HLT Magazine (July 2001) - Lesson Outlines

Humanising Language Teaching
Year 3; Issue 4; July 2001

Hiding Words

John Morgan
secondary and adult

Level Lower Intermediate to Advanced
Time 5 to 15 minutes
Aims to encourage students to discover new vocabulary (and new ways of using known vocabulary)
Preparation Make sure dictionaries are available.

Procedure

1. Put up the following words on the board:

THE -------- CENT

Explain that many words can be found hidden inside other words:

oTHEr -------- reCENTly

and even inside phrases:

I took the BUS Home.-------- Do you knoW HER E-mail address?

2. Put on the board, or ask the students to select, 3-5 words. Ask the students to hide them, one or more to a sentence, as in the examples you gave. Tell them they can use dictionaries to find the words for their sentences, but not to spend too long on this: if they cannot easily find a way to "hide" a word, they should discard it and move on to another.

3. Get the students to exchange their sentences and find their partner's hidden words.

Variations

1. Hide the words as every other letter of the new word or phrase, e.g.

PIGEON -> my speed kept sliPpInG bElOw Ninety kilometres an hour.

2. Hide the words backwards:

KNIT -> sTINKing fish

3. Use each letter of the word as the first letters of the words of a phrase:

TEACH -> Take Everything And Come Home