EN 1206: Vocabulary Development II
Cloze exercises
· Focus: Guess the
missing words from the context
· Procedure:
students are asked to complete the gaps in a text by guessing the meaning from
the context. Words or phrases can be taken off the text.
Compound words: compound
adjectives
· Compound adjective
has two parts. The second part is often a present or past participle
· Focus: a large
number describe personal appearance (broad-shouldered). Others describe
person’s character. (good-natured, warm-hearted)
There is another group which has a preposition in
the second part (worn-out shoes)
There are other useful compound adjectives such as:
air-conditioned, time-consuming
· Types of
activities
- Write as many first parts as possible for the
following: - minded.
- Describe yourself and your classmates using
compound adjectives.
Specialist registers: grouping words together
· Focus: learning
sets of connected words e.g. sports / food / work, etc and specialist registers
(Words belonging to a particular field; e.g. medicine, law etc.)
Dictionary work: finding and exploring meanings:
finding the correct entry in a dictionary
· Focus: understand
that the same word belongs to different word classes.
· Types of
activities:
- Look at the word ‘limp’ in the dictionary and
answer the questions.
How many entries are there for the word?
In which word classes are they used?
How many meanings are given for the adjective
‘limp”?
· Understanding
definitions: select the word that each definition describes. Check your answer
in a dictionary.
e.g. To walk
slowly and noisily without lifting your feet. Limp, hobble, shuffle
Foreign words in English
· Focus: to be
familiar with different varieties of English, British, American, Indian,
British English words ending in -our, -re and –ise,
usually end in -or, -er and –ize in American English. Students find examples.
Check answers in a dictionary.
· Read a few
American stories / poems / magazines. List common American English words and
their British English equivalents.
e.g. sidewalk-
pavement, elevator-lift, apartment- flat.
Words related to worldwide problems
· Focus: becoming
familiar with the words connected with disasters/tragedies, verbs connected
with these words and words for people involved in disasters
· Types of
activities:
- Brainstorm round the words, disasters / tragedies.
List the words such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, explosions,
volcanoes, epidemics.
Finding the meaning and writing them
- Look for the verbs associated with these words and
make sentences.
e.g. A volcano has erupted in Indonesia. Hundreds
are feared dead.
- Look for words for people involved in
disasters/tragedies
e.g. The explosion / typhoon / flood resulted in
300 casualties (dead and injured)
