Title: Contrasts and oppositions in language

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

A few words about synonyms and antonyms.

Target group

7th‑grade students of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

II. Language education.

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

3) knows ways to enrich vocabulary.

III. Creating statements

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

7) agrees with other people's views or polemicises with them, substantively justifying their own opinion.

The general aim of education

The student develops knowledge and skills in the field of synonymy and antonymia.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• explains what the relation of synonymy and antonymia in language is;

• selects synonyms and antonyms to the given words;

• creates antonyms;

• uses dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms;

• enriches the lexical resource of the language.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: exercise exercises;

• exposition: analysis of painting works.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity;

• work in pairs.

Lesson plan overview

Introduction

1.The teacher defines the purpose of the course, which is to develop the ability to create synonyms and antonyms. Together with the students, the teacher sets the criteria for success.

2. Distributing dictionaries of antonyms and synonyms.

3. The teacher creates a problematic situation – introduces the topic, drawing the students' attention to the role of contrasts in the language.

Realization

1. The teacher asks students to find as many words as possible which will be contradiction to the words listed in ex. 1.

2. Work with the picture gallery (exercise 2. in the abstract). to give titles to the paintings on the board in such a way that the title contains a pair of words of opposite meaning. Then, the teacher initiates a short discussion on the different proposals, drawing attention to the differences in the way of titling (e.g. a painting „A woman and a child” could be entitled: “Mother and daughter”, “A woman and a girl”, “An adult and a child').

3. Students do the task in the abstract – they link images with their original titles. They pay attention to those titles that use contrast.

4. The teacher asks students to familiarize themselves with the information on synonyms and antonyms from the abstract. Then, the teacher proposes a game to the students, similar to the “country and city” game, consisting in provision of antonymous pairs at all times. The game can be conducted in Polish and in English.

Examples of categories and answers:

5. Performing exercises 4 and 5, consisting of adding antonyms and synonyms to the given words and combining antonymous pairs.

Then the students do another task to draw attention to the contextual antonyms (flashcards). If necessary, the teacher emphasizes the need to pay attention to the context in which a given word appears, and thus shows students that they cannot thoughtlessly choose the word, e.g. from the dictionary of antonyms. The term „old” may have different meanings depending on the word with which it is connected (old bread and old car).

7. The teacher asks students to do the ex. 6 in the abstract, which consists in using suffixes to create words with the opposite meaning. Then, the teacher asks the students to read the information from the abstract on the creation of antonyms using prefixes.

8. Students do the ex. 7 which consists of giving words with indicated prefixes. A hint here are word‑forming definitions.

9. In order to consolidate the ability to create antonyms, students – working in pairs – define and guess freely chosen words.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students what they have learned today and if they found the lesson interesting. The teacher asks the students to perform self‑assessment of their individual work during the lesson.

2. Questions to sum up:

• What is synonymy? What is antonymy?

• What are the different ways of creating antonyms?

• What is the role of the context in creating antonyms?

Homework

Find examples of cultural texts (books, films, works of art, as well as press articles or slogans from advertising posters) whose titles have contradictory meanings, e.g. „Crime and Punishment”, „In Heaven and on Earth”. Think about why the authors of these works use contrasting words or concepts. Prepare a note on this topic.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Contrasts and oppositions in language

The world is made up of contrasts. On the globe we can find opposite geographical directions: east – west, north – south. Following the example of this division, we often use the phrase “lie at the opposite ends.” We also often use words that we combine into opposite pairs: “two sides of the coin”, “obverse – reverse”, “beginning – end”, “start – finish”, “positive – negative.” Such oppositions often appear in different sign systems. For example, the mathematical values are “positive” and “negative”, also there is the message “allowed – not allowed” in the traffic light system which is expressed by the difference of green – red colours. Some of these pairs can even be evaluated as positive or negative: good – bad. And if there are no such meanings written in words, the evaluation appears in associations. In today's lesson we will learn the opposite words and concepts. Such a contrast in language is called the opposition or the negation.

In grammar, the opposing meanings are also expressed using the particles preceding the words. They tell us not only about the opposite but also about the lack and scarcity of something or about the contradictory content we deny. Such a phenomenon is called contradiction or negation. The particles we add at the beginning of a new word are prefixes.