Особенности работы с антонимамми в школе

Impregnable: able to impregnated or inable to be pregnated, cope(s)mate: used to mean antagonist and now means partner or comrade, It turns out that they were having a week celebrating "fence-setters", evidently another term for what is calling auto-antonyms. BRUCE NEVIN reminds us of an intercontinental auto-antonym pair: "public school" in Britain is "private school" in the USA and vice versa.

Infer: historically (and now, informally) this means "imply" as well. Rent, lease: several pointed out to me that these means both lend and borrow. In addition, Chinese operates similarly with respect to this pair, and WOLFGANG LIPP notes a similar auto-antonymy to represent "give" and "take" in pronunciation but not in writing.

Learn/teach: in "sub" - Standard English, these two meanings fuse into “learn”, as they do in standard Russian “uchit'” Here is “sensitive”: this may describe either someone with profound understanding for the feelings of others, and tolerates differences of opinion (thus "sensitivity training" for group leaders) as well as a paranoid who doesn't listen to what people are really saying, and decides to take everything as a personal insult.

Hole/whole: Spelled the first way, an entire absence of matter; the second, entire presence. This reminds me of "pit" which can be either a hollow or the stone of a fruit. Which reminds me of "seeded" oranges (insert your favourite fruit here) - oranges with seeds (as opposed to navel oranges, which have no seeds), OR oranges that have had their seeds removed. If you think you're beginning to see some patterns here, you're not alone! There were received a few theories on the ultimate essence of auto-antonymy, historical, psychological, and sociological approaches. These theories show that auto-antonymy comes about for a variety of reasons.

     “I've been enjoying the discussion of words that are their own antonyms.

At first I thought the classic example of Latin Altus "high" or "deep"

might fit in, but as I thought about it I figured it was just unmarked

for point of view (say when cleaning out an empty swimming pool then

"Deep" becomes "high") so I just looked to see if it was on the list and

 got a comment.  No.  Good.  But one that I have long wondered about is

"risk" as in "he risked winning the game".  I was shocked (as a teenager)

 the first time I saw "he risked losing the game" (or something like that)

 in print, because I previously thought (and am still inclined toward)

 the complement of risk being the desirable result, not the undesirable

 one.  Whether or not this fits into this discussion, I wonder if anyone

 else has had a similar (or opposite) reaction or any thoughts

about what's going on in the case of "risk"[2]”.

HOW TO TEACH ANTONYMS

Teaching antonyms requires great skill and practice. For this purpose the teacher uses various techniques and methods.

For example, while teaching antonyms “small” and “big” he uses pictures for presenting them. He says: In these pictures you see two balls. (The balls should differ only in size.) This is a small ball, and this is a big ball. This ball is small, and that ball is big. Now, Sasha, come up to the picture and point to the small ball (big ball).

Then the teacher shows another picture with two houses in it – a white house and a yellow house, and he asks another pupil to point to the white house, to the u yellow house, and so on.

The teacher may use gestures, for example, for conveying the meaning of stand up, sit down. He says: Lena, stand up. He shows with his hands what she must do. Lena stands up. Now, sit down. Again with the movement of his hands he shows the girl what she must do. The other pupils listen to the teacher and watch what Lena is doing. Then many pupils are invited to perform the actions.

If the antonyms are difficult for understanding the teacher may use the learners’ mother tongue and translate them directly or to give the analogies. For example, the teacher says: антоним слова “широкий” на русском языке будет “узкий”, а по-английски это слово звучит как “narrow”.

ANTONYM QUESTIONS TEST KNOWLEDGE OF VOCABULARY

The teacher must be sure of his vocabulary. . These questions obviously test vocabulary. So if yours could use some work, spend time improving it. Apart from having a great vocabulary, you can also do well on antonyms by using test-smarts and strategy.

Antonyms present you with a single word followed by five answer choices containing words or short phrases. Your task here is to find the answer choice that’s most nearly opposite in meaning to the original word. If you’re stumped about the meaning of a word, try to think of a context where you’ve heard the word before. You may not be able to recite the definition of the word covert, for instance, but you’ve probably heard the phrase “covert operation” to describe some type of cloak-and-dagger activity. Also, use your knowledge of foreign languages and word roots to help “decode” the meaning of a tough word. For instance, you may not know what benediction means, but you may be able to determine that the root bene means “good” from knowing the more common word “benevolent.” That may be all you need to answer a question if you spot a word like “curse” among the answers.

Although antonym questions test knowledge of vocabulary more directly than do any of the other verbal question types, antonym questions measure not merely the strength of your vocabulary but also your ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite. Antonyms may require only rather general knowledge of a word, or they may require that you make fine distinctions among answer choices.    Antonyms are generally confined to nouns, verbs, and adjectives; answer choices may be single words or phrases.

Here are some approaches that may be helpful in answering antonym questions:

·        Remember that you are looking for the word that is the most nearly opposite to the given word; you are not looking for a synonym. Many words do not have a precise opposite, so you must look for the answer choice that expresses a concept most nearly opposite to that of the given word.

