Tasks: to define love
to learn phrases and idioms with love
to read and analyse quotes about love
Preparation: make copies of the worksheet (2 pages for each student)
Skills: reading, speaking
Language: various meanings of love
phrases and idioms with love
Sources: WIKIPEDIA (en.wikipedia.org) – the FREE encyclopaedia
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English on CD-ROM
Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture
■ Elicit that February 14th is St. Valentine’s Day and ways of celebrating this day.
■ Divide your group into pairs and distribute the 1st page of the worksheet. Read the quote in Task , elicit its meaning. Then, ask your Ss to read the 4 sentences below. Ask them to write a definition of love for each of the 4 meanings of this word.
■ Once Ss have produced some definitions (not necessarily perfect lexicographic entries), distribute the second page of the worksheet. Explain that 4 “real” definitions (from LDOCE) are given at the top of the page. Ask Ss to connect the definitions with the meanings of love in the sentences. Ss can compare their versions with the printed ones.
Key
Strachey, Lytton (1880–1932) a British writer who was a member of the Bloomsbury group and is known especially for his book Eminent Victorians, which describes the lives of four famous 19th century country people in a humorous and not very respectful way.
A – a strong feeling of caring about someone, especially a member of your family or a close friend
B – a strong feeling of liking someone a lot combined with sexual attraction
C – someone that you feel a strong romantic and sexual attraction to
D – a strong feeling of pleasure and enjoyment that something gives you
■ Explain that there are many English phrases and idioms with love. One example is the quote in this task: (to) fall in love. Elicit the meaning of the phrase. Then, ask Ss to think of a person who could be the author of the quote.
■ Then, ask them to complete the expressions below by substituting each picture with a word. Once they do it, they should connect each phrase with a correct definition. Check the answers before dealing with the extension activity.
Alfred Einstein (1879-1955)
· love song – a song about romantic love
· love story – a book/film etc about romantic love
· love letter – a letter that sb writes to tell sb else how much they love them
· love nest – a place where two people who are having a romantic relationship live or meet each other (used humorously)
· puppy love – a young person’s romantic love for sb, which other people do not think is serious
· love at first sight – love from the first time people see each other
· not for love nor money – informal when it is impossible to obtain or to do sth
· be/fall head over heels in love – to love or suddenly start to love sb very much
■ Ask your Ss to use the expressions with love to complete the sentences on the 2nd page of the worksheet. Sentences in each pair should be completed with the same phrase. One phrase is not used at all.
A. love at first sight
B. love nest
C. love story / love stories
D. love songs
E. head over heels in love
F. not for love nor money
G. love letter
The phrase puppy love is not used.
■ Pre-teach some more difficult words, especially thwart, coward, incapable, prerogative, brave, worthwhile, bait, and ponder. Use any technique you find effective with your students.
■ Make sure that your Ss still work in pairs and ask them to read the quotes on the 2nd page of the worksheet. Explain that their task is to divide the quotes into groups according to these rules:
· Ss should have at least 4 subgroups (Point them to the 4 boxes on the 1st page of the worksheet);
· quotes in each group should have a similar meaning or describe love in a similar way (e.g. using the same metaphorical language);
· Ss can use each quote more than once and if there are any quotes that are unclassified, Ss should put them in a special box at the bottom.
■ Once each pair of Ss has a set of 4 subgroups, ask them to work in groups of 4 Ss and compare their ideas.
■ Finally, collect the ideas from the groups, writing them on the board. At this stage you should have a pretty long list of ideas, which will show the many ways of looking at love.
■ You can give some facts about the authors of the quotes if your Ss are interested.
Notes on authors
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-82) a US poet and writer who had great influence on the religious and philosophical thought of his time.
Farjeon, Eleanor (1881-1965) an English author of stories for the young at heart of all ages. The most well known of her creations are probably the lyrics to the song Morning Has Broken, written in 1931, and highly popularised by Cat Stevens in 1971.
Gandhi, Mohandas (1869-1948) an Indian lawyer and politician who successfully led the fight for India’s independence from the British. He is famous especially for developing the idea of non-violent protest. He was given the name Mahatma (meaning great soul) by his followers. He was assassinated soon after India gained independence.
Louys, Pierre (1870-1925) a French author, writer and poet.
Princess Bride, The (1987) a movie directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay by William Goldman.
[suggested answers:]
· love is a disease – A + J
· love is an art – F + M
· love is eternal – G + N + H
· love vs reason – B + K + L + H
· love according to ancient philosophers – G + M
■ If you are short of time, assign the extension activity to Task as homework.
■ [WRITING] Ask your Ss to write a short and comprehensive dictionary entry of Valentine’s Day. You may ask them to write their entries for specific readers, e.g. people who were not brought up in the American/European tradition and who do not know anything about our customs.
■ [SPEAKING] Stronger Ss may be asked to invent/tell a short story (1-2 minutes) using one of the phrases from Task , e.g. Something I couldn’t get for love nor money or It was love at first sight.
Romaniek