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Fun Easy English Classroom July 18
 

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Learn American
English vocabulary
beginning with
letter M
American English Vocabulary - Letter M

Today in the classroom you are going to learn some words you should know beginning with the letter M.
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then use the Fun Easy English dictionary (opens in a new window)
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American English Vocabulary - Letter M

The words on this page came from the VOA, Voice of America, Special English Word Book. Use the Fun Easy English dictionary for a more detailed explanation of each word.
  • machine - n. a device with moving parts used to do work
  • magazine - n. a publication of news, stories, pictures or other information
  • mail - n. letters, papers and other things sent through an official system, such as a post office
  • main - ad. the most important or largest
  • major - ad. great in size, importance or amount
  • majority - n. the greater number; more than half
  • make - v. to produce; to create; to build; to do something or to carry out an action; to cause to be or to become
  • male - n. a man or boy; the sex that is the father of children; ad. of or about men
  • man - n. an adult male human
  • manufacture - v. to make goods in large amounts
  • many - ad. a large number or amount of
  • map - n. a picture of the earth's surface or a part of it
  • march - v. to walk in a group like soldiers; to walk together in a large group to protest about something
  • mark - v. to make a sign or cut on something
  • market - n. a place or area where goods are sold, bought or traded; an economic system in which the prices of things are decided by how many there are and how much money people are willing to pay for them
  • marry - v. to join a man and woman together as husband and wife; to become husband and wife (usually in a religious or civil ceremony)
  • mass - n. an amount of matter having no special form and usually of a large size
  • mate - v. to bring together a male and a female to create another creature
  • material - n. the substance, substances or matter of which something is made or from which something can be made, such as wood, cloth or stone; anything that can be made into something else
  • mathematics - n. the science dealing with amounts, sizes and shapes, as explained by numbers and signs
  • matter - n. anything that can be seen or felt; what things are made of
  • may - v. a word used with an action word to mean permit or possible ("May I go?" "They may leave tomorrow.")
  • mayor - n. the chief official of a city or town government
  • meal - n. food eaten to satisfy hunger, such as dinner
  • mean - v. to want to; to give the idea of; to have the idea of
  • measure - v. to learn the amount, size or distance of something; n. an action taken; a legislative proposal
  • meat - n. the part of a dead animal used for food
  • media - n. all public information organizations, including newspapers, television and radio
  • medicine - n. a substance or drug used to treat disease or pain; the science or study of treating and curing disease or improving health
  • meet - v. to come together with someone or something at the same time and place
  • melt - v. to make a solid into a liquid by heating it
  • member - n. one of a group
  • memorial - n. something done or made to honor the memory of a person or event
  • memory - n. a picture in the mind of past events; the ability to remember; a thing remembered
  • mental - ad. about or having to do with the mind
  • message - n. written or spoken news or information; a note from one person to another person or group
  • metal - n. a hard substance such as iron, steel or gold
  • method - n. the way something is done
  • microscope - n. a device used to make very small things look larger so they can be studied
  • middle - n. the center; a place or time of equal distance from both sides or ends; ad. in the center
  • militant - n. someone active in trying to cause political change, often by the use of force or violence
  • military - n. the armed forces of a nation or group; ad. of or about the armed forces
  • militia - n. an army of citizens instead of professional soldiers; an armed force or private army
  • milk - n. the white liquid produced by female animals to feed their young
  • mind - n. the thinking, feeling part of a person
  • mine - v. to dig useful or valuable substances out of the earth; n. a place in the earth where such substances are found; a bomb placed under the ground or under water so it cannot be seen
  • mineral - n. a substance found in nature that is not an animal or a plant, such as coal or salt
  • minister - n. a member of a cabinet; a high government official ("prime minister,"foreign minister")
  • minor - ad. small in size; of little importance
  • minority - n. the smaller number; opposite majority
  • minute - n. a measure of time; one of the sixty equal parts of an hour; sixty seconds
  • miss - v. to fail to hit, see, reach or meet
  • missile - n. any weapon that can be thrown or fired through the air and explodes when it reaches its target
  • missing - ad. lost; not found
  • mistake - n. a wrong action or decision; an action done without the knowledge that it was wrong
  • mix - v. to put different things together to make one thing
  • mob - n. a large group of wild or angry people
  • model - n. an example; something, usually small, made to show how something will look or work
  • moderate - ad. not extreme
  • modern - ad. of the present or very recent time; the most improved
  • money - n. pieces of metal or paper used to pay for things
  • month - n. one of the twelve periods of time into which a year is divided
  • moon - n. the bright object often seen in the night sky that orbits the earth about every twenty-nine days
  • moral - ad. concerning what is right or wrong in someone's actions
  • more - ad. greater in size or amount
  • morning - n. the early part of the day, from sunrise until noon
  • most - ad. greatest in size or amount
  • mother - n. the female parent; a woman who has a child or children
  • motion - n. a movement; a continuing change of position or place
  • mountain - n. a part of the earth's surface that rises high above the area around it
  • mourn - v. to express or feel sadness
  • move - v. to change position; to put or keep in motion; to go
  • movement - n. the act of moving or a way of moving; a series of acts or efforts to reach a goal
  • movie - n. a motion picture; a film
  • much - ad. great in amount
  • murder - v. to kill another person illegally; n. the crime of killing another person
  • music - n. the making of sounds by singing or using a musical instrument
  • must - v. a word used with an action word to mean necessary ("You must go to school.")
  • mystery - n. something that is not or cannot be explained or understood; a secret
From YOUR Teacher: Words You Should Know

