Advanced
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
+80 XP

Using What You Already Know

Discover how to unlock the meaning of unfamiliar words by recognising patterns and similarities across languages. Work with body part terms and animal vocabulary in several languages to practise this skill and reflect on your strategies.

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    1 - A Word Nobody Has Studied ~5 mins

    Here is a word family nobody has studied as vocabulary. Guess what it means, and say what made you guess.

    hospital  ·  hôpital  ·  ospidéal

    By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

    • Spot patterns that unlock words you have never learnt
    • Use a word you already know to work out a new one

    2 - Three Body Words, Five Languages ~10 mins

    Three body words, five languages each. Listen as each word is played on the board. Look across one row at a time and put your hand up when two spellings look or sound almost the same.

    We are hunting one clear cousin pair per body word, not learning every form by heart.

    3 - Cousins in Animal Words ~10 mins

    Word cousins are words in different languages that share a meaning and look or sound alike. Now try the same detective skill on animal words.

    Two piles only:

    • True cousins — same meaning and they look or sound related
    • Tricky lookalikes — look a bit alike, but the meanings are different (the trap)

    Worked example before you vote: English flower and French fleur (flur) — true cousins (same meaning, related shape). English chat (talk) and French chat (shah, cat) — tricky lookalike (same letters, different job).

    Preview shape: does English tiger sit near a word in another language, or is it a trap? Sort each pair and name your clue before the reveal.

    4 - The Clue That Unlocked It ~3 mins

    COPYBOOK MOMENT

    Open your copy. Write one word you unlocked today (from the animal pairs or the body words) and the clue you used.

    Copy the spelling from the board or from a model below. Use a frame like this (fill it with your own unlock, not a copied answer):

    • Word: _______________
    • Clue: shared letters / sound match / a word I already know (circle one, or write your own)

    Body-part cousin models (copy only if you choose one of these):

    • die Hand (hand) — shared letters with English hand
    • die Nase (nose) — shared n…s shape with English nose
    • der Arm (arm) — almost the same as English arm

    5 - The Same Pattern Again ~10 mins

    Look at the table of today's three body words across five languages. This is a quick pattern check, not a new list to learn.

    Key point

    Detective hunt: Find two cousin pairs and one form that does not look like English. Point and tell us the clue.

    Example

    Same unlock on animal words (from the hunt):

    • tiger · French tigre · German Tiger
    • elephant · French éléphant · German Elefant

    The skill is the same across themes.

    Pupil practice
    Module 3 · How Languages Work
    Lesson 18 · Using What You Already Know
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