Teaching Vocabulary 1

I think this text will enable my students to speak on the topic “Hobbies”. This topic is recommended for pupils of the 8^th form. I’ve made my list of topical vocabulary by grouping words into two groups: group1 represents single words (nouns, adjectives, verbs); group2 includes collocations (word combinations).

The first group mostly includes the nouns representing some types of hobbies. As the purpose of this list is to provide students with vocabulary necessary for telling about their own hobbies, to say what they like and what they hate to do.

The second group consists of collocations; among them there are words with prepositions. Use of prepositions presents difficulties for Russian students, so I think it’s necessary to include prepositional phrases.

The text

Many people have hobbies. They make our life more interesting. A hobby is what people like to do when they have free time. Everyone chooses a hobby according to his character and taste. Some people are fond of music, others like to read books. Some people like to collect stamps, coins or badges, others prefer gardening or hiking or taking photographs. Some people like to cook, others like to knitter sew. Generally speaking, a hobby is a matter of taste.  My hobby is playing computer games. Both grown-ups and children are fond of it now. It has become one of the most popular hobbies nowadays. I think that playing with computer is very interesting. It is not only "wasting time" as some people say.  Computer games make us think things over properly, they widen and develop our mind and imagination. I have a good collection of different games and when I have some free time I play them with great pleasure. My favorite game is "World of Warcraft"  Some of my friends have the same hobby and we like to play together.

Topical vocabulary list

Group 1	Group 2
gardening	To be fond of
to collect	To waste time
grown-ups	according to
pleasure	generally speaking
to knitter sew	To be a matter of
hiking

Teaching Vocabulary 2

Exercise 1. To make sure that my pupils understand the meaning of the new vocabulary items I would suggest an exercise in matching the new words and their synonyms or definitions. In one column there are new words, in the other- their synonyms and definitions.

Word	Defenition
gardening	to devote time to a useless activity
to collect	speaking in a wide sense
grown-ups	the activity of tending and cultivating fruits and vegetables
pleasure	adults
to knitter sew	to be a thing that involves or depends on
Hiking	to have an affection or liking for
To be fond of	in a manner corresponding or conforming to
To waste time	make (a garment, blanket, etc.) by interlocking loops of wool
according to	systematically seek and get items of a particular kind
generally speaking	a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment
To be a matter of	walk for a long distance, especially across country

Exercise 2. It is necessary to practice students in memorising collocations from the text. For this purpose I would suggest an exercise in transformation. The students will be asked to transform the sentences using their active vocabulary.

1. Everyone chooses a hobby which suits his character and taste.

2. Some people like music, reading books.

3. Some people like to systematically seek and get stamps, coins or badges.

4. Others prefer cultivating fruits and vegetables, or long walks or taking photographs.

5. There are people who like to make sweaters by interlocking loops of wool.

6. Speaking a very wide sense, hobby depends on your taste.

7. Both adults and children like to play computer games.

8. Playing computer games is not only spending your time uselessly.

9. I play them with great enjoyment.

Exercise 3. Finally I will ask my students to make up a short dialogue on the topic "Hobbies" using their active vocabulary.