Transcript Programa Inglés Abre Puertas www.mineduc.cl Write to us! [email protected] WHAT´S NEW AND WHAT´S CHANGED IN ELT ? Vocabulary Development and the Four Skills: putting grammar in.

Programa Inglés Abre Puertas
www.mineduc.cl
Write to us! [email protected]
1
WHAT´S NEW AND WHAT´S
CHANGED IN ELT ?
Vocabulary Development and the
Four Skills: putting grammar in its
place
2
What´s new and what´s changed in ELT ?
Since the 1980´s, there have been no
major new ´methodologies´ in ELT. But
there has been a huge increase in our
knowledge about language itself. This
presentation aims to share some of these
developments with you, so that both you,
and your teaching of English, will benefit.
3
Try this quiz. There are 5
questions.....
4
1. ‘Corpus linguistics´ is:
(a) the analysis of dead languages (eg
Greek, Latin)
(b) the analysis of collections of words
using computers
(c) the analysis of grammatical structures
using computers
5
2. ‘Polywords´ are:
(a) words with many different meanings
(b) words all derived from the same root
word
(c) phrases containing several words
6
3. ´Collocations´ are:
(a) words that frequently occur together
(b) words that are synonymous but do not
have exactly the same meaning
(c) words that have no meaning but have
a grammatical function
7
4. Language is made up of:
(a) grammatical structures joined together
by vocabulary
(b) vocabulary joined together by
grammatical structures
(c) grammatical structures
8
5. Native speakers are ´good´ at
their own language:
(a) because they know all the grammar
´rules´ and structures and don´t have to
think about them
(b) because they know all the vocabulary
(c) because they have memorized
everything they say (and write)
9
How many of these recent words
do you know ?
cyberspace
spin doctor
website
global warming
Pentium
sleaze
remixes
ethnic cleansing
technophobe
grunge
cloning
girl power
upwardly-mobile
hip-hop
greenhouse effect
embedded reporter
10

A ‘corpus’ (pl corpora) is a large collection of
spoken or written texts stored on a computer.
Typical examples:
 –British National Corpus with over 100 million
words (90 million written texts and 10 million
spoken texts)
 –COBUILD Bank of English Corpus with over
300 million words (spoken and written)
 –Cambridge International Corpus with over
100 million words (spoken and written)
11
The BNC comprises 100,106,008 words, and
occupies about 1.5 gigabytes of disk space -the equivalent of more than a thousand high
capacity floppy diskettes. To put these
numbers into perspective, the average
paperback book has about 250 pages per
centimetre of thickness; assuming 400 words
a page, we calculate that the whole corpus
printed in small type on thin paper would take
up about ten metres of shelf space. Reading
the whole corpus aloud at a fairly rapid 150
words a minute, eight hours a day, 365 days
a year, would take just over four years.
12
‘Corpus linguistics’ is the study
and analysis of these corpora of
written and spoken texts, using
a variety of programs (such as
concordancers)
13
An example of a concordance
ch erm yeah but we don’t tend to go very often because I
te far away mm but I tend to like to save my money
the drift. The thing is I tend to borrow things off Tim a
not use to use names I tend to use direct names very
I go to bed Yeah what I tend to do is read or watch TV
at’s right Yeah the shops tend to open about eleven o´cloc
ly if I do buy bacon we tend to have it for lunch you
six good glasses but we tend not to use them She was
couple of times and you tend to find that a lot of the Lo
14
What does analysis of corpora tell
us ?
It provides information about:
–
What ‘words’ really are
 – Word Frequency
 – Collocation
 – Lexicography
 – What language really is
15
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT
´WORDS´?
16
What is lexis ?


Words (push; exit; fruit)


Polywords (by the way; on the other hand)


Collocations/word partnerships (a tight corner;
fast asleep; wide awake; an initial reaction; to
assess the situation)

Institutionalized utterances/fixed expressions (I’ll
see what I can do; It’s on the tip of my tongue; It’s

not the sort of thing you think will ever happen to
you.)


Sentence frames or heads (Considerable
research has been done in recent years on…..)
17
A milestone.....

