All posts by: HS.

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  • August 27, 2015
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English Idioms: Body-Thumbs up

Vocabulary, Fast & Fun

From Targets in English

 

The Targets in English Idioms Series is readable on any device, including iOS and Android pones, tablets and computers, with  Amazon’s free reading apps.
Publisher Description
Improve your English vocabulary and understanding with a quick, fun lesson in idioms. Idioms: Body—Thumbs Up teaches common and colorful phrases that include parts of the body: the head, the nose, the neck, and more.
Many colorful English idioms use parts of the body, from head (heads up) to toe (toe the line). In fact, head to toe is an idiom meaning “over the entire body,” as in She was dressed in white, from head to toe.
What does it mean if you lose your head? Are you walking around with nothing on your shoulders? What if you poke your nose into someone’s business? Does this mean you have a large nose?
Learn these colorful phrases in Idioms: Body—Thumbs Up, and other Quick Target e-books.

Quick Targets in English E-Books
The Quick Targets Idioms series provides bite-size lessons that are fast and entertaining.
The problem with learning English idioms is that there are thousands to cover. Quick Targets solves this problem by teaching a handful of idioms at a time, arranged by topic, such as money, sports, foods, and study. By studying idiom groups this way, students can more easily learn and remember the material.
The Quick Targets Idioms series features:
• Idiom Groups: Teaching idioms by topic.
• Comics: Idioms introduced with fun illustrations showing phrases in use.
• Definitions: Simple English definitions, grammar explanations, and notes on idioms’ origins.
• Numerous Examples: Sentences showing idioms used with different verb tenses, objects, etc.
• Lively Dialogues: Fun conversations showing further examples of the idioms in use.

• Quizzes and Puzzles: Review and test your knowledge.

You might also like Targets’ English for Baseball, which allows you to learn English conversation and enjoy baseball at the same time.


(C) 2015 by Targets in English. All rights reserved.

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  • August 20, 2015
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Start the Series!


Quick Targets
Idioms 1: Money—Hit the Jackpot

Book 1: Money!
CHECK OUT the first book in the Quick Targets Idioms Series, available from Amazon. Coming soon to other stores.


READ IT on any tablet, phone, or computer (iOS or Android) with free apps from Amazon. Click here.

FIND Quick Targets e-books on Kindle at these Amazon stores worldwide:

Amazon Australia

Visit Targets in English on the Web, on Facebook, and on Twitter.


Taking Rides at Alameda County Fair, Part 3

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  • July 18, 2015
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The rides at Alameda County Fair are all mobile and move on to thrill or terrify people at other fairs and events. It’s amazing that all this can be packed up and moved. According to the Butler Amusements website, the company provides the carnival for numerous fairs and events in  California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington State, and Idaho. Check out there website here.

Check out photos from the 2015 Alameda County Fair below.


 


OK, so this last photo is not of a ride. But a stand called Beers of the World is where I would go after getting off one of these rides. In fact, it is where I sat and watched other people ride the scary rides.
(C) 2015, by Targets in English.

About: Targets in English publishes topical books for learning English as a second or foreign language. Study the topics you want to learn when you want to learn them, and make learning English fun.

Taking Rides at Alameda County Fair, Part 2

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  • July 17, 2015
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The rides at Alameda County Fair are all mobile and move on to thrill or terrify people at other fairs and events. It’s amazing that all this can be packed up and moved. According to the Butler Amusements website, the company provides the carnival for numerous fairs and events in  California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington State, and Idaho. Check out there website here.

Check out photos from the 2015 Alameda County Fair below.



There are people up there! Someone should rescue them!




Remarkably, people pay to ride on this thing.




(C) 2015, by Targets in English.

About: Targets in English publishes topical books for learning English as a second or foreign language. Study the topics you want to learn when you want to learn them, and make learning English fun.

Taking Rides at Alameda County Fair, Part 1

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  • July 16, 2015
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The rides at Alameda County Fair are all mobile and move on to thrill or terrify people at other fairs and events. It’s amazing that all this can be packed up and moved. According to the Butler Amusements website, the company provides the carnival for numerous fairs and events in  California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington State, and Idaho. Check out there website here.

Check out photos from the 2015 Alameda County Fair below.




Sunset at the Alameda County Fair. 


I enjoy carnival rides vicariously, through the screams and vomit of others.


I’ll bet they don’t let Stephan Curry play this one.

(C) 2015, by Targets in English.

