The Chicago English Corner
@chicagoenglishcorner.com
English classes about real life for real people - direct from Chicago.
One of my students just used the expression "to hold your horses" in a nonchalant way and entirely unprompted. We last reviewed this equine image more than a year ago. It made my day! :)
September 15, 2025 at 3:39 PM
One of my students just used the expression "to hold your horses" in a nonchalant way and entirely unprompted. We last reviewed this equine image more than a year ago. It made my day! :)
A student and I just had a good laugh about their word choice. While he was describing his small farm, he used the word "carcass" to describe a wooden structure he had built. I let him know that -- yes -- definition existed but native speakers would never use it that way.
June 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM
A student and I just had a good laugh about their word choice. While he was describing his small farm, he used the word "carcass" to describe a wooden structure he had built. I let him know that -- yes -- definition existed but native speakers would never use it that way.
I would love to see a series of this: What They (Don't) Teach You At NASA / The USDA / Girl Scouts.
May 19, 2025 at 3:26 PM
I would love to see a series of this: What They (Don't) Teach You At NASA / The USDA / Girl Scouts.
We teachers so often learn from our students. Today, I was coaching a student through an upcoming work presentation. He's really good at his job (software development) and uses a lot of jargon. I understand about 90% of it but today, he used one I had never heard: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levensh...
Levenshtein distance - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
May 18, 2025 at 7:35 PM
We teachers so often learn from our students. Today, I was coaching a student through an upcoming work presentation. He's really good at his job (software development) and uses a lot of jargon. I understand about 90% of it but today, he used one I had never heard: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levensh...
Happy Monday, everyone. I spent yesterday cleaning my office and was so satisfied with the newly tidy space that I wondered how everyone else's teaching area looked. So, if you're feeling a bit voyeuristic about your work space feel free to share in this thread. #edusky #academicsky #teachersky
May 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Happy Monday, everyone. I spent yesterday cleaning my office and was so satisfied with the newly tidy space that I wondered how everyone else's teaching area looked. So, if you're feeling a bit voyeuristic about your work space feel free to share in this thread. #edusky #academicsky #teachersky
Glorious.
April 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Glorious.
I agree entirely. This is a dogma that leads away from creative thinking and towards dominance / control.
"Your developers should just do Agile" follows the scolding pattern of every "users should just do X" that every bad designer uses to shift the blame from their poor work onto the user.
Users will never "just do X" or "simply follow these 10 steps." The job is to understand why not, and fix it.
Users will never "just do X" or "simply follow these 10 steps." The job is to understand why not, and fix it.
April 10, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I agree entirely. This is a dogma that leads away from creative thinking and towards dominance / control.
This is how I've managed to explain the tariffs: a bully attacks one child? That's bad for the child. A bully attacks two children? That's bad for two children. A bully attacks 80 children? That's very, very bad for the bully. #AcademicSky, how are you making sense of this for your own students?
April 8, 2025 at 10:27 PM
This is how I've managed to explain the tariffs: a bully attacks one child? That's bad for the child. A bully attacks two children? That's bad for two children. A bully attacks 80 children? That's very, very bad for the bully. #AcademicSky, how are you making sense of this for your own students?
A beautiful morning in #Chicago. I'm at a favorite café trying to finish an essay. Writing is always challenge, but even more so when doing it in Spanish -- which is not my native. The added anxiety of knowing that my retirement fund is disappearing by the minute does not help. #AcademicSky
April 4, 2025 at 2:36 PM
A beautiful morning in #Chicago. I'm at a favorite café trying to finish an essay. Writing is always challenge, but even more so when doing it in Spanish -- which is not my native. The added anxiety of knowing that my retirement fund is disappearing by the minute does not help. #AcademicSky
NYU’s current motto is “Perstare et praestare.” Perhaps it should become whatever the Latin is for “complying in advance with fascism.”
Apparently, “Never Again” meant “Maybe Again, At Least Once” to some people.
Former Doctors Without Borders (MSF) president and Montreal pediatrician Joanne Liu’s presentation at NYU was cancelled because a couple of her slides on Gaza casualties “could be perceived as antisemitic.” She was already in New York.
www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...
March 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
NYU’s current motto is “Perstare et praestare.” Perhaps it should become whatever the Latin is for “complying in advance with fascism.”
The government kidnapped this student. Where is Tufts’ statement calling for her release? #Academicaly
March 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The government kidnapped this student. Where is Tufts’ statement calling for her release? #Academicaly
A student just said, "see you next Tuesday!" and an internal war waged about whether I should have told him what that specific phrase meant. :) I saved it for... well, next Tuesday.
March 26, 2025 at 12:10 AM
A student just said, "see you next Tuesday!" and an internal war waged about whether I should have told him what that specific phrase meant. :) I saved it for... well, next Tuesday.
This would work really well in a few of my language exercises. Thanks, M-W!
“May green be the grass you walk on
May blue be the skies above you
May pure be the joys that surround you
May true be the hearts that love you.”
- Irish Toast
May blue be the skies above you
May pure be the joys that surround you
May true be the hearts that love you.”