In the year 2000, Longman published a
grammar of English. The title is an
indication of what we have learned
about language through corpus-based
research.
18
The Longman Grammar of Spoken and
Written English
D. Biber et al 2000
Chart showing frequency (in thousands) per milion words
350
300
250
Adverbs
Adjectives
Verbs
Nouns
200
150
100
50
0
CONV
FICT
NEWS
ACAD
19
Newspaper language

Father quizzed over bride
murder
 ´Polls rigged´ charges
 PM raps BBC in jobs axe
storm
 Gems haul seized in
swoop
 Cabinet leak: call for
probe
 Service chiefs gagged:
two quit
 Iraq seeks UN aid
 Kidnap plot foiled









to call for
to foil
to gag
to quit
to quiz
to rap
to rig
to seek
to seize
20
Recent Guardian headlines
Bush and Blair call for
NATO role
Two Britons die in crash
Norwich Union to axe 700
more jobs
Police probe post vote fraud
claims
Police bid to thwart
paedophiles
Upbeat Howard dismisses
UKIP
Sky to launch free channels
MP hits back at obesity
report critics
Teachers lack faith in Muslim
schools
Let poor smoke, says health
secretary
Big rise in civilian death
inquiries
Failed asylum seekers must
work for no pay
Windrush saga´s surprise
triumph
Key schools unit axed in
shakeup
Chile death verdict quashed
Taxi drivers flout flag ban
21
Word Frequency
Why is this important ?
22
top 3 words: 11.5% of all word tokens*
top 10 words: 22% of all word tokens
top 50 words: 37% of all word tokens
top 100 words: 44% of all word tokens
top 1000 words: 74% of all word tokens
top 2000 words: 80% of all word tokens
top 3000 words: 85% of all word tokens
top 10000 words: 93% of all word tokens
___________________________________________________
Look at this sentence:
He told her that he wanted to see her again.
The sentence contains 10 tokens, and 8 types.
23
The ‘top’ 3 words: 11.5%
Spoken English:
the
I
you
the
to
and
Written English:
24
The ‘Top’ 50 words: 37%
the
of
and
to
a
in
that
is
was
it
for
he
as
with
be
on
I
his
at
by
had
this
not
but
from
have
are
which
her
she
or
you
they
an
were
there
been
one
all
we
their
has
would
when
if
so
no
will
him
who
25
Words from the ‘Top’ 400-500 list
problems
shall
business
ago
months
rest
class
bad
police
area
held
feet
today
coming
certainly
boy
usually
difficult
minutes
friends
death
area
sat
ask
education
view
living
hours
wife
road
late
further
parents
show
poor
stood
countries
start
city
longer
started
table
26
Text analysis by word frequency 1
Man attacks No 10 with sledgehammer
A man was arrested today after attacking the Downing
Street security gates with a sledgehammer, police said.
The man, thought to be in his 60s, is not thought to have
caused much damage beyond scratching the paintwork
on the gates. Scotland Yard said the attack is not believed
to be terrorist-related.
The incident occurred at around 6.20am this morning and
was over in a matter of seconds. The man was arrested
by police on suspicion of causing criminal damage and
taken to a central London police station, where he
remains.
Neither Tony Blair nor any of his family were in No 10 at the
time of the attack as the prime minister was in his
Sedgefield constituency in the north-east, a Downing
27
Street spokeswoman said.
Text analysis by word frequency 1
Man attacks No 10 with sledgehammer A man was
arrested today after attacking the Downing Street
security gates with a sledgehammer police said The
man thought to be in his 60´S is not thought to have
caused much damage beyond scratching the
paintwork on the gates Scotland Yard said the attack
is not believed to be terrorist related The incident
occurred at around number 6.20 am this morning
and was over in a matter of seconds The man was
arrested by police on suspicion of causing criminal
damage and taken to a central London police station
where he remains Neither Tony Blair nor any of his
family were in No 10 at the time of the attack as the
prime minister was in his Sedgefield constituency in
the north-east a Downing Street spokeswoman said
blue: top
1000
range
green: top
2000
yellow:
Academic
red: offlist:
28
Text analysis by word frequency 2
177 dead as storms hit China
The death toll from flooding and landslides in south-western
China rose to 177 yesterday as the authorities warned of
fresh storms.
A week of torrential rain claimed 102 lives in Sichuan
province and 75 in Chongqing. Fifty people are missing in
the two areas, about 870 miles south-west of Beijing.
The disasters have affected about 11 million people, with
hundreds of thousands evacuated and about 10,000 sick
or injured in Sichuan alone. More than 300,000 homes
were damaged, and losses to crops and the local
economy were estimated at £276m.
29
Text analysis by word frequency 2
177 dead as storms hit China The death toll from
flooding and landslides in south western China
rose to 177 yesterday as the authorities warned of
fresh storms A week of torrential rain claimed 102
lives in Sichuan province and 75 in Chongqing
Fifty people are missing in the two areas about
870 miles south west of Beijing The disasters
have affected about 11 million people with
hundreds of thousands evacuated and about
10,000 sick or injured in Sichuan alone More than
300,000 homes were damaged and losses to
crops and the local economy were estimated at
£276m
30
Text analysis by word frequency 3
The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named
Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty
soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and,
when no one answered, she walked right in.
At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of
porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the
porridge from the first bowl.
"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed. So, she tasted
the porridge from the second bowl. "This porridge is
too cold," she said. So, she tasted the last bowl of
porridge. "Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said
happily and she ate it all up.
31
Text analysis by word frequency 3
The Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears Once
upon a time there was a little girl named
Goldilocks She went for a walk in the forest Pretty
soon she came upon a house She knocked and
when no one answered she walked right in At the
table in the kitchen there were three bowls of
porridge Goldilocks was hungry She tasted the
porridge from the first bowl This porridge is too
hot she exclaimed So she tasted the porridge
from the second bowl This porridge is too cold
she said So she tasted the last bowl of porridge
Ahhh this porridge is just right she said happily
and she ate it all up
32
The importance of vocabulary

