Background: This ESL podcast is a discussion about the rapidly increasing popularity of blogging. Here we discuss about the topic of blogging while learning excellent daily phrases and vocabulary. Tell us what you think on the discussion forum linked below.
Discussion forum Lesson Below
ESL Reading
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As of July 31 2006, the number of blogs worldwide was reported to have topped 50 million. According to reports, the blogosphere was doubling every 6 months or so with more than 2 new blogs created every second. Many people enjoy reading blogs more than a news report because they enjoy the free writing style and the unbiased opinions. Some of the most successful bloggers have been able to turn their hobby into a full time career by monetizing their blogs with pay per click advertising and donations. Although possible, these cases are few and far between and it’s recommended that most bloggers don’t quit their day jobs. |
Phrases and Vocabulary used:
Topped – means “passed” or “went higher than”. It’s often used in written English such as in the newspaper. In sports you might see, the Houston Rockets topped the Chicago Bulls 118-101
Blogoshpere – A word that refers to the entire collection of all the blogs that exist on the internet.
Unbiased – Not prejudiced or impartial. It basically means that your opinions are really your own and you have no personal reasons to make them different. For example, if you asked a mother if her daughter is beautiful, she might say “yes” just because all mothers want their daughters to be beautiful. In this case the mother’s opinion would be biased. If you just asked a person on the street, their opinion would likely be unbiased.
Monetizing – Turning something into money. If you monetize your blog, it means you are making money from the blog.
Pay per click advertising – This is one popular kind of advertising that you often see on the internet. One example is “Google ads”. You will often see links to other websites under the title, “Google ads”. If someone looking at the website is interested in an ad and they click on it, the person who owns the website will make a little bit of money. This is one way that bloggers often use to monetize their blogs.
Few and far between – Events that happen but are very rare. An example sentence is, “You should take that job. Good jobs like that are few and far between.”
Don’t quit your day job – If a person has some new idea for making money but this method might not work or is risky, you can use this expression. So “don’t quit your day job” means, “be careful because you might not be able to earn money from this idea”. Or “It’s risky to totally depend on that for a source of income.”
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