CORE CONCEPTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

What words
mean

I rina was fast asleep when the alarm went off. She opened her eyes with difficulty.
Her head was throbbing - she had a headache; but she still had to get ready to teach at
her school. After she had finished breakfast, she put on her coat and headed to the bus
stop. When she got to the staffroom, she found that all the other teachers were having a
meeting about Svatislav Melaschenko, the new head of the school. They were unhappy
about him because {Vladimir said) his new power had gone to his head. H e wouldn't listen
any more. He had become very pig-headed. Should they go and talk to him about it, they
wondered. In the end, Vladimir tossed a coin - heads or tails {heads = we go to see him,
tails = we forget about it) - and it was heads. They decided that they would all go and see
him during the lunch break. Irina didn't want to be part of this so she tried to keep her
head down, but in spite of this she somehow found herself at the head of the little
procession as they marched down the corridor towards M r Melaschenko's office.

What does head mean?

In the text about Irina the word head has many different meanings (we call two words
which have the same spelling and pronunciation, but mean different things, HOMONYMS) .
• In her head was throbbing, head refers t o the top part o f a body, the part that is
supported by the neck. In the third sentence of the story (the new head), head means
the principal of a school. In the last sentence (at the head of the little procession), head
m eans at" the front. In all of these cases head is a NOUN �12.
• In the second sentence of the story (. . . and headed to the bus stop), head means to go
towards. It is a VERB �4.
• Head also appears in various IDIOMATIC phrases �21 (power had gone to his head =
made him feel more important than necessary, heads or tails = what we say when we
toss a coin, trying to keep her head down she didn't want people to notice her).
=

46
 What words mean

How head is related to other words

• Sometimes head can join with other words (headache, head teacher, headword, headband)
to make new COMPOUND words "12.
• There are words which have an opposite meaning to head (e.g. tails in the expression
heads or tails). vVe call words with opposite m eanings ANTONYMS.
• In the phrase headed to the bus stop (sentence 2 in the story above) we could use
proceeded instead of headed because proceed is a SYNONYM it means more or less the -

same as head. But as with many other synonyms, it doesn't mean exactly the same. And
what is a synonym (or an a ntonym) for one meaning of a word may not be a synonym
for a nother. Synonyms (S) and antonyms (A) for rich in the sentence The food was really
rich (S = filling, A light) are not the same as fo r The president wasfantastically rich (S
= =

well-off, A = poor).
• Irina's principal i s described as pig-headed. This means the same as stubborn or
strong-willed, but it has a more negative CONNOTATION. A connotation is an idea or
feeling that a word suggests, which is more than just its meaning.

• An other kind of relationship is between words that are a pan of something. So, for
example, ears, eyes, brows and chins are parts of a head. We call head a SUPERORDINATE and
say that ear is a HYPONYM of head. Eye, ear, brow and chin are caJled co-HYPONYMS
because they are all at the same level in a hierarchy of meaning - as this diagram shows:

c\t\i.�

• We also have relationships between words that are a type of something (e.g. bicycles,
buses, cars, trains, trucks, etc. are types of vehicle) .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. .

Teaching ideas: word meaning

The exam ples of the word head tel l us a lot about how we can ELICIT and teach voca b u l a ry.
•
The most i mportant t h i ng to decide is which meaning or meanings of a word to introduce
and what level to do it at. For example, BEGINNER or ELEMENTARY students need to know
the meaning of head (= the t h i ng on top of your neck), but probably won't need to
recognise or use head of a procession until they are UPPER-INTERMEDIATE level or a bove. We
decide which words to teach on the basis of FREQUENCY (how com mon a word is), how
useful it is (for students at that particular level), and how appropriate it is for the students:
the word stethoscope, for example, i s a frequent and useful word for beginner students of
English for nursing, but may not be so useful for general English students at beginner leve l .

