Lesson Links - OCTOBER 2003

Tutors: Please send your questions, comments or suggestions on the Lesson Links page to Irv Leskowitz by email (leskowitz@adelphia.net).

Note: Communications via internet sometimes encounter problems, as evidenced in last month’s issue. So, apologies are in order:

1. I hope all of you noticed the misspelling in the first item last month. If you didn’t, look for it now.

2. Space constraints forced a condensation in the set of instructions for the Synonyms and Antonyms article. It should have read:

Synonyms: boastful; raise; remove; charitable; safe

Antonyms: risk; selfish; lower; humble; preserve

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s kick off with:

IDIOMS

My high school French teacher was French. He insisted that we could not be really fluent in French unless we had a reasonable command of idioms commonly used in everyday conversation and in magazines and novels. That’s probably true for any language. Here is an exercise in recognizing and understanding idioms.
The best clue to an idiom is that it doesn’t make sense if taken literally.

1. Read, or have your student read, a sentence containing an idiom and ask him/her to state the
meaning of the idiom from the context of the sentence.

Examples:

a. We’re on pins and needles expecting an important visitor.
b. Let’s just bury the hatchet and work together on this project.
c. I can’t keep my appointment with you today; I’m a bit under the weather.
d. I’m glad we finally see eye to eye on this matter.

Add as many idioms in this way as you think your student can handle.

2. As a homework assignment, ask your students to find and explain as many idioms as they can
in their own reading.

MAKING COMPOUND WORDS

As a follow-up to last month’s compound word exercise, have your student write the two parts of each compound word in the list.

1. in + to = into
2. ____+ _____ = nearby
3. ____ + ____ = crossword
4. ____ + ____ = roadmap
5. ____ + ____ = uptown

6. ____ + ____ = understand
7. ____ + ____ = boathouse
8. ____ + ____ = bookmark
9. ____ + ____ = boardwalk
10. ____ + ____ = driveway


HIDDEN WORDS

Make sure your student understands the rules for this activity and is ready for it. For beginning level literacy students, a smaller grid with just a small number of words to hunt for would be appropriate, particularly if the words are ones the student may have studied recently.

O N E X T O P T
U O T U H I G H
R T G H E O F A
Z O I T B T M T
B Y H I L H N W
R E T B S I O E
M E O O Y N K R
Y E S H E G T E

Words to be found are:

be we not to by she pie toy
hat me my toe he yes of top
high one our now it thing

Note: One way to excite a student’s interest is to omit one or two words from the list and ask the student to find those words. And don’t be surprised if your student finds words you may have overlooked. USING THE

CALENDAR FOR INSTRUCTION (cont’d)

Show your student a calendar form with the names of the days and the date of each day shown, but with no month identified by name.

#

Possible activities:

  • Based on the number of days, what might the name of this month be?

  • For each month that you use, mark one day that has some specific meaning as a hint as to its identity; e.g., an asterisk in the 25th day of the month would tell the student that the month is probably December. For February, the number of days should be the only clue needed.

  • For any month named by the student, ask her/him to enter the days that are national holidays (as opposed to religious holidays).

  • Discuss those holidays. What do they celebrate? How are they celebrated?

  • Which months have no national holiday? Which months have more than one national holiday?

NOTE: These and previous lessons, as well as those to come, are not meant to be one-shot items.
With variations and with increasing difficulty, they can be inserted into lesson plans as needed.

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