Fun Easy English Words You Should Know comes from  the VOA, Voice of America, Special English Word Book Vocabulary. Special English, now called Learning English, consists of 1,500 essential words which anyone learning English should know.
News Words - Letter M

The videos on this page came from the VOA, Voice of America, News Words program. Use the Fun Easy English dictionary for a detailed explanation of words you do not understand. Click the full screen button on the video to make it easier to watch and to read the video script.
Word Video  
Mainstream  
Maintain  
Malaria  
Maritime  
Migrants  
Mindfulness  
Misogyny  
Momentous  
Monument  
Mortgage  
Museum  
 
Additional Lessons
About These Lessons

The following classroom lessons are great for students who want additional listening and reading practice.
  • Travel America - Beginner Level. Do you love America and American English? Learn before you travel. Facts and other cool stuff about your favorite U.S. state. Great English reading practice.
Travel America - Maryland
(Beginner - Reading)

Learn some interesting facts and read interesting stories about Maryland.
Maryland

One of the original 13 states to join the Union (in 1788), Maryland is in the middle of the Eastern Seaboard. It's believed that Lord Baltimore, who received a charter for the land in 1632, named the state after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I. The Mason and Dixon line was drawn in the 1760s to settle a dispute between the Penn and Calvert families. In addition to marking the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, it is the traditional boundary between the North and the South. Maryland is known as the "Free State"; its flower is the black-eyed susan; and its capital is Annapolis, home of the U.S. Naval Academy.
Flag of MarylandMaryland State Flag


The state flag of Maryland was officially adopted in 1904.

The Maryland flag bears the arms of the Calvert and Crossland families (also seen on Maryland's state seal). Calvert was the family name of the Lords Baltimore who founded Maryland, and their colors of gold and black appear in the first and fourth quarters of the flag (and on several of Maryland's state symbols; the state flower, state bird, state insect, and even the state cat).

Crossland was the family of the mother of George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. The red and white Crossland colors, with a cross bottony, appear in the second and third quarters. The flag was first flown on October 11, 1880 in Baltimore at a parade marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of Baltimore. It was also flown on October 25, 1888, at the Gettysburg Battlefield for ceremonies dedicating monuments to Maryland regiments of the Army of the Potomac.
Source: State Symbols USA
 
The great seal of the state of MarylandMaryland State Facts

Picture: state seal of Maryland
State Capital Annapolis
Nickname Old Line State / Free State
Motto Fatti Maschii Parole Femine (Manly deeds, womanly words)
Statehood April 28, 1788 (7th)
Origin of Name Named to honor Henrietta Maria, wife of England's King Charles I.
Largest Cities Baltimore, Columbia, Silver Spring, Dundalk, Wheaton-Glenmont, Ellicott City
Border States Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
Area 9,775 sq. mi., 42nd largest
State Bird Baltimore Oriole
State Flower Black-Eyed Susan (rudbeckia hirta)
State Tree White Oak
State Song Maryland, My Maryland
Map showing the location of MarylandTravel and tourism site for Maryland - This state travel and territorial tourism site provides ideas for your vacations, meetings, and more.
Maryland Stories
 
St. Mary's Oyster Festival

Have you ever heard of oyster-shucking?

