Lang 9. Multipurpose items

Lang 9. Multipurpose items                                            level 3-4-5       10-15 min

GOAL.  To encourage learners to select the most useful items and discard othersl

Understanding my word-power. Q’s & A’s.

Besides the language you receive, you study and work with it, the fist question you need to ask must be: how can I enhance my  production (written and oral texts)? Then, from all the words you come across,  written text or oral transcript, what are you interested in learning & using?

1. Finding useful Language: topic vs multipurpose items

Exploring the answers, any text language can be divided into (a) topical items and (b) multi-purpose items.

Topical items in a text about traditions might be:  traditions are under attack, reinforce our identity, keeping old traditions alive, a big event for the family, want it to die out.

Multi-purpose items are those words, expressions or grammatical patterns that you can use in a variety of contexts and situations. They include those language features you strive for:  Frequent words, word collocations, grammar patterns, phrases or evaluative discourse makers.

Of course, as you see your language notebook, you want to learn some topical vocabulary, since we all need the language to talk or write about a large amount of subjects. But do not neglect  MULTI-PURPOSE LANGUAGE, because those items are among the most frequent and natural, since they can be used in lots of instances of human communication. So, make conscious efforts to discover and learn this sort of language.

2. Incorporating new Language

The process can be pictured as having three steps:

1 Discover new language. Learn to identify & select useful items of new language from the texts you read or the the scripts you study. The criterion must be USEFULNESS as opposed to difficulty. Sometimes there are things that you understand and sound 'very English' but for some reason you never get to use them. Your ability to identify & select will improve as you try. Practice makes perfect.

2 Learn it. Research the new items; use any sources of information (also people: your mates, native speakers, etc.) The objective is to find out as much as possible about the new language, so that you will be able to use it with confidence. Of course, that includes the PRONUNCIATION.

3 Get to use it! Build a new language bank where you collect and organize the new items you are learning and refer to it whenever you are preparing some production: written texts or spoken tasks. Try to find opportunities to incorporate those new items to your English --but avoid 'forcing' them into your discourse artificially; with time you will develop the necessary balance. Practice makes perfect.

TASK 1. Read one example of language work:

Study the text Communication (on page 16)  in CAE book  (CUP)

Topical items in a text about Communication lare things like getting a message across, intonation, understanding, gesture, interacting, negotiated, etc.

Multipurpose items

Good examples in the text you are looking at are:

words like concern (line 2), one-sided (line 19), widespread (l. 59) and cope with (l. 90);

word collocations like keep warm, dry and fed (l. 10), grow + ADJ. (l. 21);

expressions like to some extent (l. 34), as opposed to (l. 98) and the first step towards (l. 99); preposition combinations like available to (l. 77), advice on (l. 78) and courses in (l. 74);

grammatical constructions like different words ... different settings (l. 23); or the use of may across the text with the meaning of 'perhaps';

       [source:  Learner’s Guide for 5^th year in EOI Castelló – Teacher Amadeu Marín].

TASK2. Underline any interesting language form the texts below. Copy them below

I met him at a party. There he was at the end of the buffet....a loner; the     last one on the plate. He had a certain something...a sweetness, a sensuality. He was one hot cookie. I felt as if I'd always known him...hungered for him. When he looked at me with those warm brown eyes, I melted.

you know its time to diet when...
...you try to do a few push ups and discover that certain body parts refuse to leave the floor.
...your children look through your wedding album and want to know who Daddy's first wife was.
...you get winded just saying the words "six-kilometre run."

 

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TASK3. Practise with the whole text:  HE WAS ONLY A CHOCOLATE CHIP  COOKIE...

and then check your answers with the ones offered at the end.

HE WAS ONLY A CHOCOLATE CHIP  COOKIE...

              I LOVED HIM

    I met him at a party. There he was at the end of the buffet....a loner; the     last one on the plate. He had a certain something...a sweetness, a sensuality. He was one hot cookie. I felt as if I'd always known him...hungered for him. When he looked at me with those warm brown eyes, I melted. Before I knew it, I had my hands on him, my mouth on him...in public. After that night, we were inseparable. With him I could be myself. he didn't seem to care what mood I was in, how I looked or even if I gained weight. Together we had the recipe for happiness. No one satisfied me like Chip.

     THEN THINGS CHANGED

My friends said he was no good for me. He started to give me heartburn. I felt crummy, but it had to end. Now we've gone our separate ways. I hardly think of him anymore. Oh, if I see a certain TV commercial, a particular magazine ad, a coupon for cents off...that old longing returns. And when we run into each other in the supermarket, we nod. We're friendly. But it's OVER!

Multipurpose items

word collocations

cute expressions

preposition combinations

opposite pairs:

grammatical constructions

emphasise

comparative

vaguenes

reflexive pronouns

interesting syntax

See the answers below and then practise with the text in the annex.

MULTIPURPOSE ITEMS. A chocolate cookie:

word collocations like hungered for somebody, to have the recipe for happiness.

                               have my hands on somebody, the longing returns, to give me heartburn. be over 

expressions like seem to care what mood I was in,

                      I felt as if I'd always known that person, but it had to end,

preposition combinations like run into each other

opposite pairs: be inseparable – go our separate ways.

grammatical constructions like

emphasise with an adjective as in with those warm brown eyes or that old longing returns),

comparative ( No one satisfied me like this person).

vaguenes to have a certain something, a certain commercial, a particular ad

reflexive pronouns   I could be myself,

interesting syntax like begining with There: as in There he was at the end of (somewhere ),

                                  or the negative I hardly think of him anymore

ROUND OFF

Underline interesting langauge in the last text Text 2.  Dietetic life

Text 2.  Dietetic life

you know its time to diet when...

...you try to do a few push ups and discover that certain body parts refuse to leave the floor.

...your children look through your wedding album and want to know who Daddy's first wife was.

...you get winded just saying the words "six-kilometre run."

...you come to the conclusion that, if God really wanted you to touch your toes each morning, He would have put them somewhere around your knees.

...you analyze your body honestly and decide what you should develop first is your sense of humour.

...you step on a talking scale and it says, "Come back when you're alone."

...you accept the fact that you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but not while you're wearing a bathing suit.

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New Diet Rules

1. If you eat something, but no one else sees you eat it, it has no calories.

2. If you drink a diet coke whilst eating a chocolate bar, the calories in the chocolate bar are cancelled by the diet coke.

3. When you eat with someone else, calories don't count as long as you don't eat more than they do.

4. Foods used for medicinal purposes never count. Example: hot chocolate, brandy, Sara Lee cheesecake

5. If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.

6. Movie-related foods do not have calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

7. Cookie pieces contain no calories. The process of breaking the cookie causes calorie leakage.

8. Late-night snacks have no calories. The refrigerator light is not strong enough for the calories to see their way into the calorie counter.

9. If you are in the process of preparing something, food licked off knives and spoons have no calories. Examples: peanut butter on a knife, ice cream on a spoon

10. Foods of the same colour have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream, mushrooms and white chocolate. Chocolate is a universal colour and may be substituted for any other.

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/off-topic/924-need-good-joke-read.html