·        In some cases more than one of the answer choices may appear at first to be opposite to the given word. When this happens, try to define more precisely or in greater detail the meaning of the given word.

·        In weighing answer choices, it is often useful to make up a sentence using the given word or words. Substitute the answer choices in the phrase or sentence and see which best “fits”. The best answer will be the one that reverses the meaning or tone of the sentence or phrase.

·        Remember that a particular word may have more than one meaning.

·       Use your knowledge of root, prefix, and suffix meanings to help you determine the meanings of unfamiliar words.

WORD RETRIEVAL ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

What is a word-retrieval problem?

The terms “word retrieval problem” or “word finding difficulty” imply that the person knows and understands the word, and has used it correctly before. However, they have difficulty retrieving such known words at times. Children and adults with language disorders are frequently found to have word retrieval difficulties. Often when a person (child or adult) is having difficulty retrieving a word they will have the sense that it is “on the tip of their tongue”: a state of affairs familiar to all of us; at other times they seem simply to “go blank”.

ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES

These activities are intended for children .

Not all of the activities will suit all children - so be selective.

Put the emphasis on listening, thinking and speaking.

The activities are aimed at having the child retrieve known words - not at extending the vocabulary by teaching new words.

Use a minimum of visual cues. If the word to be “retrieved” does not come easily for the child, provide an auditory cue (e.g., say the first sound or syllable of the word) or a verbal clue (e.g., “it rhymes with...).

Give the child time to think, but don’t leave it so long that they are struggling to find the word. Rather than letting them persist unsuccessfully, tell them the answer, and go on with the next few items. Then ask them the one that was difficult again.

Aim for a high success-rate to encourage motivation and confidence.

Adapt the tasks to suit the (developmental) age of the person. Talk about words and word-meanings.

As natural opportunities arise talk about such topics as “Why is Big Bird called Big Bird?” Talk about people being named after other people. Talk about why certain names might have been chosen for pets and TV characters (Cookie Monster, Vinny the Poo, Uncle Scrooge, The Fat Controller, etc). Try to work these conversations in around topics of genuine interest to the child.

PLAYING GAMES INVOLVING ANTONYMS

Do this as a sentence completion (cloze) activity (e.g., “The opposite of hot is...”) or use a question-and-answer format (e.g., “What is the opposite of hot?”), or as a confrontation naming task using pictures in which the child has to name “opposites pictures” as rapidly as they can (e.g., hot cold, wet dry, big little, fast slow, deep shallow, apart together).

A Play word games involving differences

For example, “What is different about a bird and a plane? They can both fly, but they are different because...”

A  Checking test

Each of the following questions begins with a single word in capital letters. Five answer choices follow. Select the answer choice that has the meaning most opposite to the word in capitals.

1.CEDE:
(A) estimate (B) fail (C) get ahead of (D) flow out of (E) retain

2. ACRID:

(A) surly

(B) vapid (C) damp (D) steady (E) sweet

3. NOISOME:

(A) lurid

(B) healthful (C) peaceful (D) morose (E) rancorous

B    Answers

This question type is heavily based on vocabulary. The better your vocabulary, the better you will do. But there are a few tricks you can try to use. For example, if a choice doesn’t have a clear opposite, it can’t be the correct answer. Such words as “hinterland” or “automobile” don’t have very clear opposites and would be incorrect if you were to see them as answer choices. In this case, answer choice (A) does not have a clear opposite and can be eliminated even if you don’t know what “cede” means.

Also, if it’s a tough question and the keyword is really hard, remember to stay away from choices that are too good to be true. The hard questions, which are the last few questions of each question type, often contain choices that are misleading or tricky. For instance, the word “cede” will remind many people of “succeed,” so they’ll pick (B). But the test maker will never reward students for making mistakes. (B) can’t be correct. By the same logic, you could probably eliminate (C) and (D) because “cede” will remind some people of “recede,” as in “receding tide.” That leaves you with choice (E) as the right answer. “Cede” actually means to yield or surrender, which is in fact the opposite of “retain.”

B    Note: You will seldom, if ever, be able to eliminate all four wrong answers to an antonym question just by using these kinds of guessing strategies. They can help you eliminate a few choices and increase your guessing odds, but the best way to tackle antonyms is to know what kinds of words tend to show up on the GRE, make flashcards of them, and improve your vocabulary.

1.     C

Cede is to give up one’s rights or possessions. The most opposite phrase in meaning is to get ahead of.

2.  E

Something that is ACRID is sharp and biting to taste or smell. The word most opposite in meaning is sweet.

3.  B

NOISOME can mean harmful or injurious. The best opposite to this is therefore healthful.

A ANTONYMS QUIZ

AMATCHED PAIRS.

Purpose: To review vocabulary. Sometimes, new words can be added to the set, as long as the number of new words s small and not disruptive. A second purpose, if the game is played as a team activity, is to stimulate conversation among the team members—“I think 7 matches 23.” “Do you remember where ____ is?” Finally, the game, like all the card games, is fun and contributes to group building.

Targeted Skill: vocabulary development

Preparation: Choose a category, e.g. antonyms. Write a word on each of 15 cards and the matching antonym on another 15 cards. Shuffle the cards well and then turn the over and number them from 1 to 30 on the back.