We shouldn't just teach individual words. Words occur as COLLOCATIONS ( l i ke fast asleep
i n the story about I rina) and in IDIOMATIC phrases and LEXICAL CHUNKS, such as heads or
tails, keep your head down, I can't make head or tail of it (= I can't understand it at a l l), It's
doing my head in (= INFORMAL British Engl ish for 'I am confused and angry about it') and
Let's put our heads together on this ( = let's collaborate to find a solution). So we should
teach collocations, p h rases and lexical chunks, too, starting with those that are the most
frequent, useful and appropriate. We d iscuss words which often occu r together in °'20.
•
It is often helpful to teach words together with other words that they are related to.
We don't usual l y teach empty without teaching full, for exam ple.

47
 A problem solved
How words Brittany is sitting in a diner having brunch. She calls it
are formed 'brunching' {which her British friends think is funny) and she
likes to do it at the weekend after a long week's 'lessoning'
(another of her made-up words which she uses instead of
teaching). So today she slept late, inputted some lesson plans
on her computer, got on her bike and came to the diner.
Her mobile phone rings. She retrieves it from her handbag {Brittany still likes using words
like handbag instead of the American purse) and presses the green button with her long
thumbnail. She lifts the phone to her ear. It is Amelie's mother. Amelie is a child in
Brittany's class.
At first, when Amelie joined her class, Brittany thought the girl was really intelligent, but as
the weeks went by she began to think that she had overestimated her ability. And then,
gradually, she became aware of the girl's unhappiness.
She tried to find out what the problem was but it was impossible to get Amelie to talk to
her - at first. But in the end she d iscovered that Tracy, another girl in the class, was the
ringleader of a gang of girls who had been bullying Amelie. Brittany's head teacher wanted
to exclude Tracy, b�t Brittany disagreed. She worked with Tracy, Amelie and the whole class
and now the situation has improved.
That's why Amelie's mother has rung. She wants to say thank you.

Making words from different bits and pieces

Brittany notices Arnelie's unhappiness. This WORD is made up of three different elements.
The ROOT WORD (similar to the BASE FORM of the VERB -+4) is the ADJECTIVE happy. We can
add the SUFFIX -ness (changing the -y to -i) to make the NOUN (happiness) and we can add
the PREFIX ztn- to give it a negative meaning (unhappiness) . There are various ways in
which we can man ipulate root words:

• AFFIXES are small elements of meaning that we can add to· the begi n nings (prefixe ) and
endings (suffixes) of root words. Prefixes i n the story about Brittany and Amelie
include retrieves, overestimated, u nhappiness, impossible, discovered, exclude wd disay;reed.
There are two suffixes in the story, u nhappiness and situation.

• We add the -s MORPHEME (as a n affix) to make INFLECTIONS in words like rings, retrieves
and lifts. We add the -ed morpheme to inflect base forms of verbs i n words like jo in ed,
discovered, disay;reed and improved.
• We use the term WORD FAMILY to talk about the different words that are created with a
root word - through affixation, etc. When Brittany worried that he had overestimated
Amelie's ability, ability is part of a family that includes able, ably, enable, disable, etc.

• We can join two words together to make new COMPOUND WORDS, such as weekend,

handbag, ringleader and head teacher. \i\Te discuss COMPOUND NOUNS (and whether they
are separate or have a HYPHEN, etc.) i n -+12.

• We can mix two words together and create a new BLEND in words like brunch
( brea/(fost + lunch) .
=

48
 How words are formed

• We can shorten words and just use one part of them, e.g. phone instead of telephone or
11Zobile phone, bike i nstead of bic)'cle.

• Some people change a word's grammatical class. Brittany talks about brunching and
lessoning - and these may be her own special words - but nouns like input are now
regularly used as verbs in sentences like She inputted so11Ze lesson plans on her co11Zputer.

· · · · · · · · · · · • · · · · · · · • · • · · · · · · • · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · · · · · · • · · · · · · · · • • • · · · · · • • • · · · · · · · · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .

