Transcript File - Alan Marsh

Words! Words! Words!
Alan Marsh
MATEFL 2013
Today’s agenda
1 Numbers and words
2 Er …….? Or Is this the most useful lesson I’ve
ever taught?
Inspirational dictation
• conveyed
• very
• grammar
• without
• can
without
vocabulary
nothing
conveyed
little
be
can
be
A famous quote ……
“Without grammar very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing
can be conveyed”. (Wilkins 1972)
English words and numbers
• 50,000
• 20,000
• Half a million
• 2,000
• 7,500
How many words …?
• 1 How many words are there in English?
• 2 How many words does an educated native speaker of
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English understand?
3 How many words does an educated native speaker of
English have as part of their active vocabulary
4 How many words does a speaker of English need to be
able to take part in everyday conversation?
5 How many words are defined in an Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary?
6 How many words does a reader of English need to
understand most texts?
• 1 How many words are there in English?
• Half a million?
• 2 How many words does an educated native speaker of English
understand?
• 50,000?
• 3 How many words does an educated native speaker of English
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have as part of their active vocabulary
20,000?
4 How many words does a speaker of English need to be able to
take part in everyday conversation?
About 2000
5 How many words are defined in an Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary?
Macmillan’ Advanced Learner’s Dictionary: 7500 key words
6 How many words does a reader of English need to understand
most texts?
How many words does a reader of English
need to understand most texts?
• Top 2,000 words = 83% of most texts i.e. 1 out
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of 5 will be unfamiliar
Top 6,000 words = 90%, which means 1 word
out of 10 will be unfamiliar to you
Top 10,000 words = 95% i.e. only 1 word out of
20 will be unfamiliar to you - pretty good if you
need to work words out from context.
Macmillan Advanced Learner’s dictionary
identifies 7500 key words that advanced
learners should know
The top 2000 work the hardest!
• Enable learners to speak, read, write and listen
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at Elementary (A1) level about everyday
subjects (+ some subject specific vocabulary)
Since they’re so frequent, they can help learners
to work out meanings, and to ask for help in real
situations
Learners’ dictionaries typically use 2000-2500
words as their ‘defining vocabulary’
Mmmm ….. Is there a problem?
• How many new words do you teach every
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lesson?
How many times do learners need to recall and
revise words before they’re permanently stored?
How many lessons of English do learners have?
How long do they need in order to permanently
store (and be able to recall) 10,000 words?
Is there a problem here?
What does ‘knowing a word’ mean?
pronunciation
word building
stresses
synonyms
translation
part of speech
suburbs
core meaning
connotation
antonyms
register
colligates
collocates
How can we help?
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Help them to ….Notice
Help them to …Record and Store
Help them to …Retrieve and Use
Help them to …Extend and Enrich
Introduce them to learn…Words
for getting around words
Going blank
Riding to the rescue …..
Learner Training
Circumlocution and paraphrasing strategies
How to ‘switch on the light’
CROSSWORD RACE
The answers!
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3A stale
9D improbable
16D toothpaste
7D delete
15A look it up
12D unemployed
1D vehicle
13D delicatessen
10A fall asleep
8A engine
11A rise
14A exhausted
2D catch up
17A coach
10D fuel
6D broken up
4D lose
5D tears
20A error
19A shark
18A vet
Do you remember the clues?
• a. It’s the _____ _____ … fresh/wake up/win/probable
• b. It’s ______ _____ _____… go up/mistake
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It _______ _____ _____ as cancel
• c. It’s a _____ _____ means of transport/fish
• d. It’s _____ _____ _____ _____ .. coal, oil, gas etc. /
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car,
bus, van, etc.
e. It’s the person _____ …. (vet)
It’s the place _____ … (delicatessen)
f.
It’s _____ you … (engine)
It’s _____ _____ _____ you _____ for _____ … (toothpaste)
It’s _____ … (tears)
g. It’s _____ you _____ _____ you … (unemployed)
It’s _____ you _____ _____ you … (look it up / catch up)
It’s _____ you _____ _____ you … (exhausted)
Paraphrasing and circumlocution
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It’s
It’s
It’s
It’s
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It’s the thing/stuff you use when you/to …
It’s the place where ….
It’s a/the person who …
It’s how you (feel) when ….
It’s what you (do) when you/to ……
An example sentence with a context
a synonym/another word for ….
the opposite of …..
a kind/type/sort of ..
the general word for …, …., and …
Useful phrases in Italian
• Come si dice ..?
• E un’altra parola che vuol dire …..
• E un sinonomo di ...
• Si dice cosi quando si ....
• E il contrario di ….
• E un tipo di ..... E una specie di ...
• E una cosa che si usa quando /per
• A last couple of thoughts …..
Bricks and mortar …..
• glimpse
• rush
• attractive
• awful
exciting
killer
professor
experience
enigma
protection
leader
record
factor
fair-haired
lovely
rugged
• beautiful
fair-skinned
lover
• quirky
whisper
magnificent gutted
• cute
fascinating
• flight attendant
moving
• gang
newscaster
suntanned
good-looking
• dramatic
handsome
scenic
dangerous
stunning
sunburnt
elegant
pig
encounter
die
doctor
murder
rescue
Words we like ….
• mellifluous
• serendipity
• flabbergasted
• helter-skelter
• wishy-washy
• And in Maltese ….
• sahansitra
Engagement … and marry the
words
• Choose two you like… and say why
• Connect three in a sentence
• Write a newspaper headline
• Make up a story
• Make up a long sentence
• And now …..
• How many can you remember?
Some websites for starters …
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www.teachingenglish.org British Council
www.onestopenglish.com Macmillan
www.ELTCommunity.com Pearson Longman
www.matefl.org many more links
www.mes-english.com flashcards
www.learningenglish.com for your learners
www.etprofessional.com practical magazine
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Books I’ve found very useful
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Vocabulary In Use, CUP: the whole series
(including Collocations In Use, Phrasal Verbs In Use, etc.)
S. Thornbury How To Teach Vocabulary (Longman)
S. Redman and R. Ellis A Way With Words (1-3)
M.McCarthy, A. O’Keefe, S. Walsh Vocabulary Matrix, Heinle
Cengage
J. Scrivener Learning Teaching, Macmillan
S. Thornbury, An A-Z of ELT, Macmillan
J. Richards, J. Platt, H. Platt Dictionary of Language Teaching &
Applied Linguistics, Longman
All the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Cambridge, Macmillan,
Oxford, and Collins Cobuild
• [email protected]
• 9942 8447
• And ……….
• Thank you!