Because the purpose of this game is to review something that has been taught rather than teach something new, go over the pairs before the game begins to be sure everybody knows what the 15 pairs are.

B    Procedure:

1.     Lay the cards out face down with the numbers showing.

2.     Taking turns, the students call out 2 numbers. Turn over the called cards. If the cards don’t match (chances are they won’t for the first few turns), the cards are turned back over.

3.     When a student makes a match, the matched areas are removed from the lay-out and that student gets another turn, continuing until the cards picked don’t match.

4.     When all the cards have been matched, the student with the largest pile wins.

Variations:

1.     The game can be played as a team activity. One person from each team is the spokesperson for the team’s collective effort to remember locations. Students can take turns being the spokesperson.

2.     When a match is made, the player can be required to use the two card words in a sentence. If the player can’t do this, the cards are retuned to the layout, and the next player gets he opportunity to match and use the two words.

Suggestions:

1.     adjective synonyms (big-large; next-following; skeptical-doubtful);

2.     antonyms (warm-cool; light-heavy);

3.     two-word verbs: separable (find out - discover);

4.     two-word verbs; inseparable (come back - return);

5.     prefixes (un - believable);

6.     idioms (by the way - incidentally);

7.     proverbs (Time - heals all things.).

ADEVELOP CHILDRENS’ UNDRESTANDING OF E MEANINGS

The following activity develops the children’s understanding of the meanings of the above two terms, while increasing their range of vocabulary.

1) Begin by explaining the two terms, giving examples to illustrate the point.
2) Have a list of words which have lots of synonyms / antonyms. Some are listed here:

3) Split the class into an even number of groups. Label half of the groups “Synonym” and half of the groups “Antonym”.

4) Say one of the words on your word list. Each group then has to think of as many synonyms and antonyms for that word as possible (depending on the group’s label given earlier). The children can have a fixed time limit to do this, or can continue until they run out of words.

5) Now count up the number of words each group has produced and award points to the group with the longest list.

6) Repeat using different words. You could also swap the groups, so the “Synonyms” groups now find antonyms and vice versa.

7) This would also be a useful exercise in using a thesaurus, so if there were enough for one per group, the children could use these to add to their own lists.

Antonyms: Students fold a piece of construction paper in half. They look through the newspaper to find and cut out words or pictures that are antonyms. They write or paste the antonym words or pictures on opposite sides of the construction paper[3].

A  CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER

Please check to see if the question is asking for an antonym or synony

CONCLUSION    

The process of teaching a foreign language is a complex one: as with many other subjects, it has necessarily to be broken down into components for purposes of study:  the teaching acts of (1) presenting and explaining new material; (2) providing practice; and (3) testing.

In principle, the teaching processes of presenting, practicing and testing correspond to strategies used by many good learners trying to acquire a foreign language on their own. They make sure they perceive and understand new language; they make conscious efforts to learn it through; and they check themselves.

In the class, it is teacher’s job to promote these three learning processes by the use of appropriate teaching acts. Thus, he or she: presents and explains new material in order to make it clear, comprehensible and available for learning; gives practice to consolidate knowledge; and tests, in order to check what has been mastered and still needs to be learned and reviewed.

These acts may not occur in this order, and may sometimes be combined within one activity; nevertheless good teachers are aware which is their main object at any point in a lesson.

In modern teaching materials now in use the words pupils are to learn pass through the following stages:

1.     Pupils listen to the words in sentences arranged in a structural group.

2.     They learn the meaning of the words in various contexts.

3.     Pupils learn the forms of the words.

4.     They perform various exercises with the words in phrases and structures to assimilate the usage of the words.

5.     Pupils use the words in speaking in various situations.

The rules, techniques, methods and structures mentioned in this paper are available for teaching any unit of vocabulary and antonyms as well. Following these learning processes you will achieve a step and will be successful in teaching antonyms and vocabulary in the whole.

THE LIST OF LITERATURE:

1.     Общая методика обучения иностранным языкам в средней школе. М., 1967.

2.     Методика преподавания иностранных языков за рубежом. Сост. М. М. Васильева и Е. В. Синявская. М., Прогресс, 1967.

3.     Старков А.. П. Обучение иностранному языку в средней школе. М., Просвещение, 1978.

4.     Программа по иностранному языку для средней школы. М., Просвещение, 1981.

5.     Хэкболдт П. Изучение иностранных языков. М., Просвещение, 1963.

6.     Костиникова О. А.. Basic English Lexicology. Сочи, 2000.

7.     Flower J. Berman M. Build your vocabulary 2. LTP, London, 1998.

8.     Ur P. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge University, 1997.

9.     The All Nations Dictionary (International Phonetic Alphabet). All Nations Literature, Colorado Springs, 1992.

[1] See: Общая методика обучения иностранным языкам в средней школе. М., 1967

[2] LINGUIST List 6.86 p.-32/1995/ Dr. Alex Eulenberg USA Department of Speech, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

[3] This idea contributed by Mrs. Amada Pérez

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