. Teaching ideas: word formation American and

British English
We can get our students to complete charts with word fam ilies (xxxxxx means there is no
form), e.g. British English and
American English a re
Adjective Adverb Noun Verb usually very similar, but
some t h i ngs have d i fferent
able ably a b i l ity enable
names, e.g. cellphone
u nable inabil ity d isable
(American) mobile phone
d isabi l ity
-

( B ritish), purse (America n)

i n te l l igent intel l igent l y i n tel ligence xxxxxx - handbag ( British), candy
u n intelligent un intell igently (American) - sweet
(British).
We can ask them to change the form of a word and rewrite a sentence to i nclude it, e.g.
Other varieties of English
She spoke about motivation. INTELLIGENT have their own words, too.
Sf.ie spoke infell iqenfly abouf mofivafion For exa mple, Austra lians

We can get the students to NOTICE what kinds of ending different grammar words have. may talk about this arvo
•

-or exa m p l e the endings -ion, -ence, -ness, etc. are usually nouns; -able, -ic and -y are often (British = this afternoon)

adjectives, -ly often comes at the end of adverbs. and I rish speakers may
enjoy good craic (British
We can get o u r students to make up their own words ( l i ke Brittany) using prefixes and
•

English = fun) .
suffixes and then use them to tell a story.
•

· · • · · · · • · · · · • · • • • · · • • • · · · · · · · • • · · · · · · · · · · • · · • · • · • · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · · • • · • ·
. .

Bullying

Many children a re bul l ied (or bul ly) at school. It is something that happens But it shouldn't.
I t is harmful for both the bul lied and the bully. Many child ren who bully have been b u l l ied in
their t u rn, and many children who are b u l l ied - face to face or t h rough cyber-bu llying (using
mobile phones and the INTERNET for example) - become extremely unhappy. Both their
schoolwork and their development can suffer.

Teachers and schools need to have a clear pol icy on bu l lying so that children u nderstand that
it is unacceptable, and why. They need to know that if they are being bul lied, they should ta l k
about it to someone.

Children who are being bullied need to know who they can tal k to. They must be sure that
they can say what is going on without suffering any consequences. I f they cannot talk to an
adu lt, they should tel l their friends what is going on.

Teachers should talk to children who b u l ly others and help them u nderstand why it is
wrong -this is a lways better than just punishment (which can seem l i ke just another form
of bu llyi ng).

Teachers should involve the whole class in d iscussions about why b u l lying is wrong anEl-how
to stop it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49
 Collocation and
lexical phrases

Hassan was in a bad mood. He hadn't slept a wink all night. In fact, he'd been sleeping
badly ever since the director of the school had announced that he was coming to observe
Hassan's lessons. It was amazing how much it made him nervous. He was
absolutely convinced that he could teach, but the problem was that when people watched
him, he sometimes forgot what he was doing.
Oh well. He looked out at the grey sea. The sun had not yet risen above the buildings of
Alexandria behind him. I 'd better get a move on, he thought. He hadn't finished preparing
his lesson.
When he got back to the flat his mother, who is English, was already up. 'Would you like a
cup of coffee?' she said.
' Don't worry. I'll get it myself,' he replied in an aggressive tone of voice, without thinking.
His mother looked as if she would burst into tears, and he was instantly sorry.
'It's because of this observation,' he explained.
'I'm sure you'll be OK,' she told him.
'Yes, it'll be fine,' he replied, but he didn't feel as calm about it as he sounded.

Words alone, words together

Hassan is absolutely convinced that he can teach. Of course, we can use the word convinced
by itself (he was convinced that he could teach), but we often use the COLLOCATION absolutely
convinced ·when we want to make it sound stronger. Collocations are words which are
frequently used together. There are quite a few examples of collocations in Hassan's story:

• Hassan was in a bad nzood - mood coilocates with otl1er ADJECTIVES "'15, too (a good
mood, a foul mood, a black mood).
• Hassan had been sleeping badly sleep also collocates witl1 other ADVERBS '11 (sleep
-

well, sleep soundly/deeply, sleep peacefully, sleep late).

