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Seth Lindstromberg
Frank Boers

Teaching
From noticing to remembering
Teaching Chunks of Language
by Seth Lindstromberg and Frank Boers

© HELBLING LANGUAGES 2008

www.helblinglanguages.com

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or othe-
rwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

Photocopying of materials from this book for classroom use is permitted.

First published 2008

ISBN 978-3-85272-056-2

Edited by Jane Arnold and Mari Carmen Fonseca

Copy edited by Caroline Petherick
Designed by Quantico
Cover design by Capolinea
Illustrations by Piet LUthi

The illustrations on p.134 are by Tessa Woodward

Photo on p.130 by kind permission of the Tall Ships Youth Trust

Printed by Bieffe

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the publisher will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions
Contents

How to use this book

Basic chunk teaching activities — initial steps towards memorisation 19

Reading out loud with pauses 20
Priming with Chinese whispers 22
Memorising short dialogues 24
What are those initials for? 25
Remember my change ZY
Writing then reconstructing 28
Filling in a story skeleton 30
Dicto-composition: from chunks to text and back 5)
Questionnaires with multiple choice answers 33
Between-listening gap fills 34
Teach your phrase 36
Phrasal verbs via paired associates 38
Putting chunks into chronological order: romantic relationships
Situational clichés

Teaching sets of chunks: helping students remember them

Things that smell
Things that make sounds
Figurative manner-of-action expressions
Weather phrases
Device idioms
Idioms from card playing
Idioms from seafaring
Horse idioms
Body idioms
Boxing idioms
What does it mean here?
Sorting figurative idioms by source domain
Talking about an emotion
Seeing the deep logic of word partnerships
Stop to smoke? Stop smoking?
Noticing patterns of sound repetition
Sorting by sound

Reviewing and Quizzing

Memory slips with hints
Literal? Figurative? Either? Both?
Circulating review sheets
Using chunks in mini-stories
What comes next?
Review posters
Guess my chunk
Test me easy, test me hard
4.9 Spoken team quizzes 94
4.10 Embedding chunks in a text 95
4.11 Blanks with big fat hints 96
4.12 Student quizmasters oi

PHOTOCOPIABLE MATERIALS
2.1 Texts 101
2.2 Examples 102
2.3 Dialogues for Lesson 1 103
2.4 Worksheets 104
25) lexts 105
2.6 Texts 106
2.7 Example gapped text 107
2.8 Text for Reviewing 107
2.9 Handout 108
2.10 Example transcript 109
2.11 Texts 110
2.13 Jumbled sentences 11
2.14 Master list 114
Initials Prompts for 2.14 Reviewing 116
3.1. Handouts Wy
3.2 List and Reactions Sheet WS,
3.3 Figurative manner-of-movement expressions 120
3.4 Worksheet (22
Handouts 123
3.5 Handout 124
3.6 Handouts Ws
3.7. Handouts 130
3.8 Handout 134
3.9 Handouts Is5
3.10 Worksheet 159
3.11 Handouts 140
3.12 Idioms grouped by source domain 142
3.13 Handout 144
3.14 Worksheet 145
3.15 Handout 146
3.16 Worksheets: ‘Which is the catchiest?’ 147
3.17 Chunks to sort ez
4.1 \diom Explanations 154
Slips for the memory exercise as
4.8 Example worksheets 156
4.9 Chunk Quiz tov
4.10 Sample text 158
4.11 Hints lia

Keys 163
Glossary (° = see the Glossary) 169
Bibliography 170
Teacher's quick-reference guide WH
CHAPTER 1
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
 Chapter 1: How to use this book
“At the core of the Lexical Approach to learning English is with respect to chunks of language, teachers at
the belief that ambitious students need to acquire masses beginner and elementary levels seem relatively
of multi-word ‘chunks of language’.° But the techniques well aided by existing course materials, in comparison
-and exercises characteristic of this approach do not with teachers of higher level learners. Secondly, the
furnish teachers with an adequate means of helping chunks that are appropriate for beginner and elementary
students remember those hundreds or thousands of classes tend to occur in authentic speech and writing so
additional, complex, items of vocabulary. Consequently, often that learners may well be able to pick them up on
within the Lexical Approach so far, the student has been their own.
like someone expected to row across an ocean in a very
leaky boat, and the teacher, frustratingly, has been given In considering the needs oflearners who wish tobecome
no adequate way of helping them. We hope this book good users of English, we found that one weakness of
will begin to change things for the better. existing course books in the pre-intermediate-advanced
range is that they do not target enough chunks. More
1.1 What are ‘chunks of language’? seriously, the methods employed in these books do
What we call a ‘chunk of language’ is a sequence not do enough to help learners remember the chunks
of words which native speakers feel is the natural they meet. Because many students want to learn
and preferred way of expressing a particular idea or more chunks than are targeted in their course books,
purpose. Frequently, there are various combinations publishers have come out with an impressive number
of different words that can convey a_ certain of supplementary books — ones focusing on idioms
message. Typically, though, only one or two of these and phrasal verbs are especially numerous. However,
combinations have become accepted as normal the methods which these books employ are similar to
and natural. Thus, all three of the following can those of existing course books, except that they tend
be understood by a native English speaker: Time to be particularly limited in the types of exercises they
will show, The future will reveal, The future will include. And it has become clear over time that those
tel/ ... but the phrase which has become the standard methods are inefficient, with the result that students’
expression of the underlying idea is Time will tell. That learning is relatively slow and unproductive, which Is,
is to say, Time will tell is a ‘chunk’, whereas the other in turn, frustrating for the teacher.
three phrases are not; and if you did use any of them,
your English at that point would be odd. This is the background against which we decided to
write the book you are now looking at. We hope it
1.2 Who is this book for? What gap does will be a useful addition to your repertoire of teaching
it fill? resources, providing an extra way of encouraging
We have written this book for EFL/ESL teachers working students’ learning, and increasing both their and your
with teenagers and young adults who would like to enjoyment.
become fluent and expressive in English. One group
within this readership is teachers whose students might 1.3 How is it organised?
go on to take one of the higher level international This introduction sets out the rationale for the methods
exams such as the Cambridge First Certificate in English, and techniques you will find in the remaining chapters
Certificate in Advanced English or Certificate of the book:
of Proficiency in English. e Chapter 2 describes basic procedures for helping
learners to notice chunks and to begin to remember
Although a number of the exercises and_ activity them.
sequences in this book can be used effectively in e |n Chapter 3, we describe ways of teaching that make
beginner and elementary classes, our main focus chunks especially memorable. Because teachers must
is on learners in the pre-intermediate to advanced do much more than just teach chunks, this chapter
range. There are two reasons for this focus. Firstly, also provides students with opportunities to learn
 single word vocabulary and to speak, listen, read, sequences, such as broadband, come to be used as
and write chunks. chunks.
e Chapter 4 illustrates techniques of reviewing and
quizzing which you can apply to chunks of various Native speakers acquire most of their repertoire of
kinds. lexical chunks through multiple encounters with
e And these are followed by the photocopiable particular word combinations, or ‘word strings’®,
material linked to the activities in the three main from early childhood on. As the amount and kind of
chapters, and the Keys to the exercises. language that is heard and read throughout life varies
from individual to individual, a degree of idiosyncrasy
1.4 What kinds of chunks are there? in the mental chunk repertoires of individual speakers
Chunks are diverse in type. One way of classifying them is to be expected. For example, unbroken night's sleep
is by function, e.g. conversational fillers such as sort of, may be a chunk that is familiar to parents, nannies and
and you know what | mean; exclamations, Good God!, nurses, but not to some other people. Still, we may
Trick or treat!; pragmatic notices, Excuse me, How are assume that there is a core of lexical chunks that is
you doing?, discourse organisers, Having said that, The common to the repertoires of most native speakers
thing is; and situation evaluators, Small world!, It’s a of English. For example, when we asked five native
Catch-22 situation. speaker teachers of English to indicate in the text on
the next page the word strings they felt to be chunks,
Or they may be classified more on the basis of their choices showed considerable divergence — but
form, e.g. sentence heads such as Could you ... ?, they did unanimously agree on the ‘chunk status’ of
Why not... ?; phrasal verbs, break down, wipe out; the strings we have underlined.
compounds: credit card, weather forecast; strong
collocations, tell a story, stark naked; and grammatical As you can see, even these relatively few chunks
frames, as... aS..., and the -er the -er. vary in terms of form and function. They also vary
in commonness, or frequency. A chunk we might
They may also be laid out on a continuum extending encounter or use several times a day is for example, but
from chunks whose meaning is immediately clear some of the others (e.g. preach to the converted, set
(please come in!) to ones whose meaning seems the tone for, in the face of) we would encounter or use
impossible to guess (hit it off with someone). only very occasionally. Nevertheless, the overwhelming
majority of native speakers would instantly and
Or they may be categorised by geographical variety (e.g. unanimously recognise even those last three word
international, British or the south east of England), by Strings as chunks.
the age of typical users (e.g. people over 60, teens), by
level of formality (formal, informal, slang), and so on. 1.5 Why is knowing lots of chunks so useful?
By definition, a chunk is a string of words that we can find
One family of chunks which has received a lot of in Our memory as a ready-made unit. Knowing lots of
attention in TESOL includes chunks that seem to be chunks contributes to fluentspeaking and writing because
more or less idiomatic, figurative idioms like make ends we can just pluck them out of our memories whole,
meet, similes like blind as a bat, and proverbs like The without having to mentally construct them word by word.
early bird catches the worm.
Every time we can use a chunk of words as a single
But there are other families of chunks too, such as ones unit, we free up thinking capacity that we can then
that are common in everyday language (never mind, as devote to planning and delivering an upcoming stretch
soon as possible); ones that are not (be that as it may); of talk or writing that does not consist of chunks and
ones typical of specific domains of life (hold someone which we cannot avoid putting together word by
in custody) or typical of a particular genre (conduct an word. Knowing lots of chunks also makes listening and
experiment). Some chunks go out of fashion (raining reading easier. This is because each time we recognise
cats and dogs). But every year newly coined word a chunk and understand it as a single unit, we gain
 Schools encouraged to get in touch with pupils’ emotions
Last week the American psychologist Daniel Goleman told a full assembly of British headmasters and
teachers that test results and learning will improve in schools if the principles of emotional intelligence are
adopted. In his speech Dr Goleman emphasised that emotional intelligence is not about becoming more
emotional. Instead, it means being intelligent about your emotions and managing them well, knowing your
own emotional state and how it is affecting your decisions. It is about being skilled in relationships.
He was preachingto the converted — many colleges are already keen on promoting emotional intelligence.
Most teachers are receptive to Goleman’s ideas because they instinctively understand that children learn
better when they are not tense or upset. In the same way teachers nurture children’s work in the classroom,
a headmaster can set the tone for the school and get the best out of staff.
In some British schools the concept of EQ (emotional intelligence) is being implemented by letting the pupils
score themselves and each other against different emotional skills and then using the results to set personal
targets for themselves. For example, when pupils have identified they have a tendency to just give up when
confronted with problems, they are encouraged to set the target for themselves to keep persisting in
the
tace of setbacks. Other activities include the use of “feelings charts”. The children have personal charts to
show how they are feeling each day. This way the teacher can gauge the mood in the room and adjust their
approach accordingly. It also helps identify troubled children who may need special attention. Using dance
to combat low self esteem is another technique being explored. Schools have found that by the age of 10
or 11 boys usually do not want to be involved in dance because they think it’s embarrassing. So the schools
got them doing the Haka — the dance performed by the New Zealand rugby team — and that made a real
difference. In another school, children are invited to give each other compliments at the end of a class. The
traditional view is that it’s not a teacher's job to get involved with how kids feel about themselves. But a lot
of kids don’t learn because they're not in a state where they are ready to learn.
The notion of emotional intelligence — the ability to understand and control your emotions, and recognise
and respond to those of others — was first popularised in the mid-nineties. Today it is emerging as the single
most important and effective business and personal skill of the new century. It is claimed to be twice _as
important as cognitive or technical skills for high job performance and it is said to be virtually all-important
at top level. Analysing the profiles of top executives in 15 global companies, including IBM, PepsiCo and
Volvo, Dr. Goleman found that what distinguished the ‘star’ performers was not superior technical or
intellectual ability but emotional competence: political awareness, self-confidence, drive and influence.
While IQ has traditionally been the means by which we judge someone's abilities and potential, EQ is the
new benchmark for a new world. If you've got it, you’re more likely to be powerful, successful and have
fulfilling relationships than If you haven't.
From The Guardian, 14 April 2003

a little time which we can then devote to the in- In addition, using chunks makes learners seem more
between stretches of talk or print which are worded proficient and idiomatic. Moreover, if the chunks that
less conventionally. When language learners begin to a learner knows are well embedded in long-term
mentally process word strings like native speakers do memory, these chunks may serve the learner as ‘islands
(i.e. as chunks), they reap these same benefits. of accuracy’ that reduce the overall risk of making
mistakes or of producing odd word combinations. Even
very proficient second- or foreign-language learners may 1.7 How do chunks invite targeted teaching
attract unwelcome attention by using phrasing which is in class?
grammatical but odd. Often, this is because of mother You may wonder why learners can’t just accumulate good
tongue influence. For example, French learners may knowledge of chunks incidentally from the discourse
produce the unnatural expression realise a survey (instead they experience, e.g. in reading, like native speakers
of conduct a survey) because realise a survey closely do. However, we now know that in the case of learners
resembles a chunk that exists in French. But learners this kind of ‘incidental’ acquisition of words and chunks
may also produce an unnatural word combination simply proceeds very slowly. Here are some of the reasons why:
because they have never encountered or never managed 1) A new word or chunk must be met multiple times
to remember the natural alternative. Teaching chunks within a relatively short time span before it leaves
can help students use natural phrasing more often. any stable trace in memory. But two key facts must
be noted:
1.6 How great is the challenge of learning a) Only high frequency words or chunks are likely
chunks? to occur regularly enough for this process of
According to some estimates, about half of everyday incidental uptake to be successful.
English discourse is made up of strings of frequently co- b) But the vast majority of words and
occurring words. Consider idioms, which make up just one chunks are not highly frequent.
type of chunk: idiom dictionaries for learners of English Take another look at the chunks underlined in the article
typically contain no fewer than 4,000 entries. If you take from The Guardian in Section 1.5; few of those chunks,
other types of chunks into consideration as well, it soon if any, are likely to be encountered in normal authentic
becomes clear that the size of the English repertoire of discourse often enough within a sufficiently short span of
chunks in general must be enormous. For example, the time for them to become well embedded, or ‘entrenched’,
Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English in a learner's memory through incidental uptake.
(2002) mentions no fewer than 150,000 collocations,
and even this is far from an exhaustive inventory. 2) In everyday communication, we tend not to
pay simultaneous attention to both meaning
Given the enormous size of the English repertoire of and linguistic form. Rather, we tend to focus
chunks, one might wonder how students can ever get to on the meaning of messages, and as long as
grips with it, especially in contexts of classroom-based communication proceeds smoothly we direct little
instruction where their exposure to the target language attention to exact wording, word endings and so
is a minuscule fraction of the years and years which on. For example, when we listen to the radio news,
enable native speakers to learn these chunks so well. it is usually the news itself that we are interested
in rather than the exact words used by the news
Fortunately, many of the chunks in English belong to reader. And when we read a novel or a short story,
specific domains (e.g. economics) and specific genres we are normally interested in the storyline; rarely
(e.g. academic writing) and are therefore not of will we notice the exact wording well enough to
immediate concern to learners of English in general. be able to remember it even in the short term.
Furthermore, many additional chunks are used so Language learners tend to be no different. In fact,
infrequently that we can discount them, too, as primary itis well established that learners are unlikely to pay
targets for teaching/learning; and still other chunks much attention to unfamiliar words while they are
may be discounted because they belong to a variety of processing discourse for content/meaning. They are
English that we give a lower priority to. But even with even less likely to devote attention to more complex
these subtractions, students wanting to attain good patterns of co-occurrence of words.
proficiency face the daunting challenge of mastering a For example, if both of the keywords that make
great many chunks. On top of this, there is the extra up a strong collocation (e.g. make an effort) are
challenge of not simply learning chunks well enough to familiar, and if the meaning of the collocation is
recognise them, but of learning them so well that they perfectly clear, few learners are likely to devote to
can quickly be remembered and used in production as the collocation anything like the attention needed
and when needed. to store it in memory as a chunk. This is why
 learners persist in transferring collocational patterns verb lookups, and so on. (The Oxford Collocations
from their mother tongue to the target language Dictionary, for instance, gives no information about
with such unnatural results as *do an effort, *do a meanings.) Fortunately, publishers are producing
mistake, *make an experience and *depend from. general learners’ dictionaries with more and more
When one of the words in a chunk does happen information about chunking; The Macmillan English
to be unfamiliar — as the word tether might be in Dictionary for Advanced Learners (2° ed., 2007) Is
the chunk at the end of (my) tether learners will particularly good in this regard.
sometimes try to guess its meaning or take the time
to look it up, at least if they believe understanding In sum, we cannot take it for granted that our students
the word is crucial for text comprehension. But what will somehow manage to pick up lots of chunks in
they are still unlikely to do, without prompting from the course of their use of normal meaning-focused
a teacher, is to examine the words around tether and language, not even if the English they hear and read
then decide to remember the phrase as a whole. is extensive, authentic and largely comprehensible to
Actually, a learner is most likely to pay attention them.
to a chunk when al/ the words are unfamiliar, as
might be the case for wreak havoc. It could then Consequently, if we want our students to learn
be that the words might leave a trace in a learner's and remember useful numbers of chunks, we need
memory in association with each other. However, to do something in class to help them. As other
this illustrates another hindrance to the incidental authors have said, raising students’ awareness of
learning of chunks. On average, a long word is the importance of chunks is a useful first step. But
harder to remember than a short word. A chunk we also need to introduce activities for speeding up
is likely to be longer than the average single word. the acquisition of particular chunks, and that means
Therefore, learning a chunk that consists completely that we should treat the chunks we target in ways
of unfamiliar words (e.g. wreak havoc) is bound to which encourage their long term entrenchment °
be relatively difficult to learn, simply because it is, as in memory. The main purpose of this book is to
a whole, likely to be relatively long. demonstrate ways of doing this.

So Contexts which are informative enough to 1.8 How can we make the best use of scarce
enable learners to guess the meanings of unfamiliar class time?
words are fairly rare. And it is well known that not Our three-stage programme for chunk learning is
only do few learners make regular use ofdictionaries reflected in the organisation of this book:
but also that learners are prone to using their 1 to help students notice chunks and appreciate their
dictionaries ineffectively. Thus, even when learners importance (Chapter 2);
do notice and pay attention to an unfamiliar item of 2 to deliberately target selected sets of chunks and
vocabulary — be it a word or a phrase — there is no apply techniques known to help students commit
guarantee at all that they will correctly identity its chunks to memory (Chapter 3); and
meaning, especially if they don’t meet it very often. 3 to consolidate knowledge through review (Chapter 4).
Plus, when learners do look up the meaning of a
word in a dictionary, the chances are low that they Given all the thousands of lexical chunks that exist,
will find, notice and remember useful information we must be selective about the ones we focus on
about how that word combines with other words. in the limited class time available. The criterion
It is true that specialised learners’ dictionaries of for selection that is most commonly mentioned
idioms, phrasalverbs andcollocations are increasingly is that of frequency of occurrence; in a nutshell,
available, at least for English — but it does not appear high frequency chunks should get priority.
that the average learner makes use of one. For one
thing, there Is the.serious inconvenience of needing One way of getting a rough idea of the relative frequency
to use a general dictionary for ordinary word of a chunk — a way that is open to anybody with internet
lookups, an idiom dictionary for idiom lookups, access — is simply through doing a Google ‘exact word’
and then a phrasal verb dictionary for phrasal search. In this way, we can confirm that of course and
 by the way are extremely frequent in English, with 259 the existence in English of the chunk show someone the
and 69.4 million hits, respectively (as on 21 April 2008). ropes is partly explained by the fact that for centuries
In the wake of, with 2,990,000 hits, was markedly less seafaring was an important part of British life, with
common, but can still be called frequent. Plain sailing, great social, cultural and economic significance.
with 230,000 hits, is in the middle range of frequency
for a chunk; and hobbled by debt, which came up only The influence of register and genre: in the expression
397 times, Is one we can classify as pretty rare. remain in custody, the use of the relatively formal, Latin-
derived remain instead of the less formal, Germanic verb
As it happens, the inconvenient truth about chunks is stay becomes understandable when we recall that English
that the vast majority of them are not highly frequent discourse which has to do with very formal settings
at all; instead, they are either in the middle or the tends itself to be consistently formal — i.e. derived from
rare range. And those relatively few chunks which are Norman French or Latin — in wording. So for the formal,
highly frequent — e.g. conversational fillers such as Latinate, legal word custody the word remain is a better
kind of and you know what | mean — are precisely the companion than stay,
ones we probably don’t need to spend class time on
anyway because learners really do have a good chance The influence of repetition of sounds: in the chunk
of just picking them up by hearing and reading them it takes two to tango the choice of tango rather than,
again and again. So, although when selecting chunks say, waltz or jive is almost certainly motivated by the
to focus on in this book we have taken the criterion appeal of the alliteration — the repetition of the ‘t’
of frequency into account, we have also included a sound at the beginnings of the words.
number of chunks that belong to middle frequency
range — ones like plain sailing, for instance. Chunks that are motivated lend themselves well to
instructionthatstimulates insightfullearning, asopposed
Because ambitious learners must go far beyond the to blind memorisation. Insightful learning is well known
relatively few chunks that are highly frequent, the to promote long term retention of vocabulary in the
other selection criterion that we have adopted is memory. In other words, we are not claiming that all
one that is not often mentioned in the literature on chunks can be taught in terms of linguistic motivation;
vocabulary teaching — the presence of the linguistic still, as we hope to demonstrate, the different kinds
motivation © of a chunk. Since linguistic motivation of linguistic motivation do, collectively, cover a fair
significantly increases the ease with which a chunk can proportion of all the chunks that an ambitious learner
be remembered, this second criterion could be called might wish to be ableto understand, remember and use.
the criterion of memorability.
1.10 How can we help our students remember
1.9 How can chunks be ‘motivated’? chunks? What about using mnemonics? °
When we say in this book that particular chunks are One remedy that is sometimes proposed for the difficulty
(linguistically) motivated, we mean that their wording is of remembering new vocabulary is the use of specialised
partly explainable in terms of identifiable influences. Let's techniques called ‘mnemonics’. But unfortunately these
look at three particularly important kinds of motivation have all been designed to enable the recall of single
of chunks: words, and few mnemonics, if any, are easy to apply to
chunks.
The influence of the past, of culture, and of
economics: the meaning of many idioms is explainable Take, for example, the well known ‘keyword method’,
in terms of their original literal meaning and usage. For where a word in the students’ mother tongue (L,) is used
example, the idiomatic meaning of show someone the as a‘ key’, or prompt, in order to enable the recall of a
ropes (= teach someone how to perform a task) makes word in the target language (L,). This works by choosing
perfect sense — |.e. 1s not arbitrary — if you know that an L, word which not only bears a formal resemblance
originally this expression was used to refer to occasions to the L, word but which also has a meaning that can be
on which an experienced sailor would show a novice associated with it. For instance, the Dutch word bleek
seaman how to handle the ropes on a sailing ship. Thus, (‘pale’) may serve as a keyword for the retrieval of the

WZ
 English target word bleach; and the Dutch puntje (‘the What can we help our students notice and reflect
sharp end of a pointed object’) may serve as a keyword on?
| for recollecting the English word puncture. But applying The usefulness of chunks comes most to the fore when
|this technique to chunks takes a good deal of creative they are so well entrenched in memory that we can
_ thinking. For one thing, it is almost always difficult to automatically use and recognise them as units even
think of an L1 prompt for a whole L, chunk. At best, when we are in the midst of communication and are
a learner is likely to be able to think of a prompt for concentrating on other things. The fact that this is the
_ just one word in a target chunk — and this is bound to desired end result of chunk learning does not mean that
reduce the effectiveness of the mnemonic. Suppose, for we should discourage learners from devoting attention
example, a Dutch learner wants to memorise the English to the word-by-word make-up of L, chunks. Far from
chunk the more the merrier. A possible Dutch keyword it — noticing and examining chunks on a word-by-word
could be merrie (= mare) because it formally resembles basis can be extremely fruitful stages in the learning
merrier and because the learner could imagine mares process.
happily running about in a meadow because they like
each other's company. But, as previously mentioned, this First, let's consider the matter of the word-by-word
keyword prompts only part of the form of the chunk; it meaning of a chunk. It may well be true that good users
certainly does not prompt the construction the ... the of English are unaware of the literal sense of the word
..., and probably not more either. square every time they use or encounter the chunk back
A further problem with using the keyword method to try to square one. But if you are trying to help students
to remember a chunk is that learners need prompts that remember this phrase, it can be helpful to them to point
also remind them of the overall meaning of the chunk. out that in this chunk the word square relates to a position
And integrating this extra dimension into a keyword on a game board rather than to, say, a square in town
prompt tends to be extremely tricky. (= a small park or plaza). Put generally, simply informing
learners about the literal sense or origin of one or more
Must chunks always be treated as wholes? of its key words can facilitate overall comprehension,
Given the difficulty of using mnemonics in the teaching enhance retention in memory, and even help learners
and learning of chunks, it is fortunate that other means appreciate connotations and usage restrictions. °
of helping students remember chunks are available,
ones which exploit the types of linguistic motivation Something similar applies to sound and spelling. Many
mentioned in Section 1.9. For example, many users of English are unlikely to be aware ofthe alliteration
proverbs (which tend to be relatively long as chunks in Time will tell whenever they use this expression. But
go and which therefore ought to be especially hard to alliteration — provided the learners become aware of it —
remember) rhyme, e.g. When the cat’s away, the mice can make a chunk easier for them to remember.
will play. Many other proverbs show alliteration, like He
who pays the piper calls the tune, or assonance, like Importantly, it is known that learners on their own are
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Many idioms and unlikely either to correctly guess the original sense of
common sayings show either these same three patterns key words in many idioms or to notice sound patterns
(sometimes in combination) or repetition of entire such as alliteration. Consequently, there is a need for a
words, e.g. Boys will be boys, neck and neck. Another good deal of teacher-led guidance. The payoff can be
common pattern which can help a learner remember a significantly higher rates of remembering.
chunk is seen in aches and pains, where each word can
remind the learner of the other (i.e. aches can remind a In the light of all this, let’s now look in some more
learner of the word pains and vice versa). There is solid detail at the kinds of information processing that are
evidence that all such patterns make chunks relatively promoted by the activities described in Chapter 3. The
easy to remember. But we teachers cannot assume that main broad aim is to encourage students to engage in
learners will notice these patterns by themselves, so the kind of relatively rich, deep, ‘elaborative’” mental
it is often going to be up to us to bring them to our processing which is known to enhance retention of
students’ attention. vocabulary in memory. In practice, this means teachers
helping students to learn target chunks insightfully;
and this means exploiting the non-arbitrary, motivated same time. The more extensive the learner's existing
properties of chunks of language. network of traces and pathways in their brain, the
easier it is for them to locate a chunk in memory.
What are the benefits of noticing and appreciating
the imagery of figurative expressions? 3 Linking a chunk with rich mental images: this
The figures of speech that we hear about most often facilitates appreciation of any restrictions on its
are: usage. For example, it is commonly observed that
Simile (explicit comparison): / can hear you as clear as students may learn an expression, but not learn it
a
bell. well enough to use it in a natural way; thus a student
Metaphor (implicit, deeply suggestive, often image-rich may say, *”In the wake of dinner, we watched TV,”
comparison): life isa journey, which gives us the idea which violates the usage restriction that in the wake
that a life can include crossroads, sidetracks, obstacles, of is generally followed by a term for a major event
partings of ways, and so on, or my patience snapped, such as a hurricane or a crucial election. However,
which depicts patience as being something brittle, like knowledge of the relevant literal meaning of wake (a
a stick. trail of disturbed water behind something relatively
Metonymy (where one thing stands for another, large like a moving ship) is knowledge that can help
provided that in daily life the two things are often found a student remember that in the wake of does not
in association): Could you give me a_hand?, in which simply mean ‘later in time’.
hand stands for ‘help’ because a typical and conspicuous The kind of image-rich knowledge of literal meanings
way of helping people involves using a hand. that we are speaking of can also help learners cope
with puns, which often hinge on the figurative (as
Many target chunks can be grouped according to against literal) ambiguity of words and idioms.
overarching metaphorical themes (e.g. from the theme
of life being a journey we derive being at a crossroads 4 Exploration of chunks in relation to particular
in life, reaching a turning point, etc), or according to the domains of activity: this may foster a certain
domains of life in which these chunks were originally degree of cultural awareness because domains of life
used (e.g. from sewing: I’ve lost my thread, I’m at a that are prominent in a given community are likely to
loose end etc). leave a clear stamp on that community's repertoire
of idioms. For example, idioms from the language
When students successfully group such chunks by theme of horse riding and racing are likely to be particularly
or domain of activity, they engage in ‘resuscitation of engaging and effective if used in a context that has
literal senses’. This is mnemonically helpful in at least a connection with the great importance of horses in
four respects. Britain and Ireland in the past, and the popularity of
recreational horse riding and racing in the present.
1 Grouping: this lends a sense of organisation to
the encounter with the vocabulary in question; and What is involved in noticing ‘catchy’ sound
organised input is known to be easier to learn than patterning, and what is the benefit?
input which Is jumbled. The English storehouse of chunks abounds in catchy
sound patterning. Such catchiness is probably one reason
2 Matching chunks with domains of activity: why certain chunks become conventionalised in the first
this is likely to evoke mental images of concrete place, which would contribute to explaining why we
scenes. Each such image is capable of becoming say: be left high and dry (rather than the non-rhyming
part of the learner's understanding of the word. *be left up and dry), and the more the merrier (rather
This happens when new neural pathways form than the non-alliterative *the more the happier).
to link memory traces for the target chunk (e.g.
the memory traces of its wording) to the memory Taken together, the two patterns of sound repetition,
traces of a particular image. This linkage apparently rhyme and alliteration, help explain the choice of
begins when both the target chunk and the image words in up to 20% of the chunks included in English
are being held in a learner's working memory at the idiom dictionaries, with alliteration being especially
 common. There is also statistical evidence that alliteration + solace, solitude, sympathy, asylum. This allows repeat
plays a part in the formation of compounds, a type of targeting of the same chunks in quite different activities,
chunk which is very important in English, e.g. baby and pointing out double or multiple motivation can
boom, bargain basement, body blow, backbone. help learners consolidate their knowledge of targeted
chunks. Additionally, adopting different vantage points
| The fact that so many chunks display these mnemonic in working with chunks is likely to cater to the needs of
| patterns is good news. Even better news is the fact learners with different cognitive styles.
| that other, less noticeable, kinds of sound repetition
_ can also facilitate remembering, i.e. vowel repetition, 1.11 About the downloadable worksheets
| or assonance, as in smail talk. In addition, consonant A package of additional worksheets for
repetition generally, or consonance, e.g. a casual chunk learning can be downloaded from
acquaintance, almost certainly makes chunks relatively www.helblinglanguages.com/teachingchunks.
memorable. It targets sets of idiomatic expressions that are signalled
in the (corpus based) Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms
As you will see in Chapters 3 and 4, awareness of such (2002) as ‘frequently used’. It also lists a considerable
patterns of sound repetition can be fostered in a number number of miscellaneous other chunks (compounds,
of ways, e.g. by giving students mixed lists of known collocations, similes and more) selected from the (corpus
chunks to sort according to the type of sound pattern based) Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of
they exhibit. Chunks to which they pay special attention English (2002). These worksheets can be used either in
are particularly likely to be remembered later on. the classroom or at home.

Whatis ‘semantic prosody’, and how can awareness The greater part of the package consists of ‘fill-in-the-
of it help learners? missing-words’ exercises, which are usually provided
Semantic prosody is the term for how words with similar in different versions of varying levels of difficulty. For
register and connotation are often found in each other's example, one version may contain cues (such as the first
company. To give two examples: letter of the missing word being given) that are absent
1 The rather legalistic, Latinate verb commit collocates from the later, more challenging, version of the same
with legalistic, mostly Latinate nouns such as crime, exercise. Which version of an exercise you choose will
offence, murder, adultery, suicide — all words to do obviously depend on the level of your students.
with breaking laws (both adultery and suicide used
to be considered crimes in Britain). None of these Additionally, a same-level gap fill exercise will typically
nouns is a natural partner for the non-legalistic, non- also be provided in two versions that are identical except
Latinate verb do. that different words are missing from the same chunks
2 The formal verb seek tends to collocate with nouns (e.g. will tell and Time will ). In other words,
such as solace and solitude — nouns that are like it in Version A can serve as a key for the right answers to
being rather formal. Version B, and vice versa. You could thus give half of a
If students are made aware of this non-arbitrary group of students Version A of a gap fill exercise and
dimension of word partnerships, they may, when in give the other half Version B, and then get them to
doubt about the right choice between two synonyms swap worksheets so they can supplement each other's
needed to complete answers.
a chunk, begin to make better educated guesses.
1.12 Finally, some recommendations for
What about cases of multiple motivation? vocabulary teaching in general
Many figurative chunks that become easier for learners Because chunks can be considered as one specific type
to remember when they explore their underlying of vocabulary, certain general truths about teaching
imagery also show catchy sound patterns — e.g. dish and learning vocabulary are likely to apply also to the
the dirt on someone (= tell scandalous news about teaching and learning of chunks:
someone). To give another example, sound repetition 1 An excellent way for learners to entrench knowledge
and semantic prosody sometimes combine — e.g. seek of vocabulary in memory is to guess its meaning

15
 trom context. But you do need to remember that
such guessing is not very likely to be successful, and
So learners typically require very careful guidance.
Learners should meet new vocabulary in doses that
are manageable for them.
Putting target items into a narrative makes those
items especially easy to remember.
Itis helpful to students if they can use new vocabulary
meaningfully and creatively.
Items in batches of new vocabulary should not be
too similar to one another in sound or spelling;
simultaneous or consecutive presentation of, for
example, the phrasal verbs take in (a lodger), take on (a
challenge), take to (someone) and take up (a pastime)
is fraught with the risk that learners will get confused
about which of these phrasal verbs means what.
If wholly new items which are very similar in meaning
to each other are encountered at the same time, they
can be hard to remember. It may be appropriate to
teach a lesson on such sets in order to help students
see how the individual chunks differ in meaning, but
this is best done tn higher level classes where students
have already achieved a basic understanding of much
of the vocabulary in question
Review is crucial. So for review, keep a note of items —
including chunks — which you deem to be important.
To be ready for Activity 3.17 in particular, record, as
you come across them, chunks with word repetition,
rhyme, consonance, alliteration, alliteration and
other consonant repetition, and assonance.

And now, the activities!

CHAPTER 2
BASIC CHUNK TEACHING ACTIVITIES
— INITIAL STEPS TOWARDS MEMORISATION
7
Introduction
This chapter presents basic activities for helping your students to notice
chunks and to become aware of their form and meaning/function. These
activities involve a good deal of what memory researchers call ‘rehearsal’.°
This learning practice has a lot in common with what actors do in order to
remember their lines through practising them again and again. In its simplest
form, rehearsal can simply consist in repeating chunks out loud or copying
them onto paper.

More complex and effective forms of rehearsal involve the extra mental
effort of holding one or more target chunks in mind for a while (perhaps
even for less than a minute) before using them to complete some sort of
task. Such effortful remembering and retrieval plays an important part in
forming durable memories of targeted chunks, and the tasks in this chapter
are well suited to making this happen. You may already be familiar with
some, or all, of them. Here, though, they have been adapted in order to
focus especially on chunk learning.

For each activity you want to prepare, when you read through the text for
the first time you will need to have to hand a photocopy of the relevant
sheets from the examples section; this means you will fully understand how
that activity works.

Finally, a reminder for when you use these activities: keep a record
of the chunks you want to target in later reviewing activities,
especially 3.17.
 Reading out loud with pauses

This exercise can be useful preparation for a number of other exercises in this
book because it is designed to make your students more aware of how they can
use pausing to be more comprehensible and to hold a listener's attention well.
Also, because it involves breaking a text up into shorter sections, it can help your
students notice and think about chunks that are in the text that you use.

Focus Any kind of chunk; intensive listening & reading; an aspect of pronunciation

Level Pre-intermediate-Advanced

Time 10-15 minutes

Materials A set of handouts (or projectable display) (see pp.101-102)

Preparation 1, Choose a short text which includes a number of useful chunks. Brief reports of
the day’s news are particularly suitable. See also the sample texts.
. Read the text out aloud to yourself - very dramatically, as if you were a TV news
announcer and as if this were extremely serious and important news and you
wanted to be understood even by listeners with poor hearing or TVs/radios that
produce unclear sound. As you read, try to notice natural pause points. Here are
some basic guidelines:
e If you start with a written text, virtually any punctuation mark indicates
a pause. Dashes and semi-colons tend to indicate longer pauses than
commas. Ends of sentences are natural places to make even longer pauses.
e Non-defining relative clauses (i.e. descriptions that provide an extra bit of
information to the text, but are not essential to its meaning) are set off
between a pair of pauses.
e There are, in general, no pauses inside short prepositional phrases (e.g. by
the way, of course, at work), between verb and direct object (e.g. find
the time, have fun!), or inside common chunks generally (e.g. the day
before yesterday, it doesn’t matter, get up).
e Pauses for dramatic effect can occur where normal pauses might not (e.g. /
hear someone // laughing.)
e Speakers have considerable flexibility about where to pause — and in this
exercise, the more pauses the better. However, if you have any doubt
whether it is possible to pause at a certain point, don't.
. Lay the text out in a way that highlights the pauses you identify. In the example:
¢ a big gap between words on the same line = a minor pause point
e the end of a line = a conspicuous pause point
¢ any comma, dash, bracket, semi-colon = a conspicuous pause point
e the end of sentence = an especially conspicuous pause point.

20
4. Optional: highlight syllables that receive exceptional stress, e.g. by making
them ‘bold’.
5. Prepare to display the text in some fashion (e.g. on the board or on handouts).

