Dictionary skills – working with headwords

Working with headwords

Working with headwords involves the practical problems of understanding the codes and symbols in the dictionary, finding the right part of speech, word formation including the terms affixes and prefixes and last but not least getting familiar with phonemic symbols. 

1. Searching for headwords

DESCRIPTION 

1. Prepare a sample wordsearch, e.g. on the board, and explain that it contains a number of hidden words which come from the same page of the dictionary. You can tell the pupils the guide words of this page (to make it easier). Words can be written horizontally, vertically or diagonally, and forwards or backwards. Find several examples in the given sample.
2. Give each pair of pupils a blank wordsearch grid (or you can ask them to draw one – e.g. 100 squares, they can use squared papers).
3. The pair opens a dictionary at random and the teacher asks pupils to choose e.g. 10 headwords, both known and unknown. They write them in the grid in all given directions.
4. They fill the rest of the grid with random letters to hide their headwords. They can write the guide words of the page.
5. Pairs swap their wordsearches (and dictionaries, if they have used the different ones). Then you can set the time limit to find all the hidden words. The authors of the wordsearch subsequently check the answers.

COMMENTS

The pupils usually enjoy solving the wordsearches, so it is good practice of new words and in this exercise they also train searching for headwords. Variation of this activity is that you can give the topic and the pupils look for headwords for the given letter of the alphabet – they have to find e.g. 10 headwords associated with the topic.

NB: This activity is based on [6] p35. 

2. Noun-adjective memory game

DESCRIPTION 

1. Divide the pupils into groups of four and give each group a worksheet with the words. The pupils cut them according to the bald lines.
2. The pupils in the groups take the cards at random and complete them – they write either a noun or an adjective. They are allowed to use a dictionary.
3. Once the pupils have all the cards completed, they cut them in halves. Now they have cards with one word only. The pupils put all the cards face down and the game can start – the aim of the game is to find a pair of a noun and an adjective that go together. The player with the longest first name chooses two cards and turns them face up. He/she reads the words loudly. If they are matching then that player wins the pair and plays again. If they are not, they are turned face down again and the game continues to the player on the left. The game ends when the last pair has been picked up. The winner is the pupil with the most pairs.

COMMENTS

This game is also know as concentration, pelmanism, pexeso, pairs or cards and is well-known to all the pupils. This game is good for young children but the older ones enjoy it too. You can change the parts of speech of words – e.g. noun-verb memory game etc.

3. Find three thirds

DESCRIPTION 

1. Prepare a set of words you want to practise and cut it. Each word set contains a noun, an adjective, a verb and an adverb in a combination, for example you can omit a verb if it does not exist for a given set. You can revise some rules for word formation (prefixes, suffixes).
2. Put the pupils into groups of four. They will play a game and each of them will receive for example six cards, each with a word. The players have to collect one complete word set. Shuffle the cards, put them face down and each player takes six cards.
3. The players look through their cards and decide which word family to collect. Before the collecting starts, ask the pupils to use a dictionary and predict the missing parts, they can write them down.
4. Now the game can start: The first player chooses his/her word and passes it clockwise, face down. If the player receives a card he/she needs, he/she must pass on a different one from his/her set.
5. When someone has one complete word set, the game ends. To make the game longer, the pupils can collect two sets etc.

EXTRA IDEAS 

Instead of passing the cards, each player can ask another one for a specific card to complete a set. If he/she has it, he/she must hand it. If not, it is the next player’s turn.

Useful questions: »Have you got a verb for…?« »Have you got a word widely?«

You can enlarge the word cards to be the size of real cards.     

COMMENTS

This activity through the form of a game make the pupils think of word formation. In my lessons I used the cards with the words for recognition various parts of speech and identifying prefixes and suffixes. The more difficult variation of this game is that the pupils themselves create the cards – they have to find nouns, adjectives, verbs or adverbs in the dictionary and write them on the blank cards. 

NB: This activity is based on [6] p43.

