Teaching Each Other: Vocabulary Lessons

Ferdinand de Saussare once said, “Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula” and Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” To expand our language, our understanding, and our worlds, we will teach each other vocabulary words over the course of the next few weeks.

To teach your vocab word of choice, you will create a minimum of two Google Slides to share with the class on 2/7, 2/14, 2/22, 3/1,3/7, or 3/14.Your vocabulary test over these words will be Tuesday 3/21.In addition to the two slides, you will create a magazine advertisement that will incorporate persuasive techniques and help the class better remember and use your word.

You will be evaluated on the accuracy of your slides and how well you teach the class, implementing the elements ofdesign and delivery.The goal is to teach the word to us in such a way that we will easily understand, remember, and implement it. Seek to make your instruction as engaging and clear as possible.

Your presentationwill consist of the following:

1)Slide One: An original sentence using the word with context clues. The sentence must follow the set sentence pattern for the week. ***Label the sentence pattern at the bottom of this slide.***

2)Slide Two: The word, part of speech, easy-to-remember definition and a related high-quality image.

3)Slide Three: A magazine/newspaper advertisement for a product. The background, images, and words/word placement are all important parts of "selling" a product. In your ad, you must include your vocabulary word, as well as two of the classical appeals: ethos, pathos, logos. Be purposeful in your word choice, color choice as well as image choice. Use the techniques of advertising to create your advertisement.

***Include your name at the bottom of each slide you create***

Vocabulary Lesson / Excellent / Proficient / Developing / Beginning
Slide One: Writes an original sentence (not plagiarized or borrowed)
Slide One: Chooses a challenging or unknown word and uses it correctly
Slide One: Correctly uses, explains, and identifies the sentence pattern
Slide One: Provides context clues
Slide Two: Includes the word and part of speech
Slide Two: Provides an easy-to-remember definition in his/her own words
Slide Two: Pairs the word & definition with a high-quality image that will help audience remember what the word means
Third Element: Ad includes vocab word and clearly connects to word’s meaning.
Third Element: Ad utilizes at least two appeals: logos, pathos, ethos
Third Element: Ad reflects creativity, effort, and thoughtfulness in choices of font, color, words, and images.
Design and Delivery of Lesson / Excellent / Proficient / Developing / Beginning
PVLEGS: Communicates confidence through body language, engages audience through effective vocal techniques, expresses enthusiasm, makes consistent eye contact, uses hand gestures and body language to enhance understanding.
Visuals: Uses images strategically with minimal text and one high-quality image. Slides contain a clear focal point and all visual elements are structured in a way that reinforce key points and engage audience emotion.
Instruction:Explains how sentence fits structure.All elementsare cohesive and deliberate, reflecting the student’s strategy in engaging the audience and helping them remember/understand the word. Uses multiple methods to teach the audience rather than simply present information.

Week One:

Sentence Pattern: Parallel Structure with a series of prepositional phrases

Prepositional phrases are sentence parts that note the relationship between people, things, or actions. Prepositional phrases begin with prepositions: in, before, after, at, down, across, inside, outside, between, within, behind, on, by, under, against, etc. Parallel structure is when you use the same pattern of words or grammatical structure in a series or list.

Models:

“They have no memory, of tears or laughter, of sorrow or loving kindness.” –Lloyd Alexander

In that place, at that moment, the wind prevailed.

“Then they came, up the street and around the house” –Hal Borland

Series may be in any part of the sentence

Make sure the items in the series are parallel in structure

Week Two:

Sentence Pattern: Absolute Phrases

An absolute phrases consists of a participle and noun that modify an entire sentence (ie. Legs (noun) quivering (participle), Gizmo dreamed of chasing squirrels (modified sentence).)

Models:

“There was no bus in sight and Julian,his hands still jammed in his pockets and his head thrust forward, scowled down the empty street.”-Flannery O'Connor

"Harry froze,his cut finger slipping on the jagged edge of the mirror again."-J.K. Rowling

The noun must come before the participle in this pattern.

Week Three:

Sentence Pattern: Adjective Clause

Anadjective clauseis a dependentclausethat, like anadjective, modifies a noun or pronoun.Adjective clausesbegin with words such as that, when, where, who, whom, whose, which, and why.

