One Word – Multiple meanings

• To raise learner awareness of multiple meanings of target vocabulary items

Aims: • To develop learners’ ability to infer alternative meanings of vocabulary items
• To develop learners’ written fluency
• Copies of Handout #01 per learner. • A stopwatch / watch with a second
• Six bits of scrap paper per learner. hand.
Materials: • Two CAE Use of English Part 4 sample • Blutack (white tack / prestik) or drawing
tasks (or CPE UoE Part 3 tasks) per pins.
student

Timings: Approx: 75 minutes. This can be reduced or extended as necessary

NB: this particular lesson plan is designed with a CPE Use of English part three task
Procedure: – but it can be easily adapted to other levels and vocabulary items with some simple
substitution in the right places!

Lead In:
• Backs to the board with the following items: (see www.teflgeek.net reference section for activity
procedure). Add your target vocabulary here – use the same items as you do for the main task / the
exam practice task:

Task Model:
• Draw a column on the left of the board and write the word “LIGHT” at the top.
• In pairs, learners discuss what the word makes them think of.
• Feedback – get their ideas and note them down in the column under the heading.
• See if there are any commonalities in their ideas and transcribe them across into a mind map /
spidergram in the space on the right hand side of the board. A sample diagram is included on
Handout #01 for your reference, and it can also be given out as a learner reference, though not at
this stage as the focus is on the process. Also, the reference diagram was created with Visual
Thesaurus and is way too comprehensive and might cause consternation in the classroom.

• Now read out the text “Light” as below – also given on Handout #01.

Light makes me think of the darkness, which light acts as a counterbalance against.
We fear the dark because we cannot see what it contains and we embrace the light
because everything becomes clear to us.

• Feedback Questions: Do they agree with the text? Did they have similar ideas? (cross reference to
their ideas on the board) Where would it go on the mind map? Is it literal or metaphorical? (add it to
the boarded diagram).
• Ask learners how long they think it took to write. 60 Seconds. Actually in 60 seconds I got as far as “we
embrace the light because” and then finished the sentence outside the time.

(Continued on next page)

© www.teflgeek.net February 2011

Task:
• Give each learner six bits of scrap paper.
• When you say the target word, learners write the word at the top of the paper and then write for 60
seconds about what thoughts the word inspires in them. Make it clear you don’t want a definition!
• At the end of 60 seconds they finish their sentence (as quickly as possible) and you move onto the
next word.
• Target Words: (use the same items as from Backs to the board / Exam practice stage below)

• When you’ve finished, give the learners drawing pins / blutack and allocate sections of classroom wall
to each word for learners to display their writing about each word.
• Now divide the class into six groups, and allocate each group to a word.
• Learners create a mind map based on any themes they encounter in their reading about the words.
• Regroup Learners to compare and present their findings.

Exam Practice (if relevant):

• Now refer learners to the exam task that you took the target items from – which they should have no
trouble completing!
• If you have time, or if the learners have the inclination, the learners can do a second task.
• Sample tasks can be downloaded from the www.cambridgeesol.org website for relevant exams, or
can probably be found in your handy exam class coursebook.

Extension:
• As a warmer at the beginning of the lesson, why not show learners a www.everynone.com video
(having checked the content beforehand!) – tell learners they’ll see clips illustrating different words –
how many words can they identify?

Suggested Homework:
• Either: Continue the work with mind maps / spider grams and give learners another set of vocabulary
items to develop into a map of meanings
• Or: More exam practice? You can never have enough!

© www.teflgeek.net February 2011

Handout #01:

This diagram was created with Visual Thesaurus (www.visualthesaurus.com) and is therefore slightly more
detailed than you need to create with your diagrams!

Light makes me think of the darkness, which light acts as a counterbalance against. We
fear the dark because we cannot see what it contains and we embrace the light because
everything becomes clear to us.

© www.teflgeek.net February 2011