With Linsanity, we all just witnessed not only the creation of a star, but the birth of a new slang term (we even made an English lesson about it). A lot of people have had a lot of fun punning on Jeremy Lin’s name. It almost seems like one of those exercises the teacher breaks out at the end of the language class to keep the attention of the students for the last few minutes.

Following the profile of English, baby! in Reuters last month, CNA, the official news agency of Taiwan, asked English, baby! to weigh in on Linsanity. They published a detailed story about our basketball English lessons and the effect that Jeremy Lin may have on the English-learning youth of Asia. The story was picked up by Sina, Yahoo! and more. If you decide to read it using Google translate, it helps to know that “Linsanity” comes through as “magic forest.” See that? We are officially more on top of the trends than Google.

English, baby! co-founder and CEO John Hayden also appeared on a Taiwanese news program called Next TV talking about Linsanity.

Since so many of our members are in China, we like to ask the celebrities we talk to about their travels there. The largest English newspaper in China, China Daily, recently published a story about our interviews with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.

Ironically, the biggest time for the NBA in China is actually the summer, when players do personal appearances and there are exhibition games. I can’t wait to see what heights the excitement reaches this year–and what new slang emerges in the meantime.

When people on TV shows run into celebrities in New York, it’s usually not in Brooklyn. But there are more people worthy of starring in a celebrity English lesson than you might think on the other side of the East River. On a recent visit to Union Pool to see Reverend Vince Anderson, a friend pointed out that the guitarist in the band was none other than Jaleel Bunton, drummer for Brooklyn-based, world famous band, TV On The Radio. In fact, Jaleel has DJed before at the bar where my friend works.

“Do you think he’d do a lesson for English, baby!” I asked?

“We can check,” he said.

So at the intermission, we edged our way through the crowd toward Jaleel. He immediately agreed to help us teach spoken English to fans overseas and suggested the alley behind the bar as a quiet place to do the interview.

I handed my friend my iPhone and asked Jaleel to talk about the title of a recent TVOTR song, “Will Do,” and explain how this phrase can be used. The result was this English lesson. He did a great job. You can’t even tell that he had no warning. Note the cars on the freeway overpass in the background.

Jaleel was happy to contribute to our mission to help people around the world learn slang, but after he explained the idiom “will do,” he took a moment to question its usefulness in present-day America. This didn’t make the final edit of the lesson video, but enjoy this outtake in which Jaleel expresses some concern that if ESL students from China come to New York and use “will do” in a conversation, it may not go well for them.

I may not be from Brooklyn, but I really think you’ll be fine if you use this expression anywhere in the US. And certainly, your girlfriend or boyfriend won’t mind if you use it like in the TV On The Radio song.

The Phoenix Suns have some of the smartest and most fun players anywhere in sports. We’ve featured some of their stars in our celebrity English lesson series before such as Marcin Gortat (before he was a Sun) and Channing Frye. But at a recent practice, we got some great new basketball slang definitions from Steve Nash and Grant Hill.

A two-time MVP, Steve Nash is famously good at assists and free throws. So we figured we’d stick to those areas of the game and asked him to start with a lesson on the term “dime.” He really went above and beyond by explaining the origin of the phrase.

Then we moved on to a lesson about the term “and one.”

It’s amazing to meet someone who fully embodies a quality all good players seek to have. Grant Hill has won the NBA’s sportsmanship award three times. So we asked him to teach a lesson about how the term “heart” is used in sports.

Finally, we were able to catch up with Jared Dudley, who we interviewed a couple of years ago. Jared is one of the most media savvy players in the NBA. He regularly posts behind-the-scenes videos of his teammates on JMZ, his own take on the gossip outlet, TMZ.

We asked Jared to teach a slang phrase that is popular at the moment, and he talked to us about the word “swag,” which is also the subject of a lesson by Zaza Pachulia.

These great new English lessons got finished up just in time for this article about English, baby! on the blog of Portlandia, a TV series on IFC that mocks our hometown.