• Hassan s mother nearly burst into tears tears also collocates with other VERBS "'4 apart
-

from burst into, such as break down in tears, be moved to tears, bring tears to
sonzebotly's eyes, be reduced to tears, (his) eyesfilled with tears, tears ran/rolled down
hisface, etc.

50
 Collocation and lexical phrases
. . .......... . .............................................

Lexical phrases, lexical chunks

Poor Hassan hadn 't slept a wink all night. Unlike sleep + badly, not sleep a wink is not a
LEXICAL PHRASE - often referred to as a LEXICAL CHUNK. In a lexical phrase,
collocation, it is a
two or more words join together and together act as if they are one unit of meaning.
Phrasal verbs like run out ofpetrol are lexical phrases, too. There are several lexical
phrases in the story about Hassan:

• When Hassan thinks I'd better get a move on, he is using a FIXED LEXICAL PHRASE. You
can't change any of the words in the phrase. People often use thi s phrase when they
need to leave.

• When Hassan says I'll get it myself? he is using a SEMI-FIXED LEXICAL PHRASE. We can
change the verb in the phrase and say, for example, I'll do/make it myself
• Hassan's mother asks Would you like a cup ofcoffee? The phrase would you like a . . . is a
lexical chunk which acts as a 'stem' to which you can add di fferent words and phrases
(cup ofcoffee, drink, lift, etc.). We can also change the chunk by saying Would you like
some/any . . . ?
• Some lexical phrases, such as it was amazing how much it made him nervous, act as
SENTENCE FRAMES.

Why collocations and chunks matter

If we want to know a word, we need to know what other words go vv'ith it. Teachers
should show students which words 'live with each other', and offer activities like matching
activities �48 and dictionary research �46 to help them to come across them. They
need to know, for example, that we say make the bed and not organise or tidy the bed!
All languages have lexical chunks, and if we want to speak a language fluently, we need
to be able to use tl1ese chunks as if they were one word. Fluent speakers never pause or
hesitate in the middle of a lexical ch!illk - they don't say I'd (pause) better get (pause)
a move on. They just say the words as one continuous phrase. That is why these chunks
are so important.

Teachers should draw their students' attention to lexical phrases when they occm. They
should help them say phrases like See you later as if they were one word (we look at how
words sound together in �25). The same is true for some grammar-like phrases such as
Have you ever been to . . . ? i n questions like Have you ever been to Egypt?

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · • · · · · · · • · • · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
. .
Being observed

Most teachers are nervous when somebody - a d i rector of studies, principal, col league, etc.
- comes to watch them teach. But observation is a great opportunity for people to learn from
each other. You can always see something new when you watch somebody else's lesson;
and you can always learn something about yourself when someone watches you and you
have a good conversation afterwards. It is worth remembering that directors of study and
principals have all been observed i n their time.

It is i m portant for the observer and the teacher to discuss when an observation will take place
- i nstead of the observer just announcing the time - and both teacher and observer should
know why it is happening. I f the teacher is i nvolved i n when and why the observation is-going
to happen, he or she will feel a lot better about i t l

W h e n teachers in a school watch each other ( PEER OBSERVATION �78), t h e observers c a n

tell the other teachers - i n teacher meetings - about t h e exciting a n d i nteresting things they
saw in their colleagues' lessons. That way, good l esson ideas a re passed around the school.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • # • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

51
 Metaphor,
idiom, proverb
and cliche

Today Nicole thinks her classroom is full of glittering jewels. Her students are laughing and
playing like a swarm of summer bees or spring lambs playing on a hillside. How unlike her
own schooldays!
Nicole didn't get on well at school and she dropped out on her sixteenth birthday. It nearly
broke her mother's heart, but her father was furious ( 'saw red' is how her sister described
it) and shouted with rage. He was always boiling with rage about something or other. She
couldn't stand it.
Nicole left home. For the next few years she did lots of poorly paid jobs in and around
Toronto, the city where she was born. She had a horrible boyfriend, a real wolf in sheep's
clothing; he seemed to care for her but he didn't really. She was miserable and unhappy.
Her life hit rock bottom.
And then one day Nicole bumped into her fairy godmother, the only teacher from her old
school she had ever liked. And so, to cut a long story short, this teacher, Mavis Saavedra,
took an interest in Nicole. She helped her get back on her feet and persuaded her to go
back to school, and then to teacher training college.
Now Nicole is snowed under with work - preparing lessons, marking, making things, no
.
sleep, being a primary teacher. But, as Mavis always says, every cloud has a silver lining.
And it's true: Nicole is doing a job she loves. 'I'm over the moon! ' she likes to say and
Mavis tells her off for speaking in cliches.