2000 words is recognised as the absolute
minimum a language learner needs – the
‘survival’ level

 ‘Knowing’ 2000 words means that about
80% of a text will be understood (or 1 in 5
words will be unknown)

 ‘Knowing’ 10,000 words means that
93% of a text will be understood – this is the
ideal target for a language learner
33
What are the implications ?

Vocabulary development is the key to
communication – NOT grammar !!!!!
34
Targets:
 8th
grade: 2000 words
 12th grade: 5000 – 6000 words
35
Thoughts and Questions
This is something that ´squares´
with my own thinking
This is something that´s still going
round and round in my head
These are three things I´m going to
´take away´ and try to learn more
about
36
Collocation
What is it and why is it important ?
37
The 5 important types of collocation

adjective + noun

verb + noun
eg: accept responsibility,
undermine (my) self-confidence

noun + verb
eg: the gap widened, a fight
broke out

adverb + adjective eg: highly desirable,
eg: fatal accident, golden
opportunity
potentially embarrassing

verb + adverb
eg: discuss calmly, lead
eventually to
Hill J and Lewis, M (1996) Dictionary of Selected Collocations Language
Teaching Publications
38
Collocation
What do you know about the word ‘cause’ ?
According to one of the largest corpora, 90%
of the things ‘caused’ are negative:





cause embarrassment
cause havoc
cause chaos
cause distress
cause pain to
39
Teaching the whole, not a part
make
take
do
a bed
an exam
your homework
a decision
responsibility
the shopping
money
control
your best
life difficult
a chance
the washing
love
a back seat
the cleaning
40
Collocation
A busy shop. 
A crowded shop. 
A busy day at work. 
A crowded day at work. 
He made a goal. 
He scored a goal. 
An aggressive dog. 
An aggressive person. 
A violent person. 
A violent dog. 
41
If only they’d asked a linguist !
In the early 1990’s, the post office in the UK,
known as ‘The Royal Mail’, changed its
name to “Consignia” as part of an initiative
to ‘modernize’ its image.
In fact, according to the BNC, the verb
consign is massively negative, for example:
consign to the dustbin, consign to oblivion,
consign to the scrap-heap, consign to a
museum, etc
In 2002, the name was changed back to ‘The
Royal Mail’ again !
42
Thoughts and Questions
This is something that ´squares´
with my own thinking
This is something that´s still going
round and round in my head
These are three things I´m going to
´take away´ and try to learn more
about
43
Lexicography
Why is this important ?
44
“….. until 20 years ago, ….. Lexicographers would draw
on a mixture of previous practice, intuitions, and halfremembered examples, supported by chance
encounters with the word in print. With the advent of
large corpora and the development of powerful
computer software capable of exploring those
corpora, dictionary-making has changed beyond all
recognition. The lexicographers who worked on the
Macmillan English Dictionary had the opportunity of
examining hundreds and in some case thousands of
instances of a word in use. From these instances they
could work out what a word really meant in
contemporary English, rather than what it was
supposed to mean.”
Prof Michael Hoey, Chief Adviser for the
Macmillan English Dictionary 2002
45
How words are used today
giant
1 mainly journalism a very large and successful
company: the Dutch electronics giant Philips ▪ the giants
of European soccer 1a used to refer to someone who
is very successful and important, especially in the arts:
giants of the keyboard such as Rachmaninov
2 an imaginary person in stories, who is extremely tall,
strong, and often evil 2a a man who is much taller and
stronger than most men
Macmillan English dictionary for advanced learners 2002
46
Thoughts and Questions
This is something that ´squares´
with my own thinking
This is something that´s still going
round and round in my head
These are three things I´m going to
´take away´ and try to learn more
about
47
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT
LANGUAGE ?
48
“Current thinking, based in large part on
the analysis of computer corpora, has
emphasized the importance of
collocation, and therefore the fact that
vocabulary is largely phrasal. Words
band together in typical clusters rather
than exist in splendid isolation. Lexicogrammar - the zone where syntax and
lexis cooperate to forge meaning - has
become a key consideration in the way
vocabulary is taught.”
Alan Maley, in Vocabulary 2nd ed.(2004) Morgan J and Rinvolucri M
Oxford Univ Press
49
Lexico-grammar

