Prefix out-

Which prefix is the most difficult for your learners to understand/use?

In my experience, it’s usually out, e.g. in outlive, outperform etc.

A useful social media post

I often use this video to introduce the meaning of outsmart and then start looking at the prefix -out.

What I do

• I ask my students if they think dogs like going to the vet.
• Then I show them the first seconds of the video and ask them to guess what the dogs might do to avoid going to the vet!
• Then, they watch the video to check if they were right.
• After that, I show them the title of the post.

‘My dogs outsmarted me again’

• I elicit what it means.
• Then I ask them to use an online dictionary and see what other words they can form with the prefix out+a verb.
• They will find some like outnumber or outperform
• Then I ask them to use SKELL and type these verbs to find some examples.

Here are some examples:

Why these steps?

• The video and the title helps them grasp how out is used as a prefix and its meaning.
• The dictionary helps them discover new words.
• SKELL helps them see example sentences with the target words.
• These are student-centred techniques that involve the student in the learning process.
• They are also strategies that can be transferred out of class. It’s important to encourage students to work independently.

What about you?

Have you you used any fun videos to teach ‘difficult’ language lately?