 Welcome to ESL Progress
Dear EnglishClub.com Member,
Welcome to this edition of ESL Progress! In this issue you can learn about using collocations, get free information about schools in the USA, and take part in our Talking Point Discussion on healthcare. You'll also find links to recently added pages. Test yourself too with Quick Quiz. As always there is the latest news, lesson plan, jobs and business opportunities for teachers and schools.
Happy Progress!
Josef Essberger, Founder
EnglishClub.com
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This Month's Lesson  What is a collocation?A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong". Look at these examples: | Natural English... | Unnatural English... | the fast train
fast food | the quick train
quick food | a quick shower
a quick meal | a fast shower
a fast meal |
Why learn collocations?- Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.
- You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.
- It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as single words.
How to learn collocations- Be aware of collocations, and try to recognize them when you see or hear them.
- Treat collocations as single blocks of language. Think of them as individual blocks or chunks, and learn strongly support, not strongly + support.
- When you learn a new word, write down other words that collocate with it (remember rightly, remember distinctly, remember vaguely, remember vividly).
- Read as much as possible. Reading is an excellent way to learn vocabulary and collocations in context and naturally.
- Revise what you learn regularly. Practice using new collocations in context as soon as possible after learning them.
- Learn collocations in groups that work for you. You could learn them by topic (time, number, weather, money, family) or by a particular word (take action, take a chance, take an exam).
- You can find information on collocations in any good learner's dictionary. And you can also find specialized dictionaries of collocations.
Types of CollocationThere are several different types of collocation made from combinations of verb, noun, adjective etc. Some of the most common types are: - Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT
downright satisfied)
- Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating
joy)
- Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a
rush of anger)
- Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions
shout)
- Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT
undertake suicide)
- Verb + Expression With Preposition: burst into tears (NOT
blow up in tears)
- Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave
feverishly)
In this lesson we look at some sample collocations, and end with quizzes to check your understanding: |
Latest Talking Point  The NHS
What is the NHS?
NHS stands for National Health Service. It is a unique, government-run organization which offers medical services to every man, woman and child in Britain from cradle to grave...free of charge! In order to see a doctor, have a hospital visit, an X-ray, an operation or a trip in an ambulance, it is not necessary to pay anybody or to have medical insurance. Perhaps surprisingly, most British people take the NHS almost entirely for granted!
How was the NHS started?
Healthcare in Britain before the NHS was desperately inadequate. The poor could rarely afford doctors and medicines. They turned instead to unreliable and sometimes dangerous home remedies. They might sometimes have been able to secure the services of charitable doctors who would examine and treat their poorest patients for free, but only if they were lucky.
Although the National Health Service wasn't set up until 1948, the idea of general health care had existed much earlier. In the 19th century social reformers and philanthropists had done what they could to provide free health care for the most needy. However, they were just individuals, working independently. They had no government funding and relied entirely on private means, donations from the rich and charities to fund their projects. Their hospitals lurched from one financial crisis to the next and often had to close due to lack of money. Sometimes local authorities would run hospitals for the elderly and the mentally ill but these institutions were rare, prison-like and unpopular.
In 1920 the Dawson Report recommended a centralized health organization. The Royal Commission of 1926 went one step further and suggested that the health service should be publicly funded. The Second World War accelerated the process of change: the government began organizing the country's healthcare on a centralized basis for the first time ever. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say! In 1946 the health minister Aneurin Bevan paved the way for the NHS by successfully pushing pertinent legislation through parliament. He is credited with being the 'father' of the NHS. Two years later, at midnight on 4th July, the National Health System was born. It's mission statement was, 'Everybody, irrespective of means, age, sex or occupation shall have equal opportunity to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available...free of charge.'
Has the NHS been successful?
If we look at the statistics the answer is most definitely 'Yes!' Infant mortality rates used to be as high as 1 in 20. They are nothing like that now. People now live at least ten years longer than they did in 1948. Various illnesses and diseases that were common in 1948 have virtually disappeared from the medical map due to country-wide, free, vaccination programmes - for example, polio, tuberculosis and diptheria. Free birth control pills have helped people gain more control over their lives by enabling them to plan their families.
However, the NHS is not perfect. Patients complain that they have to wait a long time for consultations and operations and that hospitals are not always as clean as they could be. The organization is also very costly to run. Successive governments have faced the problem of funding an ever-growing NHS.
And the future?
The NHS will have more and more demands to meet in the future. Nowadays about 17 million Britons have long-term illnesses such as asthma and heart disease. As the population grows older, so demand on the NHS grows. Obesity and diabetes are on the increase. How will the NHS meet these demands? Many people say that more funding is the answer though others claim the solution is more complicated than that. Whatever the future for the NHS we can be sure that it will continue to challenge the governments to come.-- Each month we have a new Talking Point and invite your views and opinions. Just follow the link below to say what you think. This month's Talking Point is: "Should free healthcare be available to everyone?"Say what you think... |
Quick Quiz 
Wine is made from
a) grapes
b) apples
c) beetles
See end of newsletter for answer
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NEWS FOR ESL TEACHERS
Featured Teacherblogs:The Power of SpeechJohn's EFL CafeEnglish Stuff
Get Your Own Teacherblog!Stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues wherever you're teaching in the world! TEFL.net Teacherblogs are a great way to keep up with other teachers, pass on your teaching ideas and tips, tell of your experiences abroad - or blog on about anything you like. And it couldn't be easier. start blogging hereLinguistics- It tastes good and it's good for you!If there are any regular readers out there, you might have worked out that I spend a good amount of my time and effort searching for things to produce and consume that satisfy both the pure pleasure parts of my brain and the "I'm such a good boy" smugness pleasure parts of the brain. Hence the emailing games (!?), trying to be amusing about lesson planning (??),... read on | add comment |
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This Month's Lesson Plan  Talking Point: HealthcareA lesson on a universally relevant topic which will really generate discussion! Vocabulary in the form of phrasal verbs and expressions is practised in a gap-fill exercise. The pace of the lesson is changed with some classic "Doctor, Doctor" puns, and students are encouraged to practise their fluency through relevant conversation questions such as: "Does the healthcare system in your country focus more on prevention or cure of illnesses?" Download lesson plan...Each Talking Point worksheet is available for download as a PDF file that you can view in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Each worksheet can be easily printed and is freely photocopiable. |
Latest ESL Jobs 
Find the latest job offers for English teachers posted by schools around the world. Also in the Job Centre: - Subscribe to JobAlert FREE
- Frequently Asked Questions about ESL jobs
- Tips on writing your resume when applying for an ESL job
- Resumes bank where you can post your resume
- Schools can post ESL vacancies
ESL Jobs Centre... |
Schools For Sale 
- USA: Language School in San Diego
- Italy: School for Sale (Calabria)
- Italy: English School for Sale
- Spain: Profitable School for Sale
- Spain: English School near Seville
- Italy: Language School in Romagna
- Spain: English School for Sale, Madrid
- Spain: Language School for Sale
See full details... |
Answer to Quick Quiz
a) grapes
This is a level 3 question and answer from Word Up, the ESL board game that's fun to play at home or at school. Learn more here...
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