Heartland English School – Word of the Day

Happy HALLOWEEN! Have a spooky day!

Theme: Movements

Word:  swing

Pronunciation:  /swIŋ/

Meaning:  v. move back and forth from a central point

Examples:

• If your hands are cold, you can swing your arms. It sends blood to your hands.
• Children like to swing on the swings in the park.

Theme: Movements

Word:  shake

Pronunciation:  /šek/

Meaning:  v. move a lot from side to side or up and down

Examples:

• You need to shake the drink before you open it.
• When my pen doesn’t work, I just shake it.

Theme: Halloween

Word: a jack-o-lantern     (jak ō ˈlantərn)

Meaning: a pumpkin that is carved to be hollow, with a light inside.

Example: Jack-o-lanterns are traditional Halloween decorations.

Theme: Halloween

Verb: carve (kärv)

Meaning: to shape material with a knife

Example: We will carve pumpkins during the Halloween party.

Related Word: a carving. Rodin carved his famous statue ‘The Thinker’ out of stone. It’s a famous carving.

Theme: Halloween

Phrasal Verb: go as

Meaning: to dress in a costume

Example: What are you going as for Halloween? I’m going as a vampire. Last year, I went as a Minion.

Theme: Halloween

Expression: Trick or Treat!      (trik ôr trēt)

Meaning: Give me candy, or I will do something bad to you!

Example: Children in Canada shout, “Trick or Treat!” when they visit houses on Halloween. If the homeowner gives them a treat, the children go away, but if the homeowner gives nothing, maybe the children will put soap on their windows or toilet paper in their trees.

Related Expression: go trick-or-treating. Children go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Theme: Halloween

Verb: frighten     (ˈfrītn)

Meaning: to scare, to make someone afraid

Example: The movie ‘It’ has frightened millions of people.

Related Words: frightening(adjective), frightened(adjective)

The movie ‘It’ is frightening. Children are frightened by ‘It.’

Theme: studying

Word: all-nighter (n)

Pronunciation: /ˈɑːlˈnaɪtɚ/

Meaning: a night when someone works on something instead of sleeping

Example: I was cramming for my exam last night and pulled an all-nighter.

Example: My project is due tomorrow morning, so I guess tonight will be another all-nighter!

Theme: studying

Word: skip class (expression)

Pronunciation: ˈskɪp ˈklæs

Meaning: to not go to class

Example: They’re skipping class and going shopping instead.

Example: He has bad attendance because he always skips class.

Theme: studying

Word: cram (v)

Pronunciation: /ˈkræm/

Meaning: to study a lot before an exam or test

[usually + for]

Example: Every Sunday night, I cram for my English test on Monday morning.

Example: The students are cramming for the exam tomorrow.