Bill: sixty-year-old Vietnamese man speaking English really cool

You may find many words like this: so-cute, awesome, very cool, super-x-man,.. from the watcher of the clip. I'm not exception, he's really amazing. He remind me an old man I met 2 years ago at English speaking Club of Youth Cultural House (Nhà Văn Hoá Thanh Niên). He come there everyweek to speak English, he is very special guy in the club, the oldest one I'm sure. He's tall, thin, always wearing black jacket and with a helmet on his hand. He's funny man, he enjoy talking to the young, he stopped group by group for discussion any topic, if you made a mistake in grammar or pronunciation, he would had corrected you right away. I also had chance talking to him several times, but right now I almost forget his name, but I still remember he told me he used to work as an interpreter in US army before Liberation day (April-30). And there's no doubt Bill is the man I met. Now I'm very glad to meet him again in the web in term of a well-known Vietnamese cool man. I also would like to thank professor Barry Nabdahl for introducing Bill to the world-wide with an very interesting video-clip.

As following is a comment extracted from Youtube:
"Gday mate, I have known Bill for 8 months - I live in Saigon (from Uc - Australia) I haven't seen him for a few months but he still remembers me - I always buy postcards and gave him extra for his daughter and today he showed me a print out of the You Tube page with your video on it - he was sooo proud :-) I just showed my family as they haven't met him yet - they loved it - thanks for putting Bill on the web - he's such a character!!!! Jenna - HCMC - Vietnam "

Here are another clips about him on Youtube.

Revisit part 1:


Revisit part 2:


Notes: My teacher Mr. Nguyen Hong Anh, may know this man very well, since he run the English Speaking Club at Youth Cultural House (Nhà Văn Hoá Thanh Niên số 4. Pham Ngoc Thach, Q.1, Tp.HCM) every week on Sunday afternoon, at 3 o'clock

Mouth Expressions: The Experience Left a Bad Taste in My Mouth

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People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word mouth. But some of them are not so nice.

For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say “Do not bad mouth me.”

Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because hurts that person’s feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell.

The speaker might say: “I really put my foot in my mouth this time.” If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.

Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other person might protest: “I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth.”

Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other. “How did you hear about that new movie?” someone might ask. “Oh, by word of mouth.” A more official way of getting information is through a company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government-run media could also be called a mouthpiece.

Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: “You took the words right out of my mouth!” Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say that experience “left a bad taste in my mouth.” Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say: “I had my heart in my mouth.”

Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. You might say such a person, “was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”

This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food.

Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off.

But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough.

(Source: VOA)

Siesta: power napping

Topic: Do you dreaming in siesta? The benefit of sneaking nap... (based on an reading article on "IELTS Ontrack" book)
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In modern time, siesta is actually mentioned as “power napping” expression. It really increases the productivity indirectly. The tendency which associate to afternoon nap with laziness and non-productivity, is now old-school trend. People nowadays take a different point of view.

There are some serious talk in academic circles about the merit of “power napping”. And they send out the simple message, if you can take 15 to 30-minute nap while at work in the afternoon, you will be more alert, more energetic, happier doing something, and of course it leads to increase the product. Another words, it will be more productive if working people sneaking nap.

I myself has experienced of this thing. I always have at least 30-minute nap in the afternoon. I am so powerful after wake up form this short-sleep. But you have to remember that the night-sleeping still the main *meal* of your mind. Just making sure that you sleep enough at least 7 hours a day.

Sometimes if you work in high pressure for days, then you will have dreaming while sneaking nap. In that case, my colleague usually swing me up. You know, I slept over myself and totally forgot that just a nap at work. I dream and dream … but in most of the time I do not have any idea what the dream is about, since you are called to wake suddenly.

In conclusion, sneaking nap is very helpful for our health. That process will help our mind refreshed in an very active way. So that you will feel better, ready for making your work run smoothly and your life become wonderful. It is not only for yourself but also for the company, the society too. Now, what are you waiting for? Let’s go napping...

Another small article said that, sneaking snap is very good for your heart too
…those who reported napping for at least 30 minutes on at least three days of the week were about one-third less likely to have died of a heart attack or other cardiac cause...
(According to the study over 23,000 people in Greece where napping is quite common.)

Nose and ear idioms

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The first one must be *The Answer Is as Clear as the Nose on Your Face*

A person’s nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular expressions.

Some people are able to *lead other people by the nose*. For example, if a wife leads her husband by the nose, she makes him do whatever she wants him to do.

Some people are said to be *hard-nosed*. They will not change their opinions or positions on anything. If someone is hard-nosed, chances are he will never *pay through the nose*, or pay too much money, for an object or service.

It is always helpful when people *keep their nose out of other people’s business*. They do not interfere. The opposite of this is someone who *noses around* all the time. This kind of person is interested in other people’s private matters. He is considered *nosey*.

Someone who keeps his *nose to the grindstone* works very hard. This can help a worker *keep his nose clean* or stay out of trouble.

One unusual expression is *that is no skin off my nose*. This means that a situation does not affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a person *cuts off his nose to spite his face*. That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is angry.

