Arbeitsblatt: Vocabulary in context

Vocabulary focused pre-, while- and after-reading work Pre-reading work: 1. Take look at the following words. What do they have in common? Bark, root, stem, branch, twig, leaf, needle. 2. Take guess: What do you think Eurotree is? While-reading work: 1. Look at the red box depicted below. Then read the first paragraph on the next page. Even though you might not know the words decree (l. 1) and henceforth (l. 1), you will still be able to understand the general meaning of these words. Try to explain them in your own words. Finding out the meaning of new words and expressions When you read texts in English you will sometimes come across words that are new to you. But you dont always need to use dictionary to find out their meaning, as you can often guess it from: 1 similar German, French or Latin words and expressions; 2 the word family by identifying the root word, prefixes, suffixes and the different elements of the compounds; 3 the context by looking at the words or sentences that come before or after the word which help to make its meaning clear. You will sometimes read text and not be able to guess all the words But this does not necessarily matter. If you try to read over the difficult words, you will probably be able to understand the general meaning (the gist). 1 2. Now read the complete text (as depicted below) and give yourself serious try to figure out the meaning of words you dont know using the strategies given. perfect Eurotree It has been decreed that henceforth all Community Christmas trees shall be standardised according to strict EC criteria. Lo, unto us Eurotree is born. From here on in, the British yule tree shall, if it wishes to be classified, 5 meet precise specifications on bushiness, length, width, stem, colour, freshness, symmetry and regularity of needles. [] The Christmas tree Growers Association of Western Europe, under its venerable director, Major General Tony Richardson, has moved to harmonise the fruits of the forest into first quality, second quality and unclassified. 10 The aim, says General Richardson, former artillery officer, is to produce harmony of classification that will enable tree buyers all over Europe to know exactly what they are getting for their Ecus. [] To achieve first quality standard, the width of the tree should not be greater the height of the tree, nor less than half the height of the tree. 15 However, if the width of the tree is greater then 1.3 times the height of the tree, the tree must be graded as unclassified. Degrees of symmetry will be attained by proper branch formation spiralling around the stem. Needles, says the General, must be regular, developed and well spaced. The tree must not show damage and there shall be no lichen or 20 moss in the bark. Neither should cuts to branches be evident. To achieve prized first quality status, tree must meet all these criteria but can be allowed one fault. Two faults and it becomes second quality. [] All clear? Perhaps it will be more so to the officials of the European 25 Normalisation Committee (CEN), to which General Richardson will take his associations standards next year in an attempt to have them adopted as legal EC Christmas tree norm. [] They will be legislating what size snowflake we should have next, said shop assistant in central London. Its not going to make blind bit of 2 30 difference what categories or whatever they put them in, said another. Nine times out of 10 its the husband whos had to go out and buy the damn thing and he doesnt care what he brings home as long as its green and has got pine needles. By John McGhie, The Observer, 13 December 1992. l. 3: lo (old use) look! see! – l. 4: yule jul] tree Christmas tree – l. 8 venerable old and respected – l. 19 lichen [‘laɪkən] Flechte After-reading work 1. All the following words are similar to ones in German. Explain their meanings in your own words: e.g. classified German klassifiziert strict (l.2), precise (l. 5), to harmonise (l. 8), officer (l. 10), quality (l. 9), spiralling (l.17), symmetry (l. 17), evident (l. 20), criteria (l. 22), legal (l. 28), category (l. 30). 2. Write down the meaning of the following words by identifying the root word, the prefixes and suffixes and their meanings or the different elements of the compounds – without the help of dictionary. e.g. root word norm prefix/suffix abnormal compound (word, noun) tree norm to standardise (l. 2), bushiness (l. 5), classification (l. 4), to enable (l. 11 ), snowflake (l. 28) shop assistant (l. 29), central (l. 29), pine needle (l. 33). 3 3. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions from the context: e.g. to decree – to decide or state officially to meet (l. 5) to move (l. 8) to achieve (l. 13) to grade (l. 16) to attain (l. 17) well spaced (l. 19) prized (l. 21) to adopt (l. 26) to not make blind difference (l. 29) 4. Find all the descriptive words referring to the different component parts of the Christmas tree mentioned in the text. Choose for yourself which strategy ( red box) you want to use in order to figure out what the words in particular mean. As you just found out the meanings of all the descriptive words, now try to sketch Christmas tree which achieved first quality status as described in the text. 5. The class divides into teams. Each team chooses five words or expressions from the text and writes definition for each one in English. The definitions are then read aloud to the other teams, who have to produce the respective phrase or word. Going step further 1. Who is Major Richardson? And what is his and his organizations plan? 2. What does the author mean by asking the question: All clear? (l. 24)? 3. What are some peoples reactions to Major Richardsons plans? Describe in your own words! 4. The text contains certain clauses about what Christmas tree shall/should/must/mustnt be like. Detect those sentences out of the text in which these modal auxiliaries occur. 4