Grammar Glamour and Word Wizardry: Rhyme and Alliteration to Teach ESL
Presented by Emily Ellis & Jake Jacobs, UC Irvine, Division of Continuing Education
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Alliterative Fixed Phrases
This list is a condensed list from the exhaustive one created by Seth Lindstromberg and Frank Boers (2005). We have chosen what we believe to be the most useful, common phrases for our ESL students. Some phrases have been added to their original list, and some have been removed.
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Blind as a bat
Bed and breakfast
Beer belly
Busy as a bee
Black and blue
Bite the bullet
To get too big for your britches
Below the belt
Bounce back
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed
Below the belt
Beyond belief
The bottom of the barrel
Back in business
The best of both worlds
on your best behavior
back to the drawing board
doesn’t have a bad bone in his body
badly burned
You better believe it
You bet your bottom dollar
Cool as a cucumber
Curiosity killed the cat
Cut corners
A crash course
On a collision course
A copycat
A close call
A camera crew
That’s the way the cookie crumbles
Come clean about
Crystal clear
Couldn’t care less
Clear conscience
Call it quits
A Close call
Can’t complain
On cruise control
Key concern
Too close to call
Down the drain
A dime a dozen
Every dog has his day
Daydream
Day to day
A dirty deed
Deep down
Death-defying
Don’t you dare!
Debbie Downer
Far-fetched
Finger food
Friend or foe
Add fuel to fire
A fair weather friend
A free for all
Birds of a feather flock together
Fan the flames
Few and far between
Fame and fortune
Flow freely
First and foremost
First things first
Fact or fiction
Photo finish
Good as gold
The grass is always greener…
All that glitters isn’t gold.
As good as it gets
Gain ground
Good to go
Give up the ghost
Give the green light
Goodness gracious
God-given
Ill-gotten gains
Glitz and glamour
Have high hopes
Half-hearted
Whole-hearted
With a heavy heart
Home is where the heart is
Head over heels
Hip-hip hooray!
Live high off the hog
Hit the hay
Hold your horses
Hold hands
A helping hand
As hungry as a horse
Too hot to handle
Hard of hearing
Hold your head high
In my heart of hearts
Hit home
Health hazard
Head for the hills
Hit somebody where it hurts
Get on one’s high horse
Head for home
Look before you leap
Love it or leave it
Life lessons
A leading lady
Live and learn
Live and let live
In the limelight
Lie low
Learn a lesson
Love life
Look like
Have the last laugh
Last but not least
The more the merrier
There’s a method to my madness
Man-made
Mark my words
Mixed message
Make a mess
Make a mountain out of a molehill
Put your money where your mouth is
More than meets the eye
Make a mistake
Make money
Make matters worse
Make the most of
Miss by a mile
Not move a muscle
You never know
Now or never
Neck and neck
Next to nothing
No news is good news
Nature versus nurture
Not necessarily
A pretty penny
The proof is in the pudding
Part and parcel of
Put somebody in their place
Prove a point
To pin-point
Pay the price
Peer pressure
Like two peas in a pod
People person
Parking place
Places to go and people to see
Party pooper
Power play
Plank a prank on someone
Run a risk
Road rage
Rock and roll
Rat race
Rule the roost
Rules and regulations
Reach rock bottom
Rise through the ranks
Rocky road
Role reversal
Reserve the right
Swim suit
Just to be on the safe side
A sound sleep
A sight for sore eyes
Sink or swim
Settle a score
Silky smooth
Slipper slope
Same sex (marriage)
Safe and sound
Stick out like a sore thumb
Side by side
Only scratch the surface of
So and so
In a split second
Somebody’s strong suit
Slowly but surely
A sensitive subject
Spick and span
Short but sweet
Tank top
Tell tale signs
Take turns
Tip toe
Time will tell
Tell the truth
The tide has turned
Turn the tables on
To a t
Truth be told
Tricks of the trade
Trash talk
Teach an old dog new tricks
Take too far
Stand the test of time
Tip of the tongue
Tattle-tale
This and that
This, that and the other
Through and through
Whirlwind
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Waste not want not
Wish someone well
One way
Have a way with words
Worth the wait
Wet your whistle
A worry ward
Wild weekend
What are we waiting for?
Words of wisdom
What a waste!
There’s no way in the world
Wear out your welcome
Just walk away
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Activity #1: Alliterative Vocabulary
A Quick Language Lesson (en español)
Step 1: Find the words in column 1 that alliterate with your vocabulary words in column 2.
Column 1 / Column 2 (Vocabulary Words)un ángel ______
un burrito ______
una casa ______
un chico ______
un perro ______/ chido
perezoso
barato
aburrido
cara
Alliterative Vocabulary: Instructions
The following activity is an adapted/modified version of the activity outlined by Boers and Lindstromberg (2000). (Full reference at the end of this handout)
Purpose: Students have already been exposed to a new set of vocabulary. This activity is to practice, review and help students to cement the terms in a fun way.
Activity Sequence:
1. What is alliteration? Give students examples of alliteration and ask them to come up with a couple of examples to make sure they understand what alliteration is. Give them a couple of examples that show that alliterative pairs of words may not always begin with the same letter. (i.e. new knowledge, quick coffee)
2. Match the terms: If you have already thought of alliterations for each of the terms, give the students the list of terms in two columns: (1) vocabulary terms, (2) alliterative additions. (Another option is for students to think of their own alliterations. This takes time, however, but can be quite fun!) Have students match the words. Then, discuss what order they should go in or whether an additional word (such as a preposition) is needed to make the phrase complete.