1. Hand out or display the text and give students time to read it.
2. Make sure the text is well understood.
3. Read it out dramatically, with all, and only, the pauses you have planned for.
Although you may also wish to play a recording, students are likely to be more
motivated if you read out the text Jive at some point.
4. Ask how the unusual layout of the text matches the way it was read out.
5. Let students hear the text again, the same way.
6. Repeat Step 5, breath group by breath group, with your class repeating each
one after you (or after the recording). Both choral and individual repetition
will be useful since it is important not to go on to the next step until you
know that your students are ready to do it fairly well.
7. Ask students to take turns reading the text out to each other in pairs, with
pauses as previously indicated. Circulate and help as needed.
Tips and Notes
e Using literary works is an option; but such works are not necessarily ideal
for teaching everyday chunks since literary authors often try to avoid them.
e A good source of authentic materials is the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/. There is also a children’s section.
e Playing an excerpt from a recording of one of Martin Luther King’s
speeches can powerfully demonstrate the positive effect of good pausing.
See, e.g., http:/Awww.mikonline.net/sounds.htm|
EXTENSION
To drive home the message that lexical chunks are not broken up by pauses, you
could also first give a speech or tell a story with unnatural pauses, i.e. pauses
inside chunks (e.g. On the other // hand; When it comes // to ...; | was //
wondering if ...; There’s nothing new under // the sun; They're a rock
band from down // under), and ask students to identify what's wrong with your
delivery.
 Priming with Chinese whispers

This short activity can be used to help students notice the wording of chunks
that occur in a text which you plan to present to them — it is particularly suited
to use as a pre-listening task before you play a recording of a song. It is probably
not suitable for classes of more than 20 students.

Focus Any kind of chunk; warming up for listening to a song

Level Elementary—Intermediate

Time 5-10 minutes

Materials Slips of paper on which are written chunks from the lyrics of a song; a recording
of the song (see p.102)

Preparation 1. Choose four multi-word bits from the song you are going to play. Each bit
should be, or should contain, a common chunk. For example, from the Roy
Orbison song ‘Pretty Woman’, you could choose: Pretty woman, walking
down the street; You look as lovely as can be; Don’t make me cry; III
treat you right (see the examples). Choose one additional chunk in case you
have to have some groups of five.
2. Write each of the four bits of song on a different slip of paper. When you've
done that, you have a set for one group of four students. Make more sets
of slips for as many groups as you will have. Make a few slips with your
additional, fifth, line on them.

1. Tell your class that:

a) Ina minute, they should divide up into standing groups of four or, if
necessary, five.
b) You will give everyone a slip of paper bearing a phrase or sentence which
they should try to memorise. Circulate and answer questions about
meaning and pronunciation.
c) No one should show their slip to anyone else until the activity is finished.
2. Explain how Chinese Whispers works. (In other languages it may be called
something like ‘Broken Telephone’.) That is, in their groups, one student
whispers the phrase to the person standing next to them on one side, who
then whispers the phrase to the person standing next to them, who whispers
it to the last person, who then must say what phrase s/he thinks s/he heard.
The person who started off the chain of whispering tells and shows the others
the phrase on the slip of paper. Every group member takes a turn whispering
their phrase. Incidentally, it is probably a good idea to stipulate a maximum
number of times that a whispered phrase can be repeated — three, perhaps.
3. Begin the activity. While it is in progress, write the words of the song title on
the board, all jumbled up. For example, you could write ‘Pretty Woman’ as
‘yretpt mwnao’

22
4. Ask the earliest finishers to try to solve the anagrammed title.
5. When everyone has finished, ask students from a group near the board
to write up the phrases. Make sure everyone knows what they mean, and
draw your students’ attention to the commonest word combinations, e.g. by
underlining them like this: Pretty woman, walking down the street.
6. Begin one of your normal procedures for using a recorded song. Students
often give clear indication that they have paid particular attention to the
phrases they met a few minutes earlier (in Steps 1-5).
Acknowledgement
We learned this application of Chinese Whispers from Randal Holme.

23
 Memorising short dialogues

This exercise, now undeservedly out of fashion, offers well motivated learners
a means of memorising high frequency chunks — provided (but this is true of
virtually all activities) that it is not used to excess.
For learners at higher levels, a very effective extension of the basic idea is for
them to perform plays, with each student memorising all of their character's
lines as well as their cues (i.e. the lines spoken by other characters just before
their own turn to speak).

Focus Any kind of chunk; pronunciation

Level Beginner-—Pre-intermediate

Time 10 minutes in one lesson; 5-10 minutes in the next

Materials A handout of a dialogue for each student, or a projectable copy (see p.103)

Preparation Choose a very short dialogue containing one or more very high frequency chunks.

1. Near the end of a lesson, present the dialogue. This is often done by playing a
recording. When your students have heard it once or twice, ask them to guess
the setting of each conversation and the relationship between the speakers.
Then, line by line, clarify meaning, and conduct oral repetition drills in order
to perfect pronunciation. At some stage, give your students the transcript to
read. Their homework is to memorise the entire dialogue.
2. At the beginning of the next lesson, ask everyone to stand up, find two
partners they do not usually work with, and sit or stand together somewhere
in the room.
3. In each group, students one by one (try to) recite the dialogue. (The basic
options are for each student to recite the whole thing or, which seems more
natural, for pairs to recite it, each student taking a different role.) Partners
may give each other hints as necessary.
4. Ask everyone to return to their previous seat.
5. Spot check students’ recall.
Tip
Googling ‘efl dialogues’ and ‘esl dialogs’ turns up a large number of results
—some of which are podcasts.
REVIEWING
Divide the class into small groups and ask them to try to remember and recite
— or write down — a previously studied dialogue. Give them one of the lines as a
prompt.
QUIZZING
Give students versions of previously learned dialogues (as in the examples) with
key chunks gapped out; elicit the chunks from them.

24
 What are those initials for?

This exercise is designed to encourage students first to listen for target chunks
and then to hold them in memory for a short while before writing them
down. As with the previous exercise, students meet the target chunks in an
explanatory context, i.e., a story or song lyrics.

Focus Any kind of chunk; intensive reading; intensive listening

Level Upper elementary +

Time 15-30 minutes

Materials A worksheet for each student (see p.104)

Preparation ie Find song lyrics or a story of 80-180 words, including 4-8 chunks which you
believe are worthy of attention.
. If you choose a story, adapt it as appropriate for your class. (To the traditional
story shown in the examples, we have added some chunks not in the original.)
Type the text as shown in the examples - that is, put individual sentences/
clauses on separate, numbered lines and replace each of the target chunks
with initials. Make a copy for each of your students.

(for the example text)

‘e Begin with some discussion of the topic of the text. In the case of this text,
see how many of Aesop's fables your students know, and see if anyone can
tell you one or two of them all the way through. Then ask if anyone knows
and can recount ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. Make sure they all know that in
this case crying out means ‘shouting’ and is rather literary in tone.
Hand out copies of your worksheet and ask students to look through it and
see if there are any words they want to ask about.
Then explain that:
a) Now they must all put their pens or pencils down.
b) Soon you will read out the text; and when you do, you will say all the
words in full. Alternatively, you play a recording of the story or song with
all the words spoken/sung in full.
c) As soon as the story/song ends, students should pick up their pens and
try to write the full wording (which they have just heard) near each set of
initials.
Read out/play the full version of the story/lyrics.
Allow time for students to remember and write.
Ask everyone to compare their notes with a neighbour.
oa
ee With the whole class, go through the story/lyrics from beginning to end,
eliciting the full phrase for each set of initials.

25
 REVIEWING/QUIZZING
It is easy to adapt this activity for the purpose of quizzing your students on their
recall of chunks in a text that was used in some previous lesson:
Ae Form pairs and give each pair one worksheet like the students’ version of The
Boy Who Cried Wolf.
. Explain that partners should work together, talking in whispers, to try to
remember, and write on the text sheet, the full wording for each set of initials.
Allow everyone half a minute or so to remember all the phrases.
3. Then ask everyone to put down their pens.
4A. Read out the full text fairly quickly.
5 . Everyone can now pick up their pens and finish writing what they remember.
6 . Collect the ‘quiz sheets’, or correct them in class.
Notes about using initials as memory prompts
in terms of learning and/or teaching, use of initials prompts has at least six
potential benefits:
a It requires a mental effort to recall a complete chunk with only its initials as a
cue, and it is known that effortful recall helos entrench memory traces.
. Use of initials draws students’ attention to first letters and sounds. This is
good because the beginnings of words are especially potent memory clues
when you happen to have a meaning in mind and are searching through your
memory for the matching word(s).
. Initials highlight the number of words in any given chunk, which can also help
each learner to successfully complete a mental word search.
Articles and other very small words are put on equal footing sizewise, which
may help them to be noticed by learners whose mother tongues lack these
kinds of words.
Initials take up little space, which makes it easier to fit a suitable text onto a
projectable slide.
. Making such hints requires no specialist knowledge.

26
 Remember my change

In its rationale and procedure, this activity is similar to the previous one (‘What
are those initials for?’), but it is a little more challenging, and so the number of
phrases targeted should be smaller (i.e. 2-5).

Focus Any kind of chunk

Level Upper elementary-Advanced

Time 15-30 minutes

Materials A handout for each student (for example texts, see p.105)

Preparation You need a text of 60-180 words suitable for your class. Edit it as necessary so
as to create a student's version and a teacher's version. The latter should include
3-5 chunks which are missing from the former (see the examples). For example,
you can create your students’ version by eliminating chunks that are in the
Original text, which you then use as your teacher's version. Or you can create
a teacher's version by adding chunks into an easy text (i.e. one you find In a
coursebook).

1. Generate some discussion around the topic of the text.

2. Ask students to read the text and make sure they understand it.
3. Say that you will read the text out loud but will make some changes to It as
you do. Add that they should not write while you are reading and that as
soon as you finish they should pick up their pens and add your changes into
the text by writing new words or crossing out existing words, as necessary.
Say also that they will get two chances to do this.
4. After two goes, ask students to compare their marked up texts.
5. Get everyone's attention, write the chunks on the board, and make sure
everyone understands what the chunks mean and what register they are. For
example, in the text ‘The goose that laid golden eggs’, students should know
that blood and guts is colloquial and rather ‘strong’ whereas insides is a
common euphemism for it.
REVIEWING
At the end of the lesson or the beginning of the next one:
1. Ask students to pair up.
2. Give each pair a fresh copy of the original students’ version, and ask them not
to try to find their old copies!
3. Ask them, from memory, to add into the story the same changes as you made
before.
4. Check.

27
 Writing then reconstructing

This is a very simple and useful set of familiar but effective exercises. The main
procedure involves students copying a text and then reconstructing it from
memory with the help of prompts.

Focus Any kind of chunk; intensive reading or listening; writing

Level Beginner—Intermediate

Time 5-10 minutes

Materials Several copies of a short text; a gapped version of the text for each student (or a
projectable copy) based on the examples shown on p.106

Preparation 1. Make several copies of a short text containing useful chunks which you
highlight. (See the examples).
2. Stick the copies up on the wall around your classroom. No student should
have to walk very much farther than any other student does in order to reach
one of the copies. If you have more than 25 or so students, see the Variation
for Large Classes below.

PROCEDURE WITH COPYING

1. Explain that soon everyone should:
a) get a sheet of paper and pen or pencil ready in front of them
b) stand up and walk to one of the sheets of paper you have stuck on the wall
) remember as much of the beginning of the text as they can
d) return to their seat and write what they remembered (but for names, they
need only write initials)
e) go back to the text, remember a bit more, write that down too, and so on
— until they have copied all of the text correctly onto the sheet of paper on
their desk
f) highlight in their texts all the phrases that are highlighted in the texts on
the wall.
2. Start the activity.
3. As students finish, ask them to turn their sheets over and see if they can write
any of the highlighted phrases from memory.
4. When everyone has finished copying, read out or display the original so they
can check their copy.
5. Give your class something completely different to do for five minutes or so. For
instance, ask everyone to stand up and then lead a session of Simon Says. (This
well known game is explained at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Says.)
6. Hand out copies of a severely gapped version of the text they copied before,
and see if students can complete it individually or in pairs.
VARIATION FOR LARGE CLASSES
Steps 1-4: Instead of displaying the text on the walls, prepare a projectable slide.
In class, ask everyone to put down their pens. Display the text; give everyone a
chance to read it; check comprehension; explain that now everyone will have
a chance to copy the text bit by bit starting with the beginning; turn off the
display; ask students to write what they remember of the beginning; ask them
to put down their pens; turn on the display again; and so on. If they want, allow
Students to work in pairs with one sheet of paper between them.
VARIATIONS WITH DICTATION (Elementary-Advanced)
Steps 1-2: Instead of copying the text before having to reconstruct it, students
take it down from dictation in one of these ways:
ae Students-in-control dictation
Dictate the text, but encourage students to ask questions and make requests
— What was that last bit again?, How do you spell ?, What does
mean? (This technique can be introduced into the two following variations.)
. Basic mutual dictation
Form pairs. Each partner has a different (part of a) text. Each dictates what
they have to the other. Each checks what the other has written.
. Running dictation
This has much in common with copying a text off the wall, but here students
are in pairs. One partner remains seated while the other goes to a text on the
wall, remembers a bit, returns to his/her partner, dictates a bit of the text,
goes back to the text in the wall, remembers a bit more, dictates that, and so
on. (Partners can change roles halfway through the text.)
NOTE To learn more about the multi-faceted technique of dictation, see Davis
and Rinvolucri (1988).

29
 Filling in a story skeleton

This exercise is designed to foster awareness of chunks, including ones

commonly used to indicate the structure of a narrative.

Focus Any kind of chunk

Level Intermediate-Advanced

Time 45-60 minutes if done in one lesson

Materials A short gapped text to be displayed for all to see (for example, see p.107)

Preparation ile Choose a short ‘news-in-brief’ newspaper article which includes some
common chunks, as virtually all such articles do.
. Gap the text (as shown in the examples) so as to leave only those words and
chunks which indicate the most basic gist and structure of the text.

. Display the gapped text for all to see.

. Ask everyone to copy it onto a sheet of paper so that it covers more or less one
whole side. They do this mainly by making all the long gaps longer.
Read the original story out loud, paraphrasing potentially unfamiliar vocabulary
as you go along. Then read it out at least one more time. During this step,
your students only listen.
Students each fill in the gaps to make a newspaper-like story.
In small groups, students read their completed texts to each other.
Hide the gapped text and ask everyone to turn over their stories.
Give everyone a copy of the original text and ask them, working individually, to
SO
underline or highlight only the words that appeared on the gapped text sheet.
Ask students to form pairs and compare what they've marked.
. Display the gapped text again.
Note
If you ask students to do Step 4 at home, Steps 5-9 should be done in the
following lesson.

30
 Dicto-composition:
from chunks to text and back

This is a variation of the well known exercise which is often, but inscrutably,
called a ‘dictogloss’. In doing it, students listen intensively to a spoken text,
take notes, and then expand their notes, in writing, into a text resembling the
original version as much as possible. The aim in our variation is to focus as
sharply as possible on a contextualised set of target chunks, which can be of
any type. It is most suitable for classes of well motivated students.

Focus Any kind of chunk; intensive listening; writing

Level Upper elementary—Advanced

Time 20-40 minutes, depending on the text

Materials A class set of a text (for example, see below)

Preparation Lis Choose a text (50-120 words or so) to read out to the class. The text should
contain several conventional word combinations. Or you could use the
example below.

If you choose a different text, mark each combination as in the passage

below, where Nelson Mandela is describing his life in South Africa as a
political (as opposed to a commen, or ‘common law’) prisoner.

“Although our work at the quarry was meant to show us that we were no
different from the other prisoners, the authorities still treated us like the
lepers who once populated the island. Sometimes we would see a group of
common-law prisoners working by the side of the road, and their warders
would order them into the bushes so they would not see us as we marched
past. It was as if the mere sightof us might somehow affect their discipline.
Sometimes out of the corner of an eye we could see a prisoner raise his fist in
the ANC salute.”
Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom. London: Abacus, p. 480

. Down the centre of the board, write what you judge to be the most
worthwhile chunks to focus on — like this example, but with plenty of room
between the lines:
was meant to
no different from the other
treated us like ...lepers
by the side of the road
as we marched past.
It was as if
out of the corner of an eye
2. Make sure your students understand what each chunk means, and then ask
everyone to copy what's on the board onto a blank sheet of paper.
3. Out loud, slowly read the whole of the text containing the chunks. Explain
unfamiliar vocabulary as you go along and afterwards check your students’
understanding of the text as a whole.
4. Explain that you will read the text out again and that as you do so they should
add onto their papers as much of the rest of the text as they can.
5. As you read the text out, circulate to see how well your students are
managing.
6. Ask students to form pairs. Add that one person in each pair should be
‘secretary’ and do all the writing. Explain that each pair should work as a
team and try to write a text as close as possible to the one you dictated.
Stress that whenever they cannot remember the exact words, they should try
to express the relevant meaning in good English but in their own words.
7. Ask a few secretaries to read out their texts. Other secretaries listen and add
improvements to their texts.
8. Hand out or display the original for purposes of comparison.
9. At the end of the lesson, ask partners to try to remember the phrases they
copied off the board.
EXTENSION
For homework, or in a later lesson, ask students to incorporate the chunks into
a story of their own invention. Suggest a few titles/settings (e.g. My years in
an English boarding school, Taken hostage!, A party that turned into
a nightmare), but allow students to choose their own title if they want to.
Encourage them to use the chunks in an order different from that given above.
Tips
Re Step 5: obviously, in order to compose a full text, students must have
reasonably complete notes. On the other hand, if their notes are too close to the
original, that can undercut your goal of getting them to engage in effortful recall
during the following composition activity. Adjust both your reading speed and
the number of times you read out the text so as to avoid this risk. When you see
that some students have good notes, instead of you reading out the whole text,
ask one or more of these students to read out what they have written down.
Re Step 6: Ideally, the secretary should be the person in the pair who has the
least complete notes at this point, otherwise the student with the more complete
notes may just start writing without asking for help from the other.
REVIEWING
Display a version of the text with these phrases gapped out (see p.107), and ask
students, in pairs or threes, to list the target phrases in the order they occur.
 Questionnaires
with multiple choice answers

One aim of this activity is to get students talking about themselves. Another is
to rehearse chunks that are included within a set of scripted questions and/or
a set of recommended answers.

Focus Chunks such as expressions of frequency (a// the time), time of day (in the
evening), actions (have breakfast), chunks which can begin a question (When
do you...?); guided speaking; getting better acquainted with a partner

Level Upper elementary—Pre-intermediate

Time 20-40 minutes

Materials A class set of each of the two handouts (see p.108). The smaller handout can
instead be dictated or displayed as a slide.

Preparation 1. Adapt either of the handouts as appropriate for your class or make new
handouts to practise different chunks.
2. Sheet 1: Prepare a slide or a class set of photocopies, or prepare to dictate It.
3. Sheet 2: Make halfa class set and then divide each handout in two. In pairs,
each student will get a different half.

PROCEDURE
1. Hand out, display or dictate Sheet 1 and check for understanding.
2. Write some questions on the board, e.g:
When do you brush your teeth? /When do you sleep? / breathe?
3. Ask three students each to ask you one of the questions. Answer them using
expressions in Sheet 1.
4. Form A-B pairs; give student A in each pair a copy of the top half of Sheet 2,
and ask the As to interview the Bs by asking those questions. Add that:
e the Bs, after they answer, should ask, “And you?”
e the Bs should try to use the answers on Sheet 1.
e the As should, in general, not show the questions to their partners.
5. When the As have asked all their questions, give the Bs the bottom half of
Sheet 2 so that they can now interview the As. The reason that the Bs get
new questions is so that the As can also have the experience of answering
unexpected questions.
6. When the interviews are finished, ask everyone to hide their copies of Sheet 1.
In pairs, they should write down all the expressions they remember from Sheet
1 (i.e., all the time and frequency expressions).
VARIATIONS
e Compose questions that repeatedly include other chunks, e.g. How long does
. it take the earth to go around the sun?; How long does it take you to
vay write out your full name?; Could you tell me where your driving licence
is now?, Could you tell me what you keep under your bed?
e Provide only the questions — not the answers.
 Between-listening gap fills

In this sequence of exercises, students first do jigsaw listening (see the explanation
below). Following that, they try to fill in a gapped transcript based on both parts
of the listening material. Then they hear both parts of the listening material,
including the part which only their partner had heard before. The inclusion of
the gap filling activity between the two listening stages gives students — now
that they are not having to concentrate so intently on listening — the opportunity
(a) to evaluate each other's reports, (b) to satisfy curiosity about things that were
left unclear in the report given by their partners, and (c) to have a closer look at
useful language, especially chunks.
To do a jigsaw listening exercise, you need to split the class into two groups. Each
group then listens to a different but related recording or perhaps different halves
of the same recording. After listening, learners who have listened to different
material join up in pairs and tell each other about the contents of their part.

Focus Any kind of chunk; intensive reading; preparation for listening

Level = Intermediate—Advanced

Time 50-60 minutes; can be done over two lessons

Materials Recording(s) of TV or radio programme(s): two tape/CD/DVD players (unless you

have access to a language laboratory or multimedia room); gapped transcript of
the recordings (for example, see p.109)

Preparation 1. Prepare two recordings: either two different programmes about the same
theme which complement one another information-wise, or two copies of
the same programme that can be split in half without each half becoming
incomprehensible.
2. Prepare for the split class context, either by reserving two rooms (one for each
of the tape/CD/DVD players) or by setting up the recordings in the language
laboratory / multimedia room.
3. Create a gapped transcript by deleting words which are guessable because
they are part of common chunks and are preceded by cues. Make sure you
include a good number of chunks that your students are already familiar
with (at least receptively), so that they will (a) benefit from the positive result
of their successful guessing and (b) gain positive evidence that knowledge
of chunks makes it easier to achieve detailed understanding of challenging
spoken texts.

1. Check that everyone knows how a jigsaw listening exercise works. It might
also be a good idea to check that they know what kind of notes to take and
also to give them an idea of how detailed (or how long) their eventual oral
report to their partners should be when they exchange information about
their texts in Step 3.
2. Students listen to their assigned text.
. In pairs or threes, students report to each other what they heard in their
different texts.
. Hand out the gapped transcript(s). Students can work in the same pairs or
threes to try to fill in the blanks.
. Tell everyone they will now get the opportunity to listen to both recordings
with the support of their (fully or partly) filled in gapped transcripts. Add that
they should listen with a view to evaluating both their own and their partners’
reports.
. Play the recording(s) again so students can check their work on the gap-fill
task.
. Allow time for the students to talk about the completeness and accuracy of
the oral reports they gave in Step 3.

Sh]
 Teach your phrase

This is a jigsaw reading and speaking activity that incorporates a stage in which
students teach chunks to each other. The rationale for this stage is not so much
that students will durably remember the chunks that other students teach them
but that they should remember the one they try to teach to others.

Focus _ Figurative idioms, clichés, proverbs, common collocations, discourse markers,

functional exponents; reading; speaking

Level = Pre-intermediate-Advanced

Time 10-30 minutes

Materials — Copies of several very short storylike texts (as on pp.110-113); enough good dictionaries

1. Find or compose a number of short texts such that each text contains a chunk
Preparation that you want your students to learn. It is very important that the context
should give strong clues about the meaning of each target chunk.
2. Highlight the target chunks (e.g. by underlining); and optionally (depending
on the level of your learners) add some text-comprehension questions and
at least one ‘concept’ question (i.e. a question intended to guide students
toward correct understanding of the target chunk).
3. Make enough copies of each text (see examples).

1. Divide your class into groups of four or so. Give each student in a group a
copy of the same text, and give different texts to different groups.
2. Explain that everyone should read their text and then check with the others
in their group that they correctly understand both their text and their target
chunk. For this, encourage the use of a good dictionary of idioms and/or
phrasal verbs.
3. As groups are working, circulate and make sure that each group is on the
right track about the meaning of their text and their chunk.
4. As groups finish, explain that soon everyone will be in a new group consisting
of members who have each read a different text with a different target chunk
in it. Say that before they all change to a new group you are going to give
them more time, in their present group, to practise (a) telling their text out
loud from memory (although not necessarily word-perfect) and (b) teaching
their target chunk clearly in English — because that's what they will have to
do when they change groups.
5. Circulate while the groups are practising.
6. Form the new groups in which everyone has a different text, and recommend
the following order of presentation: one by one, each student tells their story,
then teaches their chunk, and then tells their story again. Then it's the turn of
another student, and so on.
7. As groups finish, ask the members of each group to swap texts, read them,
and note down the different target chunks in their notebooks along with
indications of meaning (e.g. a translation) and hints about how to use it (e.g.
they include it in a complete, explanatory sentence or in a little dialogue).
Ask some of your students how they have recorded the new chunks in their
notebooks, and give tips about how to improve such notes.
VARIATIONS
Students may —
1. work in pairs, in which case each partner might have more than one text to
read and/or more than one chunk to teach.
2. choose for themselves what chunks to teach.

37.
 Phrasal verbs via paired associates

One reason why phrasal verbs are relatively hard to understand and remember
is that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to find accurate synonyms or
translations. Another problem is that the same few verbs and prepositions tend
to occur over and over again in different combinations, which makes it easy for
learners to become confused about which phrasal verb has what meaning.
Fortunately, a number of recently published learners’ dictionaries deal very well
with meaning and usage of common phrasal verbs, and materials for home
study of phrasal verbs have improved in the same respect. But the problem of
how learners can remember phrasal verbs remains. Here we describe a version
of the tried and tested ‘associated pairs’ technique which can be used to focus
on particular phrasal verbs so persistently that these verbs should finally come
quickly to mind when they are needed.

Focus Verb+preposition+object phrasal verbs

Level Pre-intermediate—Advanced

Time Variable

Materials None for the main procedure

Preparation ie Choose a small set of phrasal verbs to work on — or ask your students to look
through their notes and suggest ones that they understand but just can’t seem
to remember well enough to use. In order to make your students’ job easier,
avoid simultaneous focus on phrases that have the same main verb. Try also to
avoid too much repetition of the same preposition, especially if they have rather
different meanings/functions (e.g. take up (a new hobby), make up (with
SD)2.))
. For each phrasal verb you select, choose a sentence that represents a common
usage. A dictionary of phrasal verbs could be a big help here. A bonus offered
by some of these dictionaries is that they tell you which phrasal verbs are
especially frequent and therefore especially worth focusing on. Let's take
the phrasal verb pull (s’‘thing) off as an example. The Oxford Phrasal
Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English (2006) gives the following
examples — She pulled off her hat and gloves and The goalie pulled off
a terrific save. The former, which is distinctly literal, could be a target at
pre-intermediate level. The latter, which is distinctly idiomatic, is a target for
intermediate level or above.
Edit or adapt the example sentences as appropriate. For example, we would
shorten She pulled off her hat and gloves to She pulled off her gloves.
The second example, about the goalie, seems good as it is.
Write up your list of examples as shown on the next page.

38
 Pre-intermediate Paired associates
She pulled off her gloves. pull off // gloves
Look these words up in your dictionary. look up // words
Put away your toys! put away // toys
While cleaning the attic, she came across. come across // an old photo
an old photo

intermediate-—advanced Paired associates

The goalie pulled off a terrific save. pull off // a terrific save
She always looked up to her older sister. look up to // older sister
Put me down for a ticket. I'll pay later. put me down for // a ticket
The government has come in for severe criticism. come in for // criticism

. Write your example sentences and paired associates (see above) on the board,
and make sure that everyone knows what each sentence and each phrasal
verb means.
Ask everyone to start a special ‘phrasal verb’ section in their notebooks. It
should include the lists you have put on the board.
Say that you are going to try to help them remember phrasal verbs, set by set,
with a new set being added in every other lesson (or once a week or whatever
you decide). Explain that their job is to remember, first of all, the paired
associates and also — but more in the back of their minds — the matching
sentences that they come from.
Later in the lesson, after asking students not to look at their notes, write up
your paired associates in jumbled fashion and ask how they should be matched.
Then ask who can remember the sentence each paired associate goes with.
REVIEWING
From time to time in the same and in later lessons, review as follows:
Read out the first part of one of the example sentences and see if anyone can
finish it.
Write up clues such as p. off//a terrific s., and elicit the full paired associates.
Afterwards, see if anyone can remember the matching sentences more or less
faithfully.
Call out a phrasal verb and see if anyone can call out the associate or, which is
harder, do the reverse.
Ask students to quiz each other in small groups. That is, one — in the role of
teacher — looks at their list of sentences and paired associates and calls out
hints and prompts, e.g. “About her older sister ... the younger sister always
looked ...”.
QUIZZING
When given one associate and a hint (e.g. initials), students must supply the other:
e.g. “Write the missing word(s): pull Off[1® t.S. ccc cece

39
 Putting chunks into chronological
order: romantic relationships

This sequence of activities exploits the fact that many kinds of words and
phrases become easier to remember when chronologically ordered and/or
included in narrative.

Focus Figurative idioms, phrasal verbs; writing & reading out stories

Level —Pre-intermediate—Upper intermediate

Time 1—1'% hours over one or two lessons

Materials A slide or class set of handouts (see p.113)

Preparation Prepare a handout (or slide display) of the jumbled sentences

1. Elicit/explain what a ‘chat-up’ line is. (It’s what someone says in the hope that
they can attract the attention of someone they find interesting.)
2. One at a time, dictate (some of) the following chat-up lines.

a Excuse me. I've lost my phone number. Can | have yours?

b Hi, I’m Mr Right. Someone said you were looking for me.
fe You must be exhausted ‘cause you've been running through my mind all night.
d It's your lucky day — my girlfriend dumped me last night.
e Did it hurt . ..when you fell down from heaven?
f Was your father a thief? No, well, who stole the stars and put them in your eyes?
g Life is a jigsaw puzzle, and for me you are the missing piece.
h Your eyes are the same colour as my Porsche.
If | could rearrange the alphabet, | would put U and | together.
| must be lost. | thought Paradise was further south.
I'm not really this tall. I’m sitting on my wallet.
There's something wrong with my phone. It doesn’t have your number in it.
—-z~oO:CU

Can | borrow 20p? | promised my mother I'd phone her if | fell in love.
If you were a hamburger, you'd be a McGorgeous!
SS
= | think | saw you in the dictionary next to ‘WooOoo!"

3. Ask students to form groups of three or so and talk about how successful
these lines might be and what kind of person might say them. Ask them also
to mention any other chat-up lines they might know, including ones which
girls or women might use.
4. Ask them to look at the chat-up lines they have written and get ready to
underline the particular phrases which you are going to read out. Then read
out, in jumbled order, whichever of the following word combinations are in
the chat-up lines you've used:

40
a) Excuse me, I’ve lost my ..., Can! g) the same colour as;
have ...?; h) If! could ..., | would ...;
b) looking for; i) not really;
c) You must be exhausted, running k) There’s something wrong with
through my mind; my...;
d) It’s your lucky day, my girlfriend |) Can/ borrow...?, |promised ...
dumped me; Id ..., fell in love;
DIG SE NUNTwe 2) m) If you were ..., you'd ...;
f) the missing piece; n) | think lsaw you ....

For example, if chat-up line (a), Excuse me, comes first in the list you gave your
students, don’t start with it. Read it out later on, to make your students hunt
around a bit.
5. Ask your students to turn their papers over and each tell a neighbour any
chat-up lines they remember.
6. Optional: on a handout (or by some other means), present the jumbled
sentences (in examples), and see who can guess what the idioms mean.
7. Ask your students to work individually or in pairs, as they prefer, to re-order
the jumbled sentences by writing them out completely, in chronological order,
so as to make a typical story. They don’t need to include the glosses which are
given at the ends of some of the sentences.
8. Invite a few students to read their stories out to the class.
9. Ask students to turn their papers over so that they can’t look at their
sentences and stories.
REVIEWING
1. Dictate the phrases given just below, and ask students, individually or in pairs,
to put them in a plausible chronological order (not necessarily the same as
before):
make up have a row fall in love
pop the question break off their engagement hit it off
tie the knot catch ... eye set a date for
hang out together get on so far so good
chat ... up be engaged to be married
2. Ask everyone to write another story, in complete sentences, using the phrases
as they ordered them in Step 1 Just above. This time, though, they add details
that were not in the earlier story — e.g. places, names, descriptions, a plot that
is somehow different, a chat-up line and a reply, and so on.
3. As students finish their stories, ask them to join up with others who have
finished and to read their stories to each other while other students are still
finishing. As the last students finish, they join an existing group and read out
their stories too.
Tip
Perhaps begin or end the sequence of activities by using a romantic song — e.g.
‘It's now or never’ by Elvis Presley.
 Situational clichés

This sequence of exercises targets situation-bound clichés such as The

more the merrier and Small world! With advanced classes of adult
learners, we have worked with as many as three dozen clichés at once
(because every advanced level participant will know a lot of them already).
At lower levels, however, you will certainly want to target fewer expressions
than that, which you can do by deleting items from the handout.

Focus — Fixed expressions like Smal! world!; writing dialogues and reading them

Level = Pre-intermediate-Advanced

Time 30-40 minutes for the basic procedure; 44-50 minutes for the extension

Materials A sheet of paper per student; copies/a projection of worksheets (see p.116)

Preparation 1. Choose some clichés and produce a master list like the one shown on
pp.114-115.
2. Then make two differently gapped versions of your master copy. So each
version should lack some of the explanations (and a couple of the clichés).
But any deleted information must be present in the other version. Let us call
these two versions Sheet A and Sheet B. Produce enough A & B sheets so that
one student in each pair will get the A sheet and the other the B sheet.
3. For reviewing, prepare a projectable display of the Initials Prompts; see
Reviewing Step 2.

1. Form pairs and distribute the A and B sheets.

2. Explain that everyone should read all their clichés and all the explanations that
they have on their sheet. Add that if any information or any cliché is missing
from their sheet, they must ask their partner to tell them what it is. Their job
then is simply to write this explanation down onto their own sheet.
3. While students are exchanging information, go to the board and write up the
initials of each of the target chunks — e.g. for Fingers crossed! write Fc! Be
creative with colour, style and layout —i.e., do not put the initials in ordered
rows and columns.
4. As pairs finish, invite them to come to the board to see how many of the
initials they can ‘translate’ into the corresponding full phrase. (One purpose of
this step is to give early finishers of Step 2 something fruitful to do while the
others are still working.)
5. When everyone has completed their sheet, ask everyone who is standing to sit
down, and then test the whole class by pointing to each of the initials in turn.
Whoever remembers the corresponding phrase can call it out.
6. Form the class into new pairs or threes. They all look at the initials on the
board and try to remember them all, with partners helping each other.
EXTENSION
7. Form pairs; each student to have a full-size sheet of paper.
8. Everyone prepares their sheet as follows (see also the example):
a) They draw a vertical line or make a crease down the centre.
b) They draw a box, top centre, in which they mention two people and the
situation or place they are in.
c) They choose a cliché that was new for them and write it at the top of the
left side of their paper, e.g. It takes two to tango. This cliché is supposed
to be something that one of the people mentioned in their box has just said.
d) At the top they should indicate which of the two people in fact said this
(e.g. ‘the woman’).
9. Partners exchange papers. Each must now take on the role indicated on their
partner's sheet (i.e., they are the second person mentioned in the box) and
write an appropriate response to what the first person said (e.g., “You don't
think | had anything to do with it do you?”). At this point students should not
try to use another one of the clichés, as doing so would probably make it too
difficult to continue a plausible dialogue.
10. They continue to exchange papers, writing replies to each other's replies, e.g.,
“| don't think she would’ve kissed you with no encouragement from you!”
11.After 20-30 minutes ask everyone to bring their dialogues to a close.
12.Form pairs into groups of 6-8 students so that everyone can have an
audience as they recite their two dialogues. If you think the dialogues may
need editing, collect them and leave this step for the next lesson.
Tip
Re Step 3: In your initials, retain hyphens and apostrophes, and put a full stop
after each abbreviated letter, but not after the article a. Thus, I’m having a
senior moment becomes /’ h. a s. m. You can make certain phrases easier to
recall by adding more letters, e.g. /’m h. a se. mo.
REVIEWING
1. Ask students to find their original worksheets and fold them so they can only
see the explanations. In pairs or threes they try to remember as many of the
matching clichés as they can.
2. Form trios or fours. In each group give one student, preferably the least
confident, a review sheet like the Review Prompts Sheet. The student with this
sheet tests the other group members, giving hints as necessary.
QUIZZING
Give out another version of the original list; on each line, either the cliché or the
explanation is missing, and students must fill in the blanks. Or re-use the review
prompts sheet, this time as a quiz sheet.
Note
This approach also works with proverbs.
Acknowledgement
We learned the writing activity from Christine Frank and Mario Rinvolucri.

43
CHAPTER 3
TEACHING SETS OF CHUNKS:
HELPING STUDENTS
REMEMBER THEM
Introduction
This chapter builds on Chapter 2 by demonstrating how to:
e facilitate chunk-learning within a communicative, integrated-skills
approach.
* encourage students to engage in the kinds of rich mental processing
that are especially likely to result in the formation of robust memories
for chunks of language.
A key element of this work is using ‘linguistic motivation’ to make chunks
easier to remember (see pp. 12-13).
In order to demonstrate a good range of techniques and procedures, we have
tried to avoid making each activity sequence like all the others. Regarding
running time, we have expected that some teachers might sometimes prefer
to use a short sequence of activities instead of one long activity, or vice
versa. Regarding lesson structure, we have noticed that while most students
appreciate variation, some require it in order to stay interested.
You will probably want to adapt this material to suit the particular needs and
interests of your own students and the requirements of your teaching. For
example, you may decide to pitch a worksheet to a lower level of learner by
deleting some of the chunks that it includes. It is also possible to raise the
level of the materials given here by, for instance, adding chunks.
The topic areas that figure in this chapter are ones that we have settled on for
one or another of the following reasons:
e The topic area commonly crops up in official syllabuses.
e lt embraces a number of chunks that are relatively frequent, relatively
learnable, and relatively memorable (e.g. 3.3, ‘Figurative manner-of-
action expressions’).
e It is atopic which, in our experience, teenagers and young adults can
get interested in (all the units).
e It affords useful insights into Anglophone (especially British) culture and
history (e.g. 3.7, ‘Seafaring idioms’ and 3.10, ‘Horse-related idioms’).
Of course, a// the chunks you target will need to be reviewed so it is important
to keep a record of chunks you want to come back to later — for Activity 3.17,
ones with word repetition, rhyme, consonance, alliteration and assonance. For
more ideas about how do this, see Chapter 4.
Remember that for each activity you want to prepare, when you read through
the text for the first time you will need to have to hand a photocopy of the
relevant worksheets, so that you can fully understand how that activity works.

