope that the next earthquake is just as harmless – and lifequakes stay far away!

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P.S. Yesterday’s earthquake reminds Los Angeles residents to prepare for emergencies. Adult schools usually have a mandated lesson on this life skill, but IEP and EFL students could benefit from reviewing safety procedures too.

PPS. The sound “ake” appears in many words in English.

Bake cake fake lake

make take wake shake

quake earthquake milkshake lifequake

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What is a lifequake? Is that a real word?

Earthquakes remain a concern for people living in many places, including Southern California. This awareness, and fear of sudden shaking and buildings falling, enters into many conversations.
I recently read a wonderful term and vocabulary word: lifequake. What does it mean? An event that suddenly changes your life – a car accident, being laid off, terrible illness, or getting divorced – in the same dramatic way that an earthquake might destroy a building.
Now I have a new way to ask friends to share more about awkward situations.

• How did you deal with that lifequake?
• What lifequakes have you survived?
• How will you manage that lifequake?

Is lifequake a real word? Can educated English speakers use it? Absolutely. New words and slang terms enter English dictionaries all the time, partly because our world continues to change and evolve. Lifequake clearly describes a common experience. It's pithy and practical. While I would might hesisitate about using the term on a TOEFL or TOEIC test, I plan to incorporate into my daily vocabulary with family, friends, and students.

A fellow ESL teacher and longtime California resident believes that “lifequake” was a widely used term in the 1970s among “young, hip people.” Perhaps. Whether old hipster slang or a new Californian term, lifequake conveys an understanding that sometimes life can shock and hurt. Lifequake is a fast way to communicate a harsh reality. Lifequakes happen.

Don't you agree?

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