3. Alliterations and Hints: Give students a paper with a list of the completed alliterations on the left-hand side of a paper (side 1). On the back of the paper (left-hand side) make clues. In this example, the picture and the alliterative counterpart are provided as the clues. When students receive the paper, have them fold the right third vertically over to the left so that they can see only the picture clues and the phrases. Encourage them to explain how the pictures depict the meanings of the phrases. Ask some of them to come up with complete sentences.
4. Memory Practice
All students turn their papers over to side two (unfolded). Ask for one student to read the hints (the alliterative counterparts of each target word), stopping after each to allow for another student to complete the phrase with the target word. Do the same activity in pairs. (One student quizzes the other student.)
5. Variations/ Extensions
Slide Show Review:
Make a simple PowerPoint presentation with one slide for each picture hint. Do not include any words. Run through the pictures quickly and ask students to shout out the alliterations they remember for each picture. Students could also write down the terms silently as the teacher goes through each slide.
Storytelling:
Less Challenging: Make cards with the alliterative phrases on them and accompanying pictures. Put them in a bag. Divide students into pairs. The first student pulls out the first card and uses the phrase on the card to begin telling a story. Then, his/her partner takes out a card and incorporates the next phrase into the story. This is much more fun and challenging when two or more sets of vocabulary have been covered and there are more items in the bag.
More Challenging: Do the same activity as above, but include only the alliterative counterpart for each target word.
Even More Challenging: Do the same activity but with pictures only.
VOCABULARY ALLITERATION: (Example- list of words from a textbook)
1. Match each vocabulary term to its alliteration. You do not need to make complete sentences.
Vocabulary Words / Alliterative Termscourse
endure
experience
format
get into
ration
tent
terrain
stage
unique / tall
get into
raisins
several
crazy
energy
file
trees
man
exciting
unicorn
2. Write the alliterations below. If the two words are an adjective and a noun, put them in the appropriate order. If the two words are both nouns, you may need a preposition to complete the phrase.
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
6. ______
7. ______
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______
(Front)
1. a crazy course
2. an exciting experience
3. the file format
4. get into golf
5. a ration of raisins
6. a tall tent
7. terrain with trees
8. several stages
9. a unique unicorn
10. the energy to endure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Activity #2: Matching Letter Clues
Purpose: Students have already started learning the simple past and past participle forms of both regular and irregular verbs. They have also learned when it is appropriate to use the simple past and the present perfect tenses. This is activity is to practice forming correct sentences in the simple present, simple past, and present perfect and to help students recognize patterns in the irregular verb forms. Students will practice using the correct forms of each of the 3 tenses and using the correct “key words” that indicate the time.
Activity Sequence:
1. Pattern Recognition: Review the 3 verb forms (base form, simple past, past participle) of certain irregular verbs that follow a pattern. In this activity, we will use verbs which follow the pattern of i/a/u (drink, drank, drunk). Point out to the students that there are a few verbs that follow this pattern. Ask them if they can identify anymore from a list of irregular verbs that has been provided, either in their books or from the teacher. The list of verbs used for this activity are as follows:
Drink, Begin, Ring, Sing, Sink, Stink, Swim
2. Pictures or Symbols: Show students a students a set of pictures or symbols that will represent each verb (see the next page for our example). We showed the students the pictures with a PowerPoint, but you may want to give them a handout. Go over the verbs that each symbol represents.
3. Group Work: Divide students into small groups. Each group receives 2 stacks of cards: 1) picture cards—each card has a picture of one of the verbs from step two. 2) word cards—each card contains a name and a “key word” that indicates time (see next page).
Word Cards—explanation
The cards contain names or pronouns beginning with the letters i/a/u. Names that begin with i represent habitual actions that occur in the simple present tense. For example, one card may say, “Ian….every day.” Students should recognize that this work requires the simple verb form containing the vowel “i.” Other cards may include the words, “Ann…yesterday” or “You…never in your life,” which indicate the simple past and the present perfect respectively.
Group members will take turns making sentences. When it is the student’s turn, s/he will draw 2 cards—a picture card and a word card. The picture card indicates the verb that they must use, and the word card indicates the tense. The letters on the card ( i/a/u) are the clues to remind them the correct verb form. For example, if a student pulls these 2 cards:
Activity #3: Using Gerunds as Objects of Prepositions- “An Ode to Gerunds”
The student’s task is to (a) memorize the preposition that follows each adjective or verb phrase, and (b) to remember that this preposition is then followed by a gerund. This seems to be less about understanding a grammatical rule and more about memorization. Thus, this is one grammar point that lends itself nicely to a mnemonic device such as rhyme.
Suggested Lesson sequence:
1. Go over grammar rules (Blue Azar 14-2) with students. Explain with examples or a story if possible. Go over the meaning of any unknown words.
2. Give students the poem. Explain what “rhyme” is. Ask students to repeat each line after you.
3. Ask students to find the words that have similar sounds in each verse. To provide them with support, give them one word and ask them to find the other. (i.e. verse 1: failing and___)
4. Divide the class into four groups. Each group is responsible for reciting their part of the poem when it’s their turn. Do this two or three times.
5. Give students a new copy of the poem in which one word is missing from each verse. This should be one of the rhyming pairs.