This is a vocabulary activity aimed at practicing words related to the human body. At the same time it will increase students’ awareness of word relationships and
translational equivalence.
Step One
Give each student a picture of the human body and ask them to identify the meaning of the main parts of the body, either productively (by filling in the words they already know and using dictionaries to find the remaining ones) or receptively (by combining words with the appropriate parts of the body and, again, using dictionaries if necessary). Relevant vocabulary items include arm, back, chest, ear, eye, face, foot, hand, head, knee, leg, mouth, neck, nose, shoulder etc.
Step Two
Ask the students (in pairs, and using dictionaries) to answer the following questions:
(1) What similarities are there between a chair and a human being?
(Answer: Both have legs and a back, and sometimes arms.)
(2) What is the similarity between a clock, a coin, a house and a mountain?
(Answer: They all have faces.)
(3) Who has a mouth but cannot drink?
(Answer: a bottle or a river.)
When the students have finished, challenge them to come up with similar riddles involving body words.
Step Three
Ask the students to consult their dictionaries and compose their own TOP TEN lists of useful phrases and expressions that include different body words (e.g. “second-hand shop”“head of department”“give someone a hand”). When they have finished, ask them to share/compare their lists with each other.
Step Four
Ask the students to choose five of the body words and look them up in a dictionary. What other meanings do they have? Are the additional/extended meanings the same as in the students’native tongue? If not, what differences are there? Next, ask the students to share/compare their findings with each other.
This intermediate level lesson employs a fun questionnaire to focus on developing personal description vocabulary. Students can practice conversation skills while also focusing on improving their command of refined character description. This first phase is then followed by a vocabulary
development exercise sheet.
Step One
Ask students to describe a family member, using descriptive adjectives that you write on the board.
Step Two
Distribute the questionnaire and ask students to pair up and ask each other
questions contained in the survey. The sample questionnaire is as follows:
Questionnaire: What kind of best friend do you have? Ask your partners the
following questions about his/her best friend. Make sure to listen carefully to what your partner has to say.
(1) Does your friend work hard?
(2) Does your friend think the future will be good?
(3) Does your friend like to be with
people?
(4) Is your friend usually in a good mood?
(5) Is it important for your friend to be successful in whatever he/she does?
(6) Does your friend notice your feelings?
(7) Does your friend keep his/her feelings to herself?
Have students report back to the class on what they have learned about their partner’s best friend.
Step Three
Give students the adjective worksheet. Divide students into small groups and ask them to complete this adjective worksheet. Check the worksheets as a class. The sample worksheet is listed as follows:
Worksheet: Which of these adjectives describes the quality asked about in each of the survey questions?
Ask students to provide the opposite of each adjective given on the worksheet. This activity can be done as a class or in small groups. As a follow-up exercise, have students write a description of one of their family members, friends or relatives with special emphasis on using the adjectives discussed during the lesson.
This lesson looks at how new words are created in English. It encourages learners to analyze words they already know and to understand more about meaning from form. It also encourages them to experiment with new words and possible meanings.
Step One
Tell students that new words enter the English language all the time. One important reason is that there are many ways in which new words are created.
Step Two
Ask students to match words with method of word formation by giving them worksheet A. Avoid too much discussion of meaning at this stage, and encourage students to look at form to help guess meaning.
Step Three
Ask students to do more exercises
concerning method of word formation by giving them worksheet B, worksheet C, and worksheet D. Explain to students three main methods of formation practiced in worksheet B, C, and D: a compound word is made up of two or more words that
together express a single idea; blend is a way of mixing two word together, thus generating a new word and a new meaning; conversion means changing the way we use a word.
Step Four
Ask students to create one new word
using each of the processes mentioned above. Explain the new word to the class. Ask students to write a sentence using each new word to share with the group.