Page 26

April 2008

Discovering dictionaries
Senses brainstorm
Aim Vocabulary building Focus Multi-sense (polysemous) words Level Intermediate and above Time 510 minutes Preparation Select several polysemous words you would like to extend or use words from the table below. Procedure 1. Ask students to work in pairs or groups. 2. Give each pair or group one or two words to work on. 3. Ask them to use their dictionaries to find as many senses of each word as possible. 4. Then take two different meanings and put them into one sentence, e.g. Dont batter the batter, youll ruin it! Please page all the guests on page 5. Tap the tap with a hammer. 5. Ask them to present their words and sentences to the rest of the class. batter line mind mint page race season table tack tap

There is a huge amount of information in a learners dictionary, and teaching your students to use that information effectively is one of the best ways to help them to become independent language learners
Categories
Aim To practise skimming dictionary pages Focus Skimming Level Pre-intermediate Time 510 minutes Preparation Prepare three or four categories of words you want to present. Procedure 1. Give students a grid like the one below. (Use any categories you would like to work on.) 2. Set a time limit or make this a race. 3. Call out a letter at random. 4. Students use their dictionaries (monolingual or bilingual) to write as many words as they can beginning with that letter for each category. Food Clothing Parts of the body Animals

Hairy headlines
Aim To have fun looking up polysemous (multi-sense) items Focus Polysemous words Level Upper-intermediate and above Time 510 minutes (or longer if you want) Preparation Locate a few ambiguous headlines or use the ones below. Procedure 1. Put one of the headlines on the board and ask students to work in pairs using their dictionaries to find out why it is funny. 2. Give each pair or group another headline to work on. 3. Ask students to explain the two meanings of each headline. (If your class is monolingual, ask them to translate the headlines into the two possible interpretations.)

Describe and draw

Aim Vocabulary consolidation: appearance Focus Face and hair vocabulary Level Elementary Time 5 minutes Preparation Make sure you have enough picture dictionaries. Procedure 1. Ask students to work in pairs with one copy of the picture dictionary per pair. 2. Ask one student (A) to select one of the people on a page and describe him/her to their partner (B) who quickly draws it. 3. Student B then looks at the page and guesses which person student A was describing. 4. Students swap roles. Note: This task can also be used for other picture pages such as thos4se showing types of houses, rooms, landscapes, etc.

Vocabulary box
Aim Vocabulary building Focus Recycling vocabulary Level Pre-intermediate and above Time 12 minutes, ongoing Preparation If you teach in the same classroom every lesson, put a shoebox on a desk or pin a folder or large envelope to the wall. If not, make whatever you use easily portable. Procedure 1. When a new item of vocabulary is learned, ask a student to write the word or phrase on a piece of card or paper and use their dictionary to mark the stress and write a short definition of the word on the back of the card. 2. Put the cards into the box/file/envelope and use them for quick spelling quizzes or vocabulary revision, or peer/self-testing when you (or the students) have a few minutes.

Adapted from Dictionary Activities by Cindy Leaney, a fantastic teaching resource for building dictionary skills in class. Visit www.cambridge.org/elt/ dictionaries/resources to see more activities from the book and download free photocopiable worksheets.