We have to have some sort of structure to organise words if we are to communicate. That structure is a big part of grammar. Linguists use a term – syntax – to describe word order.
In this resource we’ll look at what grammar is and why we need it. First of all, take a look at the word salads. They can be found in the Activity pages within the menu entitled 'This Unit' in the upper right of this page. The slides show real spoken sentences drawn from our corpus, which have been jumbled up into the wrong order. The students' task is to rearrange the words into an order that makes sense.
Check previous knowledge of genre and define the term
Define the key terms discourse structure and register
Identify examples of the key terms in authentic texts
Lesson Plan
In Activity 1, the teacher could start by introducing the concept of genre. A useful warmer might be asking learners to discuss what the term genre means and generate examples, then sharing with the whole class. To finish, show the first slide and check how closely their definitions match.
Writing is an activity by which we achieve different ends. These writing activities are often ones that we recognise and label. The name we give to such recognisable activities is genre.
What kind of written or spoken text would you find the following sentences and phrases in? Give an answer for each one.
It’s reasonably compact, compared to most smartphones these days, with a 3.7in screen that’s slightly bigger than the iPhone’s. It looks neat enough, but when you pick it up it feels like no other phone around. The screen is slightly curved, and so are the edges of the phone. It all feels like a smooth, tactile pebble, with glossy front and matte back. It’s made from polycarbonate, that is plastic, but it’s put together like it’s one piece. Even the tiny holes on the bottom edge for the speaker are individually precision-milled.
In this lesson, students will explore new modes of communication such as texting, online chat, and Facebook, which often come in for criticism from people who believe that they are damaging the way we use language.
Use implicit grammatical knowledge to translate examples of infant speech into complete sentences.
(For older students) use explicit grammatical knowledge to identify the types of changes that have been made in translating from the original examples.
Lesson Plan
The teacher explains that today, we will look at some real examples of English spoken by infants, and translate it into adult speech.
Analysing the language of characters in a literary text
Goals
Understand some of the ways that writers use language to create characters
Analyse the use of language in a literary text
Lesson Plan
You could start by asking students to think about some of the ways that writers use language to create fictional characters. What makes a convincing character? What are some of their favourite characters from fiction, and why?
Next, talk students through the first passage from Jekyll & Hyde.
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Englicious (C) Survey of English Usage, UCL, 2012-21 | Supported by the AHRC and EPSRC. | Privacy | Cookies