47
 Things that smell

Under the umbrella of ‘smells’, this sequence of activities focuses on compound

nouns (e.g. hand lotion, rainforest), other modifier + noun chunks (e.g.
an outdoor barbecue), verbal chunks (e.g. smells of, reminds me of, |
associate. with __) and also a few whole-sentence chunks such as That
does nothing for me.

Focus Chunks related to the topic of smells; speaking; listening

Level Pre-intermediate +

Time 40 minutes

Materials Copies of the handouts on pp.117 and 118

Preparation Find and bring to class a few things with strong but pleasant smells, such as
samples of herbs (e.g. rosemary, lavender, mint, bay leaf), spices (especially cloves
and cinnamon), pieces of fragrant soap, bits of perfumed paper, throat lozenges
and so on. (As some students may be allergic to petrochemical-based scents,
avoid commercial scent diffusers etc.)

1. Optional: elicit names of herbs and spices. Ask also what parts of a plant
each one tends to come from. (Herbs tend to consist of the softer or finer
parts of plants such as leaves and flowers, whereas spices tend to consist of
harder, coarser parts, such as seeds and bark, which may be ground into a
powder.)
2. Form A/B pairs. Tell all the Bs to close their eyes.
3. Give each A student a sample of one of your smelly materials.
4. Ask the As to pass their sample (first crushing it if necessary) under the nose
of their partner who, only in whispers, should try to guess what it Is.
5. After a while, see who knows what the sample is, and write the word for it up
on the board.
6. Repeat with the other samples, alternating between Bs and As.
7. Form pairs and give each partner a different section of the List of Things
that Smell. At pre-intermediate level, 15 items per student is about right; at
advanced level, divide the whole list between partners. Also, give each partner
a copy of the Responses Sheet.
8. Ask students, in their pairs, to take turns reading the expressions on the lists
out loud. Add that when one partner reads out an expression, the other
partner(s) must respond in some way — either in brief or at length — according
to their feeling about the smell in question. They may use the Possible
Responses Sheet in the examples as a guide.
9. Ask early finishers to come to the board and, from memory, write up smelly
things that they remember from the list.

48
EXTENSION
10. As appropriate to the level of your students, introduce a few figurative uses
of smell vocabulary — e.g. That stinks! (= is terrible); When he criticised her
dress, she replied with a few pungent (= not mild) comments of her own;
There’s something fishy (= smelly = suspicious) about his behaviour; There’s
something rotten in the state of Denmark (= something isn’t right about
this situation; from Hamlet); Has she caught wind (= catch a smell carried
on the wind) of the surprise party we’re planning for her?; He is a master
of distraction by using red herrings (sb being tracked by bloodhounds could
distract them, apparently, by dropping red (i.e. smoked) fish on the ground so
as to send the dogs off in a different direction).

49
 Things that make sounds

This activity is designed to present and lightly entrench chunks and collocations
that have to do with things that produce sounds. Deeper entrenchment can be
facilitated by using the review and quiz activities described in Chapter 4.

Focus Chunks related to the topic of sounds; speaking; listening

Level = Intermediate +

Time 40 minutes for the main sequence

Materials =One copy of the Personal Reactions Sheet, and half of the List of Sounds, for
each student (see p.119)

Preparation Be sure that you can explain the meaning of onomatopoeia!

1. Ask everyone to close their eyes for ten seconds or so and just listen.
Ask your students what they have heard.
3. Optional: talk briefly about John Cage's 433", a short musical composition
whose three movements are each completely silent even though musicians are
on the stage as if ready to play it. Ask your students what they think a concert
audience hears while that piece is being ‘performed’.
4. Optional: clarify the typical difference in meaning between e.g. / heard
someone speak and | heard someone speaking.
5. Form pairs (A & B), and give each partner a different section of the list of
sounds in the examples. Allow everyone time to read and understand all
their phrases and also to rate each phrase on their own list from +5 to -5,
depending how positive or negative the sound Is for them for any reason
(with O signifying ‘neutral’).
Give everyone a copy of the Personal Reactions Sheet.
Explain that soon they will be reading their lists to each other out loud as
follows:
a) Aslowly and theatrically reads out all her/his sound phrases.
b) After hearing each one, B must respond, by using, if he/she wants, one of
the expressions on the Personal Reactions Sheet.
c) Ashould tell B whenever she/he notices a strong similarity or
difference between how the two of them feel about a sound.
8. Ask early finishers to come to the board and, from memory, write up as many
of the phrases as they can remember.
9. Ask if they can think of any other common sounds that could be on the list.
10. Elicit or give a definition of onomatopoeia (in a fairly broad sense) and ask your
class what examples of onomatopoeia they see on the list of sounds.
EXTENSION
11. Invite students to compare onomatopoeic animal sounds in English (L,) and in
their mother tongue(s) (L,). What cases do they know that are very similar? A
bit similar? Apparently different?
12. In higher-level classes, introduce figurative idioms such as those listed here,
and invite students to guess their meanings:
e He's a ticking time bomb.
e The results of that experiment set alarm bells ringing.
e On the calendar it says we have at) appointment with our lawyer
tomorrow. Does that ring a bell with you?
e She likes to trumpet her own successes.
e February 29th, by custom, is the day that women can pop the question.
e He won't win the election unless he can drum up more support. (This
comes from the old practice of military recruitment being carried out with
the aid of drummers marching through the streets.)
REVIEWING
Later in the same lesson or at the beginning of the next one, form groups of
four or five. In each group, one student (the ‘teacher’) has the complete original
Sounds list. The other students call out phrases which they think were on the list
or could have been on it. The teacher’ replies to each suggestion with “On the
list” or “Not on the list” and also with a correction whenever a phrase that is
on the list has been inaccurately formed by the person who called it out. When
expressions stop coming, the ‘teacher’ calls out key words of the remaining
phrases (e.g. Sheep) in hope that one of the other students will remember
Sheep baaing or Baaing sheep. After a decent interval, call time and ask the
‘teachers’ to read out to their groups the phrases that no one remembered.
 Figurative
manner-of-action expressions

This unit is designed to:

° firmly entrench knowledge of a number of manner-of-action words (e.g. snap)
* familiarise students with chunks in which these words are used figuratively (e.g.
a snap decision).
As usual, your choice of target verbs and chunks will depend on the level of your
students.

Focus Manner-of-action verbs in literal and figurative chunks; standing up and moving
as a brief change of pace; inferring meanings

Level —Pre-intermediate +

Time 3-30 minutes per lesson, depending on the activity

Materials Optional: a handout of figurative examples (see pp.120-121)

Preparation 1. Choose a dozen or so manner-of-action verbs which are used figuratively in

well-known chunks — e.g. ‘dodge’ in dodge a question.
2. For all or most of the verbs you've chosen, think of how to use it literally in
a phrase — e.g. lean left, step back, pick up a pen, put it down, turn it
around, turn over your notebook, blow on your hands, touch your
nose, stroke your wrist, pat your own back, click’*/snap’® your fingers,
swing your arms, dodge an imaginary tomato, wriggle like a worm,
spin around, sway like bamboo in the wind, scratch your head, rub
your hands together, flick an imaginary mosquito off your wrist.
Learners’ dictionaries, and online concordance samplers — e.g. the Collins Cobuild
Concordance Sampler: www.collins.co.uk/corpus/corpussearch.aspx — are a good
source of information about both literal and figurative uses.

1. Over the next two or three lessons, whenever your students look as though they
might benefit from a bit of moving around, ask them to stand up and imitate your
movements each time you call out one of the verb phrases you have selected..
2. Call outa series of commands, perform the corresponding actions, and encourage
your students to join in.
3. Eventually, when students have had several commands, ask them to form groups
of five or so. They take turns calling out a command which the others should
carry out. Or students take turns performing actions which their partners should
try to put into words.
4. When your students have learned one set of action expressions fairly well, show
how a few (not necessarily all) of these expressions can be used figuratively. For
example, display a set of figurative examples on the board, or provide them on a
handout (see examples).
5. Form pairs and ask partners to consider the examples one by one to see if they
can agree about a possible meaning of each highlighted expression.
6. Call the class together and go through the list example by example. Each time,
see if anyone in the class can give a good paraphrase (or translation) of the
highlighted expression.
 Weather phrases

This short sequence of activities can be a useful supplement to a broader

sequence of work on the topic of climate and weather. It begins with
consideration of weather phrases used literally, and finishes with
exploration of some of their metaphorical usages.

Focus =Chunks having to do with weather

Level Intermediate +

Time 50 minutes

Materials Class sets of the worksheet (see p.122), and the List of Example Sentences (p.123)

Preparation Make class sets of the handouts.

1. Give each of your students a copy of the worksheet, and make sure they
understand each of the words and phrases in the left-hand column. (The
difference between mist and haze is that mist is associated with humidity
and haze with airborne dust, thin smoke and pollution. And just in case you
get asked, fog is thick mist, the definition being that visibility is less than 100
metres.)
2. Ask students to pair up and help each other fill in each of the boxes in the
Advantage and Disadvantage columns. In doing this, they should concentrate
especially on the weather words (e.g. rainy, frost, chilly wind ...) rather
than on more general vocabulary such as day, heavy, morning, slight and
so on. Although partners work together, each should fill in their own sheet.
3. Ask students, keeping their worksheets, to form groups of four or five
(partners from Step 2 should not be in the same group), and compare ideas.
4. Ask everyone to resume their original seat. For some or all of the weather
conditions, ask what advantages and disadvantages they've thought of. (For
some items, it may take considerable ingenuity to think of an advantage.)
5. Ask them to turn over their worksheets. Call out a key word from each phrase
in the left-hand column (e.g. ‘heavy’) and see if anyone in the class can call
out the whole phrase (‘A heavy frost’).
6. Call the class together, hand out the List of Example Sentences and ask pairs
to go through the sentences one by one to see if they can agree about the
meaning of each one. In particular, they should ask themselves (and each
other) “How does the meaning we think this phrase has here relate to the
basic ‘weather meaning’ of the key weather word?”
7. Call the class together again and quickly check that all the sentences have
been correctly understood.

93
 Language notes
e re bright and breezy: words having to do with light are often used about
understanding and being clever (e.g. Aha! that’s clear to me now, Can
you Clarify that for me?, Can you throw any light on the matter?, She's
very bright).Also, we say that a smile is bright. So here bright means both
‘cheerful’ and ‘smart, alert’, and breezy suggests ‘fresh’ and ‘active’.
e re: blue sky thinking: To look at the sky, we must look up. A blue sky occurs
on a sunny day, and we think of the sky as a place without limits. Therefore,
‘blue sky thinking’ is confident and optimistic, and goes beyond normal limits.

54
 Device idioms

This sequence of speaking and thinking activities again shows how idioms can
be effectively taught by starting with literal meanings and then moving on to
figurative meanings. Here, most of the key words designate hand tools (e.g. axe)
although some designate other kinds of device or functional object (e.g. comb).

Focus Figurative idioms containing device nouns such as axe; speaking; inferring meanings

Level Upper intermediate +

Time 40-50 minutes to work on the literal meanings; 25-30 minutes to work on the
figurative expressions (not counting Step 12); if target words are added, the whole
sequence will last longer

Materials —§Handouts: word lists (see below), Review Sheet and Figurative Idioms Sheet (p.124);
also dictionaries

Preparation Make a class set of two different lists of device words, for example, one list could
have a spade, sieve, rake, belt, sledgehammer, comb, barbed wire; the other list
could have axe, screw, oar, hourglass, door mat, wedge, funnel. The lists include
only device words that occur in well-known figurative expressions. If you wish
to use this activity more for fluency practice than for chunk teaching, include on
your lists other/additional words such as: (intermediate) spoon, knife, bowl,
hairbrush, scarf ... (upper intermediate) saw, nail file, mittens ...; (advanced)
colander, easel, ice-scraper ...

1. Optional: if you have enough board space, form teams of four or so, each team
standing by a section of the board. Within a time limit of about five minutes,
each team should write up all the English words they know for non-electronic
devices — particularly tools such as hammer, and ‘kitchen/bathroom/household’
words such as pan and toothbrush.
Call time and go through the lists, clarifying meaning as necessary. It doesn’t
matter if the same words appear on different lists.
Alternatively, if your board is too small, go with the whole class through the
alphabet and see how many devices they can think of for each letter — e.g. A-
axe, B- bowl, broom, C- comb... Ask a couple of students to be Secretary and
write the words up for you on the board as you work through the alphabet.
2. Tell the class that they are going to be working for a while with words for
functional objects called ‘devices’, a category which includes tools. Add that
these words are useful not just because It may be useful to know what to call a
particular device but also because they occur in current idioms. Either give one
example in English (e.g. A company may axe (= suddenly eliminate) a number
ofjobs), or see If you can elicit some mother-tongue device idioms.
3. Form pairs. Give half of the pairs two copies of list A and half two copies of list B.
4. Using mono- or bilingual dictionaries, partners work together to find out what
each word means. Ask everybody to convert their word list into a ‘mini-dictionary’
by either drawing a picture of each device, writing L, translations or writing

55
 functional descriptions such as ‘For sharpening axes and knives’. Students
should work in whispers so that the pairs with the other list don’t hear their
words. Some dictionaries, such as The Macmillan English Dictionary for
Advanced Learners, provide a great deal of pictorial support as well (Michael
Runde!! and Gwyneth Fox, eds. 2" edition, 2007. Macmillan).
5. When everyone understands all the words on their list, ask students to form
new pairs. Emphasise that no one should show their list to their partner. Also
ask each pair to have ready a sheet of blank paper to draw or write on.
6. in each pair, A and B take it in turns to describe their devices either in terms
of parts and materials or in terms of function. (The latter is easier.) As soon as
B, for example, thinks he or she knows what device A is describing, B either
says the English word, mimes using the device, or draws a picture of it. If B is
correct, then it's his or her turn to do the describing. But if B is thinking of the
wrong device, A continues giving hints. Finally, if B doesn’t know the English
word, A tells B and, for instance, shows B a drawing of it.
7. When pairs begin to finish Step 6, call a halt to the exercise and ask partners
to show each other their lists and explain to each other the function of any
remaining unknown words. Leave review work until the next lesson.
VARIATION
Ask students to review all the target words in preparation for the review and
extension, which happens in the next lesson.
REVIEW AND EXTENSION
8. Form students into threes and in each group give one student the Review
Sheet. This person quizzes the other two. But ask the quizzers not to work
through the questions in the order they are given on the sheet but instead to
hop around; this is so that different quizzers won't often be asking the same
question at the same time. The Review Sheet includes hints in case any are
necessary (see also the Key in the Keys section).
9. As students finish, hand out copies of the Figurative Idioms Sheet.
10.In pairs or threes, students go through the items one by one and see if they
can agree about (a) the meaning of the expressions in bold and (b) how the
metaphorical meaning might derive from the literal meaning.
11.Bring the class together and check understanding.
12.Do an additional review activity such as 4.4 (‘Using chunks in mini-stories’).

56
 Idioms from card playing

This is another sequence of speaking and thinking activities which focuses on

literal meanings as preparation for work ona set of figurative idioms.
In this case, the idioms originate from card playing — from poker playing,
mostly. We often use these idioms when talking about people who are
in some sense in competition with each other (e.g. businesspeople engaged
in anegotiation) and who hide or reveal their intentions, have positions of
relative advantage, persevere or withdraw and succeed or fail in getting what
they want. It doesn't matter if you and/or some of your students are not card
players: the materials here should provide all the information you need.

Focus = Card-playing idioms such as have a showdown, inferring meanings; intensive

reading

Level Upper intermediate +

Time 2 hours over three to four lessons

Materials 6 handouts (see pp.125-129), some of which can be projected rather than
photocopied; (a set of Idiom & Meaning slips (Sheet 3) for each pair of students)

Preparation 1. Check out the less technical parts of the Wikipedia entry for poker in order to
get an idea about this card game, unless you already know. The key thing is
that poker is a very popular game which is usually played for money.
2. Optional: on the internet, find an image of Georges de La Tour's painting
‘The Card-Sharp with the Ace of Clubs’ in colour. (This painting is sometimes
also called ‘The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs’.) Checking you're not violating
copyright laws in your country, prepare to display it (e.g. by means of a colour
slide).
3. Prepare your handouts/slides:
For Sheet 3, make a copy for each pair of students; cut the sheets into
jumbled strips (cut the sheet into halves lengthwise, then separate the lines)
and put each batch of strips into an envelope.

1. Optional: to the whole class, display ‘Tne Card-Sharp with the Ace of Clubs’
for a few seconds only, then turn it off and ask the class to tell you what they
remember seeing in the picture. Repeat this sequence of showing, turning off
and asking before allowing your class a good long look at the painting.
Then ask if anyone can tell you something about the painting which they
think other people in the class may not have noticed. Finally, if necessary,
point out that the man on the left is tipping his hand (i.e. his hand of cards)
so that his opponents can see their values. Ask why he might be doing so.
(He probably wants to make the others think he has a poor hand before he
dishonestly exchanges one of his weak cards for the ace that he is hiding
behind his back. Thus, they will bet more money and he will probably win it.)
2. Find out who plays what card games in your class.

57
 3. Write the following on the board (or project it) and make sure everyone
understands it. (The bold type indicates heavy stress.)

| “Poker popular? There’s an understatement. Poker is a contagion that

| currently has this country completely in its grasp.”

From ‘The whole world’s playing poker’, Daily Telegraph, UK. 16.6.2005
Mention that card playing (especially poker) has been so common for so long
in English-speaking countries that it has produced a considerable number of
figurative idioms — ones which people are especially likely to use in talk about
any kind of negotiation and about interpersonal relations in general.
. Ask if the students know any mother-tongue idioms that come from card
playing.
. Give out the first sheet, with Handouts 1 and 2 on it, and answer any
questions arising.
. Form pairs (or threes), give each set of students one packet of jumbled idioms
and meanings from Handout 3, and allow 10-15 minutes for them to match
each idiom with its meaning.
8. To enable students to check, hand out (or display) the Idiom meanings key.
9. Distribute the story (Handout 4). Ask everyone to read the story and then, for
each numbered chunk, to:
a) decide whether It is used in the story literally (L), figuratively (F) or both
(L+F), and then
b) check their judgements with one or more partners.
10.Deal with any queries that arise.
REVIEWING
11. At the end of the lesson, or in the next lesson, hand out the first review sheet
(Handout 5) for students to do in pairs or threes.
12. Optional: In a still later lesson, hand out the second review sheet (Handout 6),
again for students to use in pairs or threes.

58
 Idioms from seafaring

This sequence of activities is potentially as much a lesson in culture and

history as in language.

Focus Figurative idioms such as in the wake of, looking at seafaring, an important
aspect of British history and culture; reading, speaking, writing; (optional) reciting a
poem

Level Upper intermediate-Advanced, depending on the options adopted

Time Without the optional steps and extension: 40-80 rninutes, depending on whether
the writing is done in class or as homework.
With all steps: at least two lessons.

Materials Handouts (see pp. 130-133)

Preparation Optional: Use Google Images (‘sailing ships’, ‘ship’s helm’, ‘pirate’, ‘pirate ship’,
‘marina’) to find suitable photos. Http:/Awww.mariners-l.co.uk offers a great deal
of interesting geographical and historical information (and for nautical terms, see
http:/Awww.mariners-l.co.uk/GenBosunSlang.html) . Also, Google ‘women pirates’.

1. Write the word pirate in the centre of the board and call your class up to the
board to produce an instant ‘spidergram’ or ‘mind map’. (To learn about mind
maps, see Wikipedia: ‘mind map’ — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map ) In
a large class, ask for two or three volunteers to construct the mind map as you
elicit words.
2. When the board is fairly crowded with terms, elicit explanations for any that
may not be clear, and see what else your class knows about pirates.
3. Mention that pirates are just one kind of seafarer, and add that now the topic
is going to be broadened.
4. In acorner of the board, draw (or ask a student to draw) a quick, rough sketch
of sailing ship showing (with labels) one or two masts and a couple of sails, the
helm (= the ‘steering wheel’ at the back); some ropes connecting masts with
the side of the ship, the bow (= front) of the ship, the keel (the very bottom of
the ship) and the wake (= the trail of water behind a moving ship).
Optional: also display any photo slides you have prepared (ensuring that there
are no copyright issues involved in the country you are in).
5. Optional: use the four texts in the examples in a jigsaw reading and discussion
activity as follows:
a) Divide the class into three sections and give the students in each section the
same text.
b) The students in a given section read their text and then confer in groups of
three about what Is interesting and important in their text. They also check
that they have the same answers to the questions.
c) Form new groups of three such that each group of three includes a student
who has read a different text.

59
 d) In their new groups, students tell each other what is interesting and
important in the text they have read.
One purpose of this step is to give students an idea of why there might be so
many sailing idioms in English.
. Give everyone a copy of the Idiom Sentences sheet, make sure they
understand the literal meaning of all the underlined words, and see how
many of the idioms they already know, or can guess the meaning of — but
don’t explain any of them yourself just yet.
Dictate the meanings of the idiom sentences as shown here. As you dictate,
students should write each meaning by the appropriate idiom. Obviously, as
you go along the students will find that this task gets easier (by process of
elimination).

Meanings of idiom sentences

It_was all plain sailing. = It was problem-free.
She did it under her own steam. = without help |
| need some leeway. = freedom and room to manoeuvre
He hasn't been on an even keel since the divorce. — = in (emotional) ‘balance’ |
Everything's shipshape. = very tidy and in perfect order
Give him a wide berth from now on. = avoid, don’t go near |
You'll learn the ropes in your first weeks at work. = get oriented in a job, learn the basics.
In the wake of a bad earthquake = after (a big event) |
reconstruction is always necessary.
Who's going to take the helm after you retire? = become boss, take control
He just keeled over. = pass out and fall over |
Let's try a different tack. = a change of direction, a new way of doing something |
Don’t rock the boat. = Don't bother people in an organisation by trying to
change the way things are done.

8. Elicit or announce the correct answers (see the Explanations of Idiom

Sentences).
9. For homework, or in class, students each write a very short story (7-9 lines)
containing a couple of the seafaring idioms about the first day on the job of
an apprentice witch/sorcerer, a novice palaeontologist, or a young pirate. (In
the last case, some of the expressions might be used literally rather than as
figurative idioms.)
EXTENSION
10. Hand out or display a poem such as ‘Sea Fever’ (in the examples) and read it
out loud to your students, just once. If applicable, mark natural pause points as
shown.
11. Give students time to read the poem and ask about vocabulary.
12. Lead choral reading as follows:
a) Everyone reads the poem aloud once in unison.

60
 b) Everyone reads it out again, but the last third of each line is read silently.
That is, the words before the final slash mark on each line are read out
loud, but the words after the final slash mark are only thought. NB:
the silent part of each line is allotted the sarne ammount of time as if it were
actually being spoken.
c) Repeat, but this time everyone reads aloud only the first third of each line,
always allowing time for the silent reading of the last two-thirds of each line.
d) Everyone reads out the whole poem again.

Acknowledgement
We learned this technique for choral reading of a poem frorn Peter Grundy.
VARIATION
In Step 5, different students may read texts found on the internet about different
pirates, naval commanders, or seafaring explorers (e.g. just Google ‘women
pirates’, ‘famous pirates’, or ‘farnous explorers’).
 Horse idioms

This is potentially as much a lesson in culture and history as in language.

Focus Figurative idioms such as spur sb on; speaking; inferring meanings

Level Intermediate +

Time 45-60 minutes

Materials A class set of one worksheet (see p. 134); a set of drawings to be displayed/photocopied

Preparation Prepare to display the horse pictures, or find some in Google Images; (check that
there are no copyright issues in the country you are in).

1. With students in groups of three or four, ask one person to talk about a topic
which you will assign in a moment. Say that when you call out the topic, the
‘talker’ in each group must begin talking and that they should try not to stop
for 60 seconds (intermediate) or 90 seconds (upper intermediate—advanced).
Then announce that the topic is ‘horses’.
2. Atthe end of the time limit, announce that all the groups now have another
minute in which anyone in the group can add something about horses.
3. Ask a few people around the class to say something that someone else in
their group said about horses. Don’t forget to ask if anyone in the class has
ridden a horse, has been to a horse-race or has had some other first-hand
experience of horses.
4. With the whole class, brainstorm vocabulary connected with horses and write
it up on the board under such headings as ‘Parts of a horse’, ‘Equipment’,
‘Kinds of horses’, ‘Uses’, ‘Things horses can do’, ‘Miscellaneous’.
5. Make sure they know the vocabulary shown in the pictures, and make sure
too that they know that in English we don’t say horses run; we say they trot,
canter and gallop.
6. As to the items of equipment, ask which ones are specifically for controlling
a horse in some way. (Those would be, especially, bridles, reins, tethers and
SPUTS.)
7. Optional: in a monolingual class, see if anyone knows any L, idioms or
proverbs which have to do with horses or horse-related equipment.
8. Say that because horses were so important in the past, many English idioms
originated from knowledge of horses. Mention that while some of the idioms
come from horses being big, strong and sometimes hard to control, other
idioms have to do with equipment or with horse racing.
9. Hand out the worksheet. Ask students to go through it either with a partner
or individually, as they prefer, and then compare with a partner. Add that they
should do two things: first, choose the most likely meaning for each idiom,
and then try to agree with their partner about how this meaning might have
originated from the literal meaning of (any of) the words in the idiom.
10. Bring the class together and check the idioms one by one.

62
 Body idioms

| This sequence of vocabulary brainstorming, guessing-from-context and

intensive reading activities incorporates techniques you can apply to figurative
idioms generally.

Focus _ Figurative idioms containing body part words, e.g. toe the line; inferring
meanings; intensive reading. (Variation: listening)

Level Upper intermediate-Advanced, with a variation for Intermediate level.

Time 45-60 minutes

Materials Three handouts (see pp.135-138)

Preparation Make class sets of the handouts.

Ser 1. If you have enough board space ...

a) Divide your class into groups and allot each group an area of the board
and a segment of the alphabet (e.g. a-f, h—-m etc).
b) Ask groups to write onto the board as many ‘body part’ words they can
think of that begin with any of the letters in their assigned portion of the
alphabet (e.g. a-f).
c) After a while, swap the groups around so that each one is facing a list
made by another team.
d) Ask the groups to try to add more words beginning with the relevant
letters of the alphabet.
e) Repeat steps (c) and (d) as appropriate.
Alternatively, if the board’s too small to do that, face the whole class, elicit body-
part nouns, and write them up on the board (or ask a couple of ‘Secretaries’ to
do this for you).
2. Form the class into threes or fours. Each group should have a Secretary who
notes down what his/her group decides:
a) what are the typical function(s) of each body part (e.g. cheeks are for
putting make-up on and for preventing food from falling out of the sides
of our mouths), and
b) what connotations the noun has (e.g. ‘heart’: rather positive, romance,
sensitivity).
3. Join the groups together into larger groups, and ask the Secretaries to report
their group’s ideas to the members of the other groups in their new ‘mega’
group.
4. Hand out the Idioms Sheet and ask students to complete It individually or in
pairs, as they prefer.
 Bring the class together and go through the examples on the Idioms Sheet
one by one.
(Short key: the expressions which are not figurative are:
1) elbow your way, although it is probably an exaggeration;
17) tip-toed, although there might also be some exaggeration here too; and
19) which could be seen as being halfway between literal and figurative.)
From your class, elicit as much of the story of Little Red Riding Hood as you
can. Make sure they know that in the old days, when riding in a cart or on
a horse, people used to wear heavy coats (or ‘cloaks’) which sometimes had
hoods on them.
Hand out the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and ask students, working
individually, to mark each highlighted idiom with an L if it's being used
literally, F if it’s being used figuratively, and L+F if it could have either sense in
this context, or both senses at the same time.
Ask them also to see if they can spot the idiom which is the odd one out, i.e.
an idiom which is highlighted but which not a body-part idiom.
(Short key: the odd one out is couldn’t carry a tune in a basket.
The full key is shown in the Keys section.)
As students finish, ask them to pair up and compare their thoughts.
Call the class together and go through the idioms one by one.
. Ask pairs to (a) join up again as they were, (b) look again at Idioms Sheet 1,
and (c) find the idioms which were not used in the story.
(Short key: these are idioms 1-4 & 15 on the sheet of examples).
. Optional: if you are lucky enough to have a large board and if your class
is not very large, draw a large figure of a person on the board. Then ask
students to come to the board one by one and, from memory, write an idiom
near the relevant part of the figure — e.g. to write give sb the cold shoulder
near a shoulder. Anyone who can't remember an idiom can say “Pass”
and remain seated. Students then copy the finished ‘idiom map’ into their
notebooks.
REVIEWING
Option 1:
ie At the beginning of a later class, ask students to form groups of three. In each
group, one student draws a large human figure on a sheet of paper. Then,
working together, they try to label it with idioms — from memory.
. When they can’t think of any more idioms, they swap sheets with another
threesome. Onto the new sheet, they add any idioms that are missing from it.
. Then they swap back so that they get their original sheet again. They look at
any new idioms that have been added by the other trio. Then they check their
notebooks to see if they had forgotten any.
Option 2:
ip Hand out the Idioms Review Sheet. Allow students to work through it in pairs,
if they wish.
2. Then call the class together and go through the items one by one.

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VARIATION (Intermediate +)
Preparation: read through the Idioms Sheet and cross out items you think are not
appropriate for your class. Then in the story, cross out the same items, and adjust
the text so that it is more natural and simpler than before.
Procedure: instead of Steps 6-10, pre-teach any potentially unfamiliar vocabulary
(although there shouldn’t be much now that you have simplified it). On the
board, write the target chunks in the order they are going to occur in the story,
and ask students to copy the list onto a sheet of paper. Say that:
a) you are going to read the story out to them;
b) when you are about to use one of the chunks, you will slow down and point
to it on the board; and
c) on their papers, they should mark whether that chunk has been used literally
(L), figuratively (F) or both (L+F) (see Step 7 above).
In pairs or threes, students compare their thoughts. Read through the story a
second time, more slowly. Whenever you come to a target chunk, stop and make
sure everyone understands how it is being used at that point in the story.

65
 Boxing idioms

This listening and intensive reading activity focuses on a set of idioms, originally
from boxing, that are often used to talk about competitions of many kinds.

Focus Figurative idioms such as down (or out) for the count; (optional) listening &
discussion; intensive reading

Level Upper intermediate +

Time 30-45 minutes

Materials Optional: 1-3 slides of boxing matches from the internet (check that there are
no copyright issues in the country you are in); worksheet (see p.139)

Preparation 1. Optional: on the internet, find 1-3 dramatic boxing paintings, e.g. ‘Dempsey
and Firpo’ or ‘Stag at Sharkey’s’ by George Wesley Bellows, or the photo
entitled ‘First round, First minute Mohammed Ali vs Sonny Liston 25th
May 1965’ (all of which should be on Google; see also ‘boxing’ via Google
Images). Prepare slides of the images you want to display.
2. Prepare copies of the worksheet.

1. Optional: in order to better enable your students to link the boxing idioms
with rich mental images, lead a visualisation activity. Ask them to sit comfortably,
relax, and close their eyes; when they have sat silently for a few seconds, speak
... perhaps as follows (the slashes mark possible dramatic pauses):
You're in a large room. / A very large room. It's called a boxing arena, and in
the middle of it is a boxing ring. / It’s called a ‘ring’, but it is in fact square. /
There's a post at each corner of the ring. Thick red ropes go from post to post.
The function of the ropes is to keep anyone from falling out of the ring. /
The ring is in the centre of this arena and it is raised up a few feet so that
if you're in the front row of seats the boxers are a bit above you. / Soon,
boxers will fight in this ring. / The ceiling of this arena is high. / There are four
entrances to the arena — one on each side; all are higher than the ring. /
The fight is going to start soon. Already there are older men in suits in the
ring. Some were famous boxers in the past. Their noses don't look normal;
they look squashed. / One by one, they are introduced by another man in a
sult. His nose is normal. He is the announcer. / People clap. /
Now tonight's two fighters come into the arena, one after the other. The
spectators shout, boo, clap, whistle, stamp their feet, cheer and jeer ... you
can't hear yourself think! One after the other, the two fighters climb into the
ring through the ropes. / The announcer calls out their names as they enter
the ring. People continue to cheer and boo./ All the men in suits leave the
ring by climbing through the ropes.
Now the referee Is in charge. He tells the boxers the rules; for instance, no
hitting below the belt (a low blow). He tells them how long each round will
last. He tells them to fight fair. You hear that there will be ten rounds. The
boxers touch gloves, and each goes to his corner, near his assistants, who
wait just outside the ring with towels, water and sticking plasters for cuts. /

66
 The referee gives the signal, and the two boxers come out towards the centre
of the ring. The cheering and booing stops. You hear thuds as the two men
punch and pound each other. The man behind you leans closer to watch. His
knees bump the back of your seat. He has whisky on his breath. Lights hang
over the ring. The air is thick with the smoke of cigarettes and cigars.
2. Optional: display your boxing images. Form groups of three and ask students to:
a) discuss their reactions to the visualisation (and the images), and
b) say what their experiences and views of boxing are.
3. See what boxing terms your students know, and write them up on the board.
4. Add the following expressions (in the left-hand column) onto the board,
and ask If anyone knows, or is willing to guess, what each one means. Give
explanations (right-hand column) as necessary.

be out for the count | If, when knocked down, a boxer does not get onto his feet again before the
referee has counted to ten, it’s called a ‘knockout’, and that boxer loses.
lower your guard A boxer guards his face by holding his gloved fists up in front of his face.
Lowering his guard, i.e. his fists, makes it easier for his opponent to hit him.
flex your muscles = show off your upper arm muscles by bending your arm like a muscle man.
You might do this to intimidate your opponent.
be on the ropes = be in trouble because your opponent has forced your back against the ropes;
and now that you can’t move any farther back, he can hit you even more easily.
stick your neck out = lean your head forward, which can make it easier for your opponent to hit
you in the face.
pull a punch = stop or weaken a punch just before you make contact with your opponent's
body. Sometime criminals pay a boxer to lose a fight. In this case, a boxer who
has been paid will pull his punches so he will not hurt his opponent. On the
other hand, he doesn’t want the referee or spectators to see that he is not
really trying to win.
the gloves are off! In the very early days of boxing, fighters would sometimes take off their gloves.
This increased the possibility that each boxer would injure the other. They might
do this if they became really furious with each other.
throw in the towel A boxer’s assistants can signal ‘we give up’ by throwing one of their towels into
the centre of the ring.
be in a tight corner = be in a difficult spot, like that of a boxer who has been forced into a corner
of the ring, where he has reduced freedom of movement.
take it on the chin = receive a punch on the chin. Sometimes this means ‘receive a literal or
metaphorical blow, such as a physical punch or harsh criticism, without
showing weakness of spirit’.

5. Distribute the worksheet and ask students to complete it.

6. Bring the class together and check and discuss the answers.
Note
For more about using visualisations in the foreign language classroom, see
Arnold, Puchta and Rinvolucri (2007).
 What does it mean here?

In some idioms the word it is a replacement for a word or phrase that

used to be there but which — because it was so familiar — was replaced
(or is in the process of being replaced) by it. For example, the phrase
Shut it! is a shorter (and even ruder!) version of Shut your mouth!
The following guessing/matching activity is intended to guide students towards
a more imagistic, and thus more memorable, understanding of a number of
idioms of this sort.

Focus Idioms with it in them; idioms with a missing noun or noun phrase

Level Intermediate +

Time 40-60 minutes

Materials Two worksheets (see p.141) to be presented as slides or as handouts

Preparation 1. Adapt the worksheets to focus on idioms suitable for your class.
2. Prepare slides or class sets of handouts.

1. Explain that a number of English idioms, including some considered to be

phrasal verbs, become easier to understand, and probably easier to remember,
if you know what the word it originally referred to.
2. Hand out the Idioms and their Meanings sheet, and allow students time to
read through it, ask then to ask you for further information about meaning
and usage, and complete the task.
(Short key: Swap around the following meanings: 3 & 6,5 & 8, and 9 & 11.
3. Display/hand out/dictate the list entitled What it originally stood for, and
ask students to match the lettered items to the numbered idioms on the
Meanings sheet.
VARATION
Give learners a smallish selection of alternatives (see also the examples) and ask
them to guess what has been dropped from an expression.

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 Sorting figurative
idioms by source domain

This activity can serve several purposes:

a) Introducing idioms your students may not yet be familiar with.
b) Reviewing / a knowledge of previously learnt idioms.
c) Doing both (a) and (b) in order to create the opportunity for your students to
link new input with language and meanings they've already acquired, and
to create a positive feedback loop by by enabling students to experience
high success rates.

Focus Figurative idioms deriving from two or three different domains of activity, e.g.
transport and entertainment.

Level Intermediate +

Time Variable, depending on class size and level, but at least 30 minutes for the main
procedure. -

Materials 20—40 A4 or A5 sheets, each displaying a figurative idiom (for ideas, see pp.143-
144), plus some sticky tape.