To shuck an oyster you open its shell and detach the oyster inside. Every October, the St. Mary's Oyster Festival in Leonardtown, Maryland, celebrates the opening of the oyster season on the Chesapeake Bay. The festival also recognizes the life of the people who work the waters for a living.

More than 150,000 oysters are eaten during the two-day festival. Shuckers use a special knife to do the job, and one of the events at the Festival is the National Oyster Shucking Championship Contest. People come from all over the country to see who can shuck two-dozen oysters the quickest and the best. Some past winners from this event have gone on to compete in the International Oyster Festival in Galway, Ireland. Many people like their oysters raw, but for those who prefer them cooked, there is a National Oyster Cook-Off.
 
Montgomery County Agricultural Center / Fair

How much do you know about farm life? If your county or state has a fair, you can learn a lot about it there.

A 1940s project to get young people involved in agriculture and homemaking skills turned into one of the largest county fairs on the East Coast -- and it was started by kids. The first Montgomery County Agricultural Fair began as a one-day livestock show in 1949, sponsored by the county's 4-H Club, an organization for young people interested in farming. The fair was a way for farmers to show their best farm animals to each other and to get youth excited about farming, gardening, and homemaking skills such as preserving foods.

Over the years, the fair has become a way to get a peek into farm life, as fewer people are involved in farming. The Agricultural Center is a cluster of buildings built for the fair that are used all year long to host shows, exhibitions, and meetings. Today, the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair has grown into a weeklong event, involving more than 2,000 volunteers.
 
Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum

Do you know who Benjamin Banneker was and what he did?

Benjamin Banneker was a self-educated scientist at a time when most African Americans were slaves. Born a free black man in the British Colony of Maryland in 1731, he received some formal education, but he mostly borrowed books and taught himself science and mathematics. At 22, he borrowed a pocket watch, and without any training, figured out how to carve a working wooden clock that chimed each hour. Because of this clock, he became well known and people would visit him just to see his creation.

Banneker ran his family farm for many years, but when he was in his late 50s, a neighbor's son lent him a telescope. He became interested in astronomy, the study of the planets and stars, and again taught himself a new science. He made calculations of tides, sunrises and sunsets, and even predicted an eclipse. For several years he published an almanac of these calculations. Today, he is best known for publishing six almanacs, called "Benjamin Banneker's Almanac," between 1792 and 1797.

In the 1790s, Banneker also helped survey and lay out the land for Washington, D.C., which became the nation's capital. For a look at Banneker's amazing life, visit the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum in Ellicott, City, Maryland.
 
Chestertown Tea Party Festival

Most people have heard of the Boston Tea Party, but did you know that Maryland had a similar "tea party?"

In 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act, which taxed tea and restricted who was allowed to import tea into the American Colonies. Bostonians protested by boarding three ships in the night disguised as Native Americans and dumping the British tea into Boston Harbor. This famous protest became known as the Boston Tea Party. The British responded by closing the Port of Boston until the Colonists paid for the destroyed tea.

This angered many people in the other Colonies, and in Chestertown, Maryland, the citizens protested by deciding not to buy, sell, or drink British tea. Then, in May 1774, they boarded a British ship loaded with a cargo of tea and threw it into the Chester River. Unlike the Tea Party in Boston, the citizens of Chestertown made no attempt to disguise themselves and acted in broad daylight. Every May, the Chestertown Tea Party Festival is the site of a celebration remembering those brave citizens. There's a parade, a 10-mile run, Colonial crafts demonstrations, and of course, a re-enactment of the historic Chestertown Tea Party!
 
Cracking Crabs in Maryland

Do you know what a "jimmy" is?