chicken
farmer
kill

hunter
lion
kill
Hunter kill lion.
 Lionom huntero kill.

50
Meaning, not rules: how
lexico-grammar works
The old lady cried.
The old lady stopped.
The old lady put her bags on the bus.
*The old lady put.
*The old lady put her bags.
The joke made my friend laugh.
*The joke made.
*The joke made my friend.
51
Meaning, not rules
Match the sentence beginnings in Column A with the
endings in Column B. How are you able to do this ?
A
B
1. Everybody stopped
a. to go home.
2. We wanted
b. him angry.
3. Don´t try to prevent me c. where he is.
4. I wonder
d. working.
5. It made
e. from going.
52
What do the experts say ?
“First of all, it has become increasingly clear these
days, with the use of million-word language
corpora, that a great deal of our ability to control
language is due to the fact that we have
committed to memory thousands of multi-word
sequences, lexicogrammatical units or formulas
that are preassembled (eg: I see what you
mean; Once you have done that, the rest is
easy) or partially assembled (eg: NP + tell + the
truth as in Jo seldom tells the truth; I wish you
had told me the truth). “
Diane Larsen-Freeman in Teaching Language: From Grammar to
Grammaring Thomson Heinle 2003
53
and.....
“ .....the fact that powerful computers and millionword corpora highlight the existence of, and
facilitate the exploration of, such patterns of
language use...... As a result, we have been able
to appreciate how formulaic, as opposed to how
completely original, our use of language is.”
Diane Larsen-Freeman in Teaching Language: From Grammar to
Grammaring Thomson Heinle 2003
54
“The user..... operates with a more lexical unit
of analysis, and achieves communication in
real time not by the complexities of producing
utterances on the basis of a rule system,
constructing anew each time, but instead
draws on ready-made elements and chunks,
without the need to construct each chunk
independently and to lose time planning
internal organisation.”
P. Skehan 1992 in Strategies in second language acquisition
55
“Efficient communication is, then, not simply a
matter of making any grammatical sentence.
It depends on having a stock of fixed phrases
which we can string together rapidly and
efficiently, phrases like ‘as a matter of
fact’,’it’s up to you’, ‘what’s the matter?’ It is
also a matter of recognising and producing
familiar forms of speech which can be readily
processed – ‘quarter to three’ rather than
‘forty five past two’, or ‘in my opinion’ rather
than ‘as a matter of opinion’.
Dave Willis in Rules, Patterns, and Words CUP 2003
56
and.....
“Vocabulary and lexical units are at the heart of
learning and communication. No amount of
grammatical or other type of linguistic knowledge
can be employed in communication or discourse
without the mediation of vocabulary.
....Understanding of the nature and significance of
vocabulary knowledge in a second language
therefore needs to play a much more central role
in the knowledge base of language teachers.”
Jack Richards, series editor´s preface, in N Schmitt
Vocabulary in Language Teaching, CUP 2000
57
Summarising the Implications




Language learners need to learn as many words as
possible as soon as possible (initial 2000 word
target, with 10,000 words as ideal longer-term
target)
Vocabulary development will have to be given
much more prominence in language teaching than it
receives now
Vocabulary teaching will (probably) have to be much
more explicit and systematic than it is now
Teachers will have to develop their own expertise in
vocabulary development principles and techniques,
so that they can provide appropriate introduction,
storage and retrieval activities for their students
58
Summarising the implications