Models:

“Even his eyes, which had been young, looked old.” –John Steinbeck

“His face, whose shades we had often labeled, now achieved a new one.” –John Knowles

The clause will contain a subject, verb, and relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, which) or relative adverb (when, where, why)

It will function as an adjective by answering questions like What kind? How many? Which one?

Week Four:

Sentence Pattern: Adverb Clause

Anadverb clauseis a dependentclausethat functions as anadverb; that is, the entireclause modifies a verb, an adjective, or anotheradverb by telling when, where, why, how, how much and under what condition. They begin with a subordinating conjunction (such as after, if, because and although).

Models:

“After he got himself under control, he apologized.” -Stephen King (Tells when he apologized)

“Alfred quietly slipped out the back door and waited until Henry left.” – Robert Lipsyte (Tells when Alfred waited)

The clause must contain a subject, verb, and subordinating conjunction (because, that, once, although, as, etc.)

The clause will answer one of these four questions: How? When? Where? Why?

Week Five:

Sentence Pattern: Interrupting modifiers between subject and verb

S , modifier , V .

S — modifier — V .

S (whispering modifier) V .

Models:

A small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, can make millions think.

He jumped at the chance (too impetuously really) to shoot the rapids in a kayak.

Her joyous laughter—delightful to all who knew her—no one will ever forget.

The punctuation marks for this pattern must go in pairs

Read the sentence aloud to make sure the interruption does not distract from the overall flow and meaning.

Week Six:

Sentence Pattern: Inversion

Aninverted sentenceis asentence in which the predicate (verb) comes before the subject (noun). In other words, the normal order of words is reversed.

Models:

Down the street lived the man and his wife. (inverted order)

The man and his wife lived down the street. (normal order)

“Whose woods these are I think I know.” –Robert Frost (inverted order)

I think I know whose woods these are. (normal order)

Think about Yoda from Star Wars when completing this pattern: “Powerful you have become; the Dark Side I sense in you.”

Use this pattern to emphasize key words in the sentence.

Sample Advertisement for Slide 3:5 Most Common Advertising Techniques

by Catherine Hudgins

With so many products and service providers in the marketplace, using a proven technique in your advertising increases the likelihood that your ad dollars will return value. Basic techniques used in propaganda transfer successfully to advertising and remain the most frequently employed.

Repetition

Repetition is a simple yet effective technique used to build identity awareness and customer memory. Even advertisements using other successful approaches mention the product or company name more than once, particularly in television because its combination of sight and sound, allows the advertiser to disguise the repetition by changing its delivery (from visual to audio). An ad first shown during a Super Bowl broadcast for a product called HeadOn remains the classic example of this advertising technique. Though the advertisement never explained what the product does, viewers remembered its name.

Claims

Advertising that promotes specific features or makes claims about what a product or service can do for the potential customers provides successful results by informing, educating and developing expectations in the buyer. Claims can state facts or simply use hype, such as calling one brand of orange juice "the best" when nutritionally it is identical to other brands. Claims may mislead through omission or by using what some advertisers and political campaigners call "weasel words." These are subtle statement modifiers that render the claim meaningless if studied closely. Common weasel words include "helps," "fights" and "virtually."

Association

Associating a product or company with a famous person, catchy jingle, desirable state of being or powerful emotion creates a strong psychological connection in the customer. Sporting equipment companies use successful athletes in their ads, automakers display their cars in front of mansions, brewers show their beer consumed by groups of friends having fun and cosmetic companies sign celebrities to represent their products. These ads encourage an emotional response in customers, which then is linked to the product being advertised, making it attractive through transference.

Bandwagon

The bandwagon technique sells a product or service by convincing the customer that others are using it and they should join the crowd. Other bandwagon advertisements suggest that the customer will be left out if they do not buy what's being sold. These ads often employ "glittering generalities," words linked to highly valued ideas or concepts that evoke instant approval, which may or may not relate to the subject of the advertisement. "America loves..." connects patriotism with a product, creating an automatic positive response.

Promotions

Coupons, sweepstakes, games with prizes and gifts with purchases create excitement, and participation encourages customers to build a relationship with the sponsoring product or service. The attraction of getting something "free" or earning "rewards" makes promotions successful. Limited-time offers and entry deadlines add urgency to this advertising technique's call to action.