 Welcome to ESL Progress
Dear EnglishClub.com Member!Welcome to this month's ESL Progress, your EnglishClub.com newsletter. This month you can learn about the words Say and Tell, and find new partners for language exchange free. The topical subject of our latest Talking Point is Guns. 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 PS: Don't forget, you'll find many useful links and ideas in the Members Area to help you - whether learner or teacher |
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This Month's Lesson 
Say or Tell?
Say and tell have similar meanings. They both mean to communicate verbally with someone. But we often use them differently. The simple way to think of say and tell is: - You say something
- You tell someone something
| You say something | You tell someone
something | | Ram said that he was tired. | Ram told Jane that he was
tired. | | Anthony says you have a new job. | Anthony tells me you have a
new job. | | Tara said: "I love you." | Tara told John that she
loved him. |
But, of course, it is not always so easy. Here are a few rules to help you. |
Latest Talking Point 
Guns Past and Present
Our fascination with guns is not a recent phenomenon. When we begin
researching the subject we quickly discover that the history of
firearms in general, and guns in particular, goes back a long way.
Early guns were really just very small cannons and, as such, needed
gunpowder to propel the ball towards the target. The earliest reference
to gunpowder being used in Europe was made by Bishop Magnus in 1280
when he wrote that it had been used at the Siege of Seville in 1247. A
hundred and fifty years later handguns were known in Italy and had
already been used in England since 1375. These guns would have been
large, heavy and somewhat unwieldy. The first mechanical device for
firing a handgun did not appear until 1424 and the earliest reports of
bullets piercing armour do not occur until a year later. The rifling of
the barrel (spiral grooves on the inside of the barrel to make the
bullet spin and thus increase accuracy over long distances) was
invented towards the end of the 15th century, in 1498, though did not
become commonplace in small weapons until the mid-16th century.
By the second half of the 18th century pistols had been developed
and gained favour quickly with the duelling fraternity, being the
favoured weapon in most duels. The popularity of duelling with swords
died out between 1750 and 1770.
The main breakthroughs in gun development have been concerned with
the firing devices and the loading methods. Originally guns were fired
through the application of fire (in the form of matches or their
equivalents) but as time went by the wheel-lock was invented which
generated a series of sparks. This was superseded by the flintlock
mechanism where a piece of spring-loaded flint produced sparks by
striking a piece of flint. By the 17th century the flintlock had been
widely adopted. Not until the early 19th century was the percussion
system introduced (in which a detonator is set off by means of a sudden
blow). Nowadays many weapons are fully automatic, which means they will
keep firing for as long as the trigger is pressed.
Innovations in loading techniques were slightly slower. Guns were
generally often muzzle-loaded (like cannons) until the mid-19th
century. Breech-loading did not become widespread until the end of the
19th century. Apparently the last war in which everybody used the
muzzle-loading technique was the Crimean War (1854-1856).
Gun technology continues to advance today, with firearms becoming
ever smaller, lighter, faster and more efficient. You don't have to be
a soldier to have one - in some countries they sell them in
supermarkets these days, they fit easily into a handbag or a pocket. It
seems that our fascination with firearms continues to grow. Some
statistics say that even young children see thousands of shootings in
films and cartoons before they even reach adolescence!
Opinion is often divided as to whether we all have the right to
carry a gun. Generally, people believe that we each have the right to
defend ourselves but are unsure whether that means going about our
lives armed to the teeth. Accurate statistics on firearms are hard to
come by, but relatively recent figures indicate that per 100,000 people
in the USA, 3 were shot dead in 2000. In the UK the figure was one in a
million, while in South Africa 71 people in every 100,000 were shot
dead in 2000.
-- 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: "Would it be safer for nobody to have a gun or for everybody to have one?"Say what you think... |
Quick Quiz 
A gangster is
a) a criminal
b) a politician
c) a lawyer
See end of newsletter for answer
|
NEWS FOR ESL TEACHERS
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This Month's Lesson Plan  Talking Point: Going Great GunsA topical worksheet on a stimulating theme: our attitude to guns. This
lesson includes vocabulary in the form of common idioms and phrases
with the word "gun". Fluency is practised through thought-provoking
discussion questions such as. "To what extent do you think the film and
music industries glorify guns?" 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. |
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Answer to Quick Quiz
a) a criminal
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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