A. He called a /tou/ truck. a. toe: sentence: b. tow: sentence: 4. Q. What flowers grow between your chin and your nose? A. /tú:lip(s): (American pronunciation) a. two lip(s): sentence: b. tulip(s): sentence: 5. Q. Why couldn't the pony talk? A. He was a little /hǝrs/.4 a. hoarse: sentence: b. horse: sentence: 6. Q. What animals don't come in /peǝrz/?5 A. Worms; they come in apples. a. pairs: sentence: b. pears: sentence: 7. Q. Which horses have six legs? A. All of them; /förlɛgz/ in the front and two in the back.6 a. forelegs: sentence: b. four legs: sentence: 8. Q. What did the cow say to the pig? A. You are just a bɔɔr/.7 a. bore: sentence: b. boar: sentence: 9. Q. How can you recognize rabbit stew? 4. EDITOR'S NOTE: /hors/ is the American pronunciation for both horse and hoarse; the British pronunciation for both words is /hɔ:s/. Note that in this and some of the following riddles, the key word is pronounced differently in American and British English; however, this in no way spoils the ambiguity, since the two words in each case remain homonyms in British as in American English. The difference between the American and British pronunciations in this and most of the following riddles is simply the presence or absence of an /r/ following a /ɔ/ or /ǝ, with, sometimes, a lengthening of the preceding vowel in absence of the /r/. 5. British: /pcǝz/. 6. British: /fɔ:lɛgz/. 7. British: /bɔ:/. A. It has /hɛərz/ in it.8 a. hair(s): b. hare(s): sentence: 10. Q. What fruit is found in light bulbs? A. The /kǝrǝnt/.9 a. current: sentence: b. currant: sentence: 11. Q. Why does a man who has just shaved look like a wild animal? A. Because he has a /bɛǝr/ face." a. bare: sentence: b. bear: sentence: 12. Q. Why should watermelon be a good name for a newspaper? A. Because we're sure it's /red/ on the inside. a. red: sentence: b. read: sentence: 13. Q. Why is your nose in the middle of your face? A. Because it's a /séntǝr/.'' a. center: sentence: b. scent(er): sentence: 14. Q. Why is it vulgar to sing and play by yourself? A. Because such a performance is /soulou/.12 a. solo: sentence: b. so low: sentence: 15. Q. Why is an orange like a bell? A. Because we get a /pi:l/ from it. a. peal: sentence: b. peel: sentence: 16. Q. What sort of necktie would a smart pig wear? A. A /pigstai/. 8. British: /hɛəz/. 9. British: /karǝnt/. 10. British: /beǝ/. 11. British:/séntǝ/. 12. EDITOR'S NOTE: Here the pair is homonymous except for the stress: sólo, but so lów. 11. Q. Why are wolves like playing cards? A They come in packs. a. pack(s): sentence: b. pack(s): sentence: 12. Q. How can you keep a skunk from smelling? A. By holding its nose. a. smell(ing): sentence: b. smell(ing): sentence: 13. Q. If you raise corn in dry weather, what do you raise in wet weather? A. An umbrella. a. raise: sentence: b. raise: sentence: 14. Q. Why should a fisherman always be wealthy? A. Because his business is net profit. a. net: sentence: b. net: sentence: 15. Q. Why is an empty purse always the same? A. There is never any change in it. a. change: sentence: b. change: sentence: 16. Q. Why is a coward like a leaky faucet? A. Because they both run. a. run: sentence: b. run: sentence: 17. Q. Why is a river always rich? A. Because it always has two banks. a. bank(s): sentence: b. bank(s): sentence: 18. Q. What is the sure sign of an early spring? A. A cat with her back up watching a hole in the wall. a. spring: sentence: b. spring: sentence: 19. Q. What does a person usually grow in the garden if he works hard? A. Tired. a. grow: sentence: b. grow: sentence: 20. Q. What is the smallest bridge in the world? A. The bridge of your nose. a. bridge: sentence: b. bridge: sentence: EXAMPLES OF SEMANTIC RIDDLES (The teacher should explain the meaning of the idioms since many of them are not in the students' dictionaries.) 1. Q. What is a hot time? A. A clock in the oven. a. hot time: sentence: b. hot, time: sentence: 2. Q. Why do you always make a mistake when you put on your shoe? A. Because you put your foot in it. a. put your foot in: sentence: b. put, your, foot, in: sentence: 3. Q. Why is a fly one of the grocer's best customers? A. When he comes in for sugar, he always settles on the spot. a. settle on the spot: sentence: b. settle, on, the, spot: sentence: 4. Q. What weather do mice most dislike? A. When it's raining cats and dogs. 14. EDITOR'S NOTE: In each case, two quite different meanings are obtained by interpreting the phrase (1) in its idiomatic meaning, and (2) as the sum of the meanings of the individual words. The idiomatic meanings of the phrases are as follows: 1. hot time: exciting, exuberant, boisterous enjoyment. 2. put your foot in it: blunder; say or do the wrong thing; be indiscreet or gauche. 3. settle on the spot: make payment immediately, at the very time and place of the transaction. 4. rain cats and dogs: rain very hard. 5. take the words right out of one's mouth: say exactly what someone else was going to say. 6. lay it on the line: speak frankly; produce information or evidence or facts. 7. fill the bill: supply a need; serve the purpose satisfactorily. 8. go to the dogs: go to ruin; be ruined; degenerate. 9. raise (or make) a racket: make a loud noise, clamor, or uproar (uncomfortable to others). 