Purpose: To involve learners in examining how much English has influenced their own language and how items and features from their own language could enhance English.

Preparation: Think of some more loans into English other than those supplied below.

Lesson Outline

1. Group students into 4-6 students. If you have a multinational class aim for multinational groups. Ask them to write down any English words and phrases that are used in their own language. Encourage them to share how any other features of English have influenced their language.
   
   
2. Hold some plenary feedback and pool results. Ask how they feel about the anglicisation of their mother tongue.
   
   
3. Hand out a copy of the following or draw on board, OHP.

   Schadenfreude (German)

   cushy (Romany)

   futon (Japanese)

   apparatchik (Russian)

   sauna (Finnish)

   
   
   

   cognoscenti (Italian)

   siesta (Spanish)

   Je ne sais quoi (French)

   coleslaw (Dutch)

4. Explain the meaning of the above. If you have a multinational class, elicit explanations from students from the mother tongue of the above "loans".
   
   
5. Say that all these words/phrases have something in common apart from the fact that they are from different languages. Ask the students if they know what the other common denominator is. Establish that they are loans into English.
   It may be worth adding that some of the loans such as schadenfreude and apparatchik tend to be used in more middle to upper middle-class texts. It could also be interesting for students to know how United States English is affecting UK English - especially amongst the young, eg I saw him on the weekend. "I had two friends for a sleepover".
   
   
6. Now ask the students to see if there are any "lacks" that are obvious to them when they use English. Are there any words or phrases from their language that they think would be useful "gifts" for the English language. Invite not only words and phrases but grammatical constructions, functions and aspects of phonology.