So, Derek… these are some of my words/expressions for this week. Would you like to do something with them? Rinsing out; to poke; hailing; to entice; rendezvous; lathering up; apropos; the crux; beacon; utterance; espouse; dauntless; fumbling; gallows; twinkle; it strips you down; set somebody up; sputtering; hedgehog; scurrilous; oblivious simultaneity.

A student of mine, Stefania*, surprised me with the story of her family lineage this week. We had been talking about her hometown, the birthplace of a famous Amaretto brand, when she revealed that the brand in question was actually founded by her family. “You must be rich then?” I joked. She gave a little wry smile before lamenting that her side of the family had sold their share of the company a long time ago. Long before the real money was made. This family connection is now so weak that they turned down a job application she once made without so much as an interview. Remarkably, my brother-in-law has almost the exact same story. In his case, his family line sold their share of a now internationally famous honey brand. To an observer from the UK, my brother-in-law would instantly be labelled as ‘posh’ – a term loaded with connotations of class and generational wealth. His pronunciation, vocabulary choices, and even his dress sense act as clues to his background. Stefania would never describe herself as one of ‘them’, but she also occasionally mixes with Italy’s ‘posh’ society. As she tells me in our conversations, the norms of behaviour and morality don’t seem to apply in quite the same way for many of these ultra-wealthy individuals. The thing that impresses me about Stefania and my brother-in-law however, is that they are both such down-to-earth, hard-working, likeable people who have cut their own paths in life. It’s also a pleasure to spend time in their company. But the question I ask myself is this: would they be such good people if they had inherited family wealth? I really don’t know the answer. *Name changed to protect identity.

A student of mine (hi Ion!) really surprised me recently by how quickly his vocabulary was growing. All of a sudden, he started using obscure words and authentic Scottish slang in our conversations. Most of these words and expressions we had only briefly covered a week or two earlier. Not only was he remembering the new words, but he was also able to recall them when speaking. This is a process that normally takes weeks or months of listening/reading repetitions before it translates into speaking ability. Ion, on the other hand, was doing it in a week! Being the kind and generous chap that he is, Ion was happy to share his secret with me. It turns out he was using the app DuoCards. Since he introduced it to me, I've been using the free version to learn Chinese vocabulary, and I have to say it's helping me change my mind about flashcards after overdosing on them in the past. The thing I like most about this app is that it's super quick, super simple to create new flashcards. If you try it, or any other flashcard app, tell us about your experience in this post. Link: https://app.duocards.com/i/RGVyZWsyMzU=