JUST FOR KICKS (18): THE LANGUAGE LOVERS CORNER
(Notes for language teachers and advanced students of the English language)
By Oriel E. Villagarcia, at TOOLS FOR TEACHERS, newtoolsforteachers@yahoo.com.ar

 

I. FURTHER MEANINGS OF FAMILIAR WORDS

Today’s word is THICK

The meaning which is most usually taught is not thin.
Notice the following however:

A thick forest or wood has many trees growing together in close contact.
Thick hair or fur is made of many small hairs growing close together (MED, 2007).
Thick smoke, fog or haze makes it difficult for people to see through.
Thick liquid does not flow easily.
A thick accent indicates where the speaker originally comes from or what their mother tongue sounds like.
If somebody’s voice is thick with emotion, it is probably difficult to understand them.
Slow learners or those who have difficulty in understanding intellectual matters are said to be thick.
If the air is thick with mosquitoes, it has lots of them. Likewise, if a road is thick with traffic it is full of vehicles.
If two people are thick, they have a close relationship (also, thick as thieves)
If you have a thick skin or if you are thick skinned you are insensitive to criticism.
If you give somebody a thick ear, you hit them on the side of the head (Brit. Engl. infml).
If you lay it on  thick, you are most likely exaggerating and not being sincere in order to get something from your interlocutor.
To be in the thick of the battle/action is to be in the most intense part of it.
If you stick to somebody through thick and thin, you stand by them in spite of any difficulties.
If people/things are thick on the ground, they are easily available, there are lots of them.

II. A VERY COLD FAMILY

The word cold can combine with certain words to make up a new semantic unit, as for example cold cuts or a cold call, which does not necessarily mean cuts that are cold or a call that is not hot. In the following, decide which groups of words follow the cold cuts/cold call pattern:

cold cream                 cold feet         cold fish         cold cash
cold duck                   cold rooster    cold sore         cold elbow
cold sweat                  cold war

Answers at the bottom as usual.

III. MATCHING ACTIVITY

Can you match the two columns? Remember, the words on the right column are only a clue to the meaning of the words on the left column.

            panache                     audacity, impudence, nerve, effrontery
            repartee                     strings of shiny paper for decorative purposes
            foreboding                 disagreement, refusal, objection
            speakeasy                  place where alcoholic drinks are sold illegally.
            demurral                   quick, witty reply
            tinsel                           great skill, flair
            gall                             presentiment of something bad, harmful

Find the answers way down below.

IV. SUPPLY THE MISSING WORD

  1. When the going gets..............., i.e. when things get difficult.
  2. To teach somebody the ..........is to show them how to do a job.
  3. If somebody gets or is given his ...................papers, they are fired.
  4. You are or you have a .............mouth if you use offensive language very frequently.
  5. I promise to do it, come hell or ................, i.e. no matter what.

 

Answers down below.

V.USING PHRASALS

Supply the phrasals. Use the clues given in the sentence to help you decide which is the phrasal in question. To jog your memory, the first letter of the phrasal has been supplied. The particle is the same in every case.

  1. She felt embarrassed because her skirt kept r.........   ..... her skirt when she sat down, i.e. moving up her body.
  2. Unless you b.......    ...... your presentation with colourful slides, people will fall asleep, i.e. make it attractive.
  3. What a wonderful surprise. We have been b..........  .....to first class on the flight from New York to Los Angeles.
  4. They p.........   .......the newspapers before sending them to their friends, i.e. they wrapped them and put them in a box. This phrasal is used in Brit. Engl.
  5. When the bomb went off, the horse r........   ... in fright.

 

Answers down below.

VI. HIGHLIGHTING A UNIQUE DICTIONARY

We would like to bring to your attention the HEINLE PICTURE DICTIONARY.
This is what the HEINLE CENGAGE LEARNING catalogue has to say about it:

The HEINLE PICTURE DICTIONARY helps students learn words in context through thousands of engaging illustrations and photos. Unlike other dictionaries, the HEINLE PICTURE DICTIONARY also presents new vocabulary in contextualized, thematic readings and offers additional collocation practice.”

Its main features as specified in the catalogue are:

 

THE HEINLE PICTURE DICTIONARY is accompanied by two workbooks, one at the beginning level, and another at the intermediate level. There are CDs accompanying each workbook, and there is also an incredily detailed LESSON PLANNER for each level. In addiction to this there is also an interactive CD ROM.

THE HEINLE PICTURE DICTIONARY is definitely worth your attention as it will help you as a teacher, and can assist your students in self teaching/independent study.                                        

 

ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ABOVE

A COLD FAMILY

The combinations which do not follow the pattern in question are cold rooster, which should be cold cock, and cold elbow, which should be cold shoulder, and cold duck, which should be cold turkey.

Now it is up to you to look up the meaning of those combinations you were not familiar with, if any.

MATCHING COLUMNS
Panache................ ..great skill, flair
Repartee..................quick, witty reply
Foreboding..............presentiment of something bad, harmful
Speakeasy................place where alcholig drinks are sold illegally
Demurral................ disagreement, refusal, objection
Tinsel...................... .strings of shiny paper for decorative purposes
Gall...........................audacity, impudence, nerve, effrontery

 

SUPPLY THE MISSING WORD

1. tough                      2. ropes                      3. walking/marching
4. potty                       5. highwater

 

PHRASAL VERBS

1. riding up                2. beef up                   3. bumped up
4. parcelled up          5. reared up

 

TIME TO SAY GOOD BYE

In the month of May, we will be visiting the following cities with the following schedule. Full details are given elsewhere in this bulletin. Refer to the TOOLS FOR TEACHERS announcement.

Rosario: workshops on CONTEMPORARY COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH AS HEARD IN SIT COMS AND SOAP OPERAS , May 7, from 17:00 to 20:00 at SBS Rosario,  and REVISITING AND EXPANDING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE, May 8, from 10:00 to 13:00.

Salta: workshops on TPR as above, on May 15, from 10:00 to 13:00, and VULGAR ENGLISH, the same day, from 14:00 to 17:00.

San Pedro de Jujuy: worshop on TPR as above, on May 22, 9:00 to 12:00 and CONTEMPORARY COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH as above, May 22, 14:00 to 17:00.

We very much like to meet readers of this bulletin in those cities.

Oriel E. Villagarcía holds and M.A. in Linguistics for English Language Teaching from the University of Lancaster, and was on the Advisory Panel for the MACMILLAN ENGLISH DICTIONARY (MED), First Edition. He is a British Council and a Fulbright Scholar, and he did graduate work at the University of Texas. He is available for workshops on language or methods throughout the country and abroad. He can be reached at newtoolsforteachers@yahoo.com.ar