Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 4; July 03

Which English words have one-word equivalents in your language?

Level : Upper Intermediate to Advanced
Time : 20-30 minutes

In class

1. Pair the students. If your class is multinational, pair people with the same mother tongue. Ask any language isolates to work on their own.

2. Write these English words and phrases up on the board:

   airing cupboard --- Speaker (of the House of Commons)

   standard (= "ordinary") --- bungalow --- croft --- au fait with

   cosy --- cream tea --- bitch (used of a woman) --- savoury

   limo --- dad --- daddy --- my old man

   privacy --- alfresco

3. Tell the students to try and find one-word equivalents in their mother tongue for the English words on the board. If they cannot (this will vary from language to language) ask them to find the shortest possible way of expressing the meaning in their language. Ask the students to use their dictionaries and to ask you for help where necessary.

4. If your class is monolingual regroup the pairs in sixes and ask them to compare their efforts. Each six writes up their best translations on the board. Move into whole-group discussion.
   If your class is multilingual, bring them together in mother-tongue groups, with the language isolates forming an "international group". They then compare their their solutions. Finish with a whole-group discussion.