Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Compel (vt)

Here is a context clues on the transitive verb compel. It means “to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly” and “to cause to do or occur by overwhelming pressure.” This is commonly used word in English because it is useful. Enough said.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Rhyme

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on rhyme. This is a half-page reading with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. In other words, a simple yet clear introduction to the concept.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, Friday 6 January 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 5, The Emigre Griots: The Birth of the Blues in the Southern United States

Happy New Year!

Let’s move right along to the fifth lesson plan of the History of Hip-Hop unit, this one on the birth of the blues in the southern United States, with a particular emphasis on a huge figure in global culture, the blues artist nonpareil Robert Johnson. I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Deep South. The main work of this lesson is this reading on Robert Johnson along with its accompanying comprehension worksheet. Finally, here are the lyrics to one of his most famous songs, “Sweet Home Chicago,” now a blues standard, which I play for students during the lesson.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Can’t Afford

OK, here is a worksheet on the verb phrase can’t afford as it is used with an infinitive. I can’t afford to waste time producing curricular materials I will very likely never use.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Science Fiction

Happy New Year!

I got out my computer this morning and ended up, as I often do, working some on this blog. Long story short, I have all the posts–twenty-four of them–set up in my drafts folder for Black History Month. And as long as I’m here, I may as well post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on science fiction. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. Just the basics.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Common Errors in English Usage: Issues, Problems

OK, once again from the pages of Paul Brians’ book (to which he allows no-cost access at his Washington State University webpage) Common Errors in English Usage (he’s up to a third edition, I believe), here is a worksheet on the use of the plural nouns issues and problems. This is a full-page document with a six-sentence reading and ten modified cloze exercises.

As usual, Professor Brians promotes good usage by way of a short but punchy reading on the historical linguistics, so to speak, of these two words.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Appear

Here is a worksheet on the verb appear as it is used with a infinitive. I often don’t appear to know what I’m doing where curricular design is concerned.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Purple Prose

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on purple prose in both written and oral communication. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one phrase (a fragment, really, possibly the first I’ve seen in this material in 15 years of working with it) and one short sentence, followed by two short comprehension questions. If your students understand the adjective “ornate” and “flowery,” this worksheet will do the job; otherwise, some vocabulary building might be prudent.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, Friday 30 December 2022: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 4, The Griot in African Culture

Moving right along with this big unit on Hip-Hop, here is the fourth lesson plan, on the West African griot tradition (which should not be confused with the Haitian dish of the same name). This is a key lesson in this process. I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun griot.

Because this lesson includes a viewing of the video for the song, here are lyrics to the Afropop song “Shaking the Tree,” a collaboration between British rock star Peter Gabriel and the Senegalese griot (he descends from a family of griots) Youssou N’Dour. Finally, at the center of this lesson is this reading and comprehension worksheet, which is also meant to spur discussion, on the griot tradition in Africa.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

byzantine (adj)

You noted, I expect, that the header for this post contains what is generally used as a substantive and in that role is capitalized. Byzantine, of course, means, variously, “of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient city of Byzantium,”  “of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in the Byzantine Empire especially in the fifth and sixth centuries featuring the dome carried on pendentives over a square and incrustation with marble veneering and with colored mosaics on grounds of gold,” and “of or relating to the churches using a traditional Greek rite and subject to Eastern canon law.”

What we have in the context clues worksheet on the adjective byzantine with a lower-case b, is a run-of-the-mill modifier. Used this way, the word means “of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manner of operation <a ~ power struggle>,” “intricately involved,” and “labyrinthine <rules of ~ complexity>.” I tend to use this word as synonym for complex and complicated. It’s a tricky word, polysemous and altering between proper and common status. It shows up enough in academic prose, I would argue, that students probably ought to learn it.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.