to jazz up

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Do you know the phrase “to jazz up“?

It means “to make something more interesting or better looking.”

E.g. 1

A: I don’t know what to wear to the party tonight. I’m thinking of wearing my blue dress, but it’s a little plain.

B: You could jazz it up with a sparkling necklace. 

A: Yeah, that’s a good idea.

E.g. 2

A: This restaurant is a bit boring.

B: Yeah, it is. They need to jazz up the rooms with some pictures and music!

——

Question:

What do you think needs “jazzing up” in your town? 

 

Old Jack’s Ghost Stories from England (1)

This page has information about the places in Old Jack’s Ghost Stories from England (1).

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1. Treasurer’s House

Treasurer’s House is in the centre of York, behind the large cathedral, York Minster.

Treasurer’s House is owned by the National Trust. The previous owner was Frank Green, a rich businessman. He enjoyed collecting antiques, and you can see his antiques in the house today. The house has gardens which are beautiful in all seasons. It also has a tearoom and a shop.

More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasurer%27s_House,_York

Map: 

Main Website:

Other interesting places near Treasurer’s House:

York Minster – One of Europe’s largest and most famous cathedrals. (Cathedral = large church).

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The Shambles – A very old, narrow street near York Minster. The buildings in the street date back to the 14th and 15th Century. Today, there are shops and cafes in the old buildings. It is a very popular with tourists.

2. Duddon, Cheshire

Duddon is a small village 5 miles (8km) from Chester. The number 84 bus runs from Chester to Duddon.

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(The copyright on this image is owned by John S Turner and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. Attribution: John S Turner)

If you are visiting Chester and have some free time, Duddon is a nice place to enjoy the English countryside.

The pub, The Headless Woman, has closed and there are plans to build houses on the site.

Map:

Interesting places near Duddon:

The City of Chester

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This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. By and copyright Tagishsimon 9th October 2005

Chester is an old Roman city, and has a history of 2000 years. It has many old buildings, a cathedral (large church) and old Roman walls around the city. Cheshire – Chester and Duddon are in the county of Cheshire. Cheshire has some beautiful countryside and small towns and villages. It is also very close to Wales and Liverpool. Old Jack recommends hiring a car. You can drive through the countryside and also easily visit Wales and Liverpool.

3. The Prince Rupert Hotel

The Prince Rupert Hotel is in the middle of the historic town of Shrewsbury, and has a very long history. It also has royal connections. Around 400 years ago, Prince Rupert, the grandson of King James I, stayed here. There are 12th century rooms and 15th century rooms. It has a restaurant and a spa.

Map:

Interesting sights:

Shrewsbury has many interesting sights, for example, Shrewsbury Castle and Shrewsbury Abbey, a church founded in 1083. The town has old traditional streets and a river. Charles Darwin was born here.

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(This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Samluke777 at the English Wikipedia project.)

4. Ettington Park Hotel

Ettington Park Hotel is 6 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a large gothic mansion, and sits in the beautiful Warwickshire countryside.

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(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Richard Croft)

Website: Ettington Park Hotel

Map: 

Stratford-upon-Avon is famous as the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

Interesting sights in Stratford-upon-Avon:

William Shakespeare’s Birthplace – Shakespeare was born in this house. It is now a museum and a popular tourist destination.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage – Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, lived here when she was a child.

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(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Kenneth Allen)

Royal Shakespeare Theatre – You can enjoy one of Shakespeare’s plays in this theatre next to the River Avon.

5. Liverpool Street Station

Liverpool Street Station is one of the Underground’s busiest stations. It is on four main lines – Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan. The platforms on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines were opened in 1875, and the Central line platforms opened in 1912.

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(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Stacey Harris.)

Website: TFL

Map: 

From Liverpool Street Station, you can find a train to take you to many of London’s famous sights.

6. Macdonald Berystede Hotel

This hotel is an old stately home with gardens. It is surrounded by beautiful countryside, and is only 15 miles from Heathrow Airport.

Website:

Map: 

Other interesting  places near the hotel

Ascot is a rural village famous for the Ascot Racecourse. The racecourse was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne. There are many horseraces at the racecourse. The most famous is the Gold Cup. This is held during the Royal Ascot horserace. The race is held every June.

The_Royal_carriages_leave_after_carrying_The_Queen_to_the_races_-_geograph.org.uk_-_852016

(This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Steve F.)

The hotel is only 10 miles from Windsor Castle, which is the world’s oldest and largest inhabited (inhabited = people live there) castle in the world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Windsor Castle.

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(This photograph is in the public domain.)

[Easy English Blog] A bad cold

I have a bad cold. It started about four days ago.

First, I had a sore throat. Then I started coughing. At first, I thought it was hay fever because there is a lot of pollen in the air at this time of year.

But then I got a runny nose, a fever and a headache. It’s definitely a cold!

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When I get a cold,  I usually take medicine. The medicine makes me drowsy (sleepy) so I only take it at night. I take two capsules at a time.

I also try to eat healthily The other day, I bought some organic barley grass powder. Barley grass has many vitamins and minerals.

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I mixed it with water and vegetable juice. It is not the most delicious thing to drink, but I think it is one of the healthiest!

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I also bought many boxes of tissues! I hope I won’t need them all!

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What do you do when you get a cold?

Feed a cold…

Can you complete this English saying?

Feed a cold, 

a) feed a fever

b) starve a fever

c) sleep off a fever

The answer is below! ↓

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Answer: b)

Feed a cold, starve a fever.

This saying means if you have a cold, you should eat more. Eating more will help you get better. If you have a fever, you should eat very little. Eating very little will help you get better.

This is a very old English saying. It is around 500 years old. Some people say it is correct, but others say it is wrong. We think it is important to eat healthy food and drink a lot of water when we are sick.

What do you think?  Are there any similar phrases in your language?

[Easy English Blog] A traditional house

Last Sunday, my friend invited me to an old Japanese house.

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The house is in the countryside, and we drove for a few hours in the early summer rain through hills and rice fields to get there.

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The house is around 300 years old. The owners of the house like the traditional way of life, so it has straw mats on the floor, sliding paper screens on the windows and dark, narrow staircases.

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It is very dark inside the house. But I like that. I think it creates a very relaxing atmosphere, and we can imagine life in the house when it was built. I felt that, even though 300 years have passed, in this house very little has changed.

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From the upstairs rooms, we can see the rooftops of the neighbouring houses.

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It was a nice way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. I hope I get the chance to spend a night or two there sometime!  🙂

(H)

The Mystery House – Lesson Plan

A free, printable lesson plan based on our Fast 500 Easy English story The Mystery House.

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Download file (PDF) No Sweat! -The Mystery House

 

We hope you and your students enjoy this lesson and we welcome any feedback!

Our teaching resource section is a work in progress, and your thoughts and insights will help us to improve and expand this series of short fiction and lesson plans.

No Sweat! EFL Role-plays

No Sweat! EFL Role-plays

50 EFL role-plays for the busy teacher!

This is a free e-book in PDF format.

You can download, print and photocopy this book for use in your school or classroom.

If you find it useful, feel free to pass it on to other teachers.

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Got a class starting in minutes but no time to plan? No sweat!

DOWNLOAD FILE: No Sweat! EFL Role-plays

(This e-book is free and may not be sold for commercial gain or any other purpose.)

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