Words Skills: Language and Activities for Talking About Words Unit 1: What’s in a Word? Words Skills: Language and Activities for Talking About Words

Today’s class: (1) We will briefly discuss classroom English in general. (2) We will look at classroom English needed to negotiate the letters and spellings of words. (3) We will look at language used for posing word riddles, giving hints and asking for answers.

Classroom English One of the goals of this course is to move towards conducting our classes in English. An important step in achieving this goal is training our students to function in an English classroom environment. This means preparing lessons centered around classroom English.

Classroom English can be divided into two primary functions: Language for managing the class. Language for conveying content and negotiating the meaning of that content.

(1) Language for Managing the Class This includes commands like: Open your books. Take out your pencils. You need to find a partner. Your homework is due on Friday. Although this classroom English is important, we will not focus on it here. It will be covered in the second half of this course under classroom interactions.

(2) Language for Conveying Information and Negotiating Its Meaning This includes things like: What does that mean? Do you see what I’m saying? Is that clear? Ghost is spelt G-H-O-S-T. It has four letters. Could you speak up please? I can’t hear you. It begins with B. What I mean is . . . It’s another word for windy.

This kind of classroom English is a skill that students should have so that they can get the information they need when they don’t understand. It is a skill that will help our students on the road to becoming independent learners.

Classroom English: Words and Spelling One task teachers will constantly face is discussing words, letters and spelling with their students. Both students and teachers should be comfortable talking about words.

BOTTLE Let’s start with an example. Here are some of the ways we can talk about a word: BOTTLE

Bottle has six letters.

Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word.

Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word. Bottle begins with B.

Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word. Bottle begins with B. The second letter is O

Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word. Bottle begins with B. The second letter is O Bottle ends with/in E.

Bottle has six letters. Bottle is a six-letter word. Bottle begins with B. The second letter is O Bottle ends with/in E. Bottle has two Ts and an L.

Imagination

All of the expressions above are useful for negotiating the spelling of a word. You use these expressions when: (1) You see a student has misspelled a word. (2) A student is asking about the spelling of a word. (3) Someone is looking for words that fit a particular letter pattern (in a riddle or crossword for example).

Activities for Teaching This Skill Since talking about words is a skill we want our students to have, we need to come up with activities that will help students acquire these skills. Word riddles are an excellent way to accomplish this.

I’m thinking of a bird that can begins begin with O? Can you guess it?

Is it owl? No, that’s not it. It has seven letters.

Hmm. I’m stumped. Can you give me a hint. In ends with H Hmm. I’m stumped. Can you give me a hint? In ends with H. It has powerful legs, but it can’t fly. I know. It’s an . . .

OSTRICH

Language for Posing Riddles Can you think of a three-letter word that begins with O? Do you know any three-letter words that begin with O? What is a three-letter word that begins with O?

Language for Offering Hints Can I give you a hint? Would you like a hint? Do you need a hint?

Language for Asking for Hints Can you give me a hint? Can I have a hint? I need a hint.

Language for Indicating You Give Up I give up. I'm stumped. I can’t figure it out. I can’t solve it. You got me. I don’t know