4. Phonemic bingo

DESCRIPTION

1. Prepare a list of 20–30 words you want to practise and cut it. Each word should contain a sound difficult for your pupils.
2. Revise the terms connected with pronunciation (e.g. vowel – long, short, diphthong, consonant etc.) and remind the phonemic symbols used in a dictionary.
3. Divide the class into groups (the number is up to you). Ask them to draw a 3×3 grid. Then they have to choose different phonemic symbols to put in each of the nine squares. They must choose two long vowels, two short vowels, two diphthongs and then fill the rest of the squares with any other symbols. They should leave enough space to write words.
4. Place the words in the middle of the classroom, face down. One pupil from each group comes to take one word and brings it to the group. Then they have to decide which of the sounds in their grid the word contains and they write it down in that square. Then the next pupil goes and takes another word. Explain that each word can only be used once, e.g. the word bed represents either /b/, /e/ or /d/.
5. The winner is the first group to complete the grid.

COMMENTS

For the pupils it is usually quite difficult to understand phonemic symbols in their dictionaries. So when I introduced this activity for the first time I started with elementary symbols and then I used words with more difficult ones (e.g. ә, æ, ŋ, θ).

NB: This activity is based on [6] p54. 

5. Stress patterns I

DESCRIPTION

1. Prepare a list of words with different word stresses – not only with the stress on the first syllable.
2. Write several words on the board to show pupils how the stress is marked in the dictionary. Good examples would be e.g. book (only one stressed syllable), city (the stress on the first syllable), address (the second syllable is stressed) etc.
3. Divide the pupils into the pairs and give them a list of words. Ask them to draw three columns for the words with the stress on the first, the second and the third syllable. The pupils now try to divide the words in the correct column and underline the stressed syllable. Encourage the pupils to use the dictionaries.
4. Check all the words and practise their pronunciation.

COMMENTS

In the lesson the pupils not only looked the stress patterns up but I also practised the proper pronunciation with them. Then they trained it in the pairs. 

6. Stress patterns II

DESCRIPTION

1. Write the word record on the blackboard. Ask the pupils to look this word up in the dictionary. Focus on the meanings, parts of the speech and the pronunciation. Explain that there is a difference between 'record and re'cord. Write two different stress patterns on the board:

and explain what they mean. The pupils check in the dictionary to see which pattern is appropriate for the given words. Do not comment on the correctness.
2. Give the pupils a handout with similar words and ask them to mark the stressed syllable. They can work in pairs. Can they find the rule to recognize the correct stress pattern? (The first syllable is stressed for the noun form and the second syllable is stressed for the verb form.)
3. Ask students in pairs to write a sentence to show the usage of both forms.

COMMENTS

Realizing different stress patterns of nouns and verbs is for some pupils quite difficult skill so I do this activity after the lesson with stress patterns mentioned in 5 and with the stronger groups.

NB: This activity is based on [6] p55.

7. Dictionary codes

DESCRIPTION

1. Ask the pupils what they can find in dictionaries. Probably they suggest words, the pronunciation, the meaning of the words etc. You can ask how they know if the word is in British English or American English, if it is a regular or irregular verb etc. to elicit abbreviations and codes.
2. Divide the class into two groups – A and B. In each group the pupils work in pairs, each pupil in the pair gets one copy of the worksheet for his/her group. The pupils in pairs consult the dictionary to find the correct meaning of the abbreviations given.
3. When the pupils have completed their worksheets, form new pairs – each pair with A and B pupils. They compare their worksheets and discuss the questions.
4. Check the pupils’ answers. Try to find more examples in the dictionaries for more practice.

COMMENTS

This activity enriched the using the dictionaries – although it was a quite long activity, the time spent by doing it was spent well and I am convinced that the pupils will benefit from knowledge of dictionary codes and abbreviations.

NB: This activity is based on [6] p60.

8. Silent letters

DESCRIPTION

1. Write on the blackboard a word half. Ask the pupils to look this word up in the dictionary. Point out that the letter l is not pronounced – it is a silent letter – and underline this letter in the word.
2. Give the pupils a set of words. Point out that only some of them contain the silent letter. Ask the pupils to find them, look up the proper pronunciation of these words in the dictionary and underline the silent letter.
3. Go through the set with the whole class and check it. Practise the correct pronunciation.

COMMENTS

The pupils are usually not aware of silent letters in words that is why it is worth practising. In my lessons I always pay attention to the proper pronunciation of the words with silent letters because the pupils make a lot of mistakes even in the words which are well known to them (e.g. half, castle, know, listen etc.).