Describing one thing as something else

When we use words to mean exactly (and only) what they mean, our conversation does
not sound very exciting. But when we use m ore 'colourful' language, things are more
interesting�

• Sometimes we describe something as if it was something else and has the same
qualities as that something else. This is what happens when Iicole thinks of her
children as glitteringjewels. They aren't literally jewels, of course, but i n her mind
Nicole sees them as i f tl1ey were. We call this kind of description a METAPHOR.

52
• When we compare one thing with something else and we want to be sure that our
reader/listener understands the comparison, we can say things like Her students are like
a swarm ofsummer bees or �pring lambs playing on a hillside. VVe call this kind of a
connection a SIMILE.

• Many metaphors end up being IDIOMS if people use them a lot and they become a
normal part of the language. An idiom is a phrase like drop out of school. vVe know what
all the individual words mean, but unless we know that drop out ofmeans 'to leave a
school or university before you reach the end of your course', we will not understand
the whole phrase. Many PHRASAL VERBS '9 such as tell off(= Mavis criticises Nicole),
rrzm out of (petrol), run up (a large bill), etc. have the same kind of idiomatic meaning.
• Some idioms, such as every cloud has a silver lining (= there is always something good
even when the news is bad), become PROVERBS. These are phrases that a particular
society uses to give advice or to say things that are generally true.

• We call metaphori cal/i diomatic phrases l ike I'm over the moon CLICHES because we are
bored with them - we think people use them too much.

More about metaphors

• i\i1any cultures use

colours to describe feelings. In the text above, Nicole's father saw red
and this means h e became ve1y angry, but i n other cultures red has a different
meaning. If British people call someone yellow, it means he or she is a coward, but for
people from other cultures the colour refers to spirituality or enlightenment!

• Nicole nearly broke her mother's heart (= made her very unhappy). We can also say
things like her heart wasn 't really in it (= she wasn't very keen on it) or talk about
a change ofheart (= changing the way we think). Most parts of the body, such as mouth,
e)1e, foot, nose, etc. can be used in metaphorical phrases.
• Nicole is s1zowed under (= she has far too much work). \i\Te use many other weather
metaphors, such as storm out (= to leave very quickly and in anger) or cooking metaphors
- Nicole's father was always boiling with rage about something (= always very angry) .

. . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • • • . • • . • • . • . . . . . . . • . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . • . • • • . . . . . •
. .

Teaching ideas: idiom and metaphor

Many idioms are very 'culture-specific'. Nicole's boyfriend was a wolf in sheep's clothing;
this animal idiom is understood in Brita i n and the U nited States to ind icate someone who
appears harmless but is really dangerous. However, she thinks she's the cat's whiskers ( = she
thinks she is the best) is more com mon in Britai n than in America - but it isn't very common
in Britain. We should not spend too m uch time teachi ng idioms that a re not common - even
though it might be great fun !

S o what can we do?

We can draw our students' attention to idioms a n d metaphors when they occur.
Recognition is more i mportant here than production, and over-using cultura l ly
inappropriate idioms in a foreign language is not a good idea.

•
We can get our students to RESEARCH '46 a common a rea of metaphorical language
(like the body) by looking up words in their dictionaries and listing some metaphorical
phrases. Perhaps they can d raw a metaphor WORD MAP ' 22.

We can make sure that students learn metaphors as LEXICAL CHUNKS '20.
•
We can tell our students to b ring 'new' metaphors they find to class.

