Vocab used in law and courts

Here is an activity to help intermediate - advanced ESL learners understand all those words in the courtroom dramas and detective shows that we always see on tv - words such as jury, attorney, prosecution, testimony.

The activity is presented as a series of short newspaper articles with questions on vocab contained in the article.

The activity is mobile-friendly.

URL: http://roadtogrammar.com/lawvocab/

Screenshots:

If OCTO means eight, why is October the TENTH month?

If you know your prefixes, you will know that OCTO- or OCTA- means eight. An octopus has eight legs. An octagon has eight sides. SEPT- means seven. NOV- means nine and DEC- means ten. So why, for instance, is October the tenth month and December the twelfth month?

The reason is simple. The Romans used to do things in tens and they used to have ten months in a year. Then along came Julius Caesar, and the Roman Senate named a month after him - July. Augustus Caesar also got a month named after him - August.

So September - December were bumped forward and became the ninth - twelfth months, despite what their names suggest!

Update: Movie Vocabulary

The Movie Vocabulary activity has been updated to work on mobile devices:

URL: www.roadtogrammar.com/movies

Business English: How to Write an Email of Enquiry...

I have just added a Business English section to the site:

www.roadtogrammar.com/businessenglish

The first articles in the section deal with how to write an email of enquiry or a reply to an email of enquiry.

The aim of these articles is to show realistic examples that are carefully planned and written in plain, clear English. There are also writing tasks that teachers could use in their classes.