What does that mean?

Fortunately, the newspaper’s style makes it easy for you to guess the meanings of many unfamiliar words. This is especially true for news stories, since the main ideas are repeated so often. For example, you might not know the word flaws in the headline of the following story, but notice that the same idea is repeated in the lead (first paragraph) in words that you can easily understand. Look for yourself:

Learning to guess the meanings of words from context is one of the most important reading skills you can develop. It is a little like learning to be a detective (a policeman who tries to use all available evidence to catch criminals). Let’s see how good a word detective you are. Focus on the words slur, sue and libel in the story below. Try to figure out what they mean WITHOUT using a dictionary.

It is usually not necessary to understand the exact meaning of the word. In the case of slur, for example, it is enough to know that it refers to something: (1) which is said about another person (2) which is bad and (3) which is untrue.

Both the words sue and libel refer to legal actions that you can take against someone who slurs you. From the story, it should be clear that to sue someone means to make a charge (accusation) against them in a court of law. In this case, the specific charge is libel.

What is libel? Look at the story. Consider why Ms Chanpen went to court in the first place. What did she do there? She accused three magazine editors of "publicising misinformation which damaged her reputation." This, she said, caused sales of her album to drop by more than 50 percent and to have many of her shows cancelled as well. So libel must refer to publicly giving false information about someone which causes them damage in some way.

This week I have given you several short stories to practice with as well as one longer story. I have given you some multiple choice questions, but I have given some other kinds of questions as well. Not all teachers use multiple choice questions.

1. In this story, frugal means:

1. using money carefully
2. only occurring at night
3. creating much enjoyment
4. lasting only for a short time

3. Which word from the story has a meaning which is almost the opposite of lacklustre?

1. lavish
2. damper
3. delicacies
4. knockdown

6. What does slash mean in the story?
7. Find a synonym for slash in the story.
8. The best meaning for across the board is:

1. living in a foreign country
2. including everything
3. the full group of people who control an organisation
4. for a short time only

10. What does rift mean?
11. Find at least two synonyms in the story for rift (Actually, there are three.)
12. The headline uses the phrase mend rift (short for mend a rift). Find two other phrases from the story with the same meaning.

13. Is log poaching good or bad?
14. What does it mean?
15. What are stumps of trees?

1. thin flat pieces of wood
2. leaves that grow near the top of a tree
3. the bottom parts of trees which are left after the trees have been cut down
4. the outside coverings

1. a. cut down
2. b. took control of
3. c. covered
4. d. sold

17. If you are starving, you must be very:

1. angry
2. frightened
3. injured
4. hungry

1. when it is running away from a hunter
2. when it is hunting for something to eat
3. when it is resting
4. when it has been hit by a gunshot

1. looking both ways before you cross a busy street
2. using a scale to find out how much you weigh
3. letting an older woman have your seat on the bus
4. falling asleep in your English class

1. improved
2. assisted
3. involved
4. damaged

"Suddenly a deer ran past us like it had been shot from a gun. An instant later we saw why as a huge lion was only about ten metres behind and gaining quickly."

Here is an fun exercise you can do every day if you want to. Take the front section of the Bangkok Post and quickly look at the headlines for words you don’t know. Then quickly look at the lead to see if there is a synonym to help you. Also look at the body of the story if you need to. And don’t forget to look at any pictures accompanying the story.

Teacher’s Note

This lesson could be one of the more useful lessons you teach this year since it deals with such an important skill: using context to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words. I think it is also safe to say that a newspaper like your Bangkok Post is one of the best sources for practice material you can find – anywhere!

News stories are especially useful because of their repetitive style. In fact, you often get three, even four or five chances, to understand the keys words: once in the headline, once in the lead, one or more times in the body and, if you are lucky, there will also be a photograph and a caption. Be sure to point this out to your students.

The week’s lesson will give your students some very good practice in using the repetitive elements of news stories to understand new words. The first of these elements is the use of synonyms. Under the restrictions of the news style, writers have to repeat themselves, but they can avoid sounding repetitious by using fresh ways of expressing the same idea. The first example in the introduction illustrates this well. The writer uses the word flaws in the headline and weak points in the lead. You should be able to find at least ten examples of this technique in almost any issue of the Bangkok Post. Try it.

Of course, writers do much more than simply repeat the main ideas. They also add a great deal of details. These details are also useful in guessing an unfamiliar word’s meaning. This is well-illustrated in the second story with the words slur, sue and libel. This is a more sophisticated technique, but it can be fun to teach and learn. I like to appoint my students as "word detectives" and context is the "evidence" they have to work with.

You will notice that I have used several question types in the lesson. I particularly like application questions where students try to understand a concept from the text and then apply it to a new situation. The story about the starving tiger was particularly suited for questions of this type.

If you or your students are interested in following up on this subject, my two-part Focus on Words series covers it in great detail.

Secondary school teachers Archarn Sunee Canyook of our department has been very busy writing materials to help teachers implement the "project work" part of the new curriculum. If you are interested in obtaining these materials, you can call her at the Bangkok Post at 240-3700, extension 1696.