Idioms in colloquial english: lie to someone’s face
Level: Upper intermediate and beyond
Content: Idioms in colloquial english
To lie to someone’s face means to tell lies shamelessly to someone. It is a very common expression in colloquial English.
Cartoon explanation: When someone says « I’m not going to lie (to your face)… », you expect him/her to say the truth or to express frankly his/her opinion. In this case, the boss does not intend to lie « to their faces », but he intends lying anyway: lies are lies anyway, doesn’t matter if they are said to your face or to your back.
Difficult pairs: raise or rise?
Level: Intermediate and beyond
Content: Correcting common grammar errors
Lyirics here
RAISE AND RISE are quite similar in meaning.
RAISE is a TRANSITIVE VERB (+object) and means to move something to a higher position.
RISE is an INTRANSITIVE VERB (no object) and it is a synontm of ASCEND.
REMEMBER: YOU RAISE YOUR HAND BUT A BALLOON RISES TO THE SKY.
Phrasal verbs with the preposition « up »
Level: Elementary, Intermediate and beyond
Content: Phrasal verbs
look up (something)/ look something up: consult a dictionary or other reference book.
make something up:invent something
Words in the news: The preppy Picasso thief
Level:Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate
Content:general vocabulary, listening and understanding
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See the transcript here
VOCABULARY
SKETCH:a drawing made quickly that does not have many details. Ex « A Picasso sketch worth $200,000 dollars »
WORTH: if you say how much something is worth, you state its value in money. Ex.: »Lugo is also charged with stealing 6,000 worth of wine from a New Jersey wine store back in April. »
PREPPY: well-educated young people who wear expensive traditional clothes. Ex.: »They call him the sockless preppy Picasso thief. »
POLICE RAID:an action by police officers in which they suddenly enter a place in order to arrest people or search for something such as illegal drugs. Ex: « A police raid on his Hoboken apartment in the early hours of Tuesday unearthed a trove of art worth up to half a million dollars. »
TROVE:a large supply of something such as art or information.
TO BE MEANT:to be intended or designed for someone or something. Ex: « It didn’t look like the stolen art was meant to be sold, but rather to be displayed. »
All definitions from Macmillan Dictionary Online
Phrasal verbs: fall behind
Level:Intermediate and beyond
Content:Phrasal verbs
Fall behind: to fail to move or go forward as quickly as others (source)
Cartoon explanation: this cartoon brings to attention that media and public opinion give more importance to sex scandals than they give to money scandals (and it shoudn’t be that way)