Joy of Vocabulary III: Allusions, Loanwords and Figurative Expressions

This will be the third set of five chapters in a series, but you do not need to have taken my Joy of Vocabulary I or II to jump into this one. In this class, we will work from the vocabulary workbook The Joy of Vocabulary by Norman Levine, completing five chapters together. 

I have used this workbook in English classes for two decades and consider it the best tool I've ever come across for expanding understanding of the English language. Chapters introduce a new set of Greek and Latin roots and prefixes or, also mixed in for this particular set of chapters, enlist culture and history to familiarize students with figurative expressions and allusions. Chapters provide a list of 18 to 25 words that show these word parts or expressions in action. For example, our "Allusions" chapter lists expressions such as "Cry wolf," "Freudian Slip," and  "Catch-22." Our "Figurative Expressions" chapter includes phrases such as "Whistle in the dark" and "Play the devil's advocate." It is great fun to explore the origins of these expressions. One chapter--Loanwords--explores words from other languages that have become part of English, such as "Faux pas" and "Chutzpah". Each chapter gives sets of exercises on which the student may practice usage and meaning. Exercises are varied and creative, and include analogies, practice with concise writing, and sentence usage (to name a few). 

Our class will meet twice a week for five weeks, and complete one chapter in the workbook per week, for a total of five chapters. Each student will need to get a copy of the workbook for the class. 

In each first session of the week, we will discuss the word/phrase list. I will add to the book definitions and provide examples and additional perspective. At the end, we will play a quizzing game. The next step for the student will be to complete the exercises for the chapter independently; then, in our second meeting for the week, we will discuss the answers to all of the exercises for the chapter. 

Week 1: Chapter 10, Loanwords 
Week 2: Chapter 14, People words
Week 3: Chapter 18, Character and personality words
Week 4: Chapter 20 Figurative expressions
Week 5: Chapter 24, Allusions