Preparation 1. Select a number of figurative idioms that come from three different ‘source
domains’ (see ‘Idioms Grouped by Source Domain’ in the examples). You
will need at least one idiom for each pair of students per ‘round’ (see Step 6
below.).
Make sure you can explain the figurative meaning of each idiom and can also
say what its probable origin is. This kind of information can often be found in
The Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms (2002, 2 ed.), a corpus-based
dictionary which also indicates which idioms are especially common and thus
worthy of priority in teaching. Also, good information can generally be found
by Googling, e.g., <etymology “beat around (or ‘about’) the bush”>. Such
queries are often answered succinctly at: http://www.etymonline.com .
2. Write each idiom you have chosen on an A4 or A5 sheet, large enough to be
read by your students if the sheet is stuck to the board.
3. For Step 10, prepare a second set of A4 or A5 sheets with your new choice
of idioms. This time, it is a good idea, however, to include in each new round
a number of idioms that are guessable on the basis of previously acquired
knowledge. For example, if the hunting-based idiom It’s in the bag has
already been dealt with, it may be easy for students to work out the meaning
and origin of a mixed bag. If the golf-based idiom (It’s) par for the course
has been covered, the idiom below par may become guessable too. If in the
driving seat is understood, then take a back seat is likely also to become
transparent.
 1. Draw a Venn diagram consisting of three overlapping ovals, as large as
possible, on the board and label them, for example:

Games | ( } ) War

Transport
2. Hand out one of the sheets (i.e. one idiom) to each pair of students.
3. Announce that the diagrams represent the three domains of experience that
the idioms were originally used in (in their literal sense).
4. Ask each pair:
a) to explain to their classmates what they think (or remember) the idiom
means, and what they think the origin of the idiom is, and
b) to stick their sheet into the corresponding domain (i.e. oval) on the board.
(The overlapping parts of the ovals enable students to place an idiom
in two, or even three, source domains at the same time if they think
that accurately reflects the idiom’s history or if they simply wish to avoid
committing themselves to a definite choice.)
5. As sheets are stuck on the board, check the students’ ideas about where they
should be placed, giving additional information if need be about the origin
and/or about the figurative meaning of the relevant idiom. If the choice of
source domain was wrong, ask (a member of) the pair to adjust the place of
the given idiom in the diagram.
6. Steps 2-5 make one ‘round’. For each additional round, you need to give
each pair a completely new idiom. (In a class of 16 or so upper intermediate—
advanced learners, we do up to five rounds; 40 or so idioms.)
7. After all the sheets are on the board, ask students to work individually (a)
choosing an idiom they have not presented themselves and (b) inventing a
sentence in which they can use the expression figuratively.
8. Ask for volunteers to present their work.
9. Remove all the cards from the board and quiz the students (playfully) about
their recollection of some of the expressions and their meanings.
10.Later on in the same session or in a subsequent class, you may wish to ‘zoom
in’ on just one of the (general) source domains in the list in the examples and
split it up into more specific ones.
For example, the domain of ‘games’ can be split up into (a) card games, (b)
horse racing and (c) others. The domain ‘sports’ can be split up into (a) ball
games & track sports, (b) martial arts and (c) shooting contests and hunting.
One advantage of such ‘zooming-in’ is that particular source domains (such

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»

BNE

RENN

as national sports) that have left a significant mark on the idiom repertoire of
a language such as English can be explored more thoroughly, which may help
raise students’ awareness of the language-culture connection.
At any rate, the procedure is similar to that outlined in Steps 1-8; draw
the same kind of partially overlapping diagrams as above and label them
according to your choice of particular source domains. Hand out the second
set of idiom sheets to pairs of students, and proceed as from 3 above.

EXTENSION
Quite often, the figurative meaning of an idiorn is not associated in any obvious
way with the original usage of the expression. Although ‘etymological’ accounts
have been proposed, these are not necessarily credible. For example, it has
been suggested that the origin of give someone the cold shoulder \ies in
the medieval practice of offering not-so-welcome guests not a hot meal but,
instead, the cold leftovers of a piece of meat. Similarly, it has been suggested
that the origin of hear something on the grapevine \ies in the resernblance of
early telegraph lines to actual grapevines, and during the US Civil War deceptive
telegraph messages sometimes being used by both parties to confuse the enemy.
Instead of relying on these published etyrnologies, you may wish to stimulate
your students’ creativity by asking them (e.g. in pairs) to invent an ‘etymology’
for certain obscure idioms themselves, present their stories in a persuasive way,
and vote for the most convincing explanation. Apart from the fun this activity
may trigger, it has obvious mnemonic benefits as the students will keep on
remembering the idiorn around which they have created a story. It is crucial,
however, that students first acquire a good understanding of the figurative (i.e.
idiomatic) meaning of the expressions, so that their etymological stories will truly
support idiom comprehension (and not cause confusion instead).
Additional candidate idiorns for this activity include: lead sb up the garden
path; sell sb down the river; be alive and kicking; get sb’s goat; it’s
raining cats and dogs, and teach your granny to suck eggs.

REVIEWING
Because of their figurative nature, most of the idiorns recommended for sorting
by source domain lend themselves well to pictorial/visual illustration. For
example, in the wake of s’thing can be depicted by drawing a boat with waves
behind it, and getting into gear can be mimed by manipulating an imaginary
gear stick. As review/consolidation, ask students either to make a drawing on
the board or to perform a mime that hints at a particular idiom that they have
in mind, so that their peers can guess what it is. The basic procedure here is as
follows.
1. Give students a couple of minutes (a) to list for themselves a number of
idioms they remember from the previous activities and (b) to select from their
list a couple of idioms whose literal meaning they can elucidate either in a
drawing or through mime.
2. Ask volunteers to take turns at either drawing on the board or miming their

71
 idiom so as to enable their classmates to guess which one the presenter has
in mind.
VARIATION
1. Give each student two or more cards, each with a previously encountered
idiom on it, and tell everyone to keep their cards to themselves. (The rationale
for giving each student at least two cards is to increase the chances that
everyone will be able to perform the next step.)
2. Ask students each to choose an idiom, then tell their fellow-students, “You're
looking for an expression that means (...),” and make a drawing on the
board that will help classmates identify the expression.
As another alternative, two teams can take turns trying to identify the idiom
being drawn or mimed by a member of their own team. (This game-like activity
is often known as ‘Pictionary’.)

72
 Talking about an emotion

This suite of activities focuses directly on figurative idioms used in talking

about anger. More generally, it invites students to consider the imagery of
individual idioms in terms of broad conceptual metaphors (e.g. anger is a
hot liquid). Doing this can help your students to remember the idioms; it can
also play a part in making them better able to interpret unfamiliar figurative
idioms that they might meet in the future.

Focus Figurative idioms having to do with anger

Level Upper intermediate +

Time 30-40 minutes

Materials A class set of the handout on p.144, or a slide; in an advanced class, this material
can be dictated

Preparation Prepare to hand out or display the text.

1. Ask students to list things that happen to people when they get very angry —
e.g. they may get red in the face, become irrational, raise their voice and even
become violent.
2. Ask students to read the first text and underline all the figurative phrases that
are used to describe an emotion.
3. Bring the class together and ask:
a) what is it that most of the expressions have in common? (Short key: anger
is described as if it were a hot gas or liquid inside the body.)
o) which of the physical symptoms of anger brainstormed in Step 1 seems to
have inspired most of the imagery that is expressed?
(Short key: angry people get red in the face and/or seem hot owing to
a sudden increase of blood flow to the surface of the body, the head in
particular.)

4. Remind students of the other two things that may happen to people when
they get very angry: they become irrational and aggressive.
5. Hand out (or dictate or display) the list of Figurative Expressions of Anger
and ask students, in pairs, to decide whether the imagery of each of the
expressions has to do with heat, madness or dangerous animals.
6. Bring the class together and elicit idioms in your students’ mother tongue(s)
which express images similar or identical to those expressed by the English
idioms considered above. This is most straightforward when students all soeak
the same L, but Is also possible in multi-lingual classes.
Tip
For lists of idioms in sets (e.g. TIME Is MONEY: spend time, buy time, have time to
spare...) see http://cogsci.berkeley.edu/lakoff/metaphors/.

73
 Seeing the deep
logic of word partnerships

This activity helps students to see how the partnerships of a word like perform
e.g. perform a song, perform a trick, perform a miracle — reflect a deep
logic. Students who see this logic should find all these phrases easier to
remember. Here, we focus on a small set of verbs, but the method used is easy
to use with other words and other parts of speech.

Focus Verb + noun collocations of commit, conduct, perform, cause; (optional: wreak,
carry, improvement and progress)

Level —Intermediate—Upper intermediate; also Advanced if you do the extensions

Time 20-30 minutes without the extensions

Materials A class set of the worksheet (see p.145), or 4 picture slides

Preparation Prepare a class set of the worksheet (in the examples) or a slide of each of the
pictures (see also 5.28).

1. Write the following verbs on the board with a lot of room beneath each one:
commit, conduct, perform, cause. As a hint about conduct, make sure
your students know that a ‘conductor’ is the leader of an orchestra who tells
musicians what, how and when to play. Regarding perform, make sure they
know that a performance takes place in front of spectators or an audience.
2. Ask students to suggest direct objects for each verb — e.g. for commit they
may suggest a crime. Write each appropriate noun on the board under the
verb it typically follows.
3. Ask your students if they can see any general pattern in the kind of direct
object that follows each verb.
4. Option 1:
Hand out the worksheet and ask your students to write each of the nouns
(e.g. adultery) under the appropriate verb (e.g. commit). Some of these
nouns they should already have mentioned in Step 2.
Option 2:
a) Ask your students to write the four verbs (commit, etc) on a blank sheet
of paper with plenty of room around each one.
b) Display the four pictures (above) and ask which goes with commit, which
with investigate, etc.
c) Dictate the nouns (e.g. adultery); students should write each one under/
beside the appropriate verb — e.g. COMMIT: adultery, a crime ...
5. Check how they did.
6. Check the students’ appreciation of how some of the more peripheral cases
fit the overall pattern. In particular, ask them why suicide goes with commit
(i.e. it used to be punishable as a crime!) and why miracle goes with perform
(i.e. witnesses — an audience — are generally required).
EXTENSIONS
7. The main procedure focuses on the usual types of direct objects for each of
the four target verbs. For example, in the case of cause, the aim (by working
with such very negative-result nouns as devastation) was to highlight its
strong link with negative results.
So now, as an extension, dictate other nouns/phrases and ask students to
group them according to how likely they might be to follow cause: e.g.
problems, trouble, an improvement, us some difficulty, pain, pleasure,
a delay, extra efficiency, disruption ...
8. Introduce your students to the Collins tree on-line concordance and
collocations sampler at http:/Awww.collins.co.uk, and then ask them to call up
concordance lines and the collocations list for:
a) commit, conduct, perform and cause, in order to learn more about their
word partnerships;
b) investigation and inspection, which should lead them to find that the verb
carry out is a common alternative to conduct;
c) positive nouns such as improvement and progress, in order to find out
what verbs typically precede them; and/or
d) the verb wreak (past: wreaked) used in speaking of extreme forms of
damage), which will lead them to the chunk wreak havoc.
Note
Both conduct and perform can partner operation. The reason surgeons are said
to ‘perform’ operations (which take place in an operating theatre) is that until
recent times, it was quite common for there to be spectators! ‘Conduct’ is used
to refer to military and clean-up operations which, like investigations, should
involve great attention to detail.

Tye
 Stop to smoke? Stop smoking?

Although many course books and grammar exercise books cover the thorny
topic of verb complementation with to or -ing, the explanations given (if any!)
generally ignore the fact that to retains the essence of its normal prepositional
meaning, |.e. to town = >)town
The aim of this activity is to leave students with the feeling that this aspect
of English is not random and chaotic, and that it is worthwhile noticing and
reflecting on form and meaning an essential first step to durable learning.
This creates an essential first step to durable learning of which combination of
forms is appropriate for what context.

Focus Verb + verb combinations with to and -ing

Level = Intermediate +

Time 30-45 minutes, not counting the extension

Materials Class sets of the handout on p.146, or a slide

For the extension, a course book or grammar exercise book containing a set of
exercises that can be adapted for this activity

Preparation Prepare to hand out or display the exercise given in the examples.

ie Remind your class of the following:

a) If you go ‘from A to B’, e.g. from school to home, first you are atyour _
starting point and then you are at your destination, like this: =| 1 > 2)
b) A sentence like |!want to see that film has exactly the same semantic
structure.
First comes the ‘wanting’, and then comes the ‘seeing the film’, like this:
|1 ||want > 2) |see ‘The word to has the same meaning in (b) as in
(aie > 2)
Ve Talk your class through three more examples, perhaps as follows:
a) If | plan to visit someone, which comes first — the plan or the visit?
Of course the plan comes first. The visit is the ‘goal’, which is like a
destination except it is an action, not a place.
b) If | remember to buy milk, which comes first?
The remembering, of course.
c) If fail to win the lottery, which comes first?
The failing! Winning the lottery didn’t happen of course — but, like buying
the milk, it was still the goal.
In short, the verb + to-verb structure means that the ideas and actions are not
In reverse time order. Often, the second verb represents some kind of goal.

76
3. Give out/display the list of sentences in the handout, and ask students to find
and mark the verb + verb combinations which are not in time order and in
which the second verb does not clearly represent a goal.
4. Stress, again, that the verb-to-verb pattern is similar in meaning to the place-
to-place structure.
Then write the following two sentences on the board and ask if the students
can work out which, if any, comes first — the starting or the attending:
I’ve started attending dancing classes.
I’ve started to attend dancing classes.
In this case, the starting and attending actually happen at the same time, and
this is why both the to and the -ing forms are possible.
5. Write up these two sentences and ask, “In which sentence does tell/telling
represent a goal?”:
| tried to tell her a joke, but | couldn’t remember the end.
| tried telling her a joke, but even that didn’t make her smile.
In the first, telling the joke is the goal even though it wasn’t achieved. In the
second, telling a joke was a (failing) means to the goa! of making someone
smile, but telling the joke was not itself the goal.
6. Write up I like swimming here and I like to swim here, and explain
that for many people, especially soeakers of North American English, these
sentences differ slightly in meaning in a way that is consistent with the
other examples above. That is, | like to swim here is something you might
say when you are not swimming but are merely thinking of swimming as a
desirable goal. But | like swimming is something you are especially likely to
say when you are actually swimming or when you are picturing yourself in the
water having a good time; that is, the (idea of) swimming comes before the
(idea of) liking. Add, however, that the difference is very subtle, and absent in
British English where J like -ing is the norm for both senses.
EXTENSION
Find an appropriate set of exercises from a course book or grammar exercise
book for your students to do according to the explanations given above.
 Noticing patterns
of sound repetition

This exercise, which finishes with writing and reading out dialogues, encourages
students to notice mnemonic patterns of sound repetition such as alliteration.
This reflects experimental evidence that, by directing students’ attention to
sound repetitions even for a short time, you can increase the chances that
students will remember the chunks in question (see p.19).

Focus Any kind of chunk which showings sound repetition (e.g. alliteration); dialogue
writing

Level Pre-intermediate+

Time 45-70 minutes, but Steps 1-6 and 7-12 can be done in separate lessons

Materials A list of alliterative film titles; copies of the Which is Catchiest? worksheets (see
pp.147-151)

Preparation 1. Steps 1-7: Find a collection of English film titles (e.g. by Googling ‘film
titles’) and select a number of titles that are alliterative (e.g. Bedknobs and
Broomsticks; Bend it like Beckham; Baby Boom; Bullets over Broadway,
Beauty and the Beast, Dancer in the Dark, Die Another Day, Dirty
Dancing, Doctor Doolittle, Mad Max, Desperately Seeking Susan).
You will not have to look hard, since the use of catchy sound patterns is a
common marketing gimmick in the entertainment business (e.g. Donald
Duck, Mickey Mouse, Marilyn Monroe).
2. Steps 7-12: Prepare a ‘Which is the Catchiest?’ worksheet by choosing one
of the lists in the examples and adding to it or shortening it as appropriate —
about 10 items at pre-intermediate level, 15-20 at advanced level.

1. Present students with your list of film titles and ask what they have in common.
2. Invite some discussion about the reason why (English) movie titles often show
repetition of word-initial consonants.
3. Elicit examples of the same phenomenon in TV series (Big Brother, The Bold
and the Beautiful), advertising (Guinness is good for you), propaganda
(Back to basics), and literature (e.g. Pride and Prejudice, Sense and
Sensibility).
4. Ask students (in groups) to make a brief list of the titles of films they have
seen in the past few years and then mark any that show a similar catchy
sound pattern.
5. Ask students to contemplate the titles that do not display any catchy sound
patterns and invite them to invent alternative titles that do feature repetition
of word-initial consonants (i.e. alliteration).
6. Invite students to explain the link between their catchy title and the contents/
nature of the film.
7. Distribute copies of one of the ‘Which is catchiest?’ worksheets, and ask
students to follow the instructions given at the top.
 Call the class together. Go through the items one by one, leading brisk choral
repetition of each ‘catchiest’ chunk. (The full scope of each chunk is indicated
by italics.)
Ask each person now to choose 5-8 chunks that they would particularly like
to remember, and write them on a sheet of paper.
. Ask everyone to team up with a partner and exchange papers. Each partner
in a pair now dictates the other person's phrases back to them. (It particularly
helps memory formation to hear and to write down such phrases.)
. Ask everyone now to work with a partner to try script a dialogue, one per
pair, using some of the expressions that were dictated. Write some possible
participants and topics on the board (but tell them they can also invent one
of their own): Two friends talking about someone they (don’t) like, Two
friends in a shop, Two angels deciding whether a certain celebrity should be
allowed into heaven, A couple trying to make a big decision, Two people
praising one person and criticising another, Two people discussing some
event that they both lived through.
As an extra writing prompt, suggest also the first words that the first person
says, e.g. “Did you notice ...?”
12s As pairs finish, they join up with others and read out their dialogues. The
ideal group size is eight.
QUIZZING
Create quiz items by taking the original sentences in the worksheets (in the
examples) and deleting all but the initial of each target word, like this:
We had a whole |h / crowd |of problems.
or all but the ‘lead’, like this:
We hada whole ho____/crowd __of problems.

12
 Sorting by sound

This suite of activities begins with a ‘taster’, an awareness-raising activity

that focuses on alliteration. Then come additional activities designed to raise
learners’ awareness of the other patterns of sound repetition discussed in
Chapter 1.10.

Focus Any kind of chunk which shows sound repetition, e.g. rhyme

Level Pre-intermediate +

Time 20-40 minutes

Materials Optional: a handout showing the phrases to be sorted (for example, see pp. 152-
153)

Preparation 1. We have suggested that as you progress through a course you keep a record
of chunks that have come up which show patterns of sound repetition. Now's
the time to use them!
2. Choose 15 or more of those chunks — showing different kinds of patterning
— that you want your students to review, and then add in five or so other
chunks that show no sound repetition at all.
3. Prepare a jumbled list (such as the one in the examples) for display or for
distribution on a handout.

1. Make sure your students are familiar with all of the patterns of repetition that
are represented in your list of chunks.
2. Display or hand out the list of expressions, and check that everyone
remembers what the chunks mean.
3. Ask your students to sort the underlined chunks into groups according to type
of repetition of sound. Suggest they do this by writing the chunks in groups
on a separate sheet of paper under the headings Alliteration, Assonance,
Consonance, Rhyme, Word repetition, None of these. Tell them that some of
the chunks will go under two headings, and a few under three. Allow them to
work individually or in pairs, as they prefer.
4. As students finish, ask individuals to pair up, and those already in pairs to find
new partners. In these new pairs, students compare their groupings of the
chunks.
5. Call the class together and check the group-membership of the expressions,
one by one.
6. Optional: near the end of the lesson, ask students not to look at their notes.
Then, on the board, write the headings ‘Rhyme’, ‘Assonance’, ‘Alliteration’,
and ‘Other Consonant Repetition’.
In a small class, ask everyone to come to the board and see how many of the
target chunks they can write (from memory) under the appropriate heading
for each. In a large class, elicit chunks orally while one or two volunteers write
the chunks on the board.

80
CHAPTER 4
REVIEWING AND QUIZZING
+
Introduction
Although it is well known that periodic review greatly improves students’
long-term recall of targeted vocabulary, published materials for chunk teaching
tend to give insufficient guidance about how to review chunks.
The aim of this chapter is to go some way towards remedying this deficiency.
All the review procedures described here can be used again and again to review
different sets of chunks. Each procedure has been designed to achieve most or all
of the following aims:
e To encourage students to re-notice particular chunks, an essential step if
memories are to be at all significantly strengthened.
¢ To build in the high levels of learner involvement known to be important in
memory formation.
e To consolidate, or even extend, understanding of the chunks by presenting
them in a context, possibly a new one.
e To require effortful recall, which is known to help vocabulary stick in long-
term memory.
¢ To produce the kinds of deep or elaborative® mental processing known
to help promote memorisation. This involves encouraging students to
associate target chunks with images and with what they already know
about English vocabulary and culture.
e To require students to hear, say and write chunks, not just read them.
e To encourage students to guess meanings on the basis of hints which
make it likely that guessing will usually be successful (which is personally
motivating).
To make reviewing easier to stage, keep a record of those chunks you have
targeted as being especially worth learning. But you also need to think about
which of those chunks merit extra attention. One criterion here is frequency.
Luckily, idiom and phrasal verb dictionaries now generally give guidance about
how frequently used any particular idiom or phrasal verb is. Frequency, however,
is only part of what you need to consider: another important criterion in deciding
which chunks to spend time on is whether a chunk is likely to be memorable -—
e.g. Does it show a sound repetition such as alliteration? Can students be helped
to see an underlying metaphor? Is there a similar chunk in your students’ mother
tongue? Does the chunk key in with an interest that they are likely to have?
Finally, don’t forget to try out the reviewing and quizzing exercises described at
the end of some of the activities in ‘Chapters 2 and 3.

83
 Memory slips with hints

The aim of this relatively short recall exercise, which demands concentration
and effort, is to help students remember the exact wording of the chunks
targeted. It works best in classes of fewer than 20 students.

Focus Almost any kind of chunk

Level Intermediate +

Time 5-20 minutes

Materials Sets of cut up idiom slips (see p.155)

Optional: a class set of an explanations handout (see p.154)

Preparation 1. Choose aset of 8-15 phrases you want to review. Make sure they don’t share
any key words; for instance, avoid targeting high hopes and pin your hopes
on at the same time.
2. Optional: make an Idiom Explanations Sheet like the one shown in the
examples, either for distribution as handouts, or for projection.
3. Make slips like those shown in the examples. You'll need a complete set for
each pair of students in your class.

1. Check that students can recall the meanings of the phrases you have decided to
target.
2. Display or distribute the Idiom Explanations Sheet, and give students time to
look it over.
3. Remove (or ask students to put away) the explanations sheet and form pairs (A
& B).
4. Give each pair a complete set of slips, and ask them to spread their slips out in
front of them, all turned face down.
5. Tell everyone they are going to do a memory exercise, as follows:
a) Student A turns over a slip. There is the initial letter of a word on it; if A can
remember the word, A can take the slip and keep it. Otherwise, the slip
must be replaced and turned face down again.
b) Regardless of whether A has been able to claim a slip or not, B takes her/his
turn to repeat step (a).
c) Partners alternate until all the slips have been claimed.
6. As pairs finish, form them into groups of four, and collect their slips.
7. In each group of four, one student, looking at the explanations sheet, quizzes
the other three by calling out a key word from each idiom. For instance, she or
he calls out ‘Sleeve’, and someone else from the group should call out Wear
your heart on your sleeve.
 Literal? Figurative? Either? Both?

In this intensive reading, elaborative processing® activity, students work with

one or more specially made texts which include idioms they have met before
that can, depending on context, have either a literal or a figurative meaning,
or both.

| Focus = Chunks which can have either a literal or a figurative meaning

Level Intermediate +

Time 15-20 minutes

Materials A class set of handouts (or a projectable display) of a story

Preparation 1. Choose a dozen or more idioms that you want to review, and work them into
one or more texts, sometimes using them figuratively/idiomatically, sometimes
literally, or sometimes ambiguously, between the two. Like this:
a) At morning inspection, all soldiers must stand at inspection with the
toes of their shoes touching the same imaginary line. Now and then,
if the line isn’t straight, you might hear an officer say, “Toe the line
soldier!” (Literal)
b) “Look, if you want to keep working for this company, you'd better toe the
line. So don’t come in late again.” (Figurative)
c) In the armed forces, people who refuse to toe the line may find
themselves in constant trouble. (Most likely figurative but conceivably
also literal)
2. More ambitiously, you could invent a single, longer narrative or start with a
text you find in a newspaper or on the internet, and insert your chunks into
it. For instance, you might work the expressions into a version of ‘Little Red
Riding Hood’ (see the examples) or some other traditional tale. The essential
thing is to use some of the expressions literally and some figuratively.
3. Prepare projection slides or a class set of photocopies of your text(s).

1. Explain the task and give everyone a handout. For each underlined chunk,
students should indicate whether it is used literally or figuratively or both, by
labelling it L, F, or L+F.
2. As students finish, they each compare their labelling with that of a partner.
3. With the whole class, quickly check answers and sort out any problems. Note
also that it is perfectly legitimate, in some contexts, for some readers to see
an expression as literal but for others to see it as figurative.
 Circulating review sheets

The main purpose of this versatile exercise is to help students remember the full
written form of chunks which fall into families (e.g. weather expressions, phrasal
verbs, proverbs). In the case of ‘topic linked’ chunks (weather expressions,
expressions relating to horses, etc.) this activity should help students form
durable mental associations between each chunk and a topic area, something
which should facilitate long-term recall of the chunks themselves.

Focus = Any kind of chunk

Level —Pre-intermediate +

Time = 15-25 minutes

Materials Blank sheets of paper

Preparation — Think of three families of chunks you have targeted recently and which you want
your students to review — e.g. similes (as blind as a bat), situational expressions
(Small world!), and idioms stemming from a domain of activity such as sailing
(jump ship).

1. Ask students to pair up, with one full-size blank sheet of paper per pair.
2. Following a clear route through the room (e.g. start with the pair left-front and
finish with the pair in the right-rear of the room) call the first pair A, the second
B, the third C, then the fourth A, the fifth B and so on.
3. Tell your students that soon they will be passing papers along your route. (You
may need to help pass papers from the last to the first pair on your route.)
4. Announce that all the A pairs will be in charge of (for example) similes, all the
Bs will be in charge of situational clichés, and all the Cs will be in charge of
sailing idioms. Explain that the ‘simile’ pairs should head their paper ‘Similes’
and from memory list on it as many as possible of the similes that have been
encountered in class so far. Tell the other pairs they should do the same with
whatever type of chunk you have given them.
5. Begin the activity. When some pairs have stopped writing, call time and say that
each pair should:
a) pass their sheet to the next pair along the route
b) then try to add to the list that they have just received from the pair up the
line; for instance, an A pair which started with similes will now have a list of
sailing idioms (from a C pair) which they should try to extend.
6. Ask pairs to team up with one or two other pairs that started with the same
kind of chunk. They sit or stand together and compare their lists.
 Using chunks in mini-stories

Various methodologists have recommended that students be encouraged to

write highly codified text types such as the limerick, the haiku and the mini-
saga. However, for reviewing chunks, we have found it best to ask students to
write within a more flexible framework, that of the super-short story.

Focus = Any kind of chunk; creative writing; reading aloud

Level = Pre-intermediate +

Time = 20-25 minutes

Materials Blank sheets of paper

Preparation 1. Choose a set of chunks to focus on — e.g. idioms from card playing, phrasal
verbs met this week, chunks from the dictation you did recently. So when they
come to hear or read each other's stories, the same few chunks are likely to
come up again and again, which should fix them more firmly in the students’
minds
2. Decide on a cast of characters. The ‘three character’ story described below
is very versatile. However, for some sets of chunks other types of story may
work better. For example, we have found that seafaring idioms go well with
the task of describing a young sorcerer’s (witch's / wizard’s / palaeontologist’s
/ ghostbuster’s) first day on the job, perhaps because of the meanings of
expressions such as learn the ropes and try a new tack.

1. List three characters (e.g. Princess + Pirate + Parrot; or Archaeologist + Desert

bandit + Camel; or Magician + Prince(ss) + Frog; or Private detective + (jealous)
Wife/Girlfriend + (jealous) Husband/Boyfriend) on the board, and explain that
the task is to write a 7-9 sentence story which includes (a) at least two of
the characters plus (b) two or three chunks from the set you decided on in
Preparation 1.
2. Option 1:
Ask students to write the stories in class. As students finish, ask them to stand
or sit with others who have finished, and read each other their stories silently,
or take turns reading them to each other out loud. (This solves the problem of
what to do with early finishers.) Then collect the stories for later editing by you.
Option 2:
Set the writing for homework and collect it in a later lesson. When you have
edited the stories, hand them back for students to read to each other in groups
of five or so.
Tip
Allow students to write about other characters, and to write more than your upper
limit of nine sentences if they like. Don’t use up all your good ideas for characters
at once by giving your class choices of different sets of characters. It’s better if you
can keep some characters in reserve for reviewing other sets of chunks.

87
 What comes next?

This intensive reading and reading-aloud exercise is extremely versatile, and is

designed to review the phrasing of any particular text students have previously
worked with — a text in their coursebook, for example. You might be surprised
how much your students enjoy doing it. You may, though, need to precede this
activity with some work on reading aloud (see Activity 2.1).

Focus Any kind of chunk

Level Upper elementary +

Time 5-20 minutes, depending on the text

Materials Class sets of text handouts (se Preparation)

Preparation 1. Use a text that your students have already encountered — perhaps earlier in
the same lesson. It can range from several, to several dozen, sentences long.
2. Divide a long text into sections, one per student. Insert slashes immediately
before words which the students should be able to recollect, or at least guess,
from what they have met before, like this:
pewecmennnnnnmanann —eeinencaeoennnasasaseewseaiin —————E NN

An amateur sailor endured 24 hours in the cold North // Atlantic after

being swept // off his one-man sailing boat by towering // waves. Searchers
had given up // hope for the man, who was barely // alive when he was
found on a beach in Norway by a dog // walker. When interviewed later he |
said, “| nearly froze to // death. People told me the weather was too bad to
sail in. |wish | had listened // to them!” |

1. Form pairs, trios or foursomes. In each pair or group, one student (A) should
have the original text.
2. Student A reads the text out, but with pauses at the slash marks. When A
pauses, her/his partner(s) should guess the next word or the rest of the phrase.
Student A should give hints as necessary, for example by giving the first sound
or letter of the word that should come next or through use of gesture or mime.
3. When A has finished reading her/his (part of) the text, B takes over.
Tips
It is important that you demonstrate how to give hints by using gesture or mime —
e.g. In order to elicit the last word of a dog walker you can move your fingers in a
way that suggests walking.
If you need to reduce noise, have students working in groups of three or four rather
than in pairs. Again, assign each student a different (part of) a text to read out.
If everyone is using the same text at the same time, they can be distracted by what
they hear other groups say. So it is a good idea to review two or three different
texts at the same time, but giving the texts in different order to groups near one
another. So each group works with all the texts, but in different orders.

88
 Review posters

All the options described here involve using abbreviations to prompt the recall
of chunks you want to review.

Focus = Any kind of chunk

Level Any

Time Option 1: 5-10 minutes

Option 2: 10-15 minutes, for a class of 20

Materials Broad nib felt-tip markers; for Option 1, a couple of sheets of full size poster paper
with a stock of more held in reserve; for Option 2, sheets of ordinary size paper.

Option 1:
Wall posters for chunks BEING LEARNED and PRETTY WELL LEARNED

Preparation Put up two large wall posters; let's call them A (for Being Learned) and B (for
Pretty Well Learned). Poster A will be for the initials of chunks which most
people in the class understand but are unable to recall even when prompted by
a translation or a clue about its meaning or how it works. Poster B will be for
chunks which started out on poster A but which almost everyone can finally recall
when they are given a clue.

1. When you notice that your students are not remembering a target chunk,
write its initials on poster A. But be flexible about what constitutes an initial;
for prompts to be helpful, they need to indicate the sounds the words start
with, so ‘wr. h.’ is a much better hint for wreak havoc than is ‘w. h.’.
2. At least once a lesson, use the initials which have accumulated on poster A
to cue recall of the full chunks. A simple way of doing this would be to point
to a set of initials — e.g. N. m. (for Never mind.) — and say, “We may say this
to mean ‘Forget what | said; it’s not important’. What's the phrase?” Or ask,
“What's this phrase, and when do we say It?”
3. When most of your students can remember a chunk represented by initials on
poster A, cross the initials out and write them on poster B. Review the chunks
on poster B perhaps once a week.
4. When either poster is full, cover it with a blank one.
5. Now and then review the chunks on any old Pretty Well Learned posters that
have been covered up by new ones.
QUIZZING
For each set of initials on poster B, give a gapped context. Students have to fill
in the gaps by expanding initials (which they can see on the poster) into fully
worded phrases.
 Option 2:
Small posters
Preparation To create a bit more interest and encourage personal investment, put individual
students in charge of one or more posters, on normal sized sheets of paper,
which they keep in their files/ring binders. Each sheet shows the initials of just
one phrase, in large, bold writing so that students on the other side of the room
can read them.

1. Once in awhile, ask everyone to take out one of their posters, stand around
the walls facing each other, and hold their poster up so that others can see it.
2. Ask everyone around the room to read out the chunk represented by the
initials on their poster. This is an opportunity for them to ask about any
phrase whose meaning or wording they can’t remember.
3. Ask students to stand in pairs.
4. Call on one pair of students and ask them to point to (any) three posters they
can see and say the whole phrase for each.
Ask another pair to point to four posters and say the whole phrase for each.
6. Repeat a few more times, each time setting a higher number of posters.
Ask each pair to make sure they know the phrases of the pair standing to
their left.
8. Working around the circle, ask each pair to call out the phrases of the pair on
their left.
9. Ask a few students to move to a different place in the circle.
10. Ask everyone to find their old partner again and, all at once, to look around
at all the posters and see how many they can both remember.
Tip
One way to help students remember the form and meaning of their own phrase
is to ask them to add onto each Initials poster a sketch which hints at the
meaning of the phrase, and/or to write a translation on the back, in very small
letters.
 Guess my chunk

This activity is a game-like way of reviewing one or two chunks, to be done at

the beginning or end of a lesson.

Focus Idioms

Level = Pre-intermediate +

Time 5-15 minutes

Materials — For the second variation: a supply of paper for slips

Preparation None

1. Explain that you will all be playing a version of the well known game Twenty
Questions. One volunteer student will think of and secretly write down an
idiom. Then others in the class ask Yes/No questions such as: Does it have
more than five words?, Does the first word have three letters or fewer?, Is the
middle word a preposition?, Did you learn it this week?, Was it in a story?,
Does it come from an activity in this course?, Has it come from seafaring?,
Does it have to do with being able to feel things?, Does it alliterate?, Is it
positive? lf by the time the volunteer has answered 20 questions nobody has
guessed the idiom, then the volunteer has won.
2. Call volunteers to the front of the class one by one.
VARIATIONS
e Divide the class into groups of four or so. Group members take turns
answering questions about their own personal chunk.
e With your back to the board:
1. Ask everyone to write an idiom and their name on a small slip of paper;
collect these slips.
2. Ask one student, the ‘guesser’, to stand at the front of the class a couple
of metres from the board and facing away from it. Ask the guesser not to
turn around and look at the board.
3. Choose one of the idioms on the slips (but not the guesser’s own idiom)
and write it on the board behind the guesser so that he or she cannot
See It.
4. The guesser now asks questions such as the ones listed above. This
may work best if the guesser calls on particular parts of the class, e.g.,
“Anyone sitting by the door — does it have more than five words?”,
“Anyone in the back row — does it come from the world of horses?”
 Charades/Pictionary: One by one, volunteers come to the board, each with an
idiom in mind. By means of gesture, mime and drawing, they try to help the
class guess the idiom they are thinking of.
Guess the Initials:
i Ask everyone to look through their notes and find a chunk which they
think others in the class ought to remember.
. As students think of chunks, they come to the board (not necessarily one
by one) and write just the beginnings of each word in the chunk. For
instance, Don’t hold your breath! might be written up like this: Do__
h__y___br !
When the board is covered with clues, point to the initials one by one, and
see if anyone other than the person who wrote it up can guess what they
stand for.

[i

—yD) t
Seopa
oO
9 7S,
7.

92
 Test me easy, test me hard

The basic idea here is that students can choose before a quiz whether to be
tested ‘easy’ or ‘hard’. For example, if you had a text in both full and in gapped
versions, you could let students choose whether to try to fill in the gapped text
before reading the full version (the hard way) or whether to read the full text
before trying to fill in the gaps (the easy way). Here, we describe how students
can quiz each other about chunks which can occur at, or near, the end of
a sentence. One element of the rationale for this particular exercise Is that
memories of chunks are best entrenched when students not only read target
language but hear and say it too.

Focus = Chunks that can come at/near the end of a sentence

Level —Pre-intermediate +

Time 10 minutes

Materials = One handout for each student (for examples, see p.156)

Preparation 1. Choose 8-10 chunks to review.

2. For each chunk, write a number of short passages (single sentences mostly)
like those in the example worksheets. That is, in each short context the target
chunk should come at or near the end; also each context should suggest the
meaning of the chunk which it contains. To help students remember them,
make sure that the chunks are not too similar in either in form or meaning —
e.g. do not target both come into (an inheritance) and come by (a new
possession) simultaneously.

1. Distribute the handout, and give students time to read It and ask questions
about the meaning of any of the chunks.
2. Ask everyone to turn over their sheet, and then test them as follows. Read
out each item, but always stop at the last double slash; this is the easy test.
Anyone in the class who remembers the end of the item should call it out.
3. Ask students to pair up and, reading from the handout, take turns testing
each other in the same way you tested the class. The student being tested can
say, “Test me easy!” (= pause at the last double slash), “Test me medium!” (=
pause at the middle double slash, if there is one), or “Test me hard!” (= pause
at the first).
4. Ask students to turn their papers face down again, and then work in pairs to
try to write as many of the sentences as they can.
 Spoken team quizzes

This is a fun quiz and listening activity that can provide very useful review
and also give you a pretty good idea about who has remembered what, even
though it does not yield individual scores.

Focus Any kind of chunk, except grammatical ones such as aS... aS...

Level Beginner +

Time 10-30 minutes

Materials None

Preparation Jot down a Chunk Quiz which you can deliver orally. We have provided some
examples of different types of question (see p.157).

1. Ask students to pair up for a Team Quiz.

2. Explain that:
a) each team needs one answer sheet, and that only one team member (the
‘secretary’) should write on it, and
b) when you call out a quiz item, team members can confer, but only in
very quiet whispers.
3. Ask the secretaries to write numbers down the sides of their papers
according to the number of quiz items there are going to be, and then call
out an example quiz item to see how well students have understood what to
do.
4. Read out your test items.
5. Correct the quiz orally by talking through the items. Ask the secretaries to
change to a pen or pencil of different colour when correcting their papers, or
ask teams to swap and then correct each other's sheets, or just treat the quiz
as a learning experience pure and simple, and let each team correct their
quiz sheets as they like.
6. Collect papers, or ask different pairs how they did (e.g. “Who got a
stupendous score?”, “Who only got a wonderful one?”, “Whose score
was pretty good?”, "So so?”, “Utterly disastrous — we don’t know what
happened! ").

94
 Embedding chunks in a text

In this exercise students decide how a small set of chunks can be inserted into
a text. For each chunk, this challenges students to consider:
e its functional class, e.g. adjective
¢ what it does, e.g. describe a noun
e its meaning.

Focus Any kind of chunk, except grammatical chunks like as... aS...