- Irish Toast
March 17, 2025 at 7:17 PM
This would work really well in a few of my language exercises. Thanks, M-W!
Reading “Don’t Go,” a collection of first hand stories about the racial segregation we impose upon ourselves in #Chicago. What are you reading tonight, #AcademicSky?
March 16, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Reading “Don’t Go,” a collection of first hand stories about the racial segregation we impose upon ourselves in #Chicago. What are you reading tonight, #AcademicSky?
A student recommended Natural Reader to me, so I checked it out. Red flags appeared right away. The male voices are "confident, engaging, and formal" while the female ones are "calm, emotional, and soft." Gender stereotypes are generally unhelpful but nefarious when applied to educational tools.
March 14, 2025 at 8:23 PM
A student recommended Natural Reader to me, so I checked it out. Red flags appeared right away. The male voices are "confident, engaging, and formal" while the female ones are "calm, emotional, and soft." Gender stereotypes are generally unhelpful but nefarious when applied to educational tools.
The vocabulary (and joy) of Spring Cleaning. Check out this "Before" and "After" video of my living room. What 5 objects and what 5 verbs can you identify from the video? youtu.be/HFFs4v_kmHA
Spring Cleaning Part 2
YouTube video by The Chicago English Corner
youtu.be
March 11, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The vocabulary (and joy) of Spring Cleaning. Check out this "Before" and "After" video of my living room. What 5 objects and what 5 verbs can you identify from the video? youtu.be/HFFs4v_kmHA
The third new logo. God, I love this one.
February 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
The third new logo. God, I love this one.
I left behind my IT career in 2022; but, all that I learned remained with me. And a good thing! Launching the Chicago English Corner has been a one-person IT Project. I'll sit and think -- after working for hours -- about how much more difficult this would be without all that technology experience.
February 20, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I left behind my IT career in 2022; but, all that I learned remained with me. And a good thing! Launching the Chicago English Corner has been a one-person IT Project. I'll sit and think -- after working for hours -- about how much more difficult this would be without all that technology experience.
The second of three logos.
February 18, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The second of three logos.
I asked why students of color didn’t work in our department. I learned that we had never recruited or reached out. Baffled, I made connections with the Black Student Union and relevant administrators. By the end of the year, the applications flowed in as did the job offers. #academicsky #highered
💪 #AcademiaChange Challenge! 💪
Share one positive thing you’ve done or plan to do to promote inclusivity and respect in academia—Tag a friend to join!
🪜 🎓 📜 🍎 ♀️ 👩🏾🔬 👩🏼🔬 👩🏾🎓 #PhDSky #Blackademia #AcademicChatter #AcademicSky #MeToo #HigherEd #PhDChat #TimesUpHigherEd
Share one positive thing you’ve done or plan to do to promote inclusivity and respect in academia—Tag a friend to join!
🪜 🎓 📜 🍎 ♀️ 👩🏾🔬 👩🏼🔬 👩🏾🎓 #PhDSky #Blackademia #AcademicChatter #AcademicSky #MeToo #HigherEd #PhDChat #TimesUpHigherEd
February 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I asked why students of color didn’t work in our department. I learned that we had never recruited or reached out. Baffled, I made connections with the Black Student Union and relevant administrators. By the end of the year, the applications flowed in as did the job offers. #academicsky #highered
New logo! Well, first of three new logos. :)
February 11, 2025 at 3:25 PM
New logo! Well, first of three new logos. :)
This is a useful metaphor. It explains the absurdity of the outcome: that Americans knew exactly who these people were and what they intended... and voted for them anyway. This was not some political legerdemain. It was open and direct.
You know how vampires need to be invited into your house first?
How they'll do anything to make you lower your guard & invite them in?
How once invited they promptly exsanguinate everyone inside?
You know that election in November? That was US voters saying "Come on in."
#academicsky #writingsky
How they'll do anything to make you lower your guard & invite them in?
How once invited they promptly exsanguinate everyone inside?
You know that election in November? That was US voters saying "Come on in."
#academicsky #writingsky
February 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
This is a useful metaphor. It explains the absurdity of the outcome: that Americans knew exactly who these people were and what they intended... and voted for them anyway. This was not some political legerdemain. It was open and direct.
So... fess up,. Who from #writingcommunity slipped the word "cocky" past the Kellogg Marketing Department? Further: has this word been used previously on breakfast products?
February 7, 2025 at 12:18 AM
So... fess up,. Who from #writingcommunity slipped the word "cocky" past the Kellogg Marketing Department? Further: has this word been used previously on breakfast products?
It's refreshing to hear other teachers describe the same struggles and successes as my own. Another teacher and I were talking shop earlier this morning. She's Mexican, working in Mexico yet our stories were similar. Especially the stories about writing. Students are gonna student!
#academicsky
#academicsky
January 31, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's refreshing to hear other teachers describe the same struggles and successes as my own. Another teacher and I were talking shop earlier this morning. She's Mexican, working in Mexico yet our stories were similar. Especially the stories about writing. Students are gonna student!
#academicsky
#academicsky