Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal verbs are very important if you want to get by in the normal English-speaking environment. Most English speakers use phrasal verbs very casually on a daily basis without thinking about it, so understanding and being able to use them is crucial for becoming an integral participant in an English conversation. Memorizing regular verbs isn't enough to get by in a country where English is the first language of the natives so these phrasal verb lessons are incredibly useful for preparing students for trips overseas or home stays. The Smith's School of English lesson introduces a number of phrasal verbs, some especially related to cooking. It includes exercises that range a great deal in situation and dialogue, so that the student gets a wide variety of practice using phrasal verbs.
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The other day I was working on phrasal verbs with a student who had never practiced them before. As soon as I opened the textbook and asked him to match up the phrasal verbs with the pictures, he became confused. He glanced at the text containing the phrasal verbs, and not being familiar with them, he resorted to using regular verbs to identify with the pictures. For example, instead of saying "switch off the light" he would answer with "press the denki."
I went over the examples with him, explaining them to him whenever he had trouble grasping the meaning. After that, I wrote up a list of phrasal verbs on the board. We went over them one by one, very slowly. I would give him an example and then encourage him to think of one by himself. As he neared the end of the list, he became more excited as he finally began to get the hang of it. Now, after every example, he would exclaim, "naru hodo" or "omoshiroi!" As we went along, he continued to fill up his notebook with examples, definitions, and pronounciation hints in katakana.
At the end of the item, he was enthusiastically repeating the phrasal verbs and creating his own sentences. He was now quite confident in saying, "I cut up the carrot", or "I put back my bag."
This is one of my favourite items to do with student of all levels. It is really relevant to anyone, and it can be developed and extended to no end. I especially enjoy using the photo cards and having the student describe the process of making cup ramen or a phone call. Not only do the picture cards help the student along with the thoughts that makes an English lesson easier, but to associate the English words with the pictures rather than translating in their heads from Japanese is a much better to learn, remember, and be able to use new words in a language!
It's Saturday here at Smith's School of English, and Saturdays often come with a few regular students. Today I had a lesson with one the newer students who has joined this trend, and who has recently been taking double lessons for various reasons. As a pink level student she has a lot of potential to improve, and it's exciting to see her doing that already!
Her onepoint was from the lesson before, and I asked her to tell me a secret. "Just between you and me..." but I can't say anything more.
She's been through a few routines already, so I decided we would focus on the questions of Routine 6, which she had previously done the L&R with. When I asked if she remembered it, she didn't really, but I forged on ahead none the less. Smith's School of English students are usually more capable than they will admit. First I dictated the questions and then asked her again if she remembered the routine, and she did, a little. Then I modelled the questions, and she wrote down some one word notes, such as times and places. Sure enough, when it was up to her to answer the questions she did really well. I wrote up all her sentences on the board as she went, and when let her correct the small mistakes she made before we moved onto the next questions. At the end I asked her to read through the story written up on the board so that she would take in what she'd accomplished all at once.
The item chosen for this lesson was Phrasal Verbs. As a start-up going through the exercise in the book always gives a good indication of the handle the student has on phrasal verbs.
Going through the list of phrasal verbs in the presentation took a long time. Or rather, I made sure it took a long time. Rather than breezing through the verbs, I asked her where she could to give an example of the verbs, like in the first exercise. So for example next to "put on " I wrote "my clothes" in a different colour. After we'd gone through all of them I asked her to tell me a story using most of the phrasal verbs on the board. She did this, just talking about her day, like when she got up and prepared breakfast, and spread jam on her toast because she dropped the butter, and then how she put back the jam in the fridge and put down the plate in the living room, and so on... I've never asked a student to practise the phrasal verbs in such a story before, and I think it went down really well. It let her get a good grip of each of them.
By that time it was time for the onepoint, and she gave me a great example of B2 "I wish I could (drink beer), but I can't because (I drive today"), which was corrected to "I'm driving".
This is one lesson I like doing for i ntermediate level students. English speakers take 2 word verbs for granted. We use and listen to them naturally in conversations so it is definitely a 2-way street.
But most beginner through intermediate level Japanese students often struggle with their meanings. That's why I often find the "What do you do?" and "What do you want for your birthday?" picture exercises very helpful. These are a good lead in for the more challenging "Find the word" exercise. By the time the students reach this part of the lesson they seem much more comfortable and confident then the blank confusing faces you noticed only 30 minutes ago.
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