Level Elementary +

Time 10 minutes +

Materials Copies of (a set of) text(s) (for example, see p.158)

Preparation Compose
one or more exercises such as the one shown below and in the
examples. If you want the exercise to be more challenging, do not present the
chunks in the order that they should occur in the text.
Or to make the exercises easier you could: use familiar texts, insert marks to show
where a chunk should go, and/or present the chunks in the order in which they
should occur in the text.

Explain to your students that they should embed each chunk in the text so that
sensible, natural wording results.

but in vain / at first / in desperation / let alone/

Oncetiper-atime / Nothing worked

Once upon a time

AThere was a king and queen whose son never went anywhere. He never

went out of the palace or to town. His parents thought that if they just

waited he would decide to go somewhere; but several years passed and he

still never went anywhere at all. Then they tried showing him pictures of

the beautiful world outside and bought him some running shoes. They gave |

him maps and bus tickets. Finally they gave up and just ignored him. Now

he is king; but he still doesn't go anywhere.

SE
 Blanks with big fat hints

Like all gap filling exercises, this one requires students to read intensively. It is
designed to increase success rates without eliminating the need for students to
engage in effortful recall.

Focus Any kind of chunk

Level Elementary +

Time 10 minutes

Materials Copies of (a set of) gapped text(s) (for example, see pp. 159-160)

Preparation Make fill-in-the-blank exercises in which target chunks are given in abbreviated
form, as shown in the examples, but ideally use a text that students have already
worked with. Providing the initial letters is especially likely to trigger recall,
although word endings can sometimes make good cues too.
You can make the hints even more potent by using line length to indicate the
number of letters that have been omitted and by giving the final ‘s’ in the case of
a plural noun. This is what we have done in the example text.
Of course, you could increase success rates still more by also giving students a
jumbled list of the words you have gapped out; but that really does increase
the likelihood of success through sheer guesswork rather than the (more useful)
mental effort otherwise required.

Hand out or display the gapped text and ask your students to try to fill in the
blanks.
RATIONALE
Blanks in place of whole words may fail to prompt recall of targeted chunks
unless students have worked with these chunks very recently. Especially in the
case of chunks that students have not met for some time, adding two- or three-
letter prompts increases success rates without running a great risk that students
can write correct answers by sheer guesswork: a degree of effort is still required
to think of a correct answer. The higher success rates that go with big fat hints
can be particularly important for motivational reasons, it being well known that
success tends to be a better motivator than failure.
Finally, if the memory of a target chunk never comes to students’ minds, then it
will not be strengthened during a fill-in-the-blank exercise. True, students may find
out what the correct chunks are when the exercise is corrected later on. But during
this final stage of an activity, students — particularly those who have made more
than their fair share of mistakes — are likely to be paying less attention than before.
Acknowledgement
We first found this technique being regularly used (but only with single word
vocabulary) in tests of vocabulary size produced by Tom Cobb. His website, ‘The
Compleat Lexical Tutor’ at http://www.lextutor.ca/, is a treasure trove of interesting
links and tools for investigating L, vocabulary.

96
 Student quizmasters

This is an excellent way to get your students more involved in and committed to
the practice of reviewing chunks regularly.

Focus Any kind of chunk

Level Intermediate +

Time 5 minutes or less

Materials None

Preparation Read the ideas in the Key for this activity.

1. Elicit from your class all the different ways they know of in which a quiz can
focus on chunk knowledge — e.g. using multiple choice questions and gap fills
(for more ideas, see Key).
2. Explain that at the beginning of each future lesson, someone will have the job
of quizzing the rest of the class on, say, five chunks that should be familiar to
them. Add that the quizzes can be given orally or on paper, but stress that the
quiz must be a real quiz in which students write the answers down on a sheet
of paper.
3. Forma rota, perhaps by listing students’ names in alphabetical order.
4. Give your students an example quiz.
VARIATIONS
1. Allow students to make and lead the quiz with one partner if they like.
2. Allow quiz-takers to team up with one partner.
Acknowledgement
This is a variation of an idea we learned from Paul Bress.

97
PHOTOCOPIABLE
MATERIALS
 Texts

Example text 1:
Pre-intermediate- A burglar who broke into a house in a city in central Russia
Intermediate changed his mind after seeing how poorly furnished it was.
On a table, he left an amount of money greater than the average
monthly pension.
He also left a written apology.

Example text 2:
Intermediate- ‘Headscarf doesn’t fit our funky image’ says salon owner
Upper intermediate who turned down Muslim stylist
(the beginning The owner of a fashionable hair salon today denied being a racist
of a longer text) after turning down a headscarf-wearing Muslim who applied for a
stylist’s job.
Sarah Desrosiers, 32, told a tribunal it was vital that all her staff
show off “flamboyant” haircuts at the Wedge salon __ in King’s Cross.
And Miss Desrosiers, fromm Hackney,
said 19-year-old Mrs Bushra Noah's headscarf
was out of keeping with the “ultra-modern, urban, edgy and funky”
style of her business.

Tip
Ask students to replace any difficult personal names with initials. So Miss
Desrosiers would become Miss D.
Note
King’s Cross and Hackney are districts in London.

Example text 3:
Advanced A Waitress’s Revenge
(the beginning After years pandering to the whims of the rich and famous
Puen ger iene at New York's best restaurant,
Phoebe Damrosch has turned the tables — by writing a tell-all book.
“There are remarkably few truly world renowned restaurants.
And, as! quickly came to realise when | starred* Per Se in New
York,
“There are remarkably few women who get to work in such
 establishments at the highest level.
“| was the only female captain, or head waiter, at Per Se,
and one of only two in the city’s three-starred restaurants.
“As | discovered, the lofty reaches of fine dining can bea
compellingly peculiar place.
“Much of what | witnessed —
and | have been assured it is the same at many top London establishments —
was worthy of a film script.
“Larger than life characters; bizarre incidents.
“The stories | brought home with me
after a night waiting on some of the most expensive tables in New York,
not to mention the world,
were what prompted me to write a book about my experiences.”

* Line 5: ‘starred’ — i.e. when she marked a job ad in a newspaper with a star.

Examples

Pretty woman, walking down the street

You look as lovely as can be Ill treat you right

102
Dialogues for Lesson 1

A: When’‘s dinner? A: Can | borrow your car?

B: Soon. B: No way!
A: What’re we having? A: Why not?
B: The usual. B: You don’t even know how to
A: Can | help with anything? drive!
B: You could lay the table.
A: Of course.
A: How do you write your name?
B: With a pen.
Shopper: How much is this? A: Very funny. |mean how do
Shop assistant: £4.99. you spell it?
Shopper: I'll take it. B: It’s very long. I'll write it for
Shop assistant: Would you like it you.
ina bag? A: Thanks.
Shopper: No thanks.

Shopper: Do you have

A: Guess how old | am. these shoesina
GanZ5: size 10?
A: Guess again. Shop assistant: / think so. Yes,
B: I’m bad at guessing games. here.
Just tell me. Shopper: Do you have them
A: I’m 30. in brown?
B: You look much younger. Shop assistant: These are brown.
A: Thank you. Shopper: | mean dark
brown.
Shop assistant: Yes we do. Over
A: What time Is it? here.
B: It’s time you bought a watch. Shopper: Can | try them on?
A: Very funny. Shop assistant: Of course.
B: I thought so.
A: Can! borrow your mobile?
B: My phone? Student A: Do you mind if |open
A: | need to make a call. the window?
B: Where’s yours? It’s so stuffy in here.
A: | forgot to bring it. Student B: /’// get cold.
B: Oh, all right. Student A: A bit of fresh air
won’t kill us.
Student B: Please don’t.
Student A: Why don’t we change
places?
Student B: OK.
 Worksheets

The Boy Who Cried A shepherd boy had the job of watching over a flock of sheep near a
Wolf (Aesop) village.
In one week, he called nearby villagers three times by crying out,
“Wolf! Wolf!”
When they «nt. A., he laughed.
“| was just h.f,” he said.
And didn’t they know it was boring being a shepherd d. f. a. d. o.?
N.s., the villagers cursed him f. and L,
One day, though, a wolf did come.
The shepherd boy yelled and yelled,
“Wolf! Help! Wolf!”
The villagers heard him, but no one came.
A.a r., the whole flock of sheep was lost, all killed by the wolf.
As punishment, the boy’s parents b. h. bl. and bl.
The moral? People may not believe liars even when they t th t.

Intermediate- A Spanish couple have got the g. I. from a judge

Upper intermediate to evict their two sons, aged 19 and 20,
o. th. gr. th. living with them was sh. h.
The judge ruled that as the sons were adults,
their parents were n. I. u. a. ob.
to pr. them w. r. and b.
The sons were ordered to cl. 0. o. the f. h.
AUin a town in north east Spain.
—
BRWYDN
ON

Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class

Upper elementary Tigers are big wild cats that live in Asia, not Africa. They are very rare now. |
Most of them live in India, but there are a few in some other countries. There |
are even a few tigers in the part of Russia that is near North Korea. Tigers
have stripes. They like to swim. They eat other animals. Sometimes they attack |
people. But most people think tigers are beautiful even if they are dangerous.

Pre-intermediate After celebrating her birthday, a Belarus woman felt sleepy and lay down on |
what she thought was the ground. During the night a train ran right over her |
and she didn't wake up. The place she picked to sleep was between the two |
rails of a train line. Doctors later said it was a good thing she didn’t wake up and
move while the train was passing over her. People who saw her lying on the train
line in the morning thought she was dead and phoned the emergency services. |

Intermediate A true story

An Italian woman was in hospital to give birth. When the baby was born — and
while the woman was still in bed — the husband gave the little boy the names |
of his favourite horse and jockey. So the boy’s first name was the name of
the jockey and his middle name was the name of the horse — or maybe vice |
versa. You see, the husband was passionate about betting on horse races. The |
hospital officials accepted the strange name because the man told them that |
his wife had agreed to it. But she hadn't agreed! In fact, she didn’t know about |
these crazy names at all! She was furious at her husband when she found out |
what he had done. When she came out of hospital, she went to court and |
asked for a change of name — from the strange, ‘horsey’ names to names that |
were more traditional. Perhaps later she also asked for a divorce!

intermediate _ The Goose that laid Golden Eggs (Aesop, adapted)

| A long time ago, a farming couple who lived in the countryside and raised |
| geese made an exciting discovery. One of their geese had begun to lay a |
golden egg every Monday! As soon as the egg was laid, either the wife or the |
husband would take it to town, sell it, and begin spending the money. They |
began to spend so much money that soon they were in debt. They agreed that |
| that one egg a week wasn’t enough and so, one Tuesday, they killed it, hoping
to get - who knows?— dozens or even hundreds of eggs! But inside the goose |
| all they found was its insides. The moral? Being greedy for more can cost you |
what you already have.

page for use in class |

 Texts

Pre-intermediate | Here are a few hair care rules you should follow without fail. Don't forget:
(some of the chunks are wet hair can stretch and break. So never_ever put ponytail bands in your
underlined, but there are hair after a shower or a swim. And when it's wet, don’t brush your hair hard
other word partnerships —not.unless you want split ends. Another thing, sunlight is bad for wet hair,
worth remembering, e.g. so don‘t even think about going outside to let your hair dry in the sun. If
follow ... rules). you're already outside, go into the shade! One more thing, keep that blow
dryer away from the ends of your hair. This is a good way to damage them.
Anyway, the ends will dry quite nicely on their own. Concentrate on drying
the roots and middles, and leave the tips alone.

Intermediate It Takes Two to Tango

A speed dating evening in an English village hall was called off when only
one person showed up, a retired gentleman 73_years old. The event had been
organised in response to complaints made by young single men that they
were suffering from a lack of opportunities to meet young women. Quite a
few had signed upfor the evening, but apparently they lost their nerve and
either stayed at home or went to the pub. It could be they missed out on a
good time at the village hall.

These days, hardly anyone believes in vampires, but you'd never know it from
watching Hollywood movies. Anyway, have you ever wondered how you can
tell a vampire is a vampire? For one thing, they sleep during the day. This
is because sunlight would be fatal to them. For another, a vampire has no
reflection in a mirror. Finally, if a bag of rice falls on the floor, a vampire will
have to count every single grain. Luckily, you can ward a vampire off with
| garlic, holy water or a cross, especially one made of silver. Another good thing
is that a vampire can only come into your home if you invite it in yourself. So
don't be too friendly to strangers!

Upper intermediate Lottery winner Luke Pittard goes back to work ... at McDonald's
Lottery winner Luke Pittard has swapped slow living for fast food and gone
back to work at McDonald's. The 25-year-old had been taking it easy since
scooping £1.3m and quitting his job at the burger chain nearly two years ago.
But after getting bored with life on the edge of the sofa he has gone back to
his old job as a staff trainer. Father of three Luke earns £5.85 an hour and is up
at the crack of dawn to get to work for his early shift at the Cardiff restaurant.
“To be honest, there's only so much relaxing you can do. I’m only young and a
bit of hard work never did anyone any harm,” he told the BBC website.

106 anguages. Please photocopy this page for use in class

Example gapped text

Survivor

endured hours (days...) in

(on, under, near ...) after being

had given up hope for the , Who was

when Was
found in (on, under, near....) . “If only
had ee We later said.”

Text for Reviewing

Although our work at the quarry _— show us that we were

prisoners, the authorities still

the SS whos once” = populated =the island.

Sometimes we would see a group of common-law prisoners working

, and their warders would order them into the bushes so they

would not see us = : : =e : mere

us might somehow affect their discipline. Sometimes

we could see a prisoner _ : in

the ANC salute.”

Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, London: Abacus, p. 480

 Handout

—
Sheet 1: Replies

All the time. (Early) in the morning. In the afternoon.

During the day. In the evening. (Late) at night.

In the (winter). Now and then. (Almost) never.

Whenever (I) can. Never, if | can help it. (Once...) a day.

Every day. Every (two) days. Could you say that again?

Whenever (I) need to. It varies. Whenever (I) feel like it. That's a difficult question.
©

Sheet 2: Questions

1 When do you have breakfast? Z| When do you speak Chinese?

2 When do you go to bed? me When do you work?
3 When do you have a shower or bath? 23 When do you think of the future?
4 When do you comb or brush your hair? 24 When do you drink wine?
| 5 When does your heart beat? When do you think of your parents?
| 6 When do you dream? When do you cut your fingernails?
| 7 When do you dream about being here in class? When do you have fingernails?
8 When did you have breakfast yesterday? When do you put your shoes on?
9 When do you eat bananas? When do ghosts move around?
10 When does the sun come up? When do you play tennis?
11 When are children in school? When do you blink?
12 When do you have teeth in your mouth? When do cars crash?
13 When is the moon full? When do you go shopping for food?
14 When are you going to go home today? When do you tell the truth?
15 When do you eat chicken? When do you eat rice?
16 When do you see the stars? When do tigers look for food?
ee When do you have fingers? When do elephants sleep?
18 When is the weather the coldest? When do mothers love their children?
19 When do you cook? When do want to be alone?
NO ‘) When do you read a newspaper? When do you get dressed for school or work?

108 © Helbling Lanquaae: ise in class

 Example transcript

An example of a gapped transcript for a between-listening gap fill exercise

First on BBC Radio 4, Andrew Luck-Baker discovers female, and the converse of that.’
what factors play a RR er nem ouhanaet in deciding
However, according to Valerie Grant of the University
whether our children will be male or female.
of Auckland, New Zealand, dominance in personality
Most of us imagine it is completely 50/50 as to is the underlying factor:
whether the new member of a family is a son or a
‘Lcame to notice that women who were a bit more
daughter. But are the numbers of boys and girls in
dominant than others tended to have more boys.
our families really down to the .........0.ccceceeeeeeeeee
| did a series of tests of that over the years with
of a coin? In fact, it’s not quite so simple.
groups of women in varying status and found that
0S ee creer for every 100 girls born
there was indeed a Statistically ..............ccceeeeeeeeeeees
there are 105 boys. But also, you as an individual
result. Women who scored about 80% dominance
mother or father might have loaded the
on my personality test were about 80%
ee towards a son or a daughter
POTEe rasa a cui epee to conceive a son.
right back at conception.
It may be that women who have strongly dominant
Ruth Mace, an anthropologist at University College
characters are particularly suited to raising boys.’
London, was in Ethiopia in the year 2000, when
the south of that country was hit by a severe food Any theory which explains how and why individual
shortage. As part of a study on nutrition she looked parents are manipulating the odds over whether they
eee eee the birth statistics of about have boys or girls might get a supportive boost if it
300 women caught up in the crisis. coularalsor account... aeveree why at certain times
the ratio of boys to girls born changes across entire
‘We thought it might be interesting to see whether
populations. Something that happens towards the
the mothers’ nutritional state was correlated in any
end of and just after war.
i ee with the sex of the baby that
One analysis of German birth statistics from the
she had most recently produced. We did in fact
months after the Second World War found 113.5
find that there was a statistically significant effect.
boys to every 100 girls.
Mothers that had a higher body—mass .................
Pee i.e. more body muscle, more body fat lf there is one thing everyone agrees on, is that there
and also larger arm circumference, were more likely IS Still aOMG Way tO. acco. ee to make a coherent
to have had their most recent birth be male than story out of all these data.
NR

ey

[© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class |

 Texts

Pre-intermediate-
Intermediate

In rural Mexico, especially in the mountains, many people speak so-called Indian languages that are extremely
different from Spanish. In 2007 a Mexican linguist said that one of these Indian languages had died out. This
may seem strange if | also tell you that two men still spoke this language. So how could it have died out?
The answer is that neither man ever spoke this language because they didn’t like each other.
1 What is the opposite of rural? (If you don’t know, find out!)

:
Here, does Indian mean ‘of India‘?
What do linguists study?
||
|4 Does die out mean ‘decrease’ or does it mean ‘disappear’?
| 5 In die out, what do you think out means?

=
One afternoon, a famous blind jazz piano player, George Shearing, came to a busy crossroads in a large
city centre at rush hour. He stopped and waited for a good Samaritan — a kind, helpful stranger — to help
him across the street. He waited and waited, but nobody offered to help him. Then, after quite a long time,
someone finally felt his arm. It was another blind man who asked, “Would you be so kind as to help me
across the street?” Tired of waiting for help himself, Shearing led the other blind man across. Later he said,
“It was the biggest thrill of my life!”
|
1 What do you think is special about rush hour?
2 How many blind men are there in this story? |

In 2007 an American man wanted to change one of the wheels on his car. Of course, before you can put
new wheels on a car, you first have to remove the old ones. And to take off the old ones, you must be able
to remove the ‘nuts’ from the ‘bolts’ that hold the wheel in place. But the man couldn't do this because he
couldn't turn one of the nuts. It was too tight. So he had_a bright idea. He got a rifle and tried to loosen
the nut by shooting it. You will not be surprised to hear that soon afterwards the man was in a nearby
hospital.
1 Why do you think the man wanted to change the wheel?
What tool do you use to turn nuts?
About the phrase had a bright idea ... is it sarcastic here, or not?
What's the opposite of tight?
Why did an ambulance come? |
NM
WwW
&
oa Draw a picture of a bolt and a nut to show when you retell this story later.

110 | © Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class
Sener - — ce a SS ST ES Smee
H
;
There is a famousaveaenaee:of words between the palicees Winston Churchill andAte Astor, whoee
about many things. One weekend they were both staying at Blenheim Palace, where Churchill had been born.
Lady Astor and Churchill were at each other's throats the whole time. Finally, Lady Astor said, “Winston, if |
were your wife, I'd put poison in your coffee.”
Churchill replied, “Nancy, if |were your husband, I'd drink it.”
About how long ago do you think this happened?
N If you want to strangle someone, which part of their body do you put your hands around?
W Do you think be at each other's throats has a friendly meaning?
4 Which did Churchill mean — that if Lady Astor was his wife, he would feel so happy he would love to drink
her coffee? Or so unhappy he would want to die?
teres a eS
ee arn ARR ERT R LORD SCOR AOR RARER EE CCEL EAA RCOOPIOCOCE RADDATNECOREDACEDREDEODEPDAEDEIAELEPOOPOCEREEEDOIOCCCSOOBARROOCCELEESOOROCCCOCA
CTA,

During a newspaper strike, someone told the ageing American movie star Bette Davis that there were rumours |
that she had died. Davis said, “Me, die during a newspaper strike?! | wouldn’t dream of it!” |
1 Was Bette Davis young at the time of the newspaper strike?
2 Do you think this was before or after TV and the internet became so popular compared to newspapers?
3 Why do you think she said she would refuse to die during a newspaper strike?

Ina ai oe in “the USA aaman Frere into aace ood restaurantearly in7 morning, honed a gun, an |
demanded money. The employee behind the counter — a teenager — said he couldn't open the till without a |
food order. When the would-be robber ordered onion rings, the teenager told him they weren't available for |
breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.
1 When the would-be robber demanded money, what do you think he said?
2 What do you think a ‘till’ is?
3 Do you think a would-be robber is someone who has succeeded in robbing a business of some kind or |
who wants to succeed in robbing one?
4 Do you think the teenager was brave and clever?

There is a story about the Canadian icereac team in Russia in 1972. Some of the Canadians ean that the |
Russians might try to find out secrets about their game plans by putting listening devices in their hotel rooms. |
So some of the Canadians began to look for hidden microphones. In the middle of one room they found a |
round piece of metal on the floor under a rug. Maybe this is what they thought: “If we remove it, what harm |
canitdo?” A second after they had removed the piece of metal, they heard a crash in the room just below |
them. It was the noise was made by a chandelier crashing to the floor.
1 Did the Canadians find a real hidden microphone?
2 What was the round piece of metal?
3 When people say What harm can it do? do you think it’s (a) when they think an action may have a good
result and probably will have no bad result or (b) when they know for sure how to solve a problem?

|© Helbling L angjuage’s. Please phot ocopy this page for use 2 In ¢claaS s |
 Some years ago, in a city in Italy, a street musician was playing music from an opera composed by Pietro
Mascagni. By chance, he was playing exactly in front of Mascagni’s apartment, and he was playing the music
much too slowly. After a while, the composer couldn't tolerate it any more. It really got on his nerves to hear
H
his own music played so terribly. So he went down into the street, said to the musician, “| am Mascagni,” and
showed him how to play the music at the correct speed. Then the composer went back up to his apartment.
But later, he heard the street musician playing the same music, still too slowly! Mascagni went down into the
street again and saw that now the musician had a sign beside him which said Student of Mascagni.
1 If something gets on your nerves does it (a) make you smile?, (b) make you feel irritated?, or (c) make
you feel kind and sensitive?
| 2 Was the street musician really one of Mascagni’s students?
| 3 The composer didn’t like the musician's sign. But why not?
;

|
t

|| than
Even when he was quite young, the writer Mark Twain was famous for the number of cigars he smoked, more
100 a month. He said that when he was a small boy he tried chewing tobacco but that made him sick.
So when he was 8 years old, he took up smoking cigars. Someone once asked him what brand of cigars he
| smoked at that age. Twain answered that the brand he smoked were probably not very good “or the previous
| smoker would not have thrown it away so soon”.
1 At what age did Mark Twain try chewing tobacco?
2 Why did he change to cigars?
3 When he was a boy, how did he get his cigars? |
4 Were they new?
5 Were they whole? |
6 Do you think ‘take up’ might be the opposite of ‘give up’? |

A young travelling preacher arrived in a new town. That night, he was going to talk about God and religion in |
a local church. Before that, however, he decided to walk around town and see the sights. One thing he wanted
to do was mail a letter. He saw a young boy and asked him where he could mail a letter. The boy told him where
the post office was. The preacher said, “Thank you. And, by the way, if you come to the church tonight, you'll
find out how you can get to heaven.” The boy answered that no, he wasn't going to come. “Why not?” asked |
the preacher. “Well,” said the boy, “Get to heaven? You didn't even know how to get to the post office!”

1 What sights do you think you could see in a typical small town in your country about 70 years ago?
2 Do you like little boys of this kind? |

= “ex a a |

hay \guages. Please photocopy this page for use in class |

A famous politician, Robert Kennedy, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and so was accustomed to
people doing things for him. For this reason — although he was very rich — he almost never carried money
with him. Instead, whenever he went anywhere, he expected the people he was with to pay. One Sunday, he
was at church with a friend. Of course, at the end of a church service everyone should put some money into a |
‘collection’ plate that is passed from person to person. When the Kennedy's friend put in one dollar, Kennedy
whispered to him, “Don’t you think | would be more generous than that?” |
1 Do poor families usually feed children with silver spoons?
|
|
When his friends and acquaintances paid for things for him, do you think he ever paid them back?
What would you have said to this politician if you had been one of his friends?
|
Do you ever put money in a collection plate or anything like that?
7
7
IS
0)
On If so, where?

Se
a
Et a

Jumbled sentences

One day in a café, ...

But the next day, they both apologised and made up.
One day he popped the question.
The Big Day came and they tied the knot.
During the next few weeks, they hung out a lot together.
He decided to chat her up.
But not long after that, they had a row and broke off their engagement.
He caught her eye and vice versa.
How are they getting on now? Well, so far so good.
They gradually fell in love.
They hit it off.
They set a date for the wedding.
She said “Yes” and that meant they were engaged.

—— a eneroonennnnoncaennenncnoncnnennnnenannannnnnnnt

© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class |

 Master list

Situational clichés and explanations

Delete items you don’t want to work with. comwiassoacoosodbtssibinceleeenonooonnnas soconacoobaiHeerisensecossacacceanssnneisnchnondstiet
iNet isesesasesncooncGten nas nITOCeaRRIIZaO iceCeN ESN SOO ROR IEAS RS RCO UALR SH NAOE

1 Ta-dah! Said when you are showing off anew garment as if you werea |
model.. -orwhen you! vejust madesomething, andyoushowit |
off as ifyou're a magician vwho has just pulled it
itout of a hat.
Hey presto! Said when you've been showing someone how to make |
something and at the end you show off the finished product. |
Itmeans, “Look! Here itistFinished! be
Oops-a-daisy! Said encouragingly to someone, a toddler for example, who
stumbles and nearly” falls.
I’m having a senior moment. You might say this ifyou've ‘just been forgetful, like old people
|
are supposed to be.
Shai wonde) Said especially when yc
you are Ina3 place far away “from hore
and you meet someone from your local area.
It takes two to tango. To indicate that, of two people involved ina » scandal, both
are to blame.
He ccouldn’ t organise a2 piss-up ina = 'He is incapable of organising anything.”
brewery (A' piss- up’ ISa drunken party.)
It figures. Re ieregarding) «a bad. act on» the part of ssomeone > of whom }
you have, for some time, had a low opinion. It means, “I'm |
not at allsurprised.”
“Don’t hold your breath. To say that something isn't going to‘happen soon,
s or at all.
E.g. ‘Don't hold your breath until | agree to do it.’ = ‘| won't
do it soon, ifever. A bit sarcastic. )
| 10 I'm
‘m having «
a bad hairday. = ‘Nothing’ : going rightforme today and !
feelout ofsorts.’
Another one pies the Ase Said when you hear of yet another case of someone |
failing, quitting, being fired, or dying. (From cowboy movies }
when a shot rider falls off his horse face first in the dust,
wiccad)
i What goes around comes around People who treat others badly will ‘eventually gettreated badly
in return.

It’s a Catch-22 situation. ; From Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22, we say this about |
a situation in which someone has to accomplish two actions |
but each action is dependant on the other action being |
completed first. A familiar example is when someone trying |
to get their first job after leaving school finds that they }
cannot get a job without work experience but cannot gain |
experience without a job.
14 Fingers crossed! To express the hope that everything will turn out all right
despite a possibility of the opposite.
The less said the better. A lot of criticisms could be made but you
\ 1 think it‘would be :
better not to voice them.

[ ) Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class

 Speak of the devil ... When someone about whorn you've been speaking about
appears on the scene. It’s usually used of sorneone you
_ know quite well, and like,
Beginner's luck. When someone who is inexperienced at
t something «succeeds
at it brilliantly,—
Good timing. When someone does somerethingattheperfectmoment,
One of these days ... (said grimly) = @:0,, "One of these days, you'll get your come- uppance.’ :
Le, this may be a threat (to someone) or a prophecy (about
someone) that they will some day get a well deserved
_ pu nishment.
Good riddance! To Say that you a are
© glad ‘about the departure ¢ory disappearance
of someone or something you don’t ee of, (The full
_ expression IS ‘Good riddance to bad rubbis Ay
Still waters run deep. ; You say this about a quiet, modest — person who you
learn has just done something extraordinary, in order to indicate
your pleased surprise that s/he could have done such a4
daring or exciting thing.
22 Say when. To invite someone to tell.you“when to stop pouring — when,
e.g., you are about to refill their wine glass. (The response is
i Whoa! or When!)
—————— —_ _ = pee nr AROOPORT POAR OOTPAIP RR ALOE OOORLCT ELL O SOOT DOR ROOLCDSORODSCOOLO SLOP OL HOLD LOOPOPOEOEL DOOD COCR AELOSES RODDED AASRACER OEE SRR OEE

if 23 You're getting warm. said in a guessing game or find- the-object game to indicate
: _ that the guessser/searcher |
isgetting near the answer/object.
; 24 If you say so. To indicate superficial acceptance of a suggestion or command,
' but underlying disagreement.
25 I’ve lost my thread. I’veforgotten what !wanted to say.
26 So far so good. To say that things are going well ina4 situation where failure
Isa strong possibility.
27 Ihaven’t the foggiest.”” = haven’ t thefoggiest idea.’ =‘have no idea at all.’
28 And Bob’s your uncle.” When you give instructions to someone, you can finish by
saying this in order to i as that the rest of the
process will be quick and C25)
29 Sod’s law." ; sf sornething can go Wrong, ‘itwill.’ This is what British people
usually say; US English is Murphy's law

e Other clichés: Likely story; Great minds think alike; Famous last words; Touch wood ~“ / Knock
wood ”°; You too; Help yourself; Dig in; How long is a piece of string?; Be my guest; Knock yourself
out “; |don’t mind if |do; | wouldn't put it past (him); Close but no cigar; Fat chance!; And pigs might
fly; Fire away!, As if!; The more the merrier; The sooner the better; Jackpot!; Do you mind?!; Are you
taking the Mickey)?; You ‘avin’ a laugh?"; Put a sock in it!; Let’s not rake over the past; Never say
die; That’s just sour grapes; There’s (only) one way to find out.

s
Helbling Languages. Please photoc a
 Initials Prompts for Reviewing
AAAAA TAA AAAS AT AAA A TLR A RL TL LT LL TR LN TTI EL NE ST LESTE TILE IEEE LEI EEE EELS IIEDEE BELLE LLB IEEEDEEE OLED ELL LEAL

1 When you are showing off a new garment, etc. (Hint: Ta-...)
| 2° If you're showing someone how to make something and then you show them the finished result, maybe
i you say this. (Hint: H, p.)
i 3. Toasmall child who's stumbled. (Hint: Oops-a-...)
4 When you've just been forgetful. (Hint: senior)
5 = "What a coincidence, meeting you here!” (Hint: small)
6 = “It's not the fault of just one of them.” (Hint: tango)
: 7 = "He is incapable of organising anything properly.” (Hint: brewery)
8 Reabad act on the part of someone of whom you have, for some time, had a low opinion. (Hint: |. f.)
9 = "Don't wait for it to happen, because you might have to wait for a long time” (Hint: breath)
10 =Nothing is going quite right for me today. (Hint: Maybe you should change your shampoo.)
11. = One more down (Hint: dust).
| 12. = The wrong you do will come back to you in the end. (Hint: round.)
13. What you may say, e.g. if you can’t get a job unless you have work experience and you can’t get
experience unless you have a job. (Hint: 22)
= aS To express the hope that everything will turn out all right despite a possibility of the opposite. (Hint: F.c./)
SOA
SOSSTIITTEE
RRSP
15. A lot of criticisms could be made but you think it would be better not to voice them. Hint: Less, Better
16 When someone about whom you've been speaking appears on the scene. (Sp. o. th. D.)
17 What someone may when a new team member has succeeded brilliantly (Hint: /uck)
18 When someone does something at the perfect moment. Hint: G.t.
— A threat (to someone) or prophecy (about someone) that they will some day get well deserved
punishment. (Hint: One of these...)
20 About someone's welcome departure. (Hint: G. r./)
21 Rea quiet person who you hear has just done something extraordinary. (Hint: deep)
22 = "Tell me when to stop pouring.” (Hint: S. w.)
RELI
SI
LCOS
ESTATE
E
LSC
2A
ES
ST
ELSON
AIEEE
SE 23 = You're close to finding what you're looking for. (Hint: temperature)
| 24 To indicate superficial acceptance but underlying disagreement. (Hint: /f you...)
25 = “l've forgotten what | was in the middle of saying.” (Hint: thread)
26 ="“No problems yet.” (Hint: S. f., s. g.)
| 27 = “lhaveno idea.” (Hint: fog)
28 Thesame as the one of Mr Murphy
29. When you give instructions to someone, you can finish by saying this ... in order to emphasise that the
result will be quick and easy. (Hint: Bob)

116 Please photocopy this page for use in class

 Handouts

Things that smell (Add or delete items as appropriate to the level of your class)
freshly baked bread 25 horse stables
hand lotion 34 strong coffee
the air on a frosty morning Shs) a hospital corridor
an outdoor barbecue 36 cold, clean air before it snows
an ocean beach 37 a ripe, garden-grown tomato
a Chinese restaurant 38 a match which has just been struck
a camp fire 59 petrol fumes (gasoline fumes“)
a Christmas tree 40 freshly split wood
the water of a fresh mountain stream 4) a candle just after you've blown it out
burning feathers or hair 42 a just-sharpened pencil
a
—SSS)
Ss
Wai
xen)
Sih
Keo)
toy
Sia boxes of apples 43 toothpaste
breath that smells of garlic 44 old saddles and other leather things
a dairy farm or cow shed 45 a stable with horses in it
a deep, dark forest 46 nail polish remover
freshly mown grass 47 an indoor swimming pool
newly fallen snow 48 crushed rose petals
chicken frying in a pan 49 household bleach
garden soil when you've just turned it over with a spade 50 wood smoke in the autumn
Wo a new book
On
SIO)
WOO
ah
ee
| 2 suntan lotion
20 crushed orange peel De fresh paint
a hay barn 5S a pine tree
laundry on the clothes line on a hot summer's day 54 someone's hair
burning incense (e.g. in a church or temple) 3) new magazines
when it rains in summer after a long hot dry period 56 fish and chips
a fast-food restaurant specialising in hamburgers Di a saw mill
burning rubbish 58 pipe tobacco
a rainforest 59 a wet dog
an Indian restaurant 60 crushed eucalyptus leaves
thick sea fog 61 an underground station (subway stations)
a car that smells of cigarette smoke 62 fumes from a diesel bus
the inside of a sea shell 63 garlic being fried
burning leaves

Note
A few of these do not include a chunk; they are there to make the activity work better.

© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page f 117

 Possible Responses Sheet (about smells)

Good.

Mmm!
Positive
| like that.

| just love that!

| don’t like that at all.

| hate that!

Negative Ugh! Yuk! Ick!

Disgusting!

Revolting!

Nothing.

Zero.
Neutral
That does nothing for me.

Nothing one way or the other.

Ah, that reminds me of (when) ...

Memories and Associations
| associate that with ...

118 © Helbling L. photocopy this page for use in class

 List and Reactions Sheet

List of sounds for upper intermediate

(Add or delete items as appropriate to the level of your class.)

& St ES SS ES ES BSSSg ESS] SSS BBE cscs cs san Wea be)

§ 1 a ticking clock 21 footsteps crunching on a gravel path

§ 2 water coming to the boil in a kettle 22 someone brushing their teeth
y 3 the clatter of dishes and pots & pans in a 23 the crackling of a campfire
' kitchen 24 fireworks banging and whizzing in the sky
'4 screeching tyres 25 lions roaring
5 an ambulance siren 26 songbirds early in the morning
* 6 children playing in a playground at a school 27 crows cawing in the distance
17 cow bells 28 airplanes overhead
‘8 the rumble of distant thunder 29 schoolchildren playing outside
19 the pitter-patter of rain on a car roof 30 elephants trumpeting
} 10 distant church bells 31. flies buzzing around inside a room
j 11 seagulls screeching 32 someone reading a newspaper
k 12 cows mooing In the distance ae > train crossing zB) bridge

y 13 sheep baaing 34 water plunging over a waterfall

‘ 14 someone eating with their mouth open 35. airplanes taking off
' 15 a football game 36 blinds rattled by a breeze coming in through
- 16 aparty in a nearby house or flat an open window
i 17 an alarm clock going off 37 car horns honking in city traffic
1 18 water lapping against a dock or the side of a 38 crashing waves
5 boat 39 popping corks
) 19 a doorbell ringing 40 distant drums
y 20 bees buzzing 41 chickens clucking
Bs on eee ee caer a eae e ee
Personal Reactions Sheet (sounds)

That’s a sound | like because ...

Positive
For me, that’s positive because ... _

For me, that’s negative because ...

Negative
| hate that!

Nothing.

| never hear that.

Neutral
| don’t know what that is.

Nothing one way or the other.

... (because) | associate that with ...

Memories and Associations
... (because) when | think of that it reminds me of...

i © Helbling Languages. P
 Figurative manner-of-movement
expressions

Pre-intermediate
Arms up. Stretch!
Arms down. Now swing your arms.
WW Imagine you have a book in your hands, an imaginary book. Look at
it. You can see the front; it’s red and green. Turn it over and look at
the back. Turn it over again and look at the front.
Snap your fingers. Oh, the book’s gone - it’s disappeared. Magic!
Lean left. Now stand up straight again.
Step back. Now step forward again.
Raise your arms again.
Arms down. Yes, lower them.
One
COM
COR Oh,
Criee no! Someone has just thrown a tomato at you! Here it comes...
straight at your face! Duck! — Ha! Ha! Missed me!
10 Arms up! Yes, let’s raise them again.
11 Arms down. Yes, lower them. Now, click, or ‘snap’ your fingers!
[12 Oh, someone has asked you a difficult question. Scratch your head.
13 Your hands are cold. Rub them together.
14 Oh, it’s time to sit down and get back to work.

