HOMEWORK – SESSION 4

Section 1 - Word Forms: Read each sentence. Underline the correct word form in
parentheses.

1. Sales of printed dictionaries have dropped as more and more readers have begun using
apps to find a quick (define / definition) of a word.

2. Fats that are solid at room temperature, such as butter, (liquefy / liquid) when heated.

3. Self-driving cars have features that allow the car to brake, accelerate, and steer
(automation / automatically).

4. Based on research conducted between 2007 and 2014, the Pew Research Center
concluded that Americans are becoming less (religious / religion).

5. People who are accustomed to taking care of themselves worry about becoming
(dependence / dependent) on others as they grow older.

6. Because horses are large and unpredictable, some people claim that horse (rider / riding)
is one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

7. In this workshop, we intend to (demonstrate / demonstration) seven activities to help

develop students’ reading fluency.

8. Due to their hardness, diamonds have a wide variety of (industry / industrial) uses.

9. Researchers often caution that it is too soon to (generally / generalize) the results of
experiments performed on animals to human populations.

10. Nonnative animal species, such as boa constrictors in the Florida Everglades, often
(threaten / threatening) native species because they have no natural enemies to control
their populations.
Section 2 – Vocabulary – Language
Write a sentence (your example) with each word or phrase.

S/N Vocabulary Meaning

words or expressions that are used by a
1 jargon (n) [U] particular profession or group of people, and are
difficult for others to understand
current | incomprehensible, obscure | unnecessary | academic, computer, legal,
scientific, technical + jargon
speak (in), use | avoid + jargon
E.g.: He always speaks in obscure (=not well known) legal jargon.
Your example:

containing expressions that are natural and

2 idiomatic (a)
correct / containing or consisting of an idiom
an idiomatic expression
E.g.: "Bite the bullet" is an idiomatic expression that means to accept something
unpleasant without complaining.
E.g.: She was born in Italy, but her English is fluent and idiomatic.
Your example:

3 slip (n) [C] a small mistake

 little, slight, tiny | unfortunate + slip
 make + slip
 a slip of the pen/ a slip of the tongue
E.g.: She's made one or two slips - mainly spelling errors - but it's basically well
written.
Your example:

bilingual (a) able to use two languages equally well /

4
bilingual (n) [C] a person who speaks two languages equally well
 A bilingual dictionary/ website/ education/ children
E.g.: He is bilingual in Mandarin and English.
 The phone lines will be staffed by bilinguals.
Your example:

the rise and fall of the voice in speaking,

5 intonation (n) [C] [U] especially as this affects the meaning of what is
being said
 falling, flat, rising | foreign + intonation
 intonation + pattern
E.g.: He speaks excellent Spanish but with a distinctly foreign intonation.
Your example:

the ability to speak or write a language easily,

6 fluency (n) [U]
well, and quickly
 achieve, acquire + fluency
 fluency in
E.g.: One of the requirements of the job is fluency in two or more African
languages.
Your example:

relating to words that do not show gender, and

7 gender-neutral (a)
especially not male or female
 gender-neutral + language | words, terms, vocabulary | pronouns | meaning
E.g.: They’ may be used as a gender-neutral pronoun instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’.
Your example:

a set of letters arranged in a fixed order, used for

8 alphabet (n)
writing a language
 Arabic, Greek, Latin, Roman + alphabet
 know, learn + alphabet
E.g.: How many letters are there in the Greek alphabet?
Your example:
 one of the classes into which words are divided
9 word class (n) according to their grammar, such as noun, verb,
adjective, etc.
 word class = part of speech
E.g.: Indonesian has pretty free word order, fluid word classes, no number or
tense.
Your example:

a person who speaks a language as their first

10 native speaker (n) [C] language and has not learned it as a foreign
language
E.g.: Her English vocabulary is better than that of many native speakers I know.
Your example:

Section 3 – Writing Task

Some people think that English is a challenging language to master. Others think that
learning English is a manageable task. In your opinion, is English easy or difficult to learn?

Checklist (to be filled out by the teacher)

 Items Y/ N/ Other comments
Is there a topic sentence?
Is there a concluding sentence?
Is the paragraph fully developed?
Are there any unrelated sentences?
Are links between sentences smooth and clear?
Are there choppy sentences?
Are there many grammar, spelling, and
punctuation mistakes?
Is the vocabulary used appropriate and varied?

Section 4 – Great Writing 2 – Unit 2 (Activity 16 – 22); Unit 3 (Activity 1 – 3)

 Sample texts written by students in the previous batches:

Sample Text 1 (Bee) I think learning English can be challenging for a few reasons. First, some
English words may be difficult for some learners to pronounce. For example,
I often get it wrong when it comes to a word with many syllables such as
"sophisticated" and "reminiscence." I also tend to forget to pronounce the
“s” sound such as in the words “eats” or “sleeps.” To make this more
confusing, many words with similar spellings do not necessarily sound the
same. The words "college" and "colleague" are a typical example. Second,
spelling is another challenge that learners have to face. While beginners
often spell many words incorrectly such as mistaking "every day" for
"everyday", advanced learners can make slight slips like misspelling
"necessary" or getting confused by "empathetic," "empathic" and
"emphatic." Third, learners have to know all parts of speech and their order.
For example, adjectives, which describe nouns or pronouns, should be
placed before nouns or after the verb “be”. Another challenging task related
to parts of speech is the order of adjectives. There are many different
adjectives to describe colors, sizes, textures, and so on. English users have
to get the order of the adjectives right. Fourth, there are words that are
long and difficult to remember like paleontologist. Long words require
learners to practice more to remember their spelling and pronunciation. In
short, I think English is difficult to learn.
Sample Text 2 (Dennis) English, in my opinion, is a very simple language to learn. First, English
grammar rules can be easily understood, even for young learners. For
example, many irregular verbs in the simple past tense simply require
learners to memorize their spellings. Additionally, despite the diversity of
English vocabulary, there are rules and tips that can help you remember it.
Many adult learners, for instance, familiarize themselves with prefixes and
suffixes to remember more words; on the other hand, younger learners
may opt for a more creative approach such as using a mind map. Finally,
due to English's popularity, it may be easier to learn English than any other
language. As increasing numbers of people choose to master English, books,
podcasts, educational apps and more are being created to meet the
demand. Thanks to the abundance of available resources, especially those
in electronic format, English learners are able to rapidly pick up the
language. For these reasons, I think that English should be among the
easiest languages to learn.