We can give the students some metaphorical phrases (or p h rasal verbs, etc.) They then
have to use four of them i n a story.

53
 How do students remember words?

It is important to teach new words to students and to introduce them in TEXTS and
activities. But how can we help our students to remember new words after they have
Meeting and learnt them? How can we try to ensure that the words are 'there' (available to them)
remembering when they want them? There are four possible ways:

words Arousal and affect: the 'cuddle factor' (A&A)

Students are far more likely to remember words if they have an AFFECTIVE meeting with
them (that is, if their feelings are engaged). A class once told their teacher that they
remembered the new word cuddle because they liked the meaning of the word and how it
sounded. If we can provoke the same kind of 'cuddle factor' with other words, our
students are much more likely to remember them than if they are not emotionally
engaged when they first meet them.

Cognitive engagement: working it out (CE)

Students are far more likely to remember words if they have to do some work with them
- that is, if they have to use their brains to solve puzzles using the words or put them
into categories.

Retrieval and use (R&U)

Students will remember words when we encourage them to go and get them - to dig
them up from wherever in their brains they are hidden. vVhen we encourage them to use
language, especially in COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES, they have to retrieve words in this way,
and the more they do so, the more these words will become a permanent part of their
language 'store'.

Repetition of encounter: meeting words again and again (RofE)

If students only meet a new word once or twice, they are unlikely to remember it. They
need to meet it again and again. And it helps if they keep meeting the new word over a
period of time. Just seeing a word three times in one lesson is not enough. Students need
to meet the word repeatedly over ;; period of time - and with gaps in between their
meetings to let things settle.

Examples of word-remembering activities

In the following examples we will say which of the four chatacteristics (above) the
activities encourage.

Poetry spaces (A&A, CE)

We can read and show the students a poem witl1 the same words or phrases blanked out
each time they occur. The students have to try to guess what the words and phrases are.
If the students are engaged and like the activity (and the poem), they will remember the
words. vVe look at more POETRY activities in �63.

Desert island words (A&A, RofE)

At the end of a period of study, the students can look at a list of the words and phrases
they have studied. They can then be asked which five words they would take with them
to a desert island and why. Another idea is to decide which words they will put in the
fridge (they'll keep them for later), the dustbin (they don't need the words) or their suitcase
(because they want to use them now).
 Meeting and remembering words

Categorising words (CE)

We can make our students think about words by categorising them. For example, we can
ask them to be word detectives and look through all the words they have studied over the
last few weeks and put them in different categories, such as transport, words which
express emotions, verbs which describe work, etc.

We can ask the students to categorise words with similar meanings in order of how
strong they are. For example, we can ask them to look at a list of words and then place
them on a love-hate dine:

dislike don't like enjoy hate like love

egative Positive

Odd one out (CE, RofE)

vVe can give the students groups of words and ask them to decide which is the odd one
out, for example aeroplane, bicycle, bus, car, train (the answer is bicycle because it uses
human not mechanical power). A variation is to give the students any one of the words
and they have to prove that it is the odd one out.

Word map 1 (R&U) E!.m>

We can put a word map like the one shown in diagram 1 below on the board. In pairs or
groups, the students have to expand the diagram as far as they can. Diagram 2 shows how
they might start.

vept-iles

Word map 2 (CE)

\Ve can choose a word and get the students to fill in a word map diagram like this:

colloc<>1\-io\\S

Wove>-

For more on CONNOTATION and FREQUENCY, see '82.

Storytel ling (R&U)

We can give students at any level (except complete BEGINNERS) a list of ten words (or any
other number). They have to use five of them (or another number you choose) in a story.
They prepare the stories i n GROUPS '67. One member of each group then goes to
another group to tell the story. Then a member from that other group goes to another
group to tell the story. Soon all the stories have been told three, four or even five times.
Each time the storytelling gets a little bit better.

There are many more teaching ideas forGENERAL ENGLISH in '44-64, for YOUNG
LEARNERS in ,91-101 and for CLIL in '102-110.

55