I’m always looking for fresh and
fun ways to teach and practise colloquial language with students, especially as
sometimes I feel that they go over students heads or in one ear and out the other,
when in reality they are often vital for keeping your head above water when
using English in certain social-cultural context. As a second language speaker
myself (Portuguese), I’ve completely lost the thread of several conversations
when I haven’t realised that a phrase wasn’t literal. Although they aren’t to
everyone’s taste, I think the Violent Veg and Fred and Ginger card ranges (available
in the UK) use colloquial language and expressions in a great way. I’ve used
them several times with advanced students, many of whom have commented that the
funny pictures helped them both understand the meaning and remembering the
idiom for future use- a double result in my eyes! They are also good for
looking at pronunciation patterns and words with the same pronunciation but
different spelling. A word of caution- some of the cards are a bit risqué so
choose the design and intended audience carefully. They might not be suitable
for all cultures but have always gone down well with my young adult and adult
students in Brazil. I’ve included a selection of the designs for you to
download (disclaimer- I just saved these from the ones available on Google
images) and below are a few ideas for how you could incorporate them into your
class.
- The Violent Veg pictures 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 use puns based on words with the same, or similar pronunciation. Put students in pairs or small groups and hand out / project a copy of each design onto the board. Set a time limit for students to work out the word that the pun has been replaced. Groups work in competition with each other and the first group to correctly identify all the words is the winner. To make it more difficult, ask groups to explain the meaning of both words, for example “the boat was full of leeks”. The word leek, which is a vegetable, has been used instead of the leak, which means a hole that allows liquids to pass through it or to release something accidently.
- The remaining pictures use colloquial language and expressions. Make copies of the designs, hiding or covering the box with the writing. Print and cut out the strips with the message/expressions on. Put the students into pairs and name each pair Pair A or Pair B. Distribute the designs and corresponding expressions amongst the pairs. How you do this will depend on your class size and how much time you want to dedicate to the activity. You could separate the designs into A and B so that all the Pairs A have the same ones and all the Pairs B have the same ones, or you could simply give a couple to each pair so that all pairs have different designs. First, students work in their pairs to match the expression to the picture. Circle the room monitoring students’ language use and giving feedback on their answers. Once students have matched the pictures and expressions, they need to work out the pun. Working together they can use dictionaries or the internet to discover what stuck in a jam means, for example (Fred and Ginger 5). Then, match up all the Pair As with the Pair Bs. Each Pair must now show the other their designs and explain the meaning. To consolidate, Pair A can work together to write example sentences using Pair B’s expressions and vice versa. Each pair then reads the others’ sentences, to check understanding.
- The Violent Veg Facebook page has weekly caption competitions, which I think is a great way to round off the lesson. You could give students all the same picture and set a time limit for them to work in pairs or trios and come up with a funny caption. At the end of the class, everyone votes for their favourite caption (obviously students aren’t allowed to vote for their own…). I find that most students really get in to this activity and try to play around with words to make it as original as possible.
= DOWNLOAD the pictures here (taken from Google images and facebook.com/violentveg)
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