The definition drill for Language Learning.
Speaking is the capacity to express ideas, concepts, in a clear and direct way. The goal of studying languages is to acquire the facility to express what we have in our minds. The definition dril l gives student the oportunity of expressing an idea in the target language. If the idea or concept is well expressed, the listener can understand what the speaker is trying to say. In the definition drill , a student is given a set of words. She chooses one without saying which it is and then proceeds to define it. At first simple nouns will do: Chair Carpet Hat Bank increasing the difficulty to Skin Throat Idea and then going on to verbs like To come To sign To sleep To kill Using the definition drill , students have to become wordsmiths, lexicographers, trying to define a term using simple and few words. No examples are accepted in definitions. Try this definition drill with your more advanced students. I employ it often with satisfactory results. Give them a ti...
