Webinar and blogosphere are well-known to teachers – but zonkey and labrapoodle?
(Zebra + Donkey) (Labrador + Poodle)
These are all portmanteaus* (that’s so hard to spell it hurts) and their use has quadruplified in recent years.
*The plural can be portmanteaus or portmanteaux, depending on how much of a pedant you are.
Anyway, this is the third lesson in the Low-tech teaching series, aimed at teachers in low-resource environments.
In this lesson learners develop their listening and speaking skills, learn and practise discourse markers and give a presentation.
You get to explain what Gaydar is – and there’s a dictogloss. Another portmanteau!
“Ain’t no metrosexuals ’round here”
Uber-busy teachers can download the lesson plan and the Paper powerpoint pictures here.
Paperpowerpoints.pdf (549 downloads)
PaperPowerpointpics.pdf (476 downloads)
What’s the advantage of Paper Powerpoints? Well, for once learners concentrate on communicating their message rather than looking at powerpoint slides.
And the presentations are much more interesting!
One group in my class did a presentation on ‘The Roman God Bacchus’. Here are the slides (click for better view):
As a teacher who has sat through hundreds of less-than-interesting powerpoint presentations, I can thoroughly recommend this activity.
If you use it in class – let me know how it goes.
Many of us ELT teachers have a soft spot for acronyms, puns, portmanteaus and the like.
I particularly like glamping, ridonkulous and spork.
What’s your favourite portmanteau word?
Paul
Images
Carol&Zonkey. Chris Hertel on flickr. CC license 2.0.
NOTE: no animals were harmed during the writing of this blog post
Can anyone think of any ELT portmanteaus? Here’s one:
Pronuncipation = The feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for a learner to pronounce a word.