Intermediate
Wriggle like a worm! OK, enough of that.
(Also, recycle items from
the pre-intermediate list) Oh, there’s a bug on your shoulder! Flick it off!
Oh, there’s another one. Smack it!
Got it! Blow it off.
There’s an imaginary flower. Pick it. Sniff it. Lovely. Very fragrant ... in|
an imaginary sort of way.
Spin around left! Spin around right!
Look out! Here comes that tomato again. Duck! |
|
Here comes another one! Dodge left! And another one! Dodge right! |
©)
=x]
es)
We} And another one! Catch it! Throw it back!

Upper intermediate
= You think you’re dreaming. Pinch yourself. No, it’s not a dream - you're |
(Also, recycle items from
at the opera. The man next to you is snoring. Nudge him, like this.
the pre-intermediate and
Good, he wakes up.
intermediate lists)
2 Suddenly the opera changes into a haunted house and you’re all alone. |
3 There’s a box. Open it. Slowly, slowly. Out pops a ghost! Gasp! Flinch!
4 Here comes a bat flying straight at your face! Ward it off! Here comes |
another one! Ward it off! j
|

Oh, now suddenly you're playing rugby in the haunted house.

A ghost tries to tackle you. Ward it off! Hooray! You score!
;

Your mobile rings. It’s me saying it’s time to get back to work. You
wake up. You were dreaming after all.

120
 Pre-intermediate Sometimes it's necessary to make a snap decision.
Fishermen are famous for stretching_the truth about the fish they catch.
In a shop, when prices are lowered, that's called a sale.
| don’t know what to do yet. I’m still turning things over in my mind.
oe
Poe

Intermediate 1 He's famous for his sudden mood swings. | wonder what mood he'll be in |
(with some recycling of | when we meet him today.
verbs introduced at a lower | 2 Please don't raise your voice like that. This is supposed to be a friendly
level) | discussion.
| 3 The prime minister ducked a question about the war.
| 4 Some people are experts at wriggling out of their responsibilities. |
| 5 Two glasses of champagne, and my head is spinning. |
| 6 The police investigated the crime but they didn’t look deep enough. They |
|___ just scratched
— the surface _ NARACOORTE
ORONO RETOOL ORDA CELE OAA RC RC CE IAE RA EEO ORIOL CER RETTLCLEERLOEA RCO ee |
Upper intermediate — If the ‘fare’ is the money you pay for a train, bus or taxi trip, what do you
(with some recycling of suppose a ‘fare dodger’ is?
verbs introduced at a lower You can operate this machine with a flick of your wrist. A child could do it. |
level)
Conservative politicians often attempt to sway voters with promises of tax cuts,
I'm feeling the pinch financially.
ISS
168)
dbs
(al Some people believe that taking lots of vitamin C will help you ward off
colds.
| 6 She succeeded in her last-gasp attempt to pass her medical exam.
| 7 The audience was disappointed when all three speakers dodged every
question about their views on immigration.
| 8 Politicians may avoid tackling the most difficult problems, and so let them
get worse from year to year.
| 9 She never flinched from her duty, neither when a policewoman nor later
/ when she was in the army.
10 Reducing interest rates may nudge an economy into action because people
will find money cheaper to borrow and so they will buy more.
Note
Manner-of-action verbs express a general kind of movement carried out in a particular manner.
For example, the meaning of the manner-of-action verb ‘slap’ can be analyzed as follows:
Slap°°? = General action: ‘hit’ + Manner: ‘hard, with the palm of the hand’
These verbs are often found in Germanic languages such as English (and in Slavic languages
too). Because the verbs are so imagistic, they are often used in figurative expressions such
as the ones ones above, especially in newspapers. But in Latin—based languages, such verbs
are less numerous and play much less of a role in communication. Students who speak these
languages can particularly benefit from activities which show how these verbs are used in
English.

eee : = : : =i
[© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class |
 Worksheet

Weather condition Advantage

al Disadvantage

Unpleasant if you want to go to the

1 arainy day May be good for farmers
beach

2 aheavy frost

WW a chilly wind

4 amisty morning

U1 a slight haze
L
6 a breezy day

7 aloud clap of
thunder

8 a bright flash of
lightning
ime

9 astrong gale
———————————

10 blue sky

11 changeable
weather

} eee eS CT SENT: Oat eset

{ © Helbling Languages. Please pnotocopy
f ay
this
=
page
t =
for use
Ee
in ¢ lass
z
|
eae
 Example Sentences

1 Because of all the terrible things he'd written the meeting turned frosty.
about people in his hometown in his last novel, 8 As soon as she stopped singing, the audience
he got a frosty reception when he returned demonstrated their approval with thunderous
there to give a speech. applause.
2 It was a sad movie. By the end, almost everyone 9 The news of his death so young struck me like a
was misty-eyed; and some were actually crying. thunderclap.
3 I’ve read that book, but so long ago that now | 10 When he told her the news, she stood there
only have a very hazy memory of what it’s about. thunderstruck. Obviously, it was the last thing
All his jokes elicited gales of laughter. By the she had expected to hear.
end, some people had laughed so hard they 11 They keep about 20,000 Euros in a bank
had tears streaming down their faces. account they never touch. They say it’s their
5 They say that lightning never strikes twice in the rainy day fund.
same place, but | read about someone who won 12 Our director of training is going to lead a series
the national lottery two times! of seminars on creativity. The first one is entitled
You look bright and breezy today. ‘Blue sky thinking’.
7 After their boss told them that none of them ie Some people are known for their changeable
was working hard enough, the atmosphere in moods.

Review Sheet
1 Because of all the terrible things he'd written about people in his hometown in his last novel, he got a
IMOSTY NE et pesgpecc:tion when he returned there to give a speech.
It was a sad movie. By the end, almost everyone was splatisty-......ed; and some were actually crying.
3 I've read that book, but so long ago that now | only have a very ......... ZApaO eee ory of what it’s about.
All his jokes elicited .....ales Of Io... ter. By the end, some people had laughed so hard they had tears
streaming down their faces.
5 They say that ......... thing NeVer Str... tesa seen I CE *Stenc naweuews Dillane , but, you know, | read
about someone who won the national lottery two times!
You look ....... ight andere) see y today. You must be feeling a lot better!
7 After their boss told them that none of them was working hard enough, the atmosphere in the meeting
COMME Tass...
8 Assoon as she stopped singing, the audience demonstrated their approval with th.............0... Ous
BOOM ree: '
9 The news of his death so young str............. WCHIKG a Uns emer near
amet It.
10 When he told her the news, she stood there th............. lo er . Obviously, it was the last thing she had
expected to hear.
11 They keep about 20,000 Euros in a bank account they never touch. They say it’s their rw... WEN pacts
ope. oe nd.
12 Our director of training is going to lead a series of seminars on creativity. The first one is entitled ‘Bl.............
Skanes: thinking’.
13 Some people are known for their Ch.............ccc e moods.

© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page i

for use
1al H
 Handout

Upper Intermediate Review Sheet for Device Words.

For chopping down trees or splitting firewood. 8 Youcan use one of these to keep a door open. If voit
For digging holes with. cut a circular cake into pieces, each piece is usually
this shape.
An egg-timer is a small one of these.
, 9 For breaking big rocks with.
i)
UW)
fs
S| Farmers use this on fences so cows and horses can’t
escape. 10 You may need one of these to keep your trousers
oe: | Co
This is something on which you can clean your shoes
before you go into a house. On it, you may see the 11 You may use one of these if you want to pour liquid
word ‘Welcome’. into a bottle without spilling any of it.
If you work in a park, you may use one of these 12 This has the same function as a nail; but you don’t
to collect fallen leaves. If you work for a casino at hit it, you turn it,
a roulette table, you use one of these to collect 13 Before you use flour to make bread, you put it |
players’ money, through one of these.
You can use one of these to arrange your hair. Itcan 14 For rowing a boat with.
easily fit into a pocket.
a i EE ORE ae a SE a aE

Figurative Idioms Sheet

|

8 Some people just can’t call a spade a spade. Do i

you suppose they’re afraid that if they give an |
honest opinion they might conceivably offend
somebody somewhere on planet earth?
9 Jane’s mother tried to drive a wedge between
Jane and her husband.
10 The news of the crash hit me like a
sledgehammer.
11 Don’t pay any attention to anything he says. He's
got a screw loose.
1 I’ve got a memory like a sieve. 12 In around 1900, an hour-glass figure was
|2
} / used to be as thin as a rake.
considered the ideal for ladies.
13 If you let one student come late to class, that can |
Their business is doing well. They're really raking
be the thin end of the wedge. Soon two will come |
in the cash.
late. Then four, then six, and then everybody.
|4 i tic <
ees Epos Coaig Daeg ee
ledgeh : ; cj
14 The police combed the area for the missing child.
P35 Petrol prices have gone up again. We're going to
15 The government is funnelling extra money into
have to tighten our belts.
childcare.
iG Could be hard times ahead. They’ve axed 1,000
16 Barbed comments can hurt people's feelings. |
jobs at the local chemical plant.
17 Nobody asked you to put your oar inUX! If |want
iy You think you can treat me like a doormat! I’m
leaving!! to hear what you've got.to say, I'll ask you.

Additional idioms for advanced learners: He knows a lot about theory but nothing about the nuts and
bolts = the practical details; Throw a spanner into the works" = sabotage; It was a tough row to hoe
= a difficult job; After the battle, the victors conducted mopping-up operations = tried to eliminate
remaining small pockets of resistance.

124 } Languages. Please photocopy this page fcor use In class |

 Handouts

Handout 1: Basic information

A Typical ‘Hand’ Of Five Card Stud Poker from Beginning to End

The dealer shuffles (= mixes up) the cards.
The players ante (= they each put a chip in the centre of the table). (Pronunciation: /‘zenti/)
The dealer deals (= gives) 2 cards to each player, 1 card face up, and 1 face down.
BWN The players bet with cash or chips (i.e. they put more money in the centre of the table; but players who
don't like their cards can quit).
5 The dealer deals a third card, face up, to everyone still playing.
6 More betting.
7 The dealer deals a fourth card, face up, to everyone still playing.
8 More betting.
9 The dealer deals a fifth card, face up, to everyone still playing.
10 More betting, for the last time.
11 Now, all the chips are ‘down’ (i.e. in the centre of the table).
12 The players show their cards by laying them on the table, face up. This is called the showdown. The player
with the best ‘hand’ (i.e. the best cards) wins.
13 The winner takes the pot (i.e. all the money in the centre of the table).

Handout 2: More basic information

Basic Card-playing Vocabulary

A pack"*/deck's of cards = a complete set of cards, usually 52.
Your hand is the cards that you have been dealt.
Four suits =»: spades ® hearts ¢%. diamonds a clubs ce
Four aces; twelve court cards ie 4 kings, 4 queens, 4 knaves/jacks.
A joker is a wild card. In some games it can be used as any card you want it to be.
Trumps is the highest suit in a particular game. If no suit is designated as trumps, spades is by default the
most powerful suit, so that, for example, a 10 of spades & beats a 10 of any other sult.
To stack the deck = to secretly arrange the cards so that your opponents get bad cards.
To tip your hand = to hold your cards (accidentally or on purpose) so that the person next to you can see
them.
The stakes = the money you are risking. A high stakes game is one in which the players can bet (and win
or lose) a lot of money.
10 Chips are coin-shaped objects typically made of plastic. They represent money and are what gamblers use
to ante and bet. Blue chips are, traditionally, the most valuable.
11 Acard ‘in the hole’ is a card which is turned face down and so hidden from other players’ view. An ace in
the hole = an ace that you can see but no one else can; it’s a secret high card.

= FE ny MRT RIRR TS RoR

© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class
|
 Handout 3: Idioms and meanings for cutting up into jumbled strips
1 He plays his cards close to his chest. keeps his plans secret

2 It's time for everyone to say what they are thinking

lay all their cards on the table.

3 The PM has announced a cabinet re-shuffle. a re-organisation

4 She didn’t just win — she won in spades! emphatically, clearly, by a wide margin

5 It’s not_on the cards“*/in the cards". not possible

6 We've got the winning hand. most or all of the advantages

7 \'ve got an ace in the hole/up my sleeve. a secret advantage

8 She always turnsup trumps in the end. does a great job when it really matters

9 You can always rely on her in a deciding, end-game, situation

when the chips are down.

10 Mathematics is not my strong sult. my best talent

11 He threw in his hand. = He folded (his hand). gave up, quit

12 We're holding all the trumps / aces / high cards. all the advantages

13 He's the joker in the pack/the wild card. the unpredictable one

14 Do you mind if | chip in? contribute (i.e. pay part of a bill, or add s'thing into a
conversation)

15 The cards are stacked against us. Things are against us.

16 It’s time to up the ante. increase the investment and

= |t's time to raise the stakes. so increase the risk.

17 The PM had a showdown with his chancellor a decisive confrontation

over the issue of interest rates.

18 She tipped her hand. gave a hint about her intentions (accidentally or on
purpose)

19 If you play your cards right, you might succeed. make good use of your resources & opportunities

20 Try to keep a poker face during the negotiation. not show your thoughts or feelings

21 Being a very conservative investor, highly valued

| only invest in blue chip companies.

yy this page for use in class |

Handout 4
A story with both figurative and literal chunks.
(Target items are underlined and numbered.)
Jack and Jill like playing poker. They play with the same acquaintances a few times
a week. At the beginning of each night, the stakes are low' with a maximum bet of
only £1. But after a couple of hours of play, J&J and the other players always decide
to raise the stakes’ to a maximum of £50 per bet.
Why do J&J play with acquaintances and not with friends? The reason is they
have no friends, and the reason for that is that they both love money, love winning,
and will cheat in order for the money to be theirs. That's right; honesty is not their
strong suit®. For instance, they both like to keep an ace up their sleeve’. (It is not
easy to cheat by pulling an ace out of your sleeve and putting it into your hand,
but J&J.cheat in other ways too.)
One night, this happened: the dealer had dealt the cards and Jack had _all the
aces’ and was certain to win. He played his cards close to his chest® so that no one
could see what they were. He gave Jill a secret sign that he had the winning hand’
and she threw in her hand®. (Because they were married, they didn’t like to win
each other's money.) But all the other players had good hands too, and stayed in
the game. After the betting had finished (when all the chips were down’) came
the showdown"®. In short, everybody had laid all their cards on the table"! so that
everyone could see who had the best hand. Jack, of course, had four aces plus the
joker (i.e. 5 aces!) and so he reached for the money in the middle of the table — but
as he did so yet another ace fell out of his shirt-sleeve. Another player — who was
sitting next to Jill -- pulled a pistol out of her handbag, pointed it at Jack, and said,
“Don't touch that money, you cheating rat! Now listen. If you stand up, leave all
your money on the table, and walk out that door, | won't call the police.”
“Call the police?!” Jack said. “You wouldn't do that. It’s not on the cards'*.”
“And why is it not on the cards?” asked the woman.
“Because,” Jack said, “the police would want to know why you carry a pistol in
your handbag. Listen. I’m going to lay all my cards on the table’? right now. Yes,
I've been cheating you all. Yes, you caught me tonight. But what are you going to
do about it? Nothing! Why? Because | have one more ace up my sleeve'*.”
“And what ace is that?” asked the woman.
“The ace up my sleeve Is that | know you're afraid to shoot and afraid to call the
police!” said Jack. And with that Jill shouted, “Grab the money, Jack!” He did, and
J8&J ran out the door, ran down the street, jumped in their car, and drove off. “Jill,
you're a good woman to have around when the chips are down!'°” said Jack.
Jill replied, “Thanks for the compliment, but from now on, let me be the only one
who carries an ace up her sleeve'®.”

[© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in

 Handout 5: First Review Sheet
1 He plays his cards cl to his ch : = keeps his plans secret

2 | t's time for everyone tol__all their cards on the t___. = say what they are thinking

3 The PM has announced a cabinet re___u fle. = a re-organisation

4 She didn’t just win, she won in ____ades. = emphatically, clearly, by a wide margin

5 It’s not on the c = not possible

6 We've got the w h : = most or all of the advantages

7 I've gotan____—sin the hole / up my sleeve. = have a secret advantage

8 She always comes up ___umps in the end. = does a great job when it really matters

9 You can always rely on her when the are down. = ina deciding, end-game, situation.

10 Mathematics is not my s s é = my best talent

11 He threw in his h .= Heft __ (hish____). = gave up, guit

12 We're holding all the tr /a /highc__—.—s = al/ the advantages

13 He's the __okerin the p__—-_—s = the w______card. = the unpredictable one

14 Do you mind if |___ip in? = contribute (i.e. pay part of a bill or add
something into a conversation)

15 The cards are ___ acked against us. = things are against us

16 It's time toupthea___—_./ It's time toraise the ___akes. = increase the investment and so increase
the risk.

17 The PM had a sh with his minister of finance

over the issue of interest rates. = had a deciding confrontation.

18 She ___ pped her hand. = gave a hint about her intentions.

19 If you___ay your c r , you might succeed. = make good use ofyour resources and
opportunities

20 Try to keep a face during the negotiations = not show your thoughts or feelings

21 ‘Blue ___ip’ means ‘reputable and highly valued’.

128 } Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class

Handout 6: Second Review Sheet

1&2 Of people who are secretive about their plans, we say that they like to play their scl to

their ch . In other words, they never like to their hands.

Let's stop hiding our thoughts. Let's lay all our ¢ t

She didn’t just win by a bit — she won by a lot! In other words, she won __

It's not going to happen. There’s no chance. It’s just not on the S

We can afford to be tough in the negotiations tomorrow. We're holding all the . And if they
give us any trouble, we've got one more up our

8&9 Sometimes you think she might be about to let you down, but she never does. She always cee See.
in the e . In other words, you can rely on her when the Ss are down.

Mathematics is not my s S

He quit, gave up, in his hand — i.e. f — and walked away.

You can never tell how she will do. She's the in the pack (or deck).

(Said just before a talk) If any of you have anything to contribute during the discussion, please do feel
free to in.

| suspect that the bidding process is unfair and that all of the bidders but one (the company owned by
the president's brother) have the cards st_ ed against them.

16&17 Let’s__ the ante — you know, raise the st — by demanding that all the bidders pay a non-
refundable deposit.

The members of the board had a sh with their chairman and told him that either he

must resign or they would.

If you have an ace in the h _ you have a hidden advantage.

BI stocks and shares are the most reliable to buy, and are often the highest priced.

© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class

Tr ree emeeeeeeeieeeeeleeeeinineeeeemeiemmnnnnnannennanenteaineneeenneannnnemiemmmenennnnennenennenenee at
129
 Handouts

Jigsaw texts
11 Great Britain has two kinds of navy, both of which were extremely large
and important even as late as the 1950s. One kind is the Royal Navy, the
oldest permanent part of the British armed forces (which is why it Is still
sometimes called the ‘Senior Service’), and the other is the Merchant
Navy, which consists of ships that carry commercial goods around the
world. A hundred years ago, both navies were still the biggest of their
kind in the world. Both are now much smaller than they once were, but
it is easy to find evidence of their former great importance. For instance,
a very high percentage of pubs have a sea-related name such as ‘The
Ship’, ‘The Anchor’, ‘The Trafalgar’ (a famous sea battle), ‘The Lord
Nelson’ (the British commander of the fleet at that battle), ‘The Victory’
(his ship), and so on. It is probably also true that the popularity of tattoos
in Britain has something to do with its past as a seafaring nation.
continued ...

130 se photocopy this page for use in class

 Besides the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy, Britain also had a huge
fishing fleet and a considerable number of boats and ships engaged in
carrying passengers. (Even today, many people and vehicles are carried
to and from Britain in ferries, e.g. from the French port of Calais and
the Dutch port of Hook of Holland). All in all, seafaring was a huge
employer — especially of men and boys. (And this was true not only
for towns and villages near the sea but also for ones in the interior of
the country — although naturally not quite so much.) It was not at all
uncommon for wives to see their husbands or parents their sons only
once a year, or even less often than that. And of course in the old
days, because seafaring was extremely dangerous, many wives became
widows.
What are Britain’s two navies called?

| 5)Doin theyou 1970s?

think these navies were still the biggest of their kind in the world

Why does this text mention pub names?

| 4) What about Britain’s fishing fleet?
Are ferries still important, do you think?

| Was it only men and boys living near the sea who got jobs on ships?
9) What did seafaring mean for family life?

2 In the last 500 years or so there were — as far as Europe was concerned —
}
two main areas of piracy. One was the Mediterranean. The other was
i
the Caribbean. In both cases, the 1600s were especially dangerous
for seafarers. In the Mediterranean, Moorish pirates from North Africa
captured ships (especially ones from Christian countries) and took |
passengers and crews into slavery by the thousands. (In the 1600s,
Moorish pirates even captured people from villages in England, Ireland
and Iceland!)
In and near the Caribbean, pirates attacked, in particular, Spanish ships
carrying Aztec and Inca gold back to Spain. The exploits of some of
these pirates — like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan — remain legendary.
Sometimes they even conquered and pillaged whole cities. There were
even a few famous and dangerous women pirate captains.
One reason the Caribbean was so lawless in the late 1500s and most
of the 1600s is that Catholic Spain was long at war with Protestant
countries such as England and the Netherlands. And so the English and
the Dutch in some ways encouraged pirates (or ‘freebooters’) to attack
Spanish shipping. And one reason why the Moors were able to carry out
raids even against England itself was that during part of the 1600s the
English were busy fighting each other; in the 1640s, there was a civil war.
When stable government was restored in England in 1651 and when
warfare between Protestant and Catholic countries became less constant,
the Golden Age of piracy came to an end.

© Helbling Languages. Ple< se photocopy thi

 a) Where were the home ports of the Moorish pirates?
| b) What did they generally do with the Christians that they captured?
| c) What did the pirates of the Caribbean especially like to steal?
| d)) Why were the early 1600s the Golden Age of piracy?
i
e) Were all pirate captains men? q
f) What were ‘freebooters’?

3 Seafaring was an important source of work, but not just for sailors and |
fishermen. All those thousands of ships and boats needed to be built
— and so thousands and thousands of people found work doing the
construction.
Ships also needed to be supplied with sails and ropes and many other
things — and that meant further work. And warships needed cannons
and gunpowder. And sailors and passengers of all kinds needed food.
In short, tens and tens of thousands of people all over Britain worked to
make, equip and support the military, commercial and fishing fleets.
You don’t see this so much today, at least not so widely. But the coast
of Britain is to this day dotted with hundreds of marinas — places where
recreational boats are kept for the hundreds of thousands of people
who sail for fun. (Sailing is, after all, an Olympic sport — one in which the
British do especially well.)
And there are a number of maritime (seafaring), museums. The most
impressive is the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. If
you want to get a better idea of the hold that seafaring still has on the
imagination of British people, try reading Treasure Island by Robert
Louis Stevenson or any of the novels of C.S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian.
British poetry and painting, too, are full of evidence of the importance
of seafaring in British history and culture. Another bit of evidence of this
— very important for anyone who wants to learn English well — is the
dozens of idioms that come from seafaring; and now we are going to
learn some!
a) Why does this text mention sails, ropes, cannons, food and so on?
|b) About how many marinas are there and what are they?
| c) Why does the text mention the Olympic sport of sailing?
| a) Do few British people sail now?
e) What's in Greenwich?
| f) Why does the text mention the novel Treasure Island?
g) What does the text say about idioms?

132 [«) Helbling Languages. f hotocopy this page for use in class
 Idiom sentences
You'll learn the ropes in your first few weeks at work.
| Who's going to take the helm after you retire?
|
| She completed the project under her own steam.
| He's in a bad mood. Give him a wide berth.
| He turned white and then just keeled over. We picked him up and laid
| him on a sofa.
| ! don’t think they need instructions about absolutely everything. Give them a
| little leeway.
We had workmen in the house last week. Talk about chaos! But we cleaned
| up after them and now everything's shipshape.
The method we've been following just doesn’t work. Let’s try. a
| different tack.
| He hasn't been on an even keel since the divorce. He even talked to me
| about maybe seeing a psychiatrist.
| In the beginning, we had some problems, but once we solved them, It was
__all plain sailing from then on.
iLook, you've only been working here for a week. | suggest you don’t rock
the boat, at least not until you know what's what.
In the wake of a bad earthquake there is almost always a desperate need for
| reconstruction. }
ermeerccnnnnennnnnnnnnns nA RRA ROO ORCOORORROONLOP RIESee |

"Sea Fever (John Masefield)

__ | must (go) down / to the sea again, / to the lonely seas and the sky,
| And all | ask / is a tall ship / and a star to steer her by,
| And the wheel's kick / and the wind’s song / and the white sails’ shaking,
And a grey mist / on the sea’s face / and a grey dawn breaking.

| | must (go) down / to the seas again, / for the call of the running tide
| Is a wild call / and a clear call / that may not be denied;
And all | ask / is a windy day / with the white clouds flying,
Note
| And the flung spray / and the blown spume, / and the sea-gulls crying.
We have included ‘go’
in brackets, because It Is
included in some versions | | must (go) down / to the seas again / to the vagrant gypsy life,
of the poem — Masefield | To the gull’s way / and the whale’s way / where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
himself changed his mind
several times about it
| And all | ask / is a merry yarn / from a laughing fellow-rover,
inclusion. | And quiet sleep / and a sweet dream / when the long trick’s over.

|© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this pe

= eS ae eee LS ree a Ran De el
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 Handout

A BRIDLE A TETHER a
ve
ye
i
2

SY
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A tethered horse

A rider on a rearing horse

Horse Idioms and Sayings (To make the list easier, delete items from the end.)

1 She keeps a tight rein on her emotions. 9 Will |come to your party? Of course | will! Wild
a) keeps firm control over horses couldn't keep me away. (a cliché)
b) enjoys a) Nothing could stop me from coming!
2 They experienced a night of unbridled passion! b) If you think the party wil! be too wild, | won't
come.
a) controlled passion
b) uncontrolled passion 10 Don’t put the cart before the horse.
(a proverb; ‘cart’ Y™ ‘wagon’’’)
3 Their coach tried to spur his team on but they were
too tired to try harder. a) Don't do things in the wrong order.
b) Don't put something small before something big.
a) to insult his team
b) to cause his team to work harder and go faster 11 You can lead a horse to water but you can’t
make it drink. (a proverb)
4 |'m almost at the end of my tether. If one more
thing goes wrong, I'll go jump off a bridge. a) Horses are uncooperative.
b) You can give people advice but you can’t usually
a) at the end of what | have to do
make them follow it.
b) at the limit of my mental strength and patience
12 My parents live in a one horse town. There isn't
5 Give free rein to your desires!
even a cinema or a police station there.
a) Release, set free
a) a farming town
b) Redirect
b) a small, quiet town where little ever happens
6 This year’s presidential election was a one horse
13 Saddled with debt, the company finally failed and
race.
went out of business.
a) was won by one person, but only by one vote
a) — because it was carrying a heavy load of debt.
b) wasn’t a close contest at all
b) — because it had a few debts.
7 Higher pay can be a spur to better performance.
14 In times of galloping inflation don't put your
a) encourage money in a bank: spend it as fast as you can!
b) discourage
a) a very slow increase in prices
8 Stop horsing around and start working! b) a very rapid increase in prices
a) Stop moving around 15 After days of harmony and cooperation,
b) Stop playing and being foolish disagreement reared its ugly head.
a) People still didn’t disagree.
b) People began to disagree.
Note
For worksheets on other idiom sets, see www.helblinglanguages.com.

© Helbling Language: lease

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Handouts

Idioms Sheet. Which underlined expressions are not figurative?

Think of a synonym for each of the underlined idioms, or paraphrase it. If you
don't understand one, skip it and go to the next. Then mark the idioms that are
not figurative.
1 Don't be shy. If you want to get served, you'll just have to elbow your way to
the bar.
2 He called her a liar, and then asked me to back him up. But my motto is
‘Never get involved in an argument between a husband and wife’.
3 Teachers tell him what to do, but he won't toe the line. As a result, he has
been expelled from three schools.
4 Nothing that comes from the government is free. The taxpayer always foots
the bill in the end.
5 | can't tell you off the top of my head; I'll get back to you later.
She was so happy that everyone had remembered her birthday, | didn't have
the heart to tell her that | knew her boss was going to fire her later that same
day.
7 Let's not plan what to do. Let's just play it by ear.
8 That kid is pain
a in the neck (or ‘arse’ Uh/'ass'¥/'butt’ U5). I'd like to strangle
him!
9 He said he would help us, but then he got cold feet when he realised how
much work might be involved. Now we'll have to find someone else.
10 She never put a foot wrong all the time she worked for us. Never made a
mistake. Never offended anyone.
11 He said ‘Hi,’ but she gave him the cold shoulder. You know, she hasn't
forgiven him for how rude he was to her last week.
12 Off-hand, | don’t know. Let's Google it and find out.
13 They asked their boss for more money, but he rejected their request out of
hand — and | mean instantly, without a moment's thought
14 He'd make a terrible diplomat. He's always putting his foot in his mouth. Like
the time he said how much he disliked Italian cooking just as his hostess was
bringing the lasagne in from the kitchen.
15 He asked if he could borrow my car, and my driving licence too. What a
cheek!
16 You know, if you wear your heart on your sleeve like that, she’ll think you’re
acting like a silly love-struck teenager. Be more cool, a bit more reserved and
adult.
17 They tip-toed out of the room so as not to wake the baby.
18 It’s hard to learn a whole phone book by heart, but there are a few unusual
people who can do it.
19 He's a gentleman from head to toe.
20 She's head over heels in love.
 Little Red Riding Hood with body idioms
(based on the version of Charles Perrault, 1628-1703, at http:/Awww.pitt.edu/~dash/type0333.html#perrault)

Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a Anyway, as Little Red Riding Hood pointed in the
little country girl, the prettiest creature who was ever direction of her granny’s house, with her plump, juicy
seen. Her mother was exceedingly fond of her and her little pointing finger right by the tip of the wolf's damp,
grandmother even more so. This good woman, her black nose, he thought for a second that he should just
grandmother, had a little red riding hood made for bite it off. But he quickly got cold feet, for he could
the little girl — even though she didn’t happen to have hear two woodcutters moving around very nearby.
a pony. She wore the hood so often and it suited her “Well,” said the wolf, “and I'll go and see her too. |'ll
so extremely well that everybody called her Little Red go this way, and you go that, and we shall see who will
Riding Hood. be there first.”
One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to “What fun!said Little Red Riding Hood.
her, “Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is The wolf ran as fast as he could, taking the shortest
doing, for | hear she has been very ill. Take her a cake. path. He ran so fast, in fact, that he tripped once over
Oh, and remember, don’t put your foot in it — in a root and fell head over heels into a mud puddle.
your mouth, | mean — by telling her how old she looks Meanwhile, the little girl took a roundabout way which
or anything like that.” Little Red Riding Hood set out involved crossing a stream on a log. As she made her
immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in way across it, she was careful not to put a foot wrong,
another village. Because it was sunny, she didn’t have as she didn’t want to fall in and get all wet and muddy.
her hood up. Just for fun, she carried the cake on the When she had reached the other side, she decided to
top of her head. As she was going through the wood, pick a bouquet of wild flowers for her granny. And
she met a wolf. Naturally, he wanted to eat her up right when she had finished, she sat down and took out the
there and then, but he didn’t dare because of some harmonica she always carried in her coat pocket and
woodcutters working nearby in the forest. So he told played her own favourite tune. She played it by ear
her what beautiful hair she had, but asked her to take since she had never learned how to read music. Then,
the cake off the top of her head so he could see it to after a while, she put her harmonica away and continued
better advantage. on her way.
She did so, saying, “You know, Mr Dog, | think on top of As for the wolf, it was not long before he arrived at
your head is a very handy place to keep a cake. It makes the old woman's house. But when he got there, he
the cake so easy to reach.” She also told him where she realised that he didn't have a plan. He wondered for
was going, for she was exceedingly friendly and chatty. a split second what to do and in what order, but then
The poor child did not know that it was dangerous to thought, “I'll just play it by ear. |'ll see what ‘granny’
stay and talk to a wolf. In fact, she didn’t even know does and react accordingly.” So he knocked at the door:
what a wolf was! tap, tap, tap.
“How far away does your grandma live?” asked the "Who's there?” came the old lady’s voice.
wolf, seemingly innocently. “In metres,” he added.
“Your grandchild, Little Red Riding Hood. I've brought
The girl answered, “I can’t tell you off the top of my you a cake and a little pot of butter sent you by Mother,”
head". That's not the kind of information | keep in mind replied the wolf, imitating the little girl quite well,
all ready to remember. I'll have to ask Granny. But | can considering he was a wolf.
tell you her house is beyond that mill you see there, at
The good grandmother called out, “Come in. I’m in bed
the first house in the village.”
and don't want to get up.” When the wolf entered,
The wolf couldn't believe his luck in finding such a he saw the old woman in bed and right beside her, on
friendly, chatty little girl. Some other girls he had met top of a stool, was a plate with two shoulders of roast
in the woods had given him the cold shoulder. And lamb on it. He thought he would eat them first because
one particularly nasty little character had even zapped she wasn't very big, and looked tough and thin at that.
him in the face with pepper spray. Still pretending to be Little Red Riding Hood, he asked

136 » photocopy this page for use in class

as politely as he could if he might snack on a shoulder woodcutter's offer out of hand. That hadn't been very
of lamb. But the grandmother gave him the cold polite of her, she thought. She decided that if she saw
_ shoulder since she wasn't completely sure this visitor him again she would apologise and accept his spare red
_ was Little Red Riding Hood after all, and she didn’t want woollen heart.
_ to give away the much tastier warm shoulder of lamb. But now she came to her gran’s little cottage. Wanting
Well, the wolf ate the shoulder so fast that the old to surprise her dear, sweet gran, she approached the
woman was now even more suspicious. She decided to door on tiptoe and then tapped on it very, very softly:
test him: “Sing a song for me. One with a lively, cheerful tap, tap, tap.
tune!” she said. (You remember of course that Little Red "Who's there?” called out the wolf, who had forgotten
Riding Hood was very musical.) So the wolf sang, but to try to imitate the old woman.
it was horrible. Unlike the little girl, he couldn’t carry
Little Red Riding Hood, hearing the hoarse voice of the
a tune in a basket, \et alone carry one on his hoarse,
wolf, was at first afraid, but then thought maybe her
wolfy voice. After only six notes he could see that the old
grandmother had a cold or something. So she replied,
lady knew he wasn’t her grand-daughter, so he decided
“It's me, Gran, and | have a little surprise for you from
to eat her before she tried to escape. But he had got
mother!”
cold feet standing on Granny's cold stone floor. Quickly,
he put on her slippers so that at least half of his feet The wolf called out to her, softening his voice as much
were warm. as he could, “Come in, come in! Oh, do come in!” and
hiding under the bedclothes, he watched her come in
“How many calories do you contain?” he asked her.
with the cake once more on top of her head. “Oh!” he
Although shocked by his impertinence, Granny answered
said, “How sweet you both are, you and your mum. Put
rather coolly, “| don’t know offhand. | think | have the
the cake on this little table and come, get into bed with
number written down somewhere.”
me to keep me warm.”
This answer didn't please the wolf, so he jumped her
Little Red Riding Hood did as she was told, and got into
anyway and devoured her from head to toe. One of
bed. But she was astonished to see how different her
her hairpins got stuck in his throat, though, so he had
grandmother looked from how she used to, and said,
to put his foot in his mouth, his right front foot to be
exact, in order to get it out. “Grandmother, what big arms you have!”
Then the wolf got into the grandmother's nightie and “All the better to hug you with, my dear.”
got into bed to await Little Red Riding Hood. She, “Grandmother, what a lot of hairy legs you have!”
meanwhile, had met one of the woodcutters. He was “All the better to run with, my child.”
reading a book during his lunch break. “Grandmother, what big ears you have!”
“What are you reading?” Red asked. the better to hear you with, my child.
"

“Poems by Shakespeare,” he answered. “I've just “Grandmother, what big eyes you have!”
learned one by heart.” And to prove it, he closed his
the better to see you with, my child.”
book and recited it to her most beautifully.
“He must be very romantic by nature,” she thought, for “Grandmother, what big teeth you've got!”
sewed onto one of his sleeves there was a heart cut out “All the better to eat you with!”
of blood-red woollen cloth. “Do you always wear your And saying these words, the wicked wolf fell upon Little
heart on your sleeve \ike that?” she asked. Red Riding Hood, and ate her up.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m head over heels in love with Moral: children — most especially attractive, well-bred
someone, and | can’t keep it a secret. Everyone can see young ladies — should never talk to strangers, for if they
it. | guess I’m just a romantic from head to toe. But | should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. |
have another heart; I'll give it to you.” say ‘wolf’, but there are various kinds of wolves. There are
“No, thank you,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “I’m sure also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming,
my mother wouldn't let me wear it. Anyway, I’m not in complacent and sweet, who pursue young women at
love.” And with that she continued on her way, but a home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these
little bit ashamed of herself for rejecting the romantic gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all.

[© Helbling Language:
Idioms Review Sheet

| Teachers tell him what to do, but he won't t the | _ As a result, he has been expelled from three
schools.

Nothing that comes from the government is free. The taxpayer always
3 the __illin the end.
She's a lady from head to

It's hard to learn a whole phone book _yh , but there are a few unusual people who can do tt.

| can't tell you off the t of my h ; I'll get back to you later.
She tip- out of the room so as not to wake the baby.
Let's not plan what to do. Let's just pl it bye ‘

That kid isap in the _ I'd like to strangle him!

They're head over in love with each other.
He said he would help us, but then got co f when he realised how much work might be
involved. Now we'll have to find someone else.

She neverp af ng all the time she worked for us. Never made a mistake. Never offended
anyone.
He said ‘Hi’, but she gave him the co sh . You know, she hasn't forgiven him for how rude
he was to her last week.

Offh _ | don’t know. Let’s Google it and find out.

Don't be shy. If you want to get served at this pub, you'll just have
to ___ bow your w to the bar.
They asked their boss for more money, but he rejected their request
O ofh —and | mean instantly, without a moment's thought.

He'd make a terrible diplomat. He’s always p ing his f in hism . Like the time he said how
much he disliked Italian cooking just as his hostess was bringing the lasagne in from the kitchen.

She was so happy that everyone had remembered her birthday, | didn’t have the h tot | her
that | knew her boss was going to fire her later that same day.

He asked if he could borrow my car and my driving licence too. What a ch !

You know, If you w yourh____ on your sl like that, he'll think you're acting like a silly
love-struck teenager. Be more cool, a woman of mystery!

He called her a liar, and then asked me to b him u . But my motto is ‘Never get involved in an
argument between a wife and a husband’.

