Tag Archives: diction/grammar/style/usage

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Murder in a Bookstore”

OK, esteemed colleagues: because they continue to be the most frequently downloaded files from Mark’s Text Terminal, here is another complete Crime and Puzzlement lesson plan, this one on the “Murder in a Bookstore.”

I begin this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Aesop’s fables. You won’t be able to do much without this PDF of the illustration and questions that drive this lesson. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key.

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.

Assert (vt)

It turned up in a discursive lesson I taught in a personal development class yesterday (on, of all things, what’s “wrong” with Eric Cartman of “South Park”), so here is a context clues worksheet on the verb assert. It is used only transitively, apparently, which makes sense if one thinks about where and how to use it in speech and prose.

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.

Paparazzi

Here is a reading on paparazzi and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This material is of high interest for some students in my experience using it. Don’t forget the paparazzi is a plural noun; the singular is paparazzo.

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.

Click (vt/vi/n) and Clique (n)

If one pronounces the noun clique in its French phonetic, it will sound like “kleek,” which renders these five worksheets on the the near homophones click and clique more or less inaccurate. However, if one pronounces clique as it is commonly done in the the United States, like click, then the five worksheets above will indeed serve as homophone worksheets.

In any case, these worksheets offer students–particularly English language learners–a chance to understand clique which is almost inarguably a word and concept students should know by the time they graduate high school.

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.

Cultural Literacy: President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty

If you spend any time on it in a United States history class, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the War on Poverty might be a reasonable introduction to President Lyndon Johnson’s unfortunately failed attempt to address chronic, structural poverty in the United States.

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.

Aggregate (n)

OK, after a long weekend, here is a context clues worksheet on aggregate used as a noun. It seems to me that somewhere along the way I wanted to write one of these for aggregate as a verb as well. So be on the lookout for that, I suppose.

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, October 11, 2019, Hispanic Heritage Month 2019 Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Eva Peron

Ok, in the ongoing observation of Hispanic History Month 2019 at Mark’s Text Terminal, here is a reading on Eva Peron and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. If you have students interested in the musical theater, this might be high interest material for them, given that Eva Peron’s life constitutes the source material for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Evita.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Conquistadores

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on conquistadores in Mark’s Text Terminal’s ongoing observation of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs annually between September 15 and October 15.

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.

Aficionado (n)

Moving right along this morning, as a Mozart piano concerto (Malcolm Bilson at the fortepiano–exquisite) plays in the background, here is a context clues worksheet on the noun aficionado.

In context? “The proprietor of Mark’s Text Terminal is an aficionado of Mozart’s piano concerti.”

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: Whiskey Rebellion

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Whiskey Rebellion for you United States history teachers.

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.