American English Idioms, a whimsical collection of colloquialisms, is sure to delight you - and provide real insight into American idioms, customs, and humor.Harry Collis has arranged common everyday idioms into nine lighthearted sections - including: The Body Has Many Uses People Do the Strangest Things When Things Go Wrong When Things Go Well and more And he has turned them over to the expert hands of Mario Risso, whose wonderfully humorous cartoons illustrate what Americans say and what they really mean.Each idiom has a standard English "translation" and is placed in a real-life context, either in a natural dialogue or narrative. These facilitate understanding and make the idioms come alive!

    In Tharoorosaurus, he shares fifty-three examples from his vocabulary: unusual words from every letter of the alphabet. You don't have to be a linguaphile to enjoy the fun facts and interesting anecdotes behind the words! Be ready to impress-and say goodbye to your hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia!

    The approach of each title is an appeal to students who think that the subject is boring, or too difficult, or both. The authors, all experienced educators, take a light approach, showing kids what is most interesting about each subject, and how seemingly difficult problems can be transformed into fun quizzes, brain-ticklers, and challenging puzzles with rational solutions. Here is practical advice that transforms essay writing into a satisfying experience for middle school and senior high school students. The author offers tips on enlivening writing with vivid images, smoothing out sentences, silencing the dull passive voice, and adding rhythm to writing. He also shows how to create a template that students can use when writing research papers for all subjects. In addition, students will find web site reference s cited throughout the text, which they can access. Brain ticklers (short quizzes) appear throughout the book with an answer key at the back.

    Soon she discovers she has no choice, unless she can win an ancient and mysterious board game. And every roll of the dice leads her further into danger. The Name at the End of the Ladder is a fantasy adventure for younger readers by award-winning New Zealand poet Elena de Roo. This junior fiction novel about the power of language and friendship is ideal for fans of Jumanji, Zathura and The Phantom Tollbooth. For more about the author and her books, please visit www.elenaderoo.com

    Volume A: Skill and Strategies provides comprehensive coverage of the language skill and test-taking strategies student need to increase their TOEFL test score. Volume B: Practice Tests offers five complete tests that reproduce the format and style of the TOEFL test and further familiarize student with the exam.Volume B: Practice Testsfeatures: A comprehensive strategies section to help students avoid common mistakes and maximized their time Five complete Practice Tests which allow students to simulate taking the actual TOEFL test and the TWE test (Test of Written English) Sample TOEFL test Answer Sheets to provide practice with both othe horizontal and the vertical formats A complete Tapescript and Answer Key making this text useful for self-study as well as classroom instructionVolume B: Practice Tests is accompanied by a set audio cassettes.

    Whether you are a native speaker who wants to sharpen their verbal toolkit, or a non-native speaker who wants to learn how to navigate the English language maze, this book will provide you with information and techniques for instant improvement and lifelong learning. Maybe you want to improve your presentation skills. Perhaps you want to tel more interesting and engaging stories. Or maybe you simply want to become more articulate in your day-to-day use of English. Whatever your needs, your goal is to improve your English, and Launch Your English can guide you to do just that. In this book you'll learn how to: • become more creative and descriptive in your English usage • capture people's attention with your vivid and enhanced expressions • break English down into building blocks for easy improvement • select the right word and expression to articulate your thoughts exactly Free resources for students of English -> SirEnglish.com

    Jones Is a Graduation Girl All the children in Room Nine are excited when they get their bright white graduation gowns. Then an accident happens! Can Junie B. find a way to fix things? Junie B., First Grader (at last!)When Junie B. tries to read words on the chalkboard, she can’t seem to see what everyone else is seeing! Is it possible she might actually end up wearing . . . glasses?

    I'm sure it will be ...

    The text includes full-length selections as well as student essays.

