Internationalisms

Objectives

The learner can consolidate new vocabulary.

Materials

• Paper and pens
• Newspapers, magazines

Instructions

• Divide the group into pairs.
• Explain the term ‘internationalisms’: an internationalism or international word is a loanword that occurs in several languages, with the same or at least similar meaning and etymology. The advantage of internationalisms is that they are words already known by the learners.
• Give and ask for examples: OK, ball, coach, tennis, halal, yoga, transport, tsunami, hotel, radio, police, smartphone…
• Ask each pair to find internationalisms, in a newspaper, magazine, on signs or posters in the room, on packages, bottles…

Discuss the internationalisms together.

Variant

Make the exercise competitive: the pair who comes up with the most words, wins.

Tips for the instructor

For advanced learners: internationalisms are a good introduction to analyze affixes (prefixes and suffixes), e.g. ‘tele’ means ‘far’; ‘re’ indicates repetition, ‘anti’ means ‘against’…