Something borrowed, something new

In this Intermediate ESL lesson, the student will learn about loanwords and how to talk about past habits using ‘would’ and ‘used to.’

Warm-up

Before getting familiar with the concept of loanwords, the student is presented with different ways of creating new words in English. They try to guess how words such as helicopter, autobiography, or cyberbullying came to use.

What is a loanword?

First, loanwords are explained. After that, the student tries to identify loanwords in a word cloud. 

Next, they read a short passage in which they spot four loanwords (klutz, karaoke, cafe, and pyjamas) and then use them to fill in the gaps after identifying their origin.

Reading part: English in German

The student reads a passage about English words used in German with a shift in meaning (das Handy, der Dressman, etc.) and answers questions related to the text.

Video: French in English 

In a video about French words and phrases used in English, the student learns about their original meaning. Then, they match the words explained in the video with their meaning in French.

Discussion

The student talks about loanwords used in their mother tongue.

Guessing and matching

In a double-matching exercise, the student matches loanwords with their meaning and language of origin.

Grammar

In this quick overview of past habits, the student learns about the structure and use of would and used to, after which they identify correct verb forms in a short paragraph.