Lesson Links by Irv Leskowitz - December 2004
Colloquialisms... | Who's/whose on first? | Making connections | Prepositions | San Jose?

COMPARISONS

A. Comparisons with as…as:

The two parts of the comparison are equal or the same in some way

                        Molly is as tall as Eli.  .

                        Jeff reads as well as Jimmy does.

            Negative form: not as + adjective + as (quite and almost are often used with the negative)

                        Sandy is not quite as tall as Sheila.

Exercise 1: Complete the sentences by using as…as and your own words.

  1. Wait for me.  I’m walking…
  2. You told me the climb would be a breeze.  It wasn’t …
  3. The movie was supposed to run 3 hours.  It wasn’t …
  4. The package was heavy, but not …

Etc.                                                                                                                             

 

Exercise 2: Complete the sentences with one of the following:

  • just as
  • almost as/not quite as
  • not nearly as
1. a cat and a mouse        A mouse is                        big as                          .
2. the Sox and the Yankees        The Sox are                      good as                         .
3. a river and a stream        A stream                           long as                         .
4. a giraffe and a gorilla        A gorilla                           as tall as                         .

Etc...

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COLLOQUIALISMS…

In some cases, it’s hard to tell where an idiom ends and a colloquialism begins, but in any case both are commonly used in everyday conversations.  (Example: Let’s talk turkey.) 

Here are some that are based on body parts.  Ask your student to translate these.

1. I was just pulling his leg. 3. Come on, shake a leg.
2.Can you play it by ear? 4. He told me to button my lip.

Etc.  Continue with other colloquialisms, especially those your student brings to you.                  

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WHO’S/WHOSE ON FIRST?

One is a contraction; the other shows possession. 

Sentence A in the following list is the answer to the question you pose in Sentence B.

Examples:                   

1A: It’s my book. 1B: Whose book is this?
2A: John is up next. 2B: Who’s the next batter?
3A: That’s Bobby. 3B: ___________that?
4A: Jacky is taller than Sue. 4B: ___________ taller?
5A: It’s Sarah’s. 5B: ___________turn is it?
6A: Frank’s in Hartford. 6B: ___________in Hartford?

Etc….

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MAKING CONNECTIONS

And, but, or are conjunctions, words that connect items within a sentence.

Example: a. Sally ran well, but she couldn’t finish the marathon.

                 b. Do you want coffee, tea, or  milk?

                 A comma is usually used when but or or combines two independent sentences as in (a)

                 A comma is used with a series of three or more items as in (b)

Exercise: Insert and, but, or or.  Add commas if necessary.

Example: I thought the exam would be easy,   but   it wasn’t.

  1. The ingredients of the dish included flour, water ____________ an egg.
  2. You can have an appetizer ___________ dessert_________ not both.
  3. Dogs make good pets __________ cats are easier to care for.
  4. Goats are mammals __________ parrots are birds.

Etc….

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PREPOSITIONS

It’s difficult to find a passage in any reading matter that doesn’t include a preposition or two.  In German class, one of the first things our teacher had us do was to memorize all the prepositions in that language.  Complete the following sentences by inserting one of these prepositions:

                             about, at, for, from, in, of, on, to, with

  1. Dave is making up _____ lost time.
  2. Julia went _____ the movies _____ Joanna.
  3. We have to meet them _____ the mall ____ nine o’clock.
  4. The meeting will start ____ or _____ ten o’clock.
  5. The acorn doesn’t drop far _____ the tree.
  6. What was the book ______?
  7. Kate was absent ____ school today.
  8. Our leaders ask us ____ believe ____ them.
  9. What was the argument _____?

      Etc…

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DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SAN JOSE?

Materials needed: Road map (U.S., CT, town, or local area); ruler, unlined paper, pencil.

Worksheet questions:

  1. On this map, 1 inch =        miles.
  2. The distance between    A   and   B   is  (inches)   or  (miles)  .
  3. To get from   (town K)  to  (town L)  you would have to travel   (miles)  in a (select) direction.
  4. If you traveled north from   town J   for 12 miles you would arrive at   town G   .  

The number and difficulty of the questions on the worksheet should, as always, be attuned to your student’s literacy and map-skill level. As a homework assignment, you might ask the student to prepare a lengthy journey keeping track of mileage, estimated time required, towns and interesting sites along the way.  A conversation with the student when you discuss the completed assignment, if it does nothing else, will probably elicit a good language experience story.

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