About: Targets in English publishes topical books for learning English as a second or foreign language. Study the topics you want to learn when you want to learn them, and make learning English fun.

Alameda County Lays Out the Fare

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  • July 13, 2015
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Barbecue, Flavors and Big Signs

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Check out some of the foods sold at this year’s Alameda County Fair (June-July 2015). Above is a basic hamburger stand selling burgers, dogs, and fries.

Page 1 Food Vocabulary:

– hot dogs (on a bun)
– corn dogs (hot dogs breaded and put on a stick)
– french fries
– curly fries (curly = in circles)

This Year’s Foods:

The fair this year featured new tastes in its food concessions, with emphasis on (1) barbecue themes pretty much everywhere and (2) a mix of flavors, ethnic and in terms of ingredients. From garlic vegetarian kabobs to tequila pickle poppers, fair food this year stretched its imagination to create mouth-watering menus and signs, surrounded by stacks everywhere of cut firewood for barbecues and smokers, sometimes for foods that aren’t barbecued at all.


Language Notes

See the title of this post, Alameda County Lays Out the Fare. 

Alameda County is just east of San Francisco and includes such cities as Oakland, where the county government meets, and Pleasanton, where the fairgrounds are located.

Lay out is phrasal verb meaning “to serve,” as in food.

Fare, which is pronounced the same as fair, means “food”.

Coming Soon

English for Foods and Cooking: Learn the English needed to talk about foods and cooking. This new book from Targets in English will explore the language around meats, vegetables, fruits, and common Western dishes. The book will be released this fall.

Baseball English: This is a great book for baseball fans around the world who want to watch English broadcasts of baseball games or talk about the sport in English with friends. Whether you’re staying up late at night to watch the New York Yankees or watching the Little League World Series, Baseball English will help you get the whole cultural experience and enjoy the sport more. Baseball English will be released this summer.

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Travel: Rocks and Ocean at Monterey Peninsula, Part 1

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  • June 13, 2015
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The clash of wave on rock along Monterey Peninsula forms ideal scenery for photographers playing with a new camera or lens. Aim nearly anywhere and you catch a postcard-ready photo. About two hours south of San Francisco, the peninsula stretches out into the Pacific to feature scenes of cliff and rock adorned with trees that have weathered season after season of oceanfront in their time.

See and 

(C) 2015, Story Crest Press. All rights reserved.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

The Palace of Fine Arts was built to showcase art for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Today the Palace is a landmark in San Francisco’s Marina District, near the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The vivid reflections in its pond helped make the site a tourist destination, as well as a favorite spot for weddings and other events.

Across the water is a small park that is ideal for taking pictures. The mid-morning, when the sun is still to the east, is great time to get colorful photos.

Nearly all of the original Palace was rebuilt in 1965, and further changes have been made since. Over the years, the site has been used for many purposes: to house tennis courts, to store military trucks during World War II, as a warehouse, and as a telephone book distribution center.

If you like walking, the Palace of Fine Arts is not too far from San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39. Also within walking distance, visitors can check out the edge of the bay and see cargo ships enter the Golden Gate under the bridge.

Check out these links:


Find more travel destination photos and English language introductions at the Targets in English website.

English Idioms: Baseball—Touch Bases

—v. phr., to make contact, to communicate. Here is another common English idiom that comes from baseball. In the game, a runner must touch all three bases before running to home plate to score. The term is now also used for everyday communication.

Examples:

Let’s touch bases after work tomorrow.

Be sure to touch bases often with your colleagues who are working on this project.

Baseball Idioms

Often called America’s pastime, baseball is one of the most popular sports in the U.S. It has also become popular in other countries, such as Japan and Taiwan. As a popular sport, it has contributed many idioms to the English language, like this one. And with the World Series set to begin on October 21, with the San Francisco Giants taking on the Kansas City Royals, now is a great time to learn these phrases.
So touch bases with us often to learn more idioms from America’s pastime.
Visit EnglishMobi on the Web, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Baseball Idioms: Bat Around

bat around—phrasal verb, to discuss, to debate different things.
This baseball idiom goes back to the late 1800s. It uses the idea of batting balls around a field to mean “a back-and-forth discussion.”
Examples:
The teachers batted around different plans for the school party.
Our company has been batting around ideas for new products.

Let’s bat around some of the suggestions on how to decorate the office.
Baseball Idioms

With the World Series beginning, it’s a great time to learn some of the many colorful English idioms that come from baseball, a sport that is commonly called “America‘s pastime.” Check out our website to see more.

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