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TASK 4
Which of the following words would you not teach beginners and
why?
Orange. I would teach this word as it is commonly used, and forms
part of the colour set – a common starting point for second
language learners. Furthermore, it has no rhyming or phonemically
related words, meaning that it would need to be taught as an
exception.
Jacket. I would teach this word as it is a root word, common noun,
and commonly used in the English language. It is also easy
enough to demonstrate synonyms, such as “coat”, “jersey” or
“jumper”.
Student. A very relevant word to the learner, I would use this word
as an example of different form of “study” (noun and verb) and
studious (adjective).
welder. I would not teach this word as it is not commonly used in
the English language. It is a specialist profession that would not be
relevant to the average second language speaker. Furthermore, it
could be devised by the student from it’s root word and suffix. If the
rule were taught thoroughly enough through more relevant
examples, the learner should be able to produce this word on their
own from the root “weld”.
Omelette. I would not teach this word, as the etymology of
“omelette” is French, and therefore follows a different phonetic and
language structure. I would rather teach beginners the basic word
“egg” and to use adjectives as “fried”, “scrambled”, “folded” or
“boiled”.
bloke. I would not teach this word as it is slang and colloquial
(Britain), and therefore imperfect language. Teaching such words
would impart bad habits on the learner and distract from using the
prefect English words such as “person” or “man”.
Unit 2
Module 3
Chauffeur. I would not teach this word to beginners as it is
phonetically challenging and does not follow many rules of English.
It is derived from French, and therefore follows different rules of
language, potentially confusing the student. It is also not a word
they would encounter on a daily basis. Alternatives such as “driver”
could be taught in its place.
Hungry. I would teach this word as it is a commonly used, and
would come in useful for a learner to know. It is also a good word
to demonstrate different forms, such as acnoun (hunger), or
adjective (hungry).
telephone. I would teach this word as it is a common English
word, and makes use of the prefix “tele-“ and root word “phone”. It
also demonstrates the “ph” sound which is common in English.
Car. I would teach this word as it is a relevant and useful word to
know. It also demonstrates the hard “c” sound, which is created
when followed by “a”, “o” or “u”, as apposed to the soft sound
created when followed by “e”, “I” or “y”.
Angry. I would teach this word as it is important for beginners to
learn how to express their emotions in English, and can be taught
as part of a set of words that relate to emotion, for example, “sad”,
“happy”, “love”, or “frustrated”. This would aid the learner in
understanding how emotions and feelings can be communicated
as nouns, adjectives or verbs.
Unit 2
Module 3