Just before Dwight Howard was named as the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the fourth year in a row, he became the latest NBA player to help English, baby! teach basketball slang. The Orlando Magic star definitely brought a lot of character to our English lesson/interview format. When I asked him to pose for a photo, he made the face you see here.

Dwight also got creative with the slang he wanted to teach. As this article in The Classical explains, we originally asked Dwight to teach the term “rejected,” a common slang term for blocked shots. But he said he doesn’t really like that term. So since we only had a moment with him, we just turned on the camera and asked him what he would like to teach. Here’s what happened.

Personally, I had never heard the phrase “beat it up” before, although in a previous basketball English lesson, Dwight’s former teammate Marcin Gortat said something similar. And since we’re all about teaching the latest, most authentic American slang, I think it’s great Dwight shared this term with us.

But that wasn’t even the biggest surprise of the interview. I had no idea Dwight would break out some Chinese phrases when I asked him about visiting China. Since more of our members come from China than anywhere else, I loved seeing Dwight use the English, baby! forum to connect with his fans there. The moment shows a side of Dwight that appeals to native speakers as well. The Orlando Magic posted the video on their website to share it with the hometown fans, and our friends at Australian basketball site A Stern Warning, shared the interview with their readership, too.

The English, baby! ESL soap opera recently finished airing its second set of 10 episodes. Each is focused on a specific idiom or American slang phrase and packed with related vocabulary, grammar and laughs. Lots of laughs.

Though, this season was a little darker. After Jason and Devan got engaged last season, things start to get a little heavy. Literally, in Dale’s case. Watch all 10 videos here and see the guide below for links to the full lessons.

2.01 – Get Hitched: Devan and Jason announce to their friends that they are getting married.
2.02 – Let Oneself Go: Dale’s co-workers start to notice that he isn’t taking care of himself.
2.03 – Two Cents: Devan’s friends all have ideas about her wedding.
2.04 – Odd Man Out: All of Jason’s friends want to be groomsmen at the wedding.
2.05 – Over The Top: Marni takes Devan shopping for a wedding dress and simplicity rules.
2.06 – Bridezilla: Devan goes crazy as she and Jason register for wedding gifts.
2.07 – Cold Feet: Jason visits Mason at the dumpster for advice and ends up with socks.
2.08 – The Breaking Point: Jason reaches his limit for wedding planning.
2.09 – Hurt Someone’s Feelings: Jeff confronts Dale about his weight and feelings get hurt.
2.10 – Call Something Off: Jason wants to call off the wedding. Devan cancels their relationship.

We recently got a taste of World Cup action just up the street from the English, baby! office in Portland. The US Women’s National Team took on the Canadians, and two of the athletes were happy to teach some new vocabulary to our members around the world.

Canadian goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc talked about the number one term every goalie must know, “save”. She was tons of fun. We grabbed her right after she said hello to ESPN broadcaster and women’s soccer legend Julie Foudy (pictured above).

There were a few hundred fans there to watch the teams practice. Just before signing some autographs, US defender Ali Krieger gave us an interview. Since she’s such a smart player and a leader, we had her teach the more abstract term “distribution.” She also happened to use the phrase “sink or swim,” so we turned that into a second video.

We also recently featured a pair of lessons by the only Japanese player in MLS, Kosuke Kimura. He talks about last year’s MLS Cup in which his Colorado Rapids pulled off a come from behind victory, and he demonstrates how to “cut the angle” in a hotel lobby. This easy going attitude has made Kosuke a fan favorite, so it’s no surprise that these videos were covered by soccer blogs including Soccer 365 and Burgundy Wave.

You can find more soccer slang lessons on English, baby! See you next season.

After 165 nonstop episodes, it seemed time to start producing the English, baby! soap opera, As the World Learns, in seasons. Watch all 10 episodes of the romantic first season right here. Each episode is an English lesson focused on a particular phrase. See the episode guide below for links to the full lessons.