    Voila!” —Mark Greenside, author of I’ll Never Be French (No Matter What I Do) William Alexander is more than a Francophile. He wants to be French. There’s one small obstacle though: he doesn’t speak la langue française. In Flirting with French, Alexander sets out to conquer the language he loves. But will it love him back? Alexander eats, breathes, and sleeps French (even conjugating in his dreams). He travels to France, where mistranslations send him bicycling off in all sorts of wrong directions, and he nearly drowns in an immersion class in Provence, where, faced with the riddle of masculine breasts, feminine beards, and a turkey cutlet of uncertain gender, he starts to wonder whether he should’ve taken up golf instead of French. While playing hooky from grammar lessons and memory techniques, Alexander reports on the riotous workings of the Académie française, the four-hundred-year-old institution charged with keeping the language pure; explores the science of human communication, learning why it’s harder for fifty-year-olds to learn a second language than it is for five-year-olds; and, frustrated with his progress, explores an IBM research lab, where he trades barbs with a futuristic hand-held translator. Does he succeed in becoming fluent? Readers will be as surprised as Alexander is to discover that, in a fascinating twist, studying French may have had a far greater impact on his life than actually learning to speak it ever would. “A blend of passion and neuroscience, this literary love affair offers surprise insights into the human brain and the benefits of learning a second language. Reading William Alexander’s book is akin to having an MRI of the soul.” —Laura Shaine Cunningham, author of Sleeping Arrangements   “Alexander proves that learning a new language is an adventure of its own--with all the unexpected obstacles, surprising breakthroughs and moments of sublime pleasure traveling brings.” —Julie Barlow, author of Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong

    Each book takes place in a unique setting! Let these stories lift your spirits, make you laugh, and get you decking the halls! This Collection Includes The Following Books: In From New York, With Love, we join Emily and Josh as they confront some of life's trickier decisions. Can a big city girl survive the holidays in her boyfriend's small hometown? Throw in a Christmas tree farm visit, some warm apple cider, good Southern cooking, and everyone's favorite little town of Magnolia Harbor. Watch the downtown come alive under the twinkling holiday lights and find out if Emily and Josh will be celebrating the New Year alone or together.In A Whole Latte Christmas, Sonia returns to her hometown of Evergreen Valley from teaching abroad, wishing for a simple Christmas with her family. When her character is put to the test, she saves a life and in the process earns the gratitude of Aiden, the charming new café owner in town. Sparks fly, but can Sonia overcome her own doubts and at the same time save the youth choir's Christmas Eve performance? Travel to the beautiful Canadian Rockies for a sweet story and a good latte to find out!In A Girl's Guide To Creating Christmas, single mom Natalie is overwhelmed running her small flower shop. Can her precocious daughter Fiona convince her after-school mentor, Paul, to help her plan a magical Christmas for her mom, and hopefully remind Natalie of the true meaning of the holidays?In Key West Christmas, Josie makes a dramatic life change but quickly realizes the realities of paradise may be a little more than she bargained for. Can her new friend Nate help her find her holiday spirit in the not-so-snowy Key West, Florida?In Santa Baby, Maybe, we take two strangers whose paths can't stop crossing and sprinkle in a little art, coffee, and an opulent holiday party. Mix it together, and you have been whisked away to the scenic Great Smoky Mountains for a cute, clean holiday romp! A Christmas story of family, faith, and finding out that sometimes the mall Santa is more than meets the eye!In Scottish Holiday, a journey of self-discovery leads New Yorker Jillian on a quest across the Atlantic. Will her Christmas holiday home provide the quaint getaway she has in mind...or will a chance occurrence with a local Scotsman change her plans completely? Venture to the wee Scottish Isle of Lewis and help Jillian track down her roots.

    Author Phil Cousineau takes us on a tour into the obscure territory of word origins with great erudition and endearing curiosity. The English poet W. H. Auden was once asked to teach a poetry class, and when 200 students applied to study with him, he only had room for 20 of them. When asked how he chose his students, he said he picked the ones who actually loved words. So too, with this book -- it takes a special wordcatcher to create a treasure chest of remarkable words and their origins, and any word lover will relish the stories that Cousineau has discovered.

    

    In this extravaganza of linguistic delights A is for alley-oop, B is for brouhaha, and L is for, well, lollygag! Packed with oodles of tongue-tickling words and a hodgepodge of curious illustrations, fun trivia, and lists within lists, L Is for Lollygag is one humdinger of a dictionary. Huzzah!

     Step into the hidden world of death care and explore the challenge of removing the deceased from the often-difficult, regularly awkward, and sometimes downright bizarre circumstances in which they die, the art and science of embalming, and the intrigue of forensic pathology. Sias is a veteran death investigator, former funeral director/embalmer intern, and paramedic with twenty-eight years of emergency response experience.