Teaching Vocabulary

1. Promoted

“Misty Copeland, the ballerina who vaulted the ballet world to become a symbol of diversity
in her art form, has been promoted to principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, making
her the first female African-American dancer to reach that high status in the 75-year history
of the storied company.”

Context

The students are asked to read the sentences that surround the word promoted and observe how
the word is used in the passage. Words, phrases and sentences that are found around the unfamiliar
word can give clues to its meaning.

After reading the passage, the students are asked to write their own definitions of the word
promoted. The teacher makes sure that the selection of the new chosen word gives enough context
to determine its meaning.

CCQs: Who was Misty Copeland? What was her role or position in the American Ballet Theatre?
Was she a principal dancer at the beginning of her career?

Meaning

Dictionary use help students discover the multiple meanings of the new word. Then students can
decide which definition is appropriate to fit the current context.

Promote (definition) – 1. Advertise 2. Give an employee a higher position

CCQ: Was Misty Copeland advertised as a principal dancer or was she given the position of the
principal dancer?

The students are asked to make a sentence using the word promoted with the same meaning as in
the current context.

Form

Is the word promoted a verb or an adjective? It can be both. In this article it’s used as a verb in
present perfect tense: has been promoted. Promoted is the past participle of the verb to promote.

In the sentence “The promoted employees got higher salaries.” the word promoted stands by a
noun describing the employees, therefore it’s an adjective.

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Phonology

Pronunciation: pro-mote /prəˈmoʊt/, pro-mot-ed. Mention that the stress is on the second syllable.

2. Bouquet

“And she was thrilled, as evidenced by her Twitter page. As her feed filled up with tweet
bouquets — including from Hillary Clinton — her thank you tweets followed.”

Context

The students are shown a picture of a bouquet.

CCQ: What’s the difference between a bouquet and a bunch of flowers?

Meaning

The students get the meaning of a bouquet when looking at a picture of it.

Bouquet (definition) – an artistic arrangement of flowers chosen by color, size and variety

Form

Draw the attention on the spelling of the word.

Point out to Spanish speakers that bouquet and buqué are cognates.

Phonology

Bouquet is a word borrowed from French, same as buffet. In both words, bouquet and buffet, the
T sound at the end of the word is silent.

Pronunciation: bou-quet /boʊˈkeɪ. The stress falls on the second syllable.

3. Garner attention

“She was one of a number of dancer announcements ABT made Tuesday, but Copeland's
achievement garnered the most attention.”

Context

The students are asked to look at the word attention and give examples of
expressions/idioms/collocations they already know including the word attention: get attention, pay
attention, catch the attention, draw someone’s attention, ask for attention, give attention, center of
attention, bring to attention.

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Meaning

The students are asked to read the passage and replace garnered the most attention with a similar
expression in meaning mentioned earlier: got attention, was the center of attention, caught the
attention.

CCQ: What’s the meaning of garner in the sentence “The artist had garnered many prizes
throughout his career.”?

Form

Explain to students that garner the attention is a combination of words that work well together and
sound right to native speakers called collocation and its meanings can be understood from the
words that make it up: garner (get, earn, gather) + attention.

Phonology

Pronunciation: gar-ner /ˈgɑrnɚ/. The stress falls on the first syllable.

4. Trailblazing

“Not by coincidence, the audience was filled with young black girls in party dresses, all fans
of Copeland. The performance ended with Copeland being greeted onstage by trailblazing
black ballerinas of earlier generations.”

Context

The students are asked to have a look at the paragraph and guess what are the two words forming
the word trailblaze and what the words mean: trail + blaze.

CCQ: Does the word blaze have another meaning, other than fire?

Meaning

The phrase to blaze a trail originated in America and it was inspired by the blaze marks seen on
horses’ faces. People used to blaze a trail or mark a path in the forests by chipping off a small piece
of tree bark.

To trailblaze or blaze a trail (doesn’t involve setting anything on fire) is to make a trail where
there wasn't one. In a figurative sense, it means to be one of the first to do something, explore new
territories, areas of knowledge, in such a way that others can follow.

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Form

Students are asked to determine what part of speech is the word trailblazing in the article.

CCQs: Is trailblazing a verb, adverb or an adjective? What noun does trailblazing describe? What
is the suffix added to the root word?

Root word: trailblaze + -ing suffix

Students are asked to make a chain out of the word blaze by adding suffixes, prefixes, changing
part of speech, finding synonyms and antonyms.

Phonology

Pronunciation: trail-blaze (trāl′blāz′). The second syllable is stressed.

5. Soloist

“She studied at the Lauridsen Ballet Center, San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet
Theatre's Summer Intensive on full scholarship. She joined ABT's Studio Company in
September 2000 and joined the main company as a member of the corps de ballet in April
2001. She was appointed a soloist in August 2007.”

Context

The students fill in the blanks using the word solo/soloist and write what part of speech the words
are.
Nobody joined her, she’s travelling solo. Adjective
The singer felt very uncomfortable to solo in front of a hostile audience. Verb
The pilot was ready for her first solo. Noun
He used to sing with a choir, but now he’s a solo. Noun
The soloist in the violin concert received a ten-minute standing ovation. Noun

Meaning

A soloist is a someone who performs a solo.

Form

The word soloist was formed by adding the suffix -ist to the word solo.

Phonology

Pronunciation: so-lo-ist (sō′lō ist). The stress is on the second syllable.

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