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Post by phets72 on Sept 10, 2006 15:09:37 GMT 7
I was wondering if ANYONE can help me.
I am trying to set up a lesson for high schoolers using teaching idioms, phrasal verbs and slang.
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or experiences I would be grateful for your imput please. I hope to give the lesson from the end of this month.
Thanks Steph
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Sept 10, 2006 15:24:49 GMT 7
Phrasals tend to be quite universal, English wise.
As for slang/idioms, which English speaking culture would be useful information. I'd think carefully before "teaching" this area. It doesn't assist in international English language communication, and can actually make the speaker look quite foolish in some situations, aside from totally bamboozling the listener!
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nolefan
Barfly
Quod me nutrit, me destruit!
Posts: 686
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Post by nolefan on Sept 10, 2006 16:10:28 GMT 7
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 11, 2006 0:50:03 GMT 7
Yeah. I can understand Lotus's reservations about using slang, but on the other hand it's what all advanced or adult students seem to want. It's hard not to give them any!
A little bit now and then can "leaven the loaf" a bit...it's fun and interesting for them. So what the hell...
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Post by Dajiang on Sept 11, 2006 9:21:37 GMT 7
How many students you got in your class?
If not too many, you can do Phrasal Dice.
Collect phrasal verbs that start with the same verb: e.g. get by, get on, get into, get around... etc. now find 6 of these verbs (put, get, go, break, look, pull, take, turn) and of each verb choose 6 prepositions that can go with each verb (some might not be possible, but that's alright). Number the verbs, and number the prepositions 1 - 6. Make a list for all to see.
Then get two dice and divide the class into groups/pairs. Each group has to throw the dice and for instance 2 and 5 come up. Now that group has to make a sentence with the corresponding phrasal verb. The other groups judge the sentence. Award points if the group thinks it's a good sentence. If it actually isn't and it is judged as being correct anyway, you can substract points from the judges too.
As for idioms, I do an idiom each time, and it's a 5-minute activity at the end of each lesson. Again, groups make sentences, or make up a situation which explains the idiom. Others judge if it's correct or not.
Slang is a bit trickier. You could do a roleplay, in which you give a list of words (could also be idioms or phrasal verbs) to each group or pair. The students in the role-play have to use these words one way or another, and the first to do so and finishes the list wins. This is quite advanced already though, cuz it's an open exercise that the students have to fill in almost entirely by themselves.
Dajiang
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Post by Lotus Eater on Sept 11, 2006 12:29:20 GMT 7
Raoul, please very gently put down that 4th bottle of tequila, and try to carefully squint through those coke bottle glasses of yours. Do I still look like Gonzo? I'm going to cry!!  Not that you aren't handsome, debonaire and totally amazing looking Gonzo - but I figure there are a couple of minor differences between us that Rrrrrraoulll should have noticed.  However, back to topic - I teach the slang only when it comes up in class - through reading, in Film Appreciation classes etc and point out that slang by it's very nature becomes rapidly dated. I tell them which slang is now out of date and which ones still have some currency (or did when I left Oz). I also talk about appropriate times and places to use it. |
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Sept 12, 2006 2:51:58 GMT 7
Yeah Lotus, I was wondering along the same lines, but was too polite to say so.
Aside from common native speaker traits, such as the use of irony> sarcasm, I'll generally leave idioms alone in an EFL situation, unless one comes up in the course of events. Remember that much of your students English after graduation is increasingly being employed as a common tongue with other non-native English speakers, with whom teaching your grandmother to suck eggs, or sorting sheep from goats will not resonate.
When my first FAO met me in 1997 [his English was excellent, btw], he told me they'd had lots of dogs and cats that day. I thought he was referring to menu items. Turns out, he was talking "tian qi".
However, with my ESL students here in Oz, its a different matter. Spoken Australian English, at least at the street level, is highly figurative, and my students have a desperate need to know what they're hearing in the schoolyard, so yes, we do quite a lot in class. A shop assistant will ask "Are you right?", meaning "Can I help you?" A Chinese, used to the much more direct and literal "Ni yao shenme?" will not understand what is being asked.
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Post by phets72 on Sept 12, 2006 10:39:45 GMT 7
Thanks Dajiang that was the kind of thing I was after!
Also thanks to all for input - I will let you know how I fair
Steph
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Post by Dajiang on Sept 12, 2006 11:47:48 GMT 7
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 12, 2006 14:33:32 GMT 7
I am happy to explain idioms and slang and their origins etc, but don't teach them.
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Post by Dr. Gonzo on Sept 12, 2006 16:49:29 GMT 7
Exactly Nobs.
"Teaching" them smacks of "my culture is number one".
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 13, 2006 6:27:05 GMT 7
Yeah, plus it is too variable over time as well as space, plus often inappropriate. Plus we are educating people in speaking a language, not teaching the next generation of rap stars. In China we are teaching TEFL not TESL, so the situation is different from what Gonzo describes with his students.
I also can't figure out what random bits of phrasal structures put together using dice is supposed to be teaching the kids. Is it recognizing invalid constructions?
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Post by Dajiang on Sept 13, 2006 13:57:31 GMT 7
No. All combinations are valid constructions. The trick is that students should recognise those from each other, and use them in a correct way of course. They do come across invalid constructions too, but that's very common in their speech anyway. The dice game should be put together in such a way that invalid constructions don't appear.
Anyway. What's wrong with 'teaching' phrasal verbs then? Of course we've got to teach them phrasal verbs. When and which ones is debatable - usually they are pretty advanced - but English is riddled with phrasal verbs, especially spoken English. Which is what I'm here to teach.
But maybe you were referring to slang which is too variable over time. Which of course is true. However, there's nothing wrong with just picking out some general or funny examples to show to the kids. Show, teach, explain, kind of the same innit?
Dajiang
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Post by Mr Nobody on Sept 13, 2006 18:04:41 GMT 7
Sorry, yes, first para was referring to slang, not phrasal verbs. Nothing against teaching anything that will help them communicate, and personally, most slang is specifically designed to seperate speakers instead, kind of like a secret language. "Teaching" means that you initiate the discussion therefore bring it up. Or I mean it this way in this case. 'Explaining' means someone asked the question.
If a dice game gets them talking, I don't really care if it is simply a dice game, personally.
Re random jumbling of bits: Yeah, I guess, I just couldn't see it's direction. I still can't see how if it isn't relevant that they will remember much later. If it is funny, then, yeah, they will I suppose. I use humour a lot in trying to get them to remember. Works well. I guess you mean that they roll a randomly selected but valid sequence, then try to use it correctly? OK, fair enough. I like have things more directed myself, but whatever works is fine. There ain't enough things that work well, so I won't forget the idea.
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