1.01 – Left Out: Get to know the Ebaby! cast while the men of the office get left out.
1.02 – Glass Ceiling: The women of the office have a plan to break the glass ceiling.
1.03 – Girls’ Night Out: On a girls’ night out, the women make a discovery.
1.04 – Plant the Seed: Devan starts planting the seed to get what she wants.
1.05 – Pop the Question: Mason catches Jason practicing to pop the question.
1.06 – Break the Bank: Jason asks Jeff how to get a ring that won’t break the bank.
1.07 – Have Second Thoughts: Trouble at the office gives Jason second thoughts.
1.08 – Spill the Beans: Mason spills the beans about Jason’s plan.
1.09 – Chicken Out: Jason has a plan, but will he chicken out?
1.10 – It Just Slipped Out: Jason let’s something very important just slip out.

Season 2 starts in November. Don’t miss the wedding planning drama! Thanks for supporting coolest English lessons anywhere. Tell your friends!

With our Celebrity English Lesson series, the philosophy is, you might as well learn from the best. While we’ve had guest teachers from all sorts of sports and entertainment fields, it’s rare that we get someone who is actually the very best at what they do (gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and Girl Talk come to mind). So we’re thrilled to have defending LPGA Champion and number female 1 golfer in the world, Taiwanese superstar Yani Tseng.

Yani shares some basic golf terms and talks about learning English. At 22, she’s the youngest golfer ever to win 5 majors, so the fact that she acquired excellent English skills along the way is no small accomplishment!

We spoke with Yani at the LPGA Safeway Classic in North Plains, Oregon. Our friend John Canzano even mentioned us in his coverage of the event for The Oregonian. It was the Pro-Am day, and a couple of other well-known players were available to help us teach English as well. Korean star IK Kim was practicing on the putting green when we found her and chatted about the phrase “hole in one”.

Beatriz Recari was actually checking out some sunglasses from a vendor on the fairway (Spaniards love them some shades), but was happy to share her favorite golf term, “stinger”, with us and talk about her mission to learn exotic languages.

After we talked to Beatriz, she headed off to lunch. Food came up in our interview with Yani as well, so we put together this bonus clip just for the blog.

The LPGA Tour is heading to Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia and Mexico this fall, as well as other places. Say hi for us if you see any of these athletes!

Aurelien Collin is one of those people you meet and instantly wish was your good friend. He is so fun and energetic and you don’t even have to talk to him to see it–you can tell by the way he plays.

Even at training, Collin is a physical player, making plays for the ball, shouting and waving his arms. When he’s on the pitch representing Sporting Kansas City, he’s an animal–no one can miss this French star.

Naturally, we asked him to teach some fairly active terms when he agreed to be our latest celebrity English teacher. We started off with challenge because I had heard that Collin only had a couple of weeks to get ready for the season after joining his new team in KC. That sounded like a challenge to me. Of course, Collin said it wasn’t a challenge at all, but we talked about other types of challenges.

Next, we asked Collin to explain tackle.

Watching Collin speak English is kind of like watching him stop a striker. He has to get creative and he tackles the problem with confidence. MLS and Sporting KC are lucky to have this guy and so are we!

This Sunday, the fourth season of True Blood on HBO begins. This show has a lot of fans in the US and around the world, and it also has its own set of vocabulary that its international fans might have some trouble with.

Fortunately, one of the actresses from the show, Lindsay Pulsipher, who plays Crystal starting in season 3, is our latest celebrity English teacher. At a recent showing of her new film, The Oregonian, we asked her to talk about the term “shapeshifter” and, since her character likes to turn into a panther, the phrase “cat got your tongue” in an English lesson.

Lindsay was so kind and very happy to help us teach English. We’re excited to see her in True Blood this season and hopefully in more movies in the future. You can see a trailer for The Oregonian here, and a scene from True Blood with Lindsay in it here. Both are a little too intense to embed on an English education blog, but if you like supernatural and scary stuff, you will probably enjoy them!