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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wc5LNiSnY
Cigarette lighter
Tennis player
Trouble maker (troublemaker)
Dish washer (dishwasher)
Ant eater (anteater)
Some notes:
1. Sometimes, words stay separate (football player) and sometimes they come together
to form one word (bodybuilder).
2. Different languages sometimes have their own equivalent structures. For example,
Spanish has un abrebotellas (literally an “open bottles”) and un rascacielos (literally a
“scrape skies”).
3. Of course, there does not have to be any correlation between different languages. For
example, in Spanish, a bodybuilder is un culturista (not a “build bodies”). Similarly, un
paraguas (literally a “stop rains”) is not a rain stopper. It is an umbrella.
Activity outline
Note: This activity makes use of number of objects, each of which is a ‘thing do-er’.
Once students understand that, their task is to make creative use of their knowledge of
English and guess the name of each object, according to its function, purpose or nature.
1. Introduce the grammar point to your students (see previous page). For example, take
three ‘thing do-ers’ into the classroom (a cigarette lighter, a bottle opener, a pizza
cutter, etc.) and ask students what they have in common.
2. Tell students that you are going to show them a video in which they will see some more
‘thing-doers’. Show the video from the beginning and pause it at 03:15. You can choose
to turn on the subtitles if you like.
3. Put students into pairs or small groups and give out copies of Handout 1 (page 4). Ask
students to try to identify all of the objects. If they know its name in English, that is
great. If not, even better! If they don’t know the name, they should make creative use
of their knowledge of English and try to guess the names of the objects according to
their function, purpose or nature. (Note: In order to avoid cheating, ban mobile phones
at this stage).
4. Circulate around the class and find out how your students are getting on. Write any
good ideas on the board without saying whether or not they are correct.
5. Give our copies of Handout 2 (page 5) and ask students to complete it.
6. Take feedback
H a n d o u t 1
1. 2. 3.
4. 5. 6.
7. 8. 9.
Video
16. 17.
Ha n d o u t 2
For each object that you saw in the video, decide what it is called in English. Tick the box that
you think is correct: