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Running head: SEMANTICS LESSON PLAN
Semantics Lesson Plan
Mary Ellen Clubb
EDU642: Understanding and Teaching the English Language
Dr. Miller
16 July 2012
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SEMANTICS LESSON PLAN
Lesson title: Idiomatic Expressions and Semantics
Grade level: 4th grade
Learning objectives: Students will understand how semantics and word choice affects the
meaning of idiomatic expressions and will use that knowledge to orally illustrate differences that
can occur in meaning.
Relationship to standards: Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks OV.1.4.2, OV.1.4.5, OV.1.4.12
(Arkansas Department of Education, 2003).
In this lesson, titled “Idiomatic Expressions and Semantics,” students will have the
opportunity to learn about idiomatic expressions that construct the language of the United States.
Since many idiomatic expressions are colloquial, and only apply to certain areas of the country,
it is important that this lesson use only those expressions that are well-known and widely used.
The lesson is intended for English language learners in fourth grade, and corresponds to the
Arkansas Curriculum frameworks for that group of students; however, the lesson could also
apply to older or more advanced language learners with slight adjustments to the content, such as
using more complicated idiomatic expressions with meanings that are not as obvious as those
used for the group of fourth graders. Providing more difficult expressions would include
differentiation in the lesson plan, along with allowing students of different capabilities to
successfully complete the task at hand.
To begin the lesson, students must be presented with working definitions of the words
semantics, idioms, expressions, and idiomatic expressions. Pragmatics is defined as the study
which focuses on the use and form of language in context, so students must also be made aware
of the differences between semantics and pragmatics, although both concepts are associated with
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SEMANTICS LESSON PLAN
this particular lesson (Barry, 2008). For this lesson, students will focus dominantly on the lexical
ambiguity of a given list of words, which contributes to the semantics of the English language.
Idiomatic expressions will provide students with examples of how the same words can have
different meanings in the context of speech of writing. It must be clearly stated first and foremost
that idiomatic expressions are phrases that say one thing, but may mean something entirely
different. As defined by the website www.usingenglish.com, “An idiom is a phrase where the
words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual
words, which can make idioms hard for ESL students and learners to understand” (UE,
2012).This information should be presented orally and in written form for maximum
differentiation. Providing handout while speaking would be ideal, so that students who prefer
visual learning would have something to look at, while auditory learners could listen and readers
would have something to read. Once that information is given, students should be ready to begin
the activity.
After it has become clear that students understand what idiomatic expressions are and
how they affect the semantics and pragmatics of the English language, which can be monitored
by teachers asking questions periodically during the lesson, a list of the following expressions
will be handed out to students:
1. The students beat the teachers at their own game.
2. She never missed a beat during the entire class.
3. The baseball player really hit his stride when he began play the position of catcher.
4. The pretty girl set him off his stride when she walked by in her beautiful dress.
5. Let’s take a shot at building the house ourselves.
6. This is our last shot to do the job correctly.
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SEMANTICS LESSON PLAN
7. Teachers have a lot of heart for their students.
8. When her grandmother died, it broke her heart.
Students will then be asked to choose a partner. With that partner, students will choose
two of the expressions from the list above. The expressions are listed in pairs, so students must
choose 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, or 7 and 8. A significant, but not lengthy, amount of time
should be given for students to discuss the expressions with their partners and decide on which
pair they would like to use and to decipher what the mean of each expression is. Once the teacher
has been informed of what pair of expressions the partners have chosen, he or she should walk
around the classroom ensuring that the students understand the meaning of both of the
expressions in the context of that sentence. Doing so is crucial, because if students do not have
the correct understanding of the expression, the entire activity will become void and pointless.
Students will be asked to act out the two idiomatic expressions to the class, illustrating
the differences between the two sentences. For example, if students chose sentence 7, they could
act out a scenario where one student plays the teacher and another plays the student and shows
the teacher caring for the student in some way. For sentence 8, which is the corresponding
sentence, the students could act out a scenario where one student is shown crying and very upset.
Again, it is very important for teachers to check for understanding of the expressions so that
students will not act out a situation that does not make any sense. Once students have acted out
their scenarios using the idiomatic expressions, they will be asked to act out the scenario in a
literal way, showing how much difference semantics makes in the English language. So, for
example, sentence 7’s literal meaning would involve a student portraying a teacher handing out
several hearts to his/her students, or something similar to that idea. This activity will allow
students to demonstrate that they understand these idiomatic expressions and they comprehend
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SEMANTICS LESSON PLAN
the idea of idioms. All the while, students will be able to get up and out of the seats to move
around the room and discuss their ideas with their partners, then share those ideas in a creative
manner with the rest of the class, which displays differentiation and helps improve speaking
skills for English language learners.
Assessment will occur in the form of the skits themselves. Teachers will be able to
determine whether or not students understand the difference between an idiomatic expression
and a literal phrase through their utilization of actions and dialogue in the skit. Furthermore, the
comprehension of semantics, pragmatics, and the use of lexical ambiguity in the English
language will be assessed through this activity as well. For grading purposes, the following
rubric could be used as an assessment tool:
Correctly uses idiomatic expression 1 in an
__________________/ 5
appropriate context.
Correctly uses idiomatic expression 2 in an
__________________/ 5
appropriate context.
Displays literal meaning of both expressions.
_________________ /5
Uses spoken words and actions combined to
________________/ 5
convey the situation and its meaning in both
skits.
Total points: __________________________ / 20
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References
Arkansas Department of Education. (2002). English language arts curriculum framework.
Retrieved from http://arkansased.org/educators/curriculum/frameworks.html#english.
Barry, A. K. (2008). Linguistic perspectives on language and education. Upper Saddle River:
Pearson.
Using English. (2012). English idioms and idiomatic expressions. Retrieved from
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/.