Perhaps, a huge ‘mental shift for many teachers
whose teaching careers have been dominated by
the idea that language is ‘lexicalised grammar’,
and not what it actually is: ‘grammaticalised lexis’
Perhaps, too, teachers will have to learn (if they
do not know) what is happening in the field of
research and development in lexis (´corpus
linguistics´) and the necessary terminology to talk
about vocabulary
59
Thoughts and Questions
This is something that ´squares´
with my own thinking
This is something that´s still going
round and round in my head
These are three things I´m going to
´take away´ and try to learn more
about
60
THINKING ABOUT
VOCABULARY
DEVELOPMENT
61
How can we help our students ?
“When we asked students back in the 1980’s
about feelings on learning vocabulary, twothirds of them said they were not taught
enough words in class. Teachers seemed
keen to teach grammar and pronunciation,
but learning words - particularly words that
they needed in everyday life - came a very
poor third.”
Vocabulary 2nd ed. (2004) Morgan J and Rinvolucri M p5 Introduction
62
“Our perception of a word can be affected by…..
-its sound
- the kinetic sensation of the lungs, throat, mouth, tongue,
and nose, when saying the word
- its tune
- its pitch
- its speed of enunciation
- the other word company it keeps
- its spelling
- its shape on the page or screen
- conventional associations: semantic and syntactic
categories
- literary associations (‘a pail of water’)
- the associations the word has for the individual learner
63
-the circumstances of meeting the word”
Vocabulary p 6-7
Thoughts about learning vocabulary:
it is a branching process rather than a linear
one (words are learnt in association with others)
 it is an intensely personal process (associations

depend on our past and present experience)

it is a social process, not a solitary one
(we expand our understanding of meaning by interchanging
and sharing with others)

it is not simply an intellectual process, but an
experiential ‘hands-on’ process, too (language
is not an object - it has to be incorporated within the
learner)
64
How and why do we remember
words ? Part 1
You are going to see a list of words.
Look at them for 1 minute, but don´t write
anything.
Then try to write down as many of them
as you can remember.
65
water
life
field
ball
head
hill
chock-a-block
pen
wind
door
snow
rabbit
line
dog
apple
picture year
cloud
horse
pig
cow
flower cat
home
sheep
sky
shape
foot
28 words
From A Way With Words 1, by Stuart Redman and Robert Ellis CUP 1989
66
67
How and why do we remember
words ? Part 2
The next set of words are all the
dictionary, but you´ve perhaps never
seen them before.
Once again, look at them for one minute,
without writing anything. Then try to
remember and write down as many as
you can.
68
beamish
thirl
genet
hanuman
geek
crewel
kris
decurion
pluvial
fink
smegma
miscible
12 words
from Webster’s New World Dictionary 3rd ed 1996
69
70
What does it mean to ´know’ a
word ?









To understand it when it is written or spoken
To recall it when you need it
To use it with the correct meaning
To use it in a grammatically correct way
To pronounce it correctly
To know which other words you can (and cannot) use with it
To spell it correctly
To use it in the right situation
To know if it has positive or negative connotations
Adapted from Ellis G and Sinclair B (1989) Learning to Learn English CUP
71
To recall it when you need it
All these words begin with ´in-´ :
to breathe in
in _ _ _ _
without life
in _ _ _ _ _ _ _
synonym for ´wrong´
in _ _ _ _ _ _ _
the opposite of ´superior´ in _ _ _ _ _ _
the opposite of guilty
in _ _ _ _ _ _
a beetle is one of these in _ _ _ _
a measurement (British) in _ _
72
To use it with the correct meaning
Which is the ´odd-one out´ in each set ?
(1) pal
mate
buddy
chum
(2) swift
fleet
nifty
(3) adore
adore
abhor
sluggish
sluggish
detest
loathe
foe
foe
brisk
despise
73
To use it in a grammatically correct way
Put these words into pairs (1 countable, 1
uncountable):
eg: furniture + table
accommodation
bread
baggage
advertisement
money
banknote
job
cars
fact
flat
loaf
furniture information publicity suitcase
journey traffic
table
travel
work
74
To pronounce it correctly
Find the two words which have the same
pronunciation for the highlighted parts
of the word:
(1) sword
(2) quay
(3) ought
(4) timber
(e) yacht
swear
play
colonel
number
caught
switch
see
third
climber
hot
75
To know which other words you can
(and cannot) use with it
Match the words in Column A with the
words they collocate with in Column B:
A
B
vast
fast
stiff
range
utter
wide
chaos
asleep
bone
thick
alone
coincidence
narrow
all
escape
idle
bored
sheer
majority
fog
76
To spell it correctly
Finish these words with the correct ending:
- acy
-asy
-isy
(1) democr___
(2) accur___
(3) obstin___
(4) conspir___
(5) diplom___
(6) idiosyncr___
(7) fant___
(8) ecst___
(9) priv___
(10) hypocr___
77
To use it in the right situation
Mr Blair, would you like to take a seat ?
Mr Blair, d’you want to park your bum
here ?
78
To know if it has positive or negative
connotations
thin skinny petite
svelte lissome slim
slender
anorexic
fat
chubby well-built
voluptuous overweight
typical
A typical man
vs
shy
nice
plump
willowy
obese
real
A real man
easy-going
liberal
79
Thoughts and Questions
This is something that ´squares´
with my own thinking
This is something that´s still going
round and round in my head
These are three things I´m going to
´take away´ and try to learn more
about
80
Helping our students learn, store
and retrieve the words they need:
3 options