Jimmies, callinectes sapidus, beautiful swimmers, channelers, sooks, and she-crabs -- are all names for the blue crab, a crustacean found in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is a large bay on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It has played an important role in the history and culture of the state of Maryland.

Chesapeake Bay fishermen, or watermen, have harvested the waters for crabs, oysters, clams, and fish for many generations. They work in skipjacks, a name for workboats or fishing boats. Commercial fishing was a huge industry in Maryland, but pollution has caused a decrease in the population of the bay's marine life. Consequently, many watermen struggle to maintain their way of life.

Nevertheless, Marylanders love their crab and eat them by the bushel at crab houses. These restaurants cover their tables with brown paper, unload a bushel of crabs on the table and provide knives and mallets for customers to pry the crabs open. Have you ever eaten a crab?
 
The Carroll County Ghost Walk

Does your town play host to any ghosts?

Every year the Public Library of Carroll County, Maryland, is a ghost host! Since the early 1980s, the library has held the Carroll County Ghost Walk. At this event, visitors come to the library and learn about local ghost legends and sightings. Afterward, they head out into the streets to tour the town of Westminster and see the spooky spots for themselves. Is Westminster really haunted? Some people think so. In fact, Cockey's Tavern in Westminster is said to have its own ghost -- a confederate soldier who was wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg. Stories say that he likes to help himself at the bar, rearrange pictures on the wall, and, in general, be a troublemaker.

Over the years many strange and unexplained sightings have taken place in many other places in Carroll County. Come to the Carroll County Ghost Walk and see for yourself!
 
Historic Takoma Park and Takoma Park Elementary School

You probably know someone who works in a city but doesn't live there. Today that's common. But before most people owned cars and most cities had bus systems, people needed to live as close to work as possible.

That all changed in the late 1800s, when railroads were built from cities to outlying areas, allowing people to work in one place and live in another. People would work in the city and, at the end of the day, take the train to their homes in the suburbs, where it was quieter and less crowded. The suburbs also often offered cheaper housing.

Takoma Park, Maryland, began in 1883 as a "railroad suburb" of Washington, D.C., our nation's capital. Nowadays, many people commute from their homes in the suburbs to their jobs in the cities in cars rather than trains, but lots of people still rely on public transportation. Today, thousands of Takoma Park residents commute to Washington using the subway, which is a kind of railroad. So, more than 100 years after its founding, Takoma Park is still considered a railroad suburb.
Source: Library of Congress
National Monuments of Maryland

The following is a description of national monuments in the state of Maryland. There are no national forests or parks in this state. If you plan to visit or live in Maryland for awhile then you should definitely plan to visit some of these fantastic places.
 
National Monuments
Fort McHenry

The only place designated a national monument and historic shrine, Fort McHenry is a star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812 when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy. It inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner".
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman was a famed conductor on the Underground Railroad, leading dozens of slaves to freedom. This monument includes sites relating to Tubman's life, including the slave-built Stewart’s Canal and the home of Jacob Jackson. The areas within the national monument that are managed by the NPS have been additionally designated as a National Historical Park (NHP), and are managed by the NPS with reference to the authorities of the NHP legislation.
Travel America
Travel America

Do you love America and American English? Learn before you travel. Facts and other cool stuff about your favorite U.S. state. Visit the Fun Easy English Travel America pages. Read about the beautiful National Forests, Parks, and Monuments. Great English reading practice.
Drive America

Planning to drive in America? Learn the rules and regulations. Great English reading practice.
 
Additional Information
Avoid Ineffective Study Methods

The complete lesson includes an audio program explaining this topic, the script for the audio program, a words in this story section, and other important information.
Click for the complete lesson
Audio Program

Listen to the audio program explaining this topic.
 
Improve Your Pronunciation by Training Your Ears

The complete lesson includes an audio program explaining this topic, the script for the audio program, a words in this story section, and other important information.
Click for the complete lesson
Audio Program

Listen to the audio program explaining this topic.
 
Improve Your Long-Term Memory by Spacing Practice

The lesson includes an audio program explaining this topic, the script for the audio program, a words in this story section, and other important information.
Click for the complete lesson
Audio Program

Listen to the audio program explaining this topic.
 
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