Teaching prepositional verbs

[busner]

Hi all. Am currently working on an assignment on teaching prepositional verbs (to upper/advanced level groups) and was wondering whether anyone out there has any PRACTICAL tips/suggestions regarding teaching them in the classroom. How would you, for example, tackle teaching the following phrases - confide in, refer to, congratulate on, apologise for, suffer from. specialise in, react to, learn from - to an advanced class.

Would very much appreciate you wisdom on this one. Sooner the better. Thanks in advance people.

[cabst90]

I focus on two different aspects when teaching these. First, the students must memorize which preposition to use after the verb. Second, they students must know the meaning and how to use it.

For the first, if you are teaching to a group of students, write the verbs (without prepositions) on the board in a verticle list twice (the same list two different times). Then split the class into two teams. Each team works on one list. The students must write the prepositions after the verbs. One student can only write one word at a time and must pass the chalk or marker to the next student on their team. They cannot talk or help each other. The first team to write all of the prepositions correctly wins.

As for the meaning and use of the language, I would use role plays. For example, give the students a list of made up achievements that the other students have achieved. The students must then go around and congratulate the other students. Give the students the names of famous people. The students must go around introducing themselves and congratulating each other on their acheivements.

Hope this helps
Christina