More problems can develop if a person *looks down his nose* at someone or something. The person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might also *turn up his nose* at something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than everyone else. He has his *nose in the air*.

In school, some students *thumb their nose* at their teacher. They refuse to obey orders or do any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me, if you study hard, the answers should be *right under your nose* or easily seen.

I think we have explained the nose expressions. What about ears? Well, I hope you are *all ears* or very interested in hearing more expressions. We might even *put a bug in your ear* or give you an idea about something. We also advise you to *keep your ear to the ground*. This means to be interested in what is happening around you and what people are thinking.

If you are a good person, you will *lend an ear* to your friends. You will listen to them when they have a problem they need to talk about. Our last expression is to *play it by ear*. This has two meanings. One is to play a song on a musical instrument by remembering the tune and not by reading the music. *Play it by ear* also means to decide what to do at the last minute instead of making detailed plans.

(Source: VOA)

Essay comments

Topic: Write a short letter retell the story at listening Section3 - Test 2 (IELTS Test Builder)
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Dear Thu,

How are you doing so far? How is Webminster? I’m here ok at Oxford, so far so good . I’m in the middle of first year. London has nice weather these days. My room-mate, Pamela, and I has just got result of second essay. That’s very good, tutor gave me 18 out of 20, Pamela is less lucky than me, she got 12. You know, over the year we have total 5 essays and a written exam. Each essay is marked out of 20, which give us a total 100 marks, it makes up 50% of our mark for the year. And the other 50% comes from the written exam.

Actually, I thought the first essay is better than this. But I don’t know why tutor gave it higher degree. Tutor said there was a quite marked different between two essay. I think you might interested in this, so I tell you here as for your information if you want to take high score. He said my essay has many relevant examples and done with a quite bit research. He was interested in some information that he was not aware of. The sources for my essay was also very sound. On the top of that, my answer was very well organized indeed and my writing style was very elegant. Wow, you see I was in the cloud at that time, anyway, I have spent two weeks working hard with the essay and it was well worth it. Now I’m on my way writing the next one and I hope it would get the same score .

On the other hand, Pamela, my closed friend, has some issues with her typing and a few spelling mistake, so she got 12. Guess what? I can tell you she hate computer and not so good at typing. She found it difficult, even depressing, when she went over the essay on the keyboard. But the main cause is not from the misspelling but the content. Tutor sometimes did not understand what she said because of the frequency of mistakes.

About Pamela’s case, I told you here just FYI to get experience, please donot tell her what I wrote to you to avoid trouble for you and me too .

Visit me if you have free time at weekend.

See you later,

Duong

When you say nothing at all

Ronan Keating



It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, you can light up the dark
Try as I may, I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

[CHORUS:]
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near you drown out the crowd (The crowd)
Try as they may could never define
What's been said between your heart and mine

[Repeat chorus twice]

(You say it best when you say nothing at all
You say it best when you say nothing at all)

The smile on your face
The truth in your eyes
The touch of your hand let's me know that you need me

[Repeat chorus]

(You say it best when you say nothing at all
You say it best when you say nothing at all)

The smile on your face
The truth in your eyes
The touch of your hand let's me know that you need me

(You say it best when you say nothing at all
You say it best when you say nothing at all)

All about eyes

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When it comes to relationships, people’s eyes can be a window into their hearts. This means that their eyes can tell a lot about how they feel. We will tell a story about a man and woman who are teachers at the same school. The woman is interested in the man. She uses many methods to *catch his eye*, or get him to notice her. Once he *sets eyes on* her, or sees her, she might try to get him interested in her by acting playful. In other words, she might try to *make eyes at* him or *give him the eye*.

Let us suppose that this man gets *hit between the eyes*. In other words, the woman has a strong affect on him. He wants to spend time with her to get to know her better. He asks her out on a date.

She is so happy that she may walk around for days with *stars in her eyes*. She is extremely happy because this man is the *apple of her eye*, a very special person. She might tell him that he is the only person she wants, or “I only have eyes for you.”

On their date, the couple might eat a meal together at a restaurant. If the man is really hungry, his *eyes might be bigger than his stomach*. He might order more food than he can eat. When his food arrives at the table, his *eyes might pop out*. He might be very surprised by the amount of food provided. He might not even *believe his own eyes*. If fact, *all eyes* would be watching him if he ate all the food. This might even cause *raised eyebrows*. People might look at the man with disapproval.

During their dinner, the couple might discuss many things. They might discover that they *see eye to eye*, or agree on many issues. They share the same beliefs and opinions. For example, they might agree that every crime or injury should be punished. That is, they firmly believe in the idea of *an eye for an eye*. They might also agree that it is wrong to *pull the wool over a person’s eyes*. This means to try to trick a person by making him believe something that is false. But the man and woman do not believe in the *evil eye*, that a person can harm you by looking at you.

The next day, at their school, the woman asks the man to *keep an eye on*, or watch the young students in her class while she is out of the classroom. This might be hard to do when the teacher is writing on a board at the front of the classroom. To do so, a teacher would need to have *eyes in the back of his head*. In other words, he would know what the children are doing even when he is not watching them.

(Source: VOA)