Indigenous Cultures and Some Phrasal Verbs July 16, 2015

In one of NYEA’s ESL classes, students have been writing about the world’s indigenous cultures.  A Level 2 student, a travel agent and guide from Peru, composed a response to this question:  “What would the world be like if most indigenous cultures disappear?”

The answer is very simple.  If most indigenous cultures disappear, the world will lose cultural identity.  This means that our world [and] our lives will lose valuable knowledge about traditional medicine, religions, world vision, natural nutrition, animal life, plant life…secrets of the simple life in this amazing world.

Now, governmental and non-governmental organizations, religious groups, oil and lumber companies, and others are rapidly [threatening] a lot of the indigenous cultures of the world.

Who can stop it?  Anybody?

I think we will [quickly] become more “artificial” people.  I can’t believe that technology and lust for power will dominate our beautiful world.  I hope for a miracle.

Our future is in the children’s hands:  “Education with Conscience”

NYEA students create an essay every week.  Their teachers make corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and suggest improvements to writing style.  This is often a class activity, where everyone has copies of each completed composition.  All the students can then add their comments and suggestions.

Here are some phrasal verbs that are very common in English.  We will be publishing yet more in future posts.  We invite you to take ESL classes at NYEA to learn these and many others:

“Could you hang on a moment?  I have to answer the door.”  [Wait a short time]

“They like to hang out in Times Square with their friends.”  [Relax]

“If you can’t talk to me respectfully, I will hang up the phone!”  [End a call]

“She had to  hold her dog back from attacking her neighbor’s cat. ”  [Restrain]

“When he heard that he had won $1,000,000 in the lotto, he could not hold back his joy.”  [Restrain an emotion]

“Please hold on for a minute while I check my messages.” [Wait a short time (similar to hang on)]

“It’s very important to hold onto the pole when you are standing on the train. ”  [Grasp with your hand]

“The thief held up the store after most of the customers had left.”  [Robbed]

“If you are having trouble with English pronunciation, keep on practicing and you will become fluent.”  [Continue]

“It was very difficult for me to keep from revealing the secret about the surprise birthday party that they were planning for their friend.” [Not tell about]

“We must keep out of the building while they repairing the electrical system.” [Avoid; stay away from]

“He was walking so fast that I could not keep up with him.”  [Go at the same speed]

 New York English Academy