+
class
Worksheet

An idiom typically evokes a scene that is part of a larger scenario. For

| example, a debate between two politicians can be described as if it were a
boxing match. English has more than a dozen idioms that are derived from
boxing, but the particular idiom you choose from the whole set will highlight
_ a specific stage of the fight/debate and a particular intensity of conflict.
With this in mind, can you put the following expressions into the right blanks
in the text below?
lower his guard in a tight corner on the ropes
the gloves are off not pull their punches throw in the towel
take it on the chin flex their muscles
out for the count stick his neck out

Before a debate begins two opposing politicians may metaphorically

| (1) to frighten the opponent; during the debate
/ one of them may carelessly (2) or bravely
| (3) and perhaps (4) ; if |
_ the debate gets more intense the two opponents will (5)
‘and after a while either of them may (6)
| that is, admit defeat rather than risk getting hit hard and then going

| (7)
If you feel the debate is getting out of hand and the two parties |
| are really wanting to hurt each other, then you can say that |
(8)
i
(9) Which of the following two idioms expresses most strongly that one of the |
politicians is losing the debate: “He's in a tight corner now”, or “He's on the

| ropes now”?
 Handouts

Idioms and their Meanings

Which six meanings are not matched to the right idioms? Which idioms should they go with instead?
Ts ‘Stop being so ridiculously self-important; stop thinking
| Oh, come off it! you can fool me.’

2 He really took it on the chin. = coped with a painful experience of some kind
| 3 You really blew it that time (i.e. blew it away) = ‘You're welcome’
4 Shut it! = ‘Stop talking!’
[ Drop it! = ‘Stop fighting’ or ‘Separate and go away’
6 Don't mention it. = made a big mistake
7 Cut it out! = ‘Stop doing what you're doing!’

8 Break it up! = = ‘Stop talking about that topic!”

9 I’m going to lose it if he’s late again. = 'Go away!’

10 Welcome! I’m glad you could make it. = come
11 Beat it! = get upset
12 You really dropped me in it when you told the a Es.
hostess I hadn't really wanted to come. = Poe ease dete
13. Good work! Keep it up! = ‘Continue with what you're doing’
14 Treally put my foot in it. es said something that was very embarrassing for sb
15 I just don’t get it. = understand

What it originally stood for matches sentence number

a ) (My) temper, self-control

b ) the trip
c)) ahigh place like a stage or speaker's platform
d) the road (i.e. with your feet)
ce ) the shit
f) this gathering of people; this close contact between two people
g) what you are doing (as if it was something like the bad part of an apple)
h) a punch
i) the subject of the conversation up to this point
j) what you say | did for you
k) the point (of what someone has said or done), the basic meaning or reason
1) your mouth
m) my mouth
n) the effort
0) a golden opportunity, a good situation in life

140 page Tor use In « lass |

 Note
¢ Come off it! is something you might say to someone who you think
is saying something they don’t really believe, like an actor playing a
ridiculous part.
¢ Break it up! is something policemen might say to a crowd of spectators
at a crime scene in order to make them separate and go away; or a referee
might say this to two boxers who are holding onto each other so they
can't actually box.
e In modern British English a predictable noun may be replaced not by it but
by ‘the proverbial’ - You really dropped me in the proverbial (= shit).
This seems especially common when the speaker wants to be euphemistic.
Sometimes the proverbial replaces a whole phrase — e.g. I’m up the
proverbial (= shit creek) without a paddle.
Additional idioms of this kind
e .Pull it off = succeed despite difficulty or long odds. It may refer to a ring
placed on a pole near a merry-go-round; riders on the merry-go-round
stretched out their arms to try to get the ring. If they managed to pull it
off, they won a prize.
¢ Make it up to sb = compensate sb. It means some kind of shortfall. Up
probably has the meaning seen in fill up, i.e. completely.
¢ Be past it = be past the prime of your life, be too old to cope.
e Stick it to sb = make someone really suffer, show no mercy. It refers to a
knife.
Alternatives for extension
| 1. She passed out but then quickly came to./ fingers
|2 It was rather heated debate but she held her own./ feSOurces
|3 She lives on her own./ herself |
|A Take five/ from the scene of the crime, from the police |
| 5 Give me five./ minutes of rest
|6 Great victory! We really put the boot in./ ground |
| 7 He got away / with murder. [their] ribs
Notes
* come to = ‘regain consciousness’. In the 19th century people sometimes still said come to yourself. This is just
one example of people talking about being in an abnormal state of mind as ‘not being in one’s normal place’;
e.g., be beside yourself [with anger] = be utterly furious; be out to lunch, be with the fairies, be in outer space
= be out of touch with reality.
e¢ Hold your own ground originally meant ‘Don't retreat; don’t give up any of your territory to the enemy.’
e on your own can also include the meaning ‘alone’.
e Take five. Said to solders as a signal to rest, e.g., during a difficult march.
°¢ Give me five! means ‘Let's slap hands in greeting or to show mutual respect’.
e Put the boot in. The full form seems to be Put the boot into their ribs. = kick[ed] them hard.

|© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in cla

 Idioms grouped by source domain

The following idioms have been found to lend themselves well to this procedure. These are all expressions that are
signalled in The Collins Cobuild Dictionary ofIdioms as ‘frequently used’.

From card games: Ca// sb’s bluff, Above board, Pass call, Be a loose cannon, Steer clear of sb, Stay the course,
the buck, Get s’thing off your chest, Get a raw deal, (Pass an exam) with flying colours, Be dead in the water,
Follow suit, Not miss a trick, Force sb’s hand, The luck of Clear the deck(s) (for action), Be in the doldrums, Be
the draw. (See also 3.6) on an even keel, Be left high and dry, Break the ice, Be
From gambling games generally: Back to square one, a leading light, Be at sea, A shot across sb’s bows, Be
Turn the tables on sb, Break the bank, Draw a blank, Hit just the tip of the iceberg, Be at a loose end (as with a
the jackpot, play Russian roulette, There’s the rub, Get flapping sail) Show your true colours. (See also 3.7.)
an even break, Cash in your chips, When the chips are From horse-riding: Give sb a leg up, Ride roughshod
down, The dice are loaded against me, Lose your shirt. over sb, Ride high (in the saddle), Put sb through their
From horse racing: They’re neck and neck, Hedge your paces. (See also 3.8.)
bets, Across the board, Go for broke, Too close to call, From other means of transport, and roads: Get into
Win hands down, Be a dark horse (in a contest), Pay gear, (Live life) in the fast lane, Get the green light (to do
over the odds (for s’thing), Pip sb at the post, Be in the s‘thing), Middle-of-the-road (tastes), Go into overdrive,
running, Horses for courses. (See also 3.8.) Be on automatic pilot, Be in the driving seat, Be in a
From ball games and track sports: he ball/’s in your rut, Take a back seat (to sb), Be on the skids, Make the
court, (Score) an own goal, Be off base, Play into sb’s grade, Hit the buffers, Be a back-seat driver, Come to a
hands, Par for the course, Toe the line, Jump the gun, crossroads (in life).
Be quick off the mark, Hit sb for six, Have the inside From the animal world: Go belly-up, A bone of
track (on sb), Start from scratch, Blow the whistle on sb, contention, A carrot-and-stick method, Ruffle sb’s
A level playing field, Below par, Sb’s track record, Three feathers, A feeding frenzy, Spread your wings, Bite the
strikes and you're out. hand that feeds you, Bury your head in the sand, Call sb
From hunting and shooting contests: /t’s open to heel, Go for the jugular, Be out on a limb, Poke your
season on sb, Set your sights on s’thing, Give s’thing nose into s’thing, Be (high/low) in the pecking order,
your best shot, It’s in the bag, Be a sitting duck, A long See red, Rule the roost, Come out ofyour shell, Have a
shot, Be/shoot wide of the mark, A red herring, (Stand sting in the tail, Be at each other's throats, Get wind of
by sb) through thick and thin, Run riot, Hit and miss, A s‘thing, Take sb under your wing, Clip sb’s wings, Rub
mixed bag. sb’s nose in it, Have no strings attached, Those chickens
will come home to roost, Lick your wounds, Raise sb‘'s
From boxing and the martial arts: Throw sb off hackles, Be off the hook.
balance, Take it on the chin, Be in a tight corner, Go
the fuli distance, At the drop of a hat, Lower your From entertainment: Jake centre stage, Perform a
guard, Head to head, No holds barred, Be on the ropes, (delicate) balancing act, The curtain comes down, A
Flex your muscles, Stick your neck out, Not pull your one-man band, Set the stage for s’thing, (Act/See)
punches, Not come up to scratch, Throw in the towel behind the scenes, Pull the strings, The villain of the
(or sponge), Throw down the gauntlet. (See also 3.10.) piece, Jump onto the bandwagon, Strike a chord with
sb, Play second fiddle to sb, Give sb/s‘thing the thumbs
From warfare: Be up in arms about s’thing, Be in the up, Face the music, Pull out all the stops, Call the tune,
front line, A baptism of fire, Fight a rearguard action, A Pull s‘thing out of the hat, Change your tune, Walk a
last-ditch attempt, Stick to your guns, Steal a march on tightrope, In the limelight.
sb, Be the standard bearer, Gain ground (on sb), Stand
shoulder to shoulder (with sb), Break ranks, Happen on From food and drink: Smai/ beer, Tighten your belt, Put
sb's watch, Catch sb off guard, Be at loggerheads with s‘thing on the back burner, Be past one’s sell-by date,
sb, Burn your bridges (or boats). The flavour of the month, Live from hand to mouth, Go
the whole hog, Live high on the hog, Put s’thing on
From seafaring: Jake s‘thing on board, Have a close ice, The icing on the cake, A piece of cake, Get handed

142 lo)|
s‘thing on a plate, Have enough on your plate, A hot From gardening and agriculture: Prepare the ground
potato, Take pot luck, Take s‘thing with a pinch of salt, for, Sow the seeds (of a problem), Take root, Nip s’thing
On tap, Call time on s’thing. in the bud, Bear fruit, Have a field day, Be cut and dried,
From commerce and accounting: Go under the Be grist for the mill, A thorny problem, The root of the
hammer“* / Be on the (auction) block’, Pay dividends, problem.
Make ends meet, Hang in the balance, Ring hollow, Be From sewing, handicraft and manufacturing: Lose
given a new lease of life, The bottom line, Make a pitch your thread, Be at a loose end, Be made to measure, Be
for s‘thing, Be worth your salt, Wipe the slate clean, tailor-made, Chop and change, Go back to the drawing
Keep tabs on sb, Tip the balance, Be back in business. board, Take the edge off s’thing, Go against the grain,
From jurisdiction and punishment: Be caught red- Break the mould, A rule of thumb, Be a dyed-in-the-
handed, Be brought to book, The jury is still out (on that wool s‘thing, Knock s’thing into shape.
matter), Sign sb’s death warrant, Seal sb’s fate, Turn up From mechanics and technology: Recharge your
the heat on sb, Tighten the screw on sb, Rub salt into batteries, At the touch of a button, Be firing on all
sb’s wounds, A ball and chain, Get the chop, Get egg cylinders, Put a damper on s‘thing, Blow up in your face,
on your face, Run the gauntlet, Rap sb on the knuckles, Geta fix on s’thing/sb, Be in the groove, Run-of-the-mill,
Give sb/Get short shrift. The penny’s dropped, Pull the plug on s’thing, Prime
the pump, Throw a spanner’“/monkey-wrench® in the
works, Be in full swing, Be on the same wave-length.

More Idioms, for Advanced Learners

The following idioms (which belong to a slightly lower frequency band than the ones in the main list of Idioms
Grouped by Source Domain) could be additional suitable targets for sorting by source domain:

make a pitch for something (hint: market) bark up the wrong tree (hint: dogs)
jump through hoops (hint: circus) be put out to grass/pasture (hint: horses)
juggle a lot of balls in the air (hint: circus) work in harness (hint: horses)
pass the baton (hint: track sports) put out feelers (hint: snails, insects)
play it by ear (hint: music) overstep the mark (track sports)
pass the hat around (hint: street or market walk the plank (hint: seafaring; pirates).
performers) shove your oar in (hint: rowing)
play to the gallery (hint: theatre) rub someone (up) the wrong way (hint: dogs,
be waiting in the wings (hint: theatre) horses)
turn tail (hint: animal) be ahead of the pack (hint: wolves)
live off the backs of others (hint: birds) move the goalposts (hint: ball games)
foul your own nest (hint: birds) be sent from pillar to post (hint: racing);
the fur is flying (hint: cats) cover all the bases (hint: baseball, cricket)
keep a tight leash on someone (hint: dogs) roll with the punches (hint: boxing)
pat on the back (hint: dogs, horses) argue the toss (hint: ball games)
be put off the scent (hint: dogs) be in pole position (hint: car racing).

|© Helbling Lar
 Handout

Reading text for 3.13.2

[or pnenerictaennsanenenSiennesieganannee

It has become a widely accepted idea in western culture that instead of bottling up our emotions we
should air them now and then. For example, if we're frustrated, ventilating our feelings, or blowing off
steam, may help us to avoid any sudden explosion of emotion.
But this can generate a serious problem. As it happens, releasing, or ventilating, anger is a particularly
bad way to cool down. An outburst of rage typically pumps us up, making us feel more anary, not less.
And if we reach boiling point and blow up at someone who has provoked our anger, Our rage reaches
| ayet higher peak, and our angry mood is prolonged. Also, we may well erupt in rage even at innocent
bystanders — and, worse, our nearest and dearest — and continue to fume much longer after our outburst
than if we had not unleashed our rage.
A far more effective way of managing anger is to take advantage of our human ability to ‘step back’ |
mentally, and observe our own feelings and behaviour. This naturally results in us simmering down,
without any further effort on our part. It also gives us the opportunity to look at the issue from the other
person's viewpoint, so that we can constructively seek a solution with them.
Based on Goleman (2006) and S. N. Goenke, Vipassana, December 2007
Se Pe Be ee ee

Figurative expressions of anger

There’s no reason to snap at me like that! She got all steamed up.
You're driving me nuts. I’m reaching my boiling point.
Don’t bite my head off! She blew up at me.
Her attitude had him climbing the walls. He’s blowing off steam.
Simmer down! Anger welled up inside him
That kind of remark just adds fuel to the fire. | was fuming with anger.
He went berserk when | told him. I’m mad at him.
He was breathing fire. Those were inflammatory remarks
He looks hot under the collar. Don't rub him up the wr

144 © Helbling|
 Worksheet

Write each of the following words under the appropriate picture. Begin with the four verbs in capital letters.
| There are more writing lines than you need, and some nouns can follow more than one verb.
| COMMIT CONDUCT PERFORM CAUSE
adultery arson a burglary a ceremony
a crime a dance a miracle a murder
| a play a robbery destruction a solo
a song a study a survey an assault
devastation an experiment an inquiry an inspection
| an interview an investigation an offence an atrocity
damage havoc research suicide

eee
| © Helbdling Langt
Ieee sence
 Handout

| Eat well to be healthy.

2 | stopped to tie my shoes.
3 You know, | forgot about meeting her until | saw that photo of her
and me together.
| avoided contributing by saying | needed the money for a taxi.
| forgot to phone.
| stopped smoking last year.
| refused to pay.
He threatened to come.
eS
On
Oy),
=)
(OOF
(OF | regret leaving.
10 |promised to do it.
11 | agreed to do it.
12 | couldn’t afford to go.
13 I’m considering leaving.
14 | was forced to come.
15 I miss seeing her.
 Worksheets:
"Which is the catchiest?’

Instructions for all levels:

First, fill in the missing letter(s) for each option. Then, cross out the word which
is less catchy. Finally, highlight the letter for the sound that is repeated. For
example:
1 Some people dislike _oy/uy | bands.
2 Some people dislike boy/ guy bands.
3 Some people dislike boy /-guy- bands.
4 Some people dislike (Boy /-guy- bands.
Note: Although all the word combinations are possible, the ones which provide
sound repetition are particularly natural.

Pre-intermediate

1 Keep __pproaching! im
_oming! |
2 He drank the poison and just _ropped /_ell |dead.
3 The _lackest /___arkest hour is just before the dawn.
4 = _orbidden /__aboo fruit is the sweetest.
5 Welcome! We like to see a, —ew/__resh||__erson /__ace around here now and then.
6 Who's the _oss/__ead ‘of the house? The mother? The father? Both?
7 \'ve gota__trange/__unny__ feeling I’ve seen this film before.
8 What a sweet child. She’s as good as _ilver/_old |
9 When |'m old | don’t just want to sit around and watch the |__lants /__rass| grow. | want to do things ...
have fun!
10 She lost her job. Then, to make |__hings
/__atters | worse, she fell ill.
11 In her new dress she looked ag |eset =
12 When the cat's away the mice will __ave a good time / __lay.
13 He went from hero to | _othing
: /__ero in one week.
14 The |_arger /_
_igger |the better.
15 Say, you look in |_ine/_
_ __reat shape!
16 These two boxers he each other so this is going to be a fight to the} __inish /__nd.

17 In this office we're like one big, | _lad/__appy_ family.

18 | can’t tell you. Its a deep [lack /_ ark secret.
19 Here he comes, |—oney /_ ash |in hand, ready to pay.
20 It's late. I’m going to|___eave /__eadd/ for home.

lel Languages
© Helbling . Please photocopy this page for use in class|
}
 Jntermediate =

1 Since his promotion, he’s got tooAor for his|

his oe oots
Finally, that killer is| in _rison / behind __ars|,
UJ When you're in the middle of a car crash, sometimes you see everything happen in slow
__ovement/__otion f
|just can’t) __ear/ __arry ‘this heavy burden of responsibility any longer.
Her outfits are always so well colour |__0-ordinated /__atched |
Sometimes, say psychologists, you have to be |__asty/_ruel to be kind.
That bullet came too |__lose /__ear |for comfort.
_resent / __ift |(to women).
Own
ow
fF
DU Helping her across the street was my good |__ct /eed |for the day.
10 Look before you|__ump/__eap |.
11 The lesson was so deadly |__ull /__oring i slept through most of it.
12 He's the government's expert on foreign |a_airs/ re__ations|.
13 Oh, I'm |__ell /__ery |aware of how wonderful you are. You don’t need to tell me.
14 He's very imaginative but he’s not very good with facts and |__igures /__umbers it
15 You'd better get a new car. This one is on its last |__eet /__egs |
16 His plan had a fatal) _ mperfection /_law| and disaster was the result.
17 She fell head over |__eet /__eels_|in love with him.
18 Love her or|__ate /__oathe | her, you have to admit she's good at her job.
19 When you're in the middle of a car crash, sometimes you see everything happen in slow
__ovement /__otion |.
20 All these cares and |__oncerns /__orries are driving me crazy. | never wanted to be a mother!
21 | never thought a plane that big could le
ety _ise.|off the ground.
22 She had such |_ntense / _igh aT eresfor We children but they've all turned out to be losers.
23 Who was the|___tarring / _eading |[_ yes ctress lin that film?
24 You never know when disaster may |_
__appen if_trike|,
25 She didn’t like what you said to her. If looks could |ill /__urder |,you'd be dead now.
26 That part of the city is ano go fae /z_ne }
27 She lost her job. Then, to make |_hings / _atters| worse, she fell ill.
28 She changed jobs with _ixed / _ onfused |emotions; part of her was sorry, part of her was glad.
29 He spends |_ext / _lose ‘to nothing on clothes. That's why he has no job and no girlfriend.
30 ‘He was born with a |_olden// _ilver'| spoon in his mouth’ is a way of saying that someone grew up in a
rich family and had a very easy life right from the start. (One critic of George Bush II said he was born with
_ silver foot in his mouth.)
148 [ol
) Hesibling Le guar s. Plez se photocopy this page for use in class
wages.
31 Someone born into a poor family has to start from ere ascratch if they want to get rich.
32 There were signs of a a
__truggle /_
__ight Jat the scene of the crime.
33 Well, you've broken it. | hope you're |_lad//__appy f
34 Don't complain. He won fair and ‘hon_st / squ__re i
35 He never ‘li_ted/ rai_ed |a finger to help her when she was in trouble.
36 Well. That's another day done. It’s time to |shWy ce up shop and go home.
37 In general, te.ie or un soldiers is to m_
__ntain
; isis
= |thePeace.

keds.intermediate

Beauty is in1 theeyeof the ie“eholder /_iewer

er.
When their business failed, they lost all their worldly |__ealth/__ssets f
We're so grateful. What you did for us was |o__er/a__ove |and beyond the call of duty.
Elizabeth | of England seemed the perfect queen in both word and|dee__/actio__ |
Nurse, hurry! The patient in bed four has|___anged / taken a t__rn |for the worse.
Such behaviour is beyond the |__ounds / _imits |of acceptability.
We had a whole rowd / _ost lof problems.
[poe
Wee
ds
Wal
ony
SS)
(oy) Not everyone has the courage of their |_eliefs /__onvictions |
9 | think we've finally broken the |__egs/__ack| of this problem.
10 Most magicians can do some kind of |d__sappearing /v__nishing Jact.
11 Come to your party? You bet your} hoes
/ __oots || will!
__et/__avourite| project, so don’t make any mistakes.
13 Since 2008, there’s been a|__eneral /__lanket ]ban on smoking in pubs in England.
14 There's a __oophole paeap |in the law that may allow us to avoid paying half our taxes this year.
15 Their house burned down, but there was one |_it /__rumb | of comfort. It was insured.
16 That's against our |code of __onduct / rules of __ehaviour |
17 We're starting to |__in against /__ain ground on |the opposition. We should catch up soon.
18 You'd better get a new car. This one is on its last |eet/__egs .
19 Low __ltitude /__ying land can get flooded.
20 That lazy, no-good child has made her life a _ragedy /___isery|.
21 All Chinese are good cooks?! That's a rather __eneral /__weep!
22 If you have a question about electrical systems, ask my dad. He really knows his c__rrots /o_ions.
23 Not all is gold that|__hines /__
_listens |
24 During their divorce, the main |fo__us/ bo__e , of contention between them was who was going to get
their beach house.
ime
 25 This contract isn’t worth the paper it’s _ritten /_rinted on.
26 Women have a lot more __urchasing/__uying power than they did a hundred years ago.
27 Somehow, his explanation doesn't) ~_ound / __ing true.
28 The report on the disaster is pretty ish__cking / gr_m. reading, but as it’s your job to know the facts, here
It IS.
29 Their business has suffered a serious __eversal / _etback I They may lose all their money.
30 Look at her dance! That's __iterature / __oetry in motion!
31 Running a marathon is a real test of __ tamina/__ndurance il
32 Most good crime novels have a twist in the __nding fail .
33 When that business failed, | lost all my worldly __ealth /_iches |
34 Naming and | d__sgracing / sh__ming_ vandals and litterers in the local paper won't work if they don’t care
what anyone thinks of them.
35 We can't cancel our reservation at this late __ay/__ate
36 And so, ladies and gentlemen, the __orthy / __eserving winner is ... the lady in seat 24, who got all
answers correct!
37 Construction is finished — on time and well _nside / _ithin |budget.
38 It’s a top _n_tch/qu__lity| product. |
39 She was |p__lling out /t_aring her hair in desperation.
40 We'd better call a st_p/h_ It to the experiment. People are starting to get sick.
41 What happened last night just goes to sho__/prov___ that you can’t drink two boitles of wine and still
function.
42 She succeeded in her last br__ath/q__sp attempt.

150 aa th < page for us

 Advanced

With this car, you get more |__ang for your buck / results for your __ _ollar |
She's been Weeage- struck / attracted by the __eatre |ever since she was a little girl.
He's lucky. He's got brains and ‘_uscles /_rawn f
Here's your car, restored to its former |c__ndition/ gl__y ,That will be £1,400, please.
ips)
LOOK
es
Op You can see him near the temple every day with his begging |__owl (jeer , Waiting for passers-by to
give him money.
| lost a lot at the casino. Oh well, that’s the way the|__ ookie / _iscuitt|crumbles.
Were you born in a. _table /oni ? Close the door!
The fighting was | _lose | up /atds _uarters. |with swords and fists.
Every |__og /_ ar ]has its day. And someday I'll have mine! Just you wait and see.
CO0 | think we'll have to look farther a__ay/
kOe
=O)
— ay/a_ ield ]if we want to find the right person for this job. There
won't be anyone with the right qualifications around here, | don’t think.
11 Around other children, she's a bit of a little miss bossy |__oots
/__ , It’s been hard for her to make
friends.
12 Don't |__ause me any rouble /_ive me any _ _rief |over this, will you. We're behind schedule as It is.
13 Who's the head _—_oncho / __erson /around here?
14 An explorer has to have a good memory for the |_
ote —_ontours |of the land.
15 The idea of going there on holiday lost its |_hine / __ustre |when | heard that they were in the middle of
a civil war,
16 This make of car is much aligned / _riticised | But we've got one and we're very happy with it.
17 It’s of |.__aramount / __reat importance that you be at that meeting tomorrow.
18 Such pehavioun is beyond the _ounds /_imits Z|of acceptability.
19 For the modern academic, the ule / _ame |of the game is publish or |__ie/ _erish |
20 She was |_illoried / sharply _iticised 'in the press for abandoning her children.
21 Rumours are.i__verywhere /__ife that you've secretly remarried. So?
22 Having lost all his money, he’s living in rather |_traitened /__ mpoverished circumstances.
23 A ——- = omebody / _ Ou- know- who told me you were looking for me. So here | am.
24 | have a. _ittle/ __neaking, suspicion that you're not telling me the whole truth.
25 Some people like shows that a_ack /a_ault |the senses. But loud music and bright lights are not for
me.
26 You can have the best)
__ntentions /_ll iin the world but still you're sometimes going to make mistakes
and disappoint people.
27 Get every last credit card you have. Let’s go on the mother of all shopping __inges f _prees |!
28 She's so quiet and shy she wouldn't say boo to a3 [d__¢ck/g a}
29 Rupert Murdoch is a famous media "_ycoon /__oghul i

H 2| |5 4 |
ol
|
3
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5. Please4 photoc Opy this page for use in |
8]
US a
 Chunks to sort

Pre-intermediate and/or intermediate

He has a beer belly.

They made a mistake.
The storm did a lot of damage.
Let's bake a cake.
The more the merrier.
They took a trip around the world.
Airport book shops mainly have best-sellers.
Sh
(0)
28s
Gal
py
ss)
(og She just got back from a world tour.
9 Let's not wait. It's now or never.
10 Forgive and forget.
11 You look as pretty as picture.
a
12 It rained all day, on and on.
13 Have you got good or bad eyesight?
14 What a mess you've made!
15 It's up to you. (= the decision Is yours)
16 That happens from time to time.
17 Keep it clean.
18 Tell the truth.
19 Did you find the time to phone her?
20 Is that the right size for you?
21 Take a good look.
22 Do it as fast as you can.
23 How about going to the beach?
24 Do | hear wedding bells?
25 There's bad blood between them.
26 We've never spoken face to face.
27 We don't give credit. It’s pay as you go.
28 Let's do it right now. The time is right.
29 Things are getting better, little by little.
30 The bigger the better.
31 |see what you mean.
32 She visits her family on a daily basis.
33 Let's give our first speaker a warm welcome!
34 Yes, that’s an important point. Thank you for mentioning it.
35 He likes being a house husband.

g Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class |

Upper intermediate and/or advanced

It's a make or break situation.

We're spoilt for choice.V*
The less said the better.
Speak of the devil!
What's the age range of the kids at your school?
He fell out of the boat and sank like a stone.
She's an asylum seeker.
ss
Ole
Oy
SI
Oo)
Oe He's evil, through and through.
9 | like springing surprises on people.
10 His name's on the tip of my tongue.
11 If worst comes to worst, we can always ...
12 Have you heard of the Big Bang theory?
13 She won fair and square.
14 There will be light cloud cover in the afternoon
15 You drive a hard bargain. Have you ever been a used car salesman?
16 In the old days, people worked from dawn till dusk.
17 Insurance and legal firms have got things going their way now — we're
becoming a blame ‘n’ claim culture
18 She's gone but not forgotten.
19 He likes playing pranks on people. He’s not very popular, as you can imagine.
20 What a mess! Everything's all topsy-turvy.
21 Visitors to the palace should mind their manners.
22 Their cellar is a treasure trove of photos from the 1800s.
23 | don’t have a plan. I’m just going to go with the flow.
24 | don’t want any talk about shoulda, coulda, woulda. Let’s focus on the future.
25 Let's hit him where it hurts.
26 No re-negotiating. It’s a done deal.
27 They're by far the best team. They've made mincemeat of the competition.
28 He's disgusting ... the lowest of the low.
29 She's got a screw loose.
30 There's more to her than meets the eye.
31 Being an expert means really knowing your onions about something.
32 | tried and tried, but couldn't do it.
33 Let's not play the blame game, shall we?
34 Your best bet is to go by train.
35 Him, co-operate with anyone? With that stubborn streak of his? Not likely!

© Helbling Languages.
Guag Please photocopy
; 153
 Idiom Explanations

Idiom Explanations for 4.1 q

be a nervous wreck = be totally stressed out

At the same time as she was studying for her medical exams — which was stressing her out totally anyway
— Mary was also going through a bitter divorce. And then her mother went into hospital with a serious
heart problem. Then her landlord raised the rent, and she had no idea where she could find the extra
money. That would be enough to turn anyone into a nervous wreck.

pin your hopes on something. = put all your hopes onto one thing
She had pinned all her hopes on her parents loaning her some money. When they said they couldn't, she
burst into tears.

hazard a guess (about something) = make a rather uncertain guess

| have no idea how much he earns, but I'll hazard_a guess that it’s over a million.

| can’t tell you off the top of my head == | can't tell you immediately; | need time to think about it.
Off the top of my head, | think the population of London is about four million, but | don’t really know for |
sure. If you want an exact answer, give me time to check on the internet.

She turned a blind eye to his cheating. = She was aware of his cheating, but pretended she
didn’t notice.
She wanted to start again and learn from her experience. She decided she would be more assertive than
before, when she had turned a blind eye to her husband's cheating.

It'll be plain sailing from now on. = Everything will be problem free, without difficulty.
Some people say that the biggest problems with learning Chinese are the tones and the writing, but that if
you learn those it’s all plain sailing after that, because the grammar is fairly simple.

wear your heart on your sleeve = show your romantic feelings openly, perhaps without being
aware that you're doing so.
Poor man. He really does wear his heart on his sleeve. Everyone can see that he’s in love with her. But
she, for her part, hardly knows he exists.

Does that ring a bell with you? = Do you have any memory of that?
| think it was Edinburgh we stayed in when we went to Scotland all those years ago. Does that ring a bell |
with you?

Her refusal knocked him off his perch. = Her refusal caused him to suddenly lose confidence.
Full of confidence, he asked her to marry him. She said, “You! ?What makes you think I'd marry you? I've
never even liked you. And what, by the way, is your name?” That really knocked him off his perch!

10 look askance at sb = look at sb in a sceptical way; or (figuratively) have doubts

about the correctness of s'thing, sb, or sb's behaviour
Some finance officers might look askance at our high spending on ‘entertainment’ — but ours never
complains or criticises.

[© Helbling Languages. Please

rennnneeeeeeeeneeeeeanaesemeenne ikiciasleinnaaseiian a a |
 Slips for the memory exercise

\'’m a nervous wr. I'm an. wreck.

The farmers p. their hopes on rain. The farmers pinned their h. on rain.

Go on, hazard a g.! How many? Go on, h. a guess! How many?

—
| can’t tell you off the t. of my head. | can’t tell you off the top of my h.

She t. a blind eye to his cheating. She turned a bl. e. to his cheating.

He w. his heart on his sl. He wears his h. on his sleeve

Does that r. a bell with you? Does that ring a b. with you?

Her r. knocked him off his p. Her refusal kn. him off his perch.

Whoopee! It's going to be p. sailing from now on. Whoopee! It’s going to be plain s. from now on.

Book lovers may I. askance at comic books. Book lovers may look a. at comic books.

ey
i
 Example worksheets

Pre-intermediate —§ 1 forgot to bring a // pen. Could II borrow one of //

yours?
Have you ever // had breakfast // in // bed?
Yes, other people can come. // The more // the // merrier!
Russia is almost // twice as // big // as the United States.
cis
Od:
A)
OT | was going to tell you something but I’ve forgotten what it was. Never //
mind. It // wasn't // important.
Excuse me. Could you tell // me what // time // it is?
on)
Sl | wanted to do my homework, but I // couldn't // find // the time.
|8 | don’t know this word. Can you // tell me what // it // means?

intermediate |1 People who never brush their // teeth may have // bad // breath.
|2 This train's been sitting here for a half an hour. What on // earth could it be
| _/L waiting // for?
|3 It doesn’t matter to me. | don’t care at all. In // fact, | couldn't // care // less.
| 4 He told a joke, but no one // laughed. It // fell
//flat.
|5 She paid a lot for her new shoes because the shop assistant told her they
would // last a // life//time.
|6 Good news. Paul and Paula aren't angry with each other any more. They
finally // kissed and // made // up.
Not so fast! You know what people say — more // haste // less // speed.
Sally and Steve have gone bankrupt. Now they'll have to build // a new life //
from // scratch.
|9 Excuse me. Would you mind // taking a // photo of my friend and // me?

Upper intermediate |1 Shy?! Her? Don't you believe it. She's // as // bold as // brass.
|2 | don’t think she insulted me unintentionally. | think she said what she said
/ on purpose. | think her // remark was // carefully // calculated.
12> .Goon, try. It's not hard. It’s // easy-//peasy.
| 4 Ohl! There's a scorpion on your collar! // Don’t // move
a // muscle!
'5 Our neighbour's not very sociable. We don’t see him much. He // keeps //
himself to // himself.
|6 You want to know about running a business? Talk to Barry. He really //
knows his // onions.
What we've been doing isn’t working. It's time we // tried // Plan // B.
You know, your sarcasm is something | // could // do // without.
You know Jack and Jill? They won the lottery and now they're // sitting //
pretty.
10 When it comes to shirking // work, Lazy Bob's a // past // master.

1 + Dp | + aay tA ic \ f 11 . oF |-
Wages Please photocopy this page Tor use in class |
ES
i CEE LAA SRC OI NS SE |
 Chunk Quiz

Upper intermediate What word comes next after this? “It’s a Catch-22 a
If someone says, “Have a good weekend”, what’s a common, friendly
reply?
If |bump into an old friend in the street, did we arrange to meet there?
Write down two idiorns we've done that come from horse riding.
Write down four common phrases that contain colour words like ‘red’,
‘blue’, ‘white’, ‘black’.
Write a true sentence containing the phrase if Ican help it.
Write a phrase we had this week which alliterates and which includes
the word ‘life’.
Are these pairs of dating and romance phrases in their normal order?
Answer Yes or No for each pair:
-a) chat up, ask out; b) hit it off, break up ; ©) make up, have a row
Say which kind of activity each of these phrases comes from.
a) have an ace up your sleeve ; 6) in the wake of
10 I’m going to say some phrases which were in the newspaper article we
read on (the day you read it) and some which weren't. Listen, and write
down only the ones that were in the article:
didn’t show up on time, lost his cool, tossed and turned all night,
did wonders for ...
ety —_ I'm going to say some verb idioms. For each one, write a short sentence
saying who, in the short story we read on (whenever), did the action.
For example, if | say, Hit it off, you write, ‘Barry and Jim hit it off’. OK?
Here we go: Cracked under the pressure ...
| 12 I’m going to say some sentences, and if they're positive in meaning,
write the sentence and a plus sign, and if they're negative, write the
sentence and a minus sign. Ready? Here's the first one: I’m over the
moon about it. Here's the second one: She’s a very down-to-earth
person...
13 Write a true sentence using the verb ‘dodge’ in a well-known
metaphor.
Sample text

Instructions: Insert the following phrases into the text below, fitting them
as best you can into their natural places. Write each phrase in the correct
place, as shown by the example: Once upon a time. Sometimes you will
need to delete a word in the text, usually not. Sometimes you will need to
change the punctuation or capitalisation of a letter.

| but in vain / at first / in desperation / let alone/ |

Once-tper-atime /Nothing worked

Once upon a time

A There was a king and queen whose son never went anywhere. He

never went out of the palace or to town. His parents thought that if they

just waited he would decide to go somewhere; but several years passed

and he still never went anywhere at all. Then they tried showing him

pictures of the beautiful world outside and bought him some running

shoes. They gave him maps and bus tickets. Finally they gave up and just

ignored him. Now he is king; but he still doesn’t go anywhere.

———_ ——— -_

9 nelbling Languages. Please photocopy this page for use in class |

 Hints

Pre-intermediate

| Once upon a time, there was a king and queen whose daughter was always sad. Never did she smile,
le_al___ laugh. Of course, her parents tried everything to bring a smile to her face. They paid clowns to
come and d_ tr___s and comedians to come and t___ jo__s. Nothing! Trick after trick, joke after joke,
the princess never smiled —- no_ ev__ once, no_ ev__a little. But cry! Oh, that’s something she did ten
times a day — if a cloud passed in front of the sun, if there was a bit of sand in her porridge, if she had a
sad thought, if she hurt her finger when she picked a rose, if her kitten gave her a little scratch, if her soup
was cold, and most especially if her favourite programme wasn’t on TV because of a football game.

B_ the ti___ she was 17, her parents were completely fe_ u_ wi__ her crying desp___ the f_ct th__ her
tears made their rose garden the most beautiful in the land. But, do you know, they had never taken the
p__r___rlto London? Not in all her li__, not since she had been born. Not once! Can you believe it!?
Well, maybe it’s not so surprising. Who would want to be in London with a girl who cried a__ the ti__?
Well, anyway, one day, when the princess was 17, the king and queen at __st decided to g__ to London
and ta___ their daughter al___ with them. So they phoned a hotel and ma___ a res for
the bigg___ and be___ room in the whole hotel, for one whole month! The queen and king were very
excited — so excited that they didn’t notice that the princess looked even sadder th__ us__I.

So one Friday afternoon they all boarded a train b___nd f___ Victoria Station in London. The king and
queen (b_ th_ w__, they were not the king and queen of England) were really happy. They were really
| ing ___ward t_ a whole month of visiting museums and ar_ gal___s and seeing plays and films.
The princess, however, had never looked sadder i_ her __ole li__ than she did now. And after a few
days her parents ___Idn’t __Ip b__t notice how sad she looked. They began to worry about her again.
But that night, the three of them were going to
ha__ di______in an expensive restaurant with another king and queen and their son, who was of course
a prince.