By Topic or Theme
for example: colours; rooms in a house; in the
supermarket; on vacation; crime

By focusing on Meaning
for example: collocation; semantic sets; register;
discourse analysis

By focusing on Form
for example: word formation – roots, suffixes,
prefixes; compounds; phrasal verbs
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Helping our students learn, store
and retrieve the words they need:

By Topic or Theme No 1
Put these animals into groups:
sheep dog goat lion pig zebra
horse wolf turtle cow camel cat
crocodile hamster giraffe tiger
elephant guinea pig bear antelope
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Some possible groups
Animals which eat meat (carnivores),
animals which eat plants (herbivores), and
animals which eat both (omnivores)
 Wild animals, farm animals, pets
 Grouping by size
 Grouping by how dangerous they are
 Grouping by country

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Helping our students learn, store and
retrieve the words they need:

By Topic or Theme No 2
banana
Fruit
FOOD
Meat
pig cow sheep
pork
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Other possibilities





CLOTHES, with branches for cold weather, hot
weather, and wet weather
ROOMS IN A HOUSE, with branches for living
room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom,
etc
PARTS OF THE BODY, with branches for head,
arms, legs, trunk, etc
ANIMALS, with branches for wild, farm,
domestic/pets
SPORTS, with branches for indoor, outdoor
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Helping our students learn, store and
retrieve the words they need:

Focusing on Meaning No 1
Which adjectives can be combined with
which nouns ?
room
dog
man
mountain
amount
big
huge
vast
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Helping our students learn, store and
retrieve the words they need:
Focusing on Meaning No 2
Complete the table with the appropriate
‘normal’ adjective:

hot
______
______
______
______
boiling
delicious
exhausted
awful
ancient
______
______
______
______
______
enormous
tiny
freezing
filthy
wonderful
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Helping our students learn, store
and retrieve the words they need:
Focusing on Form No 1
Which of these words can be combined
with
-less and –ful ?

use
end
tact
thought
pain
home
harm
care
taste
hope
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Focusing on Form No 2
When you are old and grey
a poem by Tom Lehrer
Since I still appreciate you
Let´s find love while we may
Because I know I´ll hate you
When you´re old and grey
So say you love me, here and now
I´ll make the most of that
Say you love and trust me
For I know you´ll disgust me
When you´re old and getting fat
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An awful debility
A lessened utility
A loss of mobility
Is a strong possibility
In all probability
I´ll lose my virility
And you your fertility
And desirability
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And this liability
Of total sterility
Will lead to hostility
And a sense of futility
So let´s act with agility
While we still have facility
For we´ll soon reach senility
And lose the ability
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Your teeth will start to go, dear
Your waist will start to spread
In twenty years or so, dear
I´ll wish that you were dead
I´ll never love you then, at all
The way I do today
So please remember
When I leave in December
I told you so, in May
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Thoughts and Questions
This is something that ´squares´
with my own thinking
This is something that´s still going
round and round in my head
These are three things I´m going to
´take away´ and try to learn more
about
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Some Homework
Q: What are binomials and trinomials ?
Q: What’s the difference between an
‘opaque’ and a ‘transparent’ idiomatic
expression ?
Q: What are homophones, homonyms,
hypernyms and hyponyms ?
Q: Why do you always say (in Spanish) ‘blanco y
negro’ and I always say (in English) ‘black and
white´ ?
Q: Why do you always say (in Spanish) ´tarde o
temprano´ and I always say (in English) ´sooner
or later ´ ?
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Programa Inglés Abre Puertas
www.mineduc.cl
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