Exceptional Expressions Posted 03/06/2010 Permanent Link
#25 Teach
EVERYDAY EVENTS:
This week’s Exceptional Expression for Everyday Events (or E4) focuses on the word teach. It is a frequent occurrence in a classroom that a student asks his or her teacher to teach them how to do something. A student may ask his or her teacher for assistance because the student is having a particularly difficult time trying to solve a math problem. Teachers are oftentimes asked by their students to re-teach concepts that they have already covered.
EXCEPTIONAL EXPRESSION:
The definition of the word teach is to impart the knowledge of a skill or of a concept or to instruct a person or a group of persons on how to do something. The experience of teaching someone can have varying degrees of duration. A student can be taught to write a letter in a reasonably short amount of time, whereas the concept of gravity may take a student considerably longer to grasp.
FOLLOW-UPS:
- How is being a mentor different from being a tutor?
- What can we do to encourage students to teach one another?
- What do we mean when we use the phrase “a teachable moment”?
- How do we check-in to make sure we taught our students?
THE SPANISH CONNECTIONS:
Teach comes from an Old English word that means to show. The meaning of teach has not changed very much, nor has it developed a secondary definition. The Spanish word for to teach is enseñar. Although teach and enseñar are not cognates, some synonyms for teach do have Spanish cognates.
WORD CHANGES:
1) IDIOMS:
- Teach someone a lesson
- You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
- Teach the tricks of the trade
2) COMMON PHRASES:
- Enlighten me
- Teach me
Click here to download the printable version of E4: Give.