The six of them met in the restaurant bar at about 8pm. This new king and queen were nothing
special — just a very ordinary queen and a completely normal and typical king. The prince, however,
was handsome. No, not just handsome but incredibly handsome. No, not just incredibly handsome, but
gorgeous ... a word not often used about men, you know!

continued ...

© Helbling Languages. Please photocopy this pa

 And he was funny — and clever! So full of interesting
stories! So polite! Tall. Considerate. And fit. (He
skied, played polo, climbed Mount Everest every year
at Christmas.) The princess’s mother could _ot _eep
here__s __ ff him. He was perfect!

The princess, though, looked at him for about one

second ou_ of thec__erof ane_,, and then
began to cry because once again her soup was cold.
How cruel the world seemed to her! But then her
parents announced that it was her birthday. She had
been so miserable recently that she had forgotten all
about this. But when the prince h___rd this _ews,
he stood up, bowed to the princess, and began to
sing ‘Ha___ Bi T_ Y__’. His voice was
magical. He sang like a god. He was more than
|e
—_
—
perfect! But just when he came to her name — Tracy
... Princess Tracy — and had his mouth wi__o__,
a fly flew in. A big, black, ugly, fly. He closed his
i mouth. But everyone could hear the fly buzzing around inside. He coughed and out flew the fly along
with the prince’s false teeth which shot into his soup, splashing it _Il ov__ the pl . The princess
was the only one present who didn't get cov ___th soup (onion soup, if you want to know). Then
the prince sneezed and fell backwards over his chair. As he was falling backwards, he er edin___a
waiter carrying a large tray of cakes and cups of hot coffee. The waiter fell onto a table cov ESis,
food and drink. It was a disaster! Was the princess sad now? Well, yes she was. Even this dinnertime
disaster didn’t make her laugh. Of course, her parents understood now that there was n_ ho___ for her.
She would never laugh. So they did the only sensible thing. They moved to a new castle but never told
her which one. The princess didn’t mind though. She got together with the prince aft__ _Il. How? How
do you think?

use In class
KEYS
 KEYS
ce
2.4 town, sell it, and begin spending the money like it was water. They
Intermediate began to spend so much money that soon they were deep in debt.
RE
SEAS
TIT
OR
The Boy Who Cried Wolf (Aesop) | They agreed that that one egg a week wasn’t enough and so, one
A shepherd boy had the job of watching over a flock of sheep near | Tuesday, they killed it, hoping to get — who knows? — dozens or
a village. In one week he summoned the villagers three times by hundreds of eggs all at once! But inside the goose all they found
crying out, “Wolf! Wolf!” When they came running to help, he was blood and guts. The moral? Being greedy for more can cost you
laughed. “| was just having fun,” he said. And didn’t they know it what you already have.
was boring being a shepherd day in and day out? Not surprisingly, |

the villagers cursed him loud_and long. One day, though, a wolf did 2.7
come. The shepherd boy yelled and yelled, “Wolf! Help! Wolf!” The Survivor
villagers heard him, but no one came. As a result, the whole flock of An amateur sailor endured 24 hours in the cold North Atlantic
sheep was lost — all killed by the wolf. And as punishment, the boy’s | after being swept off his one-man sailing boat by towering waves.
parents beat him black and blue. The moral? People may not believe Searchers had given up hope for the man, who was barely alive
liars even when they tell the truth. » when he was found on a beach in Norway. “If only | had stayed at
home!” he later said.
Intermediate—Upper intermediate
A Spanish couple have got the green light from a judge to evict their a
q 2.10
two sons, aged 19 and 20, on the grounds that living with them was | play a part look at more likely to
sheer hell. The judge ruled that as the sons were adults, their parents || the toss of acoin in any way account for
were no longer under any obligation to provide them with room and for a start body—mass index still a long way to go
board. The sons were ordered to clear out of the family home in a load the dice statistically significant
town in north east Spain.
2.13 Jumbled sentences
2.5 A plausible ordering is:
Upper elementary : | One day ina café ...
Tigers are big wild cats that live here and there in Asia, not Africa. ' He caught her eye and vice versa. (= She noticed him and thought he
They are very rare now. Most of them live in India, but there are a was cute, and vice versa.)
few in some other countries. There are even a few tigers in the part He decided to chat her up. (= talk to her in the hope of getting to
of Russia that is near North Korea. Did you know that they like to know her better — a /ot better)
swim? They eat other animals. Sometimes they attack people. But | They hit it off. (= They immediately have a very good relationship.)
most people think tigers are beautiful even if they are dangerous. During the next few weeks, they hung out a lot together. (= spent a
lot of time together.)
Pre-intermediate They gradually fell in love.
On her way home after celebrating her birthday, a Belarus woman | One day he popped the question. (= asked, “Will you marry me?”)
felt sleepy and lay down on what she thought was the ground. ) She said “Yes” and that meant they were engaged. (= engaged to
During the night a train ran right over her and she didn’t wake up. | be married).
Believe it or not, the place she picked to sleep was between the two But not long after that, they had a row and broke off their
rails of a train line. Doctors later said it was a good thing she didn't | engagement.
wake up and move while the train was passing over her. People who ' But the next day, they both apologised and made up. (= stopped
saw her lying on the train line in the morning thought she was dead _ being angry with each other)
and phoned the emergency services. They set a date for the wedding.
The Big Day came and they tied the knot. ( = got married)
Intermediate How are they getting on now? Well, so far so good!
A true story
An Italian woman was in hospital to give birth. When the baby was _ 3.5 Upper intermediate device words
REOLOS
SS
LETS
born — and while the woman was still laid up in bed — the husband List A List B
gave the little boy the names of his favourite horse and jockey. So the a spade |] anaxe
boy’s first name was the name of the jockey and his middle name was | a sieve 2 ascrew
the name of the horse — or maybe the other way around. You see, the | a rake 3 an oar
husband was passionate about betting on horse races. The hospital a belt 4 an hour-glass
officials accepted the strange name because the man told them that a sledgehammer 5 adoor mat
his wife had agreed to it. But she hadn't agreed! In fact, she didn’t ee
a comb 6 awedge
know about these crazy names at all! She was furious at her husband barbed wire
pwn
You
= 7 a funnel
when she found out what he had done behind her back. When she For advanced learners, add additional words — e.g. a nut, a bolt, a
came out of hospital, she went to court and asked for a change of _ spanner’“/wrench'*, a hoe, a mop.
name — from the strange, ‘horsey’ names to names that were more
traditional. Perhaps later she also asked for a divorce! _ 3.5 Review Sheet
Note ‘laid up’ means she was in bed in order to get well, not just to sleep. :- 1 axe 8 wedge
spade 9 sledgehammer
hour-glass 10 belt
Intermediate F
The Goose that laid Golden Eggs (Aesop, adapted) barbed wire 11 funnel
A long time ago, a farming couple who lived in the countryside door mat 12 screw
and raised geese made an exciting discovery. One of their geese rake 13 sieve
had begun to lay a golden egg every single Monday! As soon as U1
oy
SJ
CoN
= comb 14 oar
the egg was laid, either the wife or the husband would take it to
 3.6 Handout 4, Jack and Jill my best talent
the stakes are low L 11 He threw in his hand. = He folded (his hang).
raise the stakes gave up, quit
not their strong suit 12 We're holding all the trumps / aces / high cards.
an ace up their sleeve L all the advantages
Jack had all the aces L He's the joker in the pack/the wild card
v8)

played his cards close to his chest iL the unpredictable one

had the winning hand L 14 Do you mind if | chipin?
— threw in her hand
OnNoanfRWN L contribute(i.e. pay partof a bill, or add s'thing nto
ce

all the chips were down L a conversation)

O the showdown L 15 The cards are stacked against us

1_ laid all their cards on the table L Things are against us.
2 not on the cards F 16 It’s time to up the ante.
3 lay all my cards on the table F increase the investment and
4 have one more ace up my sleeve ; = It’s time to raise
the stakes
5 when the chips are down L+F so increase the risk.
6 anace up her sleeve L 17 The PM had a showdown with his chancellor
a decisive confrontation
3.6 Handout 5 over the issue of interest rates.
1 close, chest 12 trumps, aces, cards 18 She tipped her hand.
lay, table 13 joker, pack, wild gave a hint about her intentions (accidentally or on
re-shuffle 14 chip purpose)
spades 15 stacked 19 If you play your cards right, you might succeed
cards 16 ante, stakes make good use of your resources & opportunities
winning hand 17 showdown 20 Try to keepa poker face during the negotiation
ace 18 tipped not show your thoughtsorfeelings
aA
ON trumps
uNKWN 19 play, cards, right 21 Being a very conservative investor,
g chips 20 poker highly valued
1 O strong suit 21 chip | only invest in blue chip companies
1 1 hand, folded hand
3.7 Jigsaw text questions
3.6 Handout 6 Text 1
1 cards, close, chest 11 threw a) ,The Royal Navy and the Merchant Naw y

2 show 12 folded b) No, not any more. The American and Russian navies were
3 cards out on the table 13 joker much bigger by the 1970s
4 in spades 14 chip c) To show the importance of seafaring in British culture
5 cards 15 stacked d) It was also very big.
6 aces 6 up e) Yes, ferries are still quite important even though they are no
vy, ace, sleeve 17 stakes longer the only way to travel to and from Br
8 comes, trumps, end 18 showdown f) No, icc tis true that men and boys living near the sea
9 chips 19 hole were relatively likely to 0 to sea
1 0. strong sult 20 Blue chip g) Seafaring meant that quite a few families lacked a husband
and father for much of the time

3.6 Idiom meanings Text 2

1 He plays his cards close to his chest. a) North Africa (especially the part that is now Morocco, Algeria
keeps his plans secret and Tunisia)
It's time for everyone to b) They used them as slaves
say what they are thinking them for ransom — this we
lay all their cards on the table. for about a thousand years!)
The PM has announced a cabinet re-shuffle. c) Spanish gold
a re-organisation d) The big European naval powers such as Spain, France, the
She didn’t just win — she won in spades! Netherlands and England were busy fighting other Europeans
emphatically, clearly, by a wide margin often ir
in wars of religion. Aiso, England had a weak and
It’s not on the cards’*/in the cards'*.
not possible e) Most were, but not all
We've got the winning hand. f) Pirates. Also sometimes called ‘buccaneers
most or all of the advantages
Text 3
I've got an_ace in the hole/up my sleeve
a) To give examples of sea-related employment besides the jobs
a secret advantage
ot actually being a sailor
She always turns up trumps in the end.
b) There are hundreds of them. They
does a great job when it really matters
You can always rely on her yachts and boats — both motor boats and sailing boats. Many
marinas are linking9 with yacht clubs and Sailing clubs
in a deciding, end-game, situation
c) To give another example that sailing is not at all dead as a
when the chips are down.
British pastime
10 Mathematics is not my strong suit.

164
 On the contrary, lots do. E.g. She tried to learn French by reading novels but it didn’t
The National Maritime (i.e. seafaring) Museum. work very well, so she tried a different tack she hired a private
f) To give another example of the importance of seafaring in teacher,
British life. 9 Beonan even keel = be/feel emotionally balanced
g) Weare going to learn some! In a stormy sea, the keel of a ship is not even ( level) in a calm
$ea It Is
3.7 Explanations of idiom sentences E.g, She hasn't been on an even keel since she lost her job
| Learn the ropes = learn the basics of a new job. 10 It was all plain sailing. = problern-free
Old-time sailing ships had dozens of ropes, each with its own Plain sail was the normal set of sails, used when the weather
name and function. The sailors who worked on deck had to was good
know the name and function of each rope. So each new sailor 11 Don’t rock the boat = Don’t cause trouble in an organisation
had to ‘learn the ropes’ in order to do his job. by criticising or trying to change the way things are traditionally
E.g. In every new job it takes a while to learn the ropes. done. E.g, If you're in the armed forces, you can get in trouble
2 Take the helm/be at the helm = become / be the director by trying to rock the boat
The ‘helm’ is the steering wheel, near or at the back of a sailing 12 In the wake of an important event or disaster at tne time just
ship. The person who is ‘at the helm’ controls the direction of after (an important event or disaster) and probably caused by it
the ship. The ‘wake’ is the trail of disturbed water that follows a moving
E.g. When the president died, the vice-president took the helm boat or ship
3 (Do s’thing) under your own steam = do it without help. E.g. There were riots in the wake of the king’s assassination
An old nautical phrase meaning that the ship or boat is moving
is ‘under way’. So when steamships were invented, a natural 3.8 Horse Idioms and Sayings
way to speak of them moving was ‘under steam’. If a steamship 1 keeps a tight rein on
broke down and had to be pulled by another ship, it was not a) keeps firm control over
going ‘under its own steam’. Therefore, to be under your own 2 unbridled passion
steam means to do something without help. b) uncontrolled passion
E.g. She needed lots of help while she was learning the ropes, WwW spur... On
but now she's running under her own steam. b) cause .. to work harder and go faster
4 To give sb a wide berth = avoid, not go near. | 4 at the end of my tether
A ‘berth’ is the space for one ship when it is tied up to the b) at the limit of my mental strength and patience
dockside in port. In the old days, if a ship was believed to be 5 Give free rein to
carrying disease, the operators of the a) Release, set free
port would give it a ‘wide berth’ so that other ships did not have 6 aone horse race
to be b) not a clase contest at all
too near it. E.g. | don’t trust that guy. I’m going to give him a 7 bheaspur to
wide berth. a) encourage
5 To keel over = fall over suddenly and unexpectedly, esp. & Stop horsing around
because of illness. b) Stop playing and being foolish
The keel is the long, strong, heavy, narrow bottom part of a 9 Wild horses couldn't keep me away
ship. The keel runs from the front of a ship to the back like a a) Nothing could stop me fromm coming
backbone. If a ship ‘keels over’, then the boat has rolled so much | 10 put the cart before the horse
that the keel shows above the water. a) Don’t do things in the wrong order
E.g. She turned white and then just keeled over, hitting her 11 You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
head as she fell. b) You can give people advice but you can’t usually make them
6 Have (enough/a little...) leeway = (enough) freedom from follow it.
restrictions. 12 aone horse town
Imagine a ship sailing near the shore. If the wind is blowing b) a small, quiet town where little ever happens
towards the land from the sea, the wind could push the ship 13 Saddled with debt
onto the shore, which would be disastrous for the ship. In such a) carrying a heavy load of debt
a case, the ‘leeway’ is the distance between the ship and the 14 galloping inflation
shore. The stronger the wind, the more leeway the ship needs. In b) a very rapid increase in prices
everyday life, having ‘leeway’ means having enough freedom of 15 disagreement reared its ugly head
movement or, metaphorically, sufficient freedom to do what you b) People began to disagree
want to do.
E.g. | wish the boss would give me more leeway. I’m under such 3.9 Full key to Little Red Riding Hood
tight control that | can't take advantage of opportunities that put your foot in it ~ |
come up quickly. off the top of her head — |
7 Everything's shipshape. = neat and tidy, in good order. off the top of my head — |
On a ship there may be little space for many people. Neatness gave him the cold shoulder — f
and order are extremely important. got cold feet — |
E.g. Everything's shipshape and ready for inspection. head over heels — |
8 Totrya different tack = try a new way of doing s’thing. put a foot wrong — |
If a sailing ship is trying to go in the direction the wind ts played it by ear — F (but not metaphorical. Instead this chunk is
blowing from, it cannot move in a straight line. Instead, it must ‘metonymic’ je, ‘ear’ stands for Little Red Riding Hood’s whole
zig-zag left and right. Each change of direction Is ‘a tack’. musical ability, of which one of her ears was only a part.)
play it by ear ~f
 couldn’t carry a tune in a basket - F inquiry, an inspection, an Interview, an Invesvosvon,
got cold feet — L research
offhand — F Conduct (gs Cary Out: en inspection, research
from head to toe - L Perform: @ caramony, @ Gance, 2 mirada, 2 pkey, 2 sola, @ song
put his ie in his mouth — Cause: Gamage, destruction, devastation, havoc.
by heart —
wear your a on your sleeve— L, perhaps also F 3.15
from head to toe — F The verb = -ing sentences are 3, 4 6, 9 13, 15,
out of hand — F Explanation:
on tiptoe - L 1&2 mM ome order ee eee
3 not in me order SUING Har wes NO —— = goal
3.10 Exercise Sheet 4 NOt in time order; Contributing wes the Oppose Of 3 Goal
1 flex their muscles throw in the towel 5 n time order; Hhaning wes Smear t @ Gos
lower his quard OF
=) out for the count 6 NOt in Vme Order; SMOKING WSS NOT the Gas
stick his neck out 8 the gloves are off 7&8 nN dme order
take it on the chin 8 ‘He's on the ropes now 9g not m DmMe orger, Having S NOt The GOS! OF FEGPETINAG
On
&
WN not pull their punches (because althougha boxer ine 10-12 mH time onde; the second ved Ba Mind OF qos ‘
tight comer is in a bad position 13 jeaving S Not yet & Goa
a boxer who has been forced i4 n Tme order, COMING Wess the Goal Of whoever Ga The TarGing
against the ropes iS iN @ worse One) Bs) not in time order

3.11 What it originally stood for: 3.16

a 9 e 12 i 5 m 14 Pre-intermediate
b 10 f 8 j 6 n 13 Keep aaeraccsne! |coming
c 4 gq 7 k 15 Fis 2 dropped / 8 Gead :
d 11 h 2 | 4 3 The @sek)st / Garkest how?
4 Fordiaden / tees fruit
3.13:2 5 @ Rew /fresh) pessan /force
The chunks shown in italic are those that are figurative and relate to 6 the bess /head of the house
emotion. 3 Stance /funny feehing
Figurative expressions of anger that are not common chunks are S a8 QOO Ss SREF /QOIC
underlined. QO wetch the BSR /QTass GTO
There are of course other types of chunk in the text -— such @ S 10+%0 makee tangs METS WOISS
nearest and dearest— but these Go Not Qual/*y es answers to ths 17 SS pretty |Sees
Ss 6 OC TUTa

exercise, SO are not shown in italic. 12 When the cat’S avy the mice will Reve egeeceme / Day
3 trom hero tO Resse / Tero
It has become a widely accepted idea in western culture that instead 14 The teeer /bigger the bette:
of bottling up our emotions we should air them now ane then 15 in See / oreat shape
For example, if we're frustrated, ventilating our feelings, or 16 a fight to the finsh /esd
blowing off steam, may help us to avoid any succen explosion of one d1G, Sed / happy femih
emotion. +2
o
Jen
Q&Syp SSE
dar “art
aX Secret
But this can generate a serious problem. As it happens, releasing re » haps
REUIG

or ventilating, anger is 2 particularly bac way to cool down. An

outburst of rage typically pumps us up, Mang us fee) More
angry, not less. And if we reach boiling point anc blow up at Intermediate
someone who has provoked our anger*, Our rage reaches 2 yet too big for his skees / boots
higher peak, and our angry mood is prolonged. Also, we may well =
= Ss behind bars
erupt in rage even at innocent bystanders — and, worse, Our nearest hi
W Nn SOw Reremert Moton
and dearest — and continue to fume much longer after our outburst Can't bear / cary this heavy arden
than if we had not unleashed our rage. te»
Wf wel] Colour CO-ordineted / RAStched
A far more effective way of managing anger is to take advantage to be Resty / Crue! fo be hing
ov
i
of our human ability to ‘step back’ mentally, and observe our own too Close /Rest for comfort
feelings and behaviour. This naturally results in us simmering God's Bresert /gift (to wamen
down, without any further effort on our part. It also gives us the Ww
Oo Q00d act /deed for the Gay
opportunity to look at the issue from the other person's viewpoint 10 Look before you mrs / kan
so that we can constructively seek a solution with them 11 So deadly dull /errs
Based on Goleman (2006) and S. N. Goenka
(Vipassana, December 2007) well /very aware
* If you know Latin well, provoke anger may also be metaphorical 4 facts and floures /persbers
since ‘provoke’ comes from the Latin for ‘call forth’ (i.e. provocare) 5 on its last fet / leas
16 fatal sspestechos / flew
3.14 Worksheet 17 heed over set /heels in love
Commit: adultery, arson, a burglary, a crime, 2 murder, a 18 Love her or Rete / loathe her

robbery, an assault, an offence, an atrocity, suicide 19 im Slow everest /motion

Conduct: a ceremony, a study, a survey, , an experiment, an QO cares ang concems / wees

166
21 could get / tse off the ground EEAdvanced
22 such wtense / high hopes more bang for your buck / resultstoryour-doltar
23 the starring/ leading lady / actress stage-struck / attracted-by-the theatre
24 disaster may Faspen / strike brains and rrusctes / brawn
ATTAIN
25 looks could kill / prarcder former condition / glory
26 ano go area/ zone begging bow! / plate=
27 to make things / matters worse that's the way the cookie / btseuit crumbles
28 mixed / confusec-emotions were you born in a stable / barn ?
29 next / dese to nothing WN fighting was ¢closesap / at close quarters
OoOnNoaunFR
=

30 born with a getder / silver spoon in his mouth Every dog / cat has its day
31. start from zero / scratch look farther away / afield
32 signs of a struggle / fight little miss bossy boots / shoes
33 | hope you're gad / happy Don't cause-me-any-trouble / give me any grief
34 fair and honest / square the head honcho / persort
35 never lifted / ratsed a finger the lie / contours of the land
36 shut / cose up shop lost Its shire / lustre
37 framtan / keep the peace much maligned / ertresed
It’s of paramount / great importance
Upper intermediate ee
|
es
est
kes
Sash> beyond
eee)
OANA
UBWN
O the bounds / tirrits
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder / viewer * the rate / name of the game is publish or de / perish
worldly wealth / assets Roi@ was pilloried / sharshrerticised in the press
x Dic}

aver / above and beyond Rumours are everwhere / rife

in word and deed / actton NNNosliving in rather straitened / impoverished circumstances
has changed / taken a turn for the worse A certain somebody / yee=krow=whe
beyond the bounds / rats a Htte / sneaking suspicion
a whole erawed / host that attack / assault the senses
Or
OV
COS)
Na
to
— the courage of their betefs / convictions the best #atentions / will in the world
9 broken the tegs / back of this problem shopping brges / sprees
10 dsappeating / vanishing act say boo to a derek / goose
11 bet your shoes / boots NN
NINNNNN
Go
07
Oy
~)
Oo" media tycoon / moghul
12 pet / faveurte project
13 a generat / blanket ban 3.17
14 loophole / gag in the law Alliteration + Assonance (but in unstressed syllables) + Consonance
15 one bit / crumb of comfort 10 Forgive and forget.
16 code of conduct / retes-oHbehaviour Alliteration + Assonance (but in unstressed syllables) + Word repetition
17 to warragamst / gain ground on the opposition 30 The bigger the better.
18 on its last feet / legs
Alliteration + Assonance
19 Low a#itede/ lying land
2 They made a mistake.
20 made her life a tragedy / misery
11 You look as pretty as a picture.
21 a rather genera / sweeping statement
17 Keep it clean.
22 knows his earrets / onions
23 Not all is gold that shires / glistens Alliteration + Consonance
24 the main feces / bone of contention 5 The more the merrier.
25 the paper it’s written / printed on 25 There's bad blood between them.
26 purchasing / bay POWer Alliteration
27 doesn't seard/ ring true 1 He has a beer belly.
28 pretty shocdrg/ grim reading 6 They took a trip around the world.
29 aserious reversat / setback 9 Let’s not wait. It's now or never.
30 Hteratere / poetry in motion 14 What a mess you've made!
31 areal test of stamina / encerarce 18 Tell the truth.
32 a twist in the ending / tail RSS
SSS
ID
RS
ES
EO
NSS
SS
SS
STERNER
A
NOR
SRE
sR
ENR
SNE
33 Let's give our first speaker a warm welcome!
33 worldly wealth / #eRes 35 He likes being a house husband.
34 Naming and esgracig / shaming Assonance
35 this late day / date 7 Airport book shops mainly have best-sellers.
COGNATE:
36 the worthy / desenang winner 8 She just got back from a world tour’.
37 well mside / within budget 13 Have you got good or bad eyesight?
38 It's a top notch / quatty product ** 19 Did you find the time to phone her?
39 She was peting-out / tearing her hair in desperation 20 Is that the right size for you?
40 calla step/ halt NAA 21
TNT
ARAN Take a good look.
41 goes to show / preve 23 How about going to the beach?
42 last breath / gasp atternpt 24 Dol hear wedding bells?
* Although ‘viewer’ is assonant with ‘beauty’, it seems that 28 Let's do it right now. The time Is right.
alliteration trumps assonance. 31 | see what you mean.
** Short words trump long ones. 32 She visits her family on a daily basis.
ONTO
 Consonance divide chunks into sets according to origin (e.g. seafaring) or
3 The storm did a lot of damage. type of sound pattern (e.g., alliteration) or over-arching meaning
22 Do it as fast as you can. or theme (e.g. anger/irritation) or positivity of connotation (e.g. a
34 Yes, that's an important point. Thank you for mentioning it. slimy character, a silky voice)
Rhyme order chunks chronologically, e.g.
e
4 Let's bake a cake.
fall asleep, get dressed, go to bed, getup, go to work,
Word repetition |go home, get ready for work
12 It rained all day, on and on.
16 That happens from time to time. 1 get Us 2. Sy 4. - = Te
26 We've never spoken face to face. (Key: 1. get up 2.get dressed 3. get ready for work 4. go to
29 Things are getting better, little by little. work 5. go home 6. go to bed 7. fall asleep)
Nothing read out a story or a series of sentences, and students write
15 It's up to you. (= the decision is yours) down — and properly spell! — chunks which you highlight, e.g. by
27 \Ne don't give credit. It's pay as you go. saying, “When | click my fingers and then say a phrase and then
click my fingers at the end of it, write down the phrase between
4.10 Proposed key the clicks.”
Once upon a time there was a king and queen whose son never
went anywhere. He never went out of the palace let alone oF to give students texts in which some (highlighted) chunks are
town. At first, his parents thought that if they just waited, he used figuratively, some are used literally, and some are used
would decide to go somewhere; but several years passed and still he ambiguously. Students say how each of the highlighted chunks
never went anywhere at all. Then they tried showing him pictures of has been used.
the beautiful world outside and bought him some running shoes, as a variation of the translation task, read out a text or a series of
but in vain. In desperation, they gave him maps and bus tickets. sentences in English except that some times you use the mother
Nothing worked so finally they gave up and just ignored him. tongue instead of an English chunk. At each of those points,
Now he is king; but he still doesn’t go anywhere. students should write down an appropriate English chunk.
compose True/False questions that have chunks in them such
4.11 Gapped text
that students need to understand the chunks in order to be able
let alone decided to go to not keep her eyes off
to answer the questions rather than just guess.
do tricks take ... along out of the corner of an eye
tell jokes made a reservation heard this news play a song, read out a text, show a video (etc.) Students have
not even biggest and best ‘Happy Birthday To You’ jumbled lists of chunks which are in the song/text or portrayed in
not even than usual wide open the video. Students have to put the chunks in order according to
by the time bound for all over the place what they hear or see.
fed up with by the way covered with do movements: students write a chunk describing the
despite the fact that looking forward to crashed into movement. E.g. you say, “OK, number 1,” and then
poor girl art galleries covered with conspicuously pick up a pencil. Students write ‘pick up’
in all her life in her whole life no hope for
all the time couldn't help but after all compose texts into which a stipulated set of chunks could be
at last have dinner inserted. Students insert them appropriately.
find a text with chunks in it, and swap certain chunks around so
4.12 Ideas: that none is in its original location. Then underline the chunks
e split chunks in half, jumble the halves and then ask students to that have been swapped around. Students have to put them
re-assemble the chunks back in their original locations.
e split sentences in half such that there is a chunk in one half or compose Odd One Out quiz items, e.g: fall for, hit it off,
the other, e.g. ‘On your first day at work // someone usually brush off
shows you the ropes’. The halves of sentences are jumbled up.
Students have to re-assemble them give students lists of chunks in stories or songs they have met
very recently. Students say which story/song the chunk was in
¢ jumble up the words of individual chunks (ones of more than (e.g. ‘Hansel and Gretel’). If it’s in a story, they get bonus points
three words) and students have to put the words back in order for correctly stating which character uttered the chunk, who
again (e.g. about the beat bush > beat about the bush) they said it to, and when.
* anagramize (some of) the words in chunks; students then have
to unjumble the letters (e.g. tbea about the shub)
e ask students to translate chunks

e ask students to match chunks to meanings (which you have

helpfully provided on the test sheet)
¢ give students paraphrases or translations and ask them to write
the corresponding chunk. To help, you can supply prompts/hints
such as, e.g. b ab the r... if you are artistic, a
sketch.

e ask students to use each target chunk in a sentence which

indicates the meaning of the chunk. OO
EE
TE
TEE
TS
ED
SESE
IICEEREEEEGIA
COR
SESS
STEER
IEEE
ETE
ESO
SOIREE
EILEEN
INT
IESE
EES
SESE
EEE
EISELE
BEEESEEISEEEEEESOSGER
SBR
ELSEEGERR
LELEEIEEDA
SLE
LEE
IOETIEEIE
SEED
LE
EEEESL
PS
SENSED
SEESESEII
IIE
ESSE
IS
ISS
SESS
ESILEEE
SELLE!
ESSESESREELLEE
ESE
RELSSSEGS
ESI
BES
EEE
IOS
LES
ELEESEESEBES
SESE
ALES
IESE
EEE
SEILER
ELE
ITSTS
REO
RRR
TI
ERTL
EET
EESEES
EEE

168
GLOSSARY

A chunk of language is a common partnership between two or more words. Some

of the many alternate terms for chunk are: multi-word vocabulary, lexical phrase,
and formulaic sequence. Chunks include idioms, proverbs, common collocations
(e.g., heavy rain) and phrasal verbs. It is assumed that a chunk is stored in memory
as If it were a single word.
Elaborative processing (also called ‘deep’ or ‘rich’ processing) of a chunk occurs
when a learner thinks about the form and/or meaning of the chunk in ways that add
detail to her/his knowledge of the chunk. Elaborative processing tends to result in
the second kind of entrenchment described just below.
Entrenchment of a chunk happens when memory traces in the brain become
stronger because (1) existing connections between particular neurons become
stronger and more active, and/or (2) a memory trace becomes easier to find through
new connections being made from it to other memory traces.
(Linguistic) motivation is what partly explains why a particular combination of
words has become a/the accepted way of saying something. For instance, why
do we say beer belly instead of ale belly, food belly or beer tummy? Part of the
answer is the catchy b—b repetition which has ‘motivated’ (i.e. influenced) native
speakers of English to accept this phrase as a natural-sounding way of referring to
a particular kind of protruding belly. Chunks which are motivated are relatively easy
to remember.
A mnemonic is a technique or procedure a learner may use to remember vocabulary
through use of memory prompts.
Rehearsal is repeated mental processing of the form — and, ideally, also the
meaning — of a chunk. Rehearsal of a foreign language chunk can be something as
simple as writing the chunk down, turning the paper over, waiting ten seconds and
trying to remember what you wrote. Successful rehearsal makes the chunk easier to
remember, resulting in the first kind of entrenchment described above. The activities
in Chapters 2 and 4 focus mainly on rehearsal.
Usage restrictions are limitations on the use of a word or chunk — limitations which
cannot easily be guessed from knowing its dictionary meaning and part of speech
(or syntactic role). For example, knowing that run aground as defined in a dictionary
means ‘come to an unexpected stop, fail’ will allow a learner to use this chunk
wrongly, as in ‘His car ran aground halfway through the race’. However, learners
who know that run aground has to do with a ship becoming stuck in water that is
not deep enough for it have a much better chance of remembering that this chunk
is usually used for things that have something in common with ships — and this can
be either literally or metaphorically, e.g. both ships and projects can be launched and
both are said to run aground.
A word string (cf a ‘string of pearls’) is a natural sequence of words which may or
may not form a chunk.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

References Arnold, J. Puchta, H. & M. Rinvolucri 2007. Imagine That! Mental Imagery in the EFL
Classroom. Helbling Languages.
Collins Cobuild Dictionary ofIdioms. 2002, 2"? ed. Collins.
Davis, PR & M. Rinvolucri. 1988. Dictation: New Methods, New Possibilities. Cambridge
University Press.
Goleman, D. 2006. Emotional Intelligence. Bantam Dell.
The Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, 2" ed. 2007. Macmillan
Education.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English. 2002. Diana Lea, ed. Oxford
University Press.
Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English. 2006. Oxford University
Press.

Further reading Boers, F. 2000. Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention. Applied Linguistics,
Background to the approach De 553—57/10 é ,
used in this book Boers, F., J. Eyckmans & H. Stengers. 2006. ‘Motivating multiword units: Rationale,
mnemonic benefits, and cognitive style variables.’ In: S.H. Foster-Cohen, M.M.
Krajnovic & J.M. Djigunovic eds., EUROSLA Yearbook, 6: 169-190, Amsterdam/
Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Boers, F., J. Eyckmans & H. Stengers. 2007. Presenting figurative idioms with a touch
of etymology: More than mere mnemonics? Language Teaching Research, 11/1:
43-62.
Boers, F. and S. Lindstromberg (eds.). 2008. Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to
Teaching Vocabulary and Phraseology. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Boers, F. and S. Lindstromberg. Forthcoming. Optimizing a Lexical Approach to
Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lindstromberg, S. & F. Boers. 2008a. The mnemonic effect of noticing alliteration in
lexical chunks. Applied Linguistics, 29/2: 200-22.
Lindstromberg, S. & F. Boers. 2008b. Phonemic repetition and the learning of lexical
chunks: The mnemonic power of assonance. System, 36/3: 423-36.

Learning foreign Laufer, B. 1997. ‘What's in a word that makes it hard or easy: some interlexical factors
language vocabulary that affect the learning of words.’ In N. Schmitt and M. McCarthy (eds.), Vocabulary:
Description, Acquisition, Pedagogy, pp. 140-55. Cambridge University Press.
Laufer, B. 2005. ‘Focus on Form in second language vocabulary acquisition.’ In
EUROSLA Yearbook 5, Susan Foster-Cohen (ed.), 223-250. John Benjamins.
Nation, |.S.P. 2001. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Nation, |.S.P. & P. Gu. 2007. Focus on Vocabulary. Macquarie University, Sydney:
NCELTR Publications.
Schmitt, N. 1997. Vocabulary learning strategies. In Vocabulary: Description,
Acquisition and Pedagogy, N. Schmitt, and M. McCarthy eds., pp. 199-236.
Cambridge University Press.
Sdkmen, A. J. 1997. ‘Current trends in teaching second language vocabulary.’ In
Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy, N. Schmitt and M. McCarthy,
eds., pp. 237-257. Cambridge University Press.
Thompson, |. 1987. ‘Memory in language learning.’ In Learner Strategies in Language
Learning, A. Wenden and J. Rubin eds., pp. 43-56. Prentice-Hall.
170
 TEACHER'S QUICK - REFERENCE GUIDE

This guide will help you select an activity suitable for your class based on the time
you have available and the learning level(s) of your students.
To use it, look down the left-hand column till you come to a time that's suitable
for you, and then across to see the name of the activity in a cell soread across the
range of levels it's suited to. Then across again to find the activity number.
Or if you prefer to start with the level of your students, go downwards till you find
an activity name, and on that same row you will find the time required and the
activity number.

Please note, however, that the time guide Is only very basic; it does not take
account of any extension. It merely allows you to see, when you're thinking of
running an activity for the first time, how long the activity is likely to take. When
you look at the details of the activity, you may find that the time is more flexible
than appears in this guide.

Lesson time Beginner Elementary Upper Pre- Upper Advanced Activity no

(mins) elementary | intermediate Intermediate intermediate

Chapter 2 Initial steps

Variable i! 3 |
Phrasal verbs via paired associates P.(\P

5—10 Priming with Chinese whispers DM

5-10 Writing then reconstructing 2.6

a=

10-15 Reading out loud with pauses Dal

10-30 Teach your phrase ZA

ee —
15-30 What are those initials for? 2.4

(5=30 Remember my change DS

20-40 Si Dicto-composition: from chunks to text and back 2.8

20-40 Questionnaires with multiple 29
choice answers 3
30-40 |
Situational clichés 2.14

45-60 Filling in a story skeleton Dj}

50-60 Between -listening gap fills 2.10

10+5-10 |Memorising short dialogues | 23

Putting chunks into chronological order:
aot romantic relationships 2.13
 Beginner | Elemen-tary Upper Pre- aermediate Upper Advanced Activity no
elementary | intermediate intermediate

Chapter 3 Helping students remember chunks

Figurative manner-of-action expressions 33

| is
|
Seeing the deep logic of word partnerships 3.14
T t= an eae | ae
Sorting by sound 3517
= = | —
Talking about an emotion S13
eee + + a

Boxing idioms 3.10

Stop to smoke? Stop smoking? 35

ime —
Sorting figurative idioms by source domain Bol2

Things that smell 8).

— ae ee 4

Things that make sounds Sty

—————————— +

Device idioms 35

What does /t mean here? Suid

Horse idioms 3.8

| Body idioms 3.9

| ee
Ree
| Noticing patterns of sound repetition SalI

Weather phrases 3.4

Student quizmasters

ew posters option 1
——
Guess my chunk Lag

|Memory slips with hints 4.

| What comes next? | A5

| | =|
Test me easy, test me hard 4.8
=|
EO ae at SS
Blanks with big fat hints 4.11

Embedding chunks in a text

Literal? Figurative? Either? Both?

Circulating review sheets

Using chunks in mini-stories

ah
A ee a:
NOTES
One of the secrets of teaching a foreign language successfully lies in balancing routine classroom work with innovative and
creative activities and techniques. This new series offers teachers, teacher trainers and teacher trainees a discussion of new
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tromberg and Frank ers are both teacher trainers and writers of inspiring teaching materials.

POU
W010
=aching Chunks of Language is an original new resource book for teachers of EFL/ESL eadeeiee at
intermediate-advanced level. It shows how to help students work out the origins and reasoning behind the choice
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can make real progress in this traditionally challenging area of language— highly satisfactory for them, are for you
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The activities develop all four language skills in creative and communicative contexts as well as illustrating
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Teachinc f Language is a flexible, exciting and practical handbook that provides a wide range of activities
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a usable iina variety of classroom settings and. levels. It offers a valuable way of helping students not only to
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ISBN 978-3-E

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