English beginner

School days
What does the idiom, "History repeats itself" mean?
Sam: Do you remember your first day at school?
Taylor: Not really.
Sam: I remember standing at the door to the school watching my mother walking away. I thought my heart was broken.
Taylor: I thought you enjoyed school!
Sam: I did. My heartbreak didn''t last very long. This morning, I took my little boy to school for the first time. As I walked away from the school, I thought my heart was broken.
Taylor: Oh dear. History repeats itself.

"History repeats itself" means:
1. History is finished.
2. Repeating history is bad.
3. Events from the past happen again and again.
The answer is 3. Events from the past will often happen again in the future. Another similar idiom is, "What goes around comes around." It suggests that history, or time, is like a circle.

Summer weather
Joe: These last few days have been really hot.
William: These are the dog days of summer.
Joe: I like the summer. In this heat, I have happy memories of winter!
William: I feel the same way. Everyone is so hot under the collar in this weather.
Joe: Well, I''m not very happy about it! This weather really is for the dogs!

IDIOMS
1. "Dog days of summer" means:
1. the hottest, most humid days in summer
2. dogs like hot days
3. dogs run free in the summer
The answer is 1. Sirius, the Dog Star, rises and sets with the sun in the July and August. A long time ago, people thought the heat of the Dog Star and the sun mixed to make the summer heat.
2. To say "I''m hot under the collar" means:
1. I''m very hot.
2. I''m very angry.
3. My shirt is too hot.
The answer is 2. When people are angry, their faces and necks turn red. They look "hot under the collar!"

School days
In the US, elementary or primary school usually has grades one to eight. There are many important (and sometimes fun) events during these years. See if you can match the event to its description:
1. I loved ________ as a child. We would visit museums, zoos, and art galleries.
2. Teachers wrote down your grade on a ________.
3. In ________ class, children learn many different sports.
4. The ________ is the leader of the school.
1. report card
2. principal
3. field trips
4. phys ed (physical education) or gym

ANSWERS: 1.(3) 2.(1) 3.(4) 4.(2)

Moving
PACKING TO MOVE
When I''m moving and I start packing,
there is always something lacking:
Boxes, tape or the strength to move,
some belongings I find and others I lose.
Perhaps with the next move my technique will improve?
Sometimes there is no reason nor rhyme to packing one''s belongings to move. No reason nor rhyme means that there is no clear, planned way that a person approaches the task. It doesn''t make sense.
Look at the poem above. Can you find the two sets of rhyming words? One set has two words in it and the other set has three. Can you find them? Let''s see!

Answer: 1) packing and lacking 2) move, lose, improve

Summer weather
RHYMING WORDS
Read the following poem and try to complete it with these words: day, sun, fun, play, fall, ball
1. On a hot summer''s ____
2. We like to go _____
3. Catch and soccer and ____
4. With the hot summer''s _____
5. The park is more ____
6. Than in spring or summer or ____

ANSWER
1. On a hot summer''s day
2. We like to go play
3. Catch and soccer and ball
4. With the hot summer''s sun
5. The park is more fun
6. Than in spring or summer or fall

Can you think of two more words to rhyme with day, fun, and ball?

School days
What one preposition can be used to fill all these blanks?
Cordell: What did you study ____ school?
Evan: I majored ____ biology.
Denise: I have a degree ___ psychology. Where did you go to school, Cordell?
Cordell: I studied at Duke University. I studied math.
Evan: We all studied such different subjects. It''s funny that we are all together.
Denise: It''s not really funny. It''s sad.
Cordell: Yeah. We are the most educated coffee shop workers ___ town!
You can use "in" for all these blanks. You can also say you studied "at school."

Moving
MOVERS
Look at the reading below and identify the verbs that describe what movers do:
Movers are people who help you move your possessions from one place to another. They can be friends and relatives helping you, but more often than not, they are strong, paid workers who lift, carry, haul, tote, measure doors, climb up and down stairs and sweat to bring your belongings safely to a new place. Movers do lots of hard, physical work and they get paid $30-$40 per hour for their labor.
Answer: help, move, lift, carry, haul, tote, measure, climb, sweat
Don''t you think it is worth the cost to have paid, professional people move and organize your boxed belongings?
What are movers like in your country? Are they well-paid workers?

Movies
READING
Lynette is calling Moira on the telephone.
Moira: Hello?
Lynette: Hi, Moira. This is Lynette. Do you want to go to a movie tonight?
Moira: Sure! What do you want to see?
Lynette: How about "Kill Bill"?
Moira: I don''t really like scary movies. Let''s go see "Lord of the Rings."
Lynette: Okay. I hear it is going to win a lot of awards!
Do you like going to movies? What kind of movies do you like?

School days
If you don''t know the meaning of a word in English, you should try to guess the meaning from the whole sentence. This is called learning words "in context."
Try filling in the missing words by looking at the words around them for clues.
In North America, the____ (a)____year begins in ___(b)___. For many children, their first experience with school will be at preschool. ____(c)____is for children from ages three to five. Children are not ___(d)_____to go to preschool, but some____(e)____like to start their children''s school life in an ___(f)_____way. Children normally ___(g)_____preschool for half a day. They paint, sing songs, and do group ___(h)____.
activities -- parents -- Preschool -- school -- required -- attend -- September -- informal

ANSWERS
1. school
2. September
3. Preschool
4. required
5. parents
6. informal
7. attend
8. activities

Moving
APARTMENT HUNTING
Apartment hunting can be a difficult task wherever in the world you may be. People spend a lot of time looking through advertisements, calling real estate brokers and viewing apartments. In English, when we are in this situation of looking for a home we say:
1. I am apartment hunting.
2. I am looking for a new apartment.
3. I am preparing to move.
4. I am seeking a new residence/apartment.

Look at the verb form above. All of the statements above are in the present progressive. They use the verb "be" plus a verb with an -ing ending.
Pronoun Verb "Be" plus VERB with -ING
1. I AM HUNT ING
2. I AM LOOK ING
3. I AM PREPARE ING
This tense, called Present Progressive, means that the action is happening now and continues or progresses over a period of time. Because apartment hunting can be a long process, it is fitting that the continuous form should be used.