Everyday Words with Specialist Meanings
Aim: |
To sensitise students to the fact that words commonly met in everyday English can take on a special meaning in a financial context |
Target Audience: |
Teachers and students |
|
Relevance to ICFE: |
Whole paper |
Organisation: |
Two groups; then pairs |
Materials needed: |
Wordlist (below); good advanced monolingual dictionary and / or financial dictionary |
- Divide class into two groups, Group A and Group B.
- Give each group five words which are commonly met in everyday English, but which take on a specialist meaning in a financial context (see examples in accompanying wordlist).
- Working individually or as a group, students write sentences using each word in a non-financial context.
- Students then form pairs – one from Group A and one from Group B. Each identifies the appropriate word in their partner’s five sentences.
- Consulting a dictionary where necessary, students work together to produce a series of sentences illustrating the use of all ten words in an appropriate financial context.
- Plenary – read and discuss the sentences.
Wordlist – everyday words with specialist meanings
Examples
bad, balance, bull, bear, books, capital, charge, costs, crash, cycle, depression, direct, elastic, exchange, float, hold, index, instrument, interest, invisible, issue, liquid, loss, limited, list, net, note, public, quote, rate, reserve, security, share, short, steal, trust, visible, write, year