10. down in the mouth: discouraged; sad. of the new vocabulary. These may be fill-in-the-blanks for words left out of a paragraph such as the following: One day Mary decided to walk to the BANK to withdraw some money. The clerk make a mistake and gave Mary $50 instead of $500. Did Mary ever RAISE A RACKET! But after yelling for ten minutes, Mary GREW quite tired. Then the bank supervisor came and SETTLED ON THE SPOT. giving Mary $450 and apologizing very much. Pushing her glasses up the BRIDGE of her nose, Mary angrily left the bank, never wanting to do business there again.. Another kind of reinforcement exercise could be multiple-choice assignments of the form: New items can also be used in exercises which involve the rearrangement of words within the sentence: rifleman, pack, after, ran, of, dogs, the, the The rifleman ran after the pack of dogs. or in inflated and truncated sentences, which require the student to enlarge or diminish sentences: The beautiful, fiery red tulips glistened as they rested in the antique Chinese vase. The tulips glistened in the vase. The tow truck pulled the car. The mud-spattered, dented tow truck cautiously pulled the car whose right wheel had spun off while attempting a quick left turn. As a final suggestion, words can be matched with definitions: 1. assist 2. bright 3. forelegs 4. pen a. a circular enclosure for animals b. help c. intelligent d. the front legs of an animal By using reinforcement exercises, the context of the word within the riddle can be extended into other word environments, strengthening the student's use of the word. There are numerous books on jokes and riddles. Check the USIS library or British Council library in your country. Often books of this kind are located in children's collections. The examples in this paper were compiled from two books I was able to find in Ankara, Riddles, Riddles, Riddles, selected by Joseph Leeming (New York: Franklin Watts) 1953; and Six Million Dol lar Cucumber, compiled by E. Richard Churchill (New York: Franklin Watts) 1976. With riddles, the teacher has an opportunity to bring humor into the class, change the pace, and make learning vocabulary a joy rather than a chore. Acquiring English NDOMBA BENDA Institut Supérieur Pédagogique Kisangani NDOMBA BENDA, who has been Chef de Travaux (senior lecturer) at the National University of Zaire, and director of the Centre d'Animation Pédagogique at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique in Kisangani, recently left his native country and journeyed to England to study towards an M.A. degree in linguistics and English-language teaching at York University. Mr. Ndomba has taught English at all levels of secondary school and university since graduating from the Official University of the Congo in 1972. His particular interests include the analysis of spontaneous speech, also music and literature. One of the greatest problems confronting advanced foreign students when reading materials written in English is a heavy load of difficult words and expressions that they don't retain even after they have read them and checked their meanings in dictionaries many times. It seems that although their vocabulary developed quickly in the early stages of their study of English, now it has come to a standstill. Little wonder that instead of enjoying reading they often find it a meaningless and boring activity. Some students read without any specific method for remembering new words. They don't pay particular attention to difficult words and structures, but just skip over expressions they cannot understand or are afraid to grapple with. Once they have finished a book, they don't go through it again to figure out the meanings of the words they didn't know. As a result, they are dissatisfied with the meager understanding they have gained from their reading. This situation may result partly from unfortunate advice given them by their teachers, such as: "Just go on reading in spite of words you don't understand; concentrate only on the meaning of the story as a whole." Or: "Go on reading; don't mind about difficult words. You'll understand them later on after you have come across them a number of times." The fact is, however, that some words may be remembered after only a few occurrences, while others may never be understood. To aid in resolving these problems, teachers should draw up general guidelines to help their students build up their vocabulary as they read, stating precisely what they should do to increase their active vocabulary and what strategies they should develop to identify useful structures and expressions. In this article I will describe some procedures and techniques that, in my teaching experience, have proven very helpful for learning vocabulary. I will also discuss some general problems related to the acquisition of the vocabulary and structures of a foreign language. SOME GENERAL GUIDELINES The student may run through a book quickly once or twice in order to get a general idea of the story or contents. But, afterwards, he should make a careful critical study of all the words, expressions, and structures he doesn't understand clearly or that he does not normally use in his compositions. Analyzing words and structures As he reads, the student should constantly analyze the way the language is used. He should be on the lookout for special usages or combinations of words, asking himself such questions as: What is special in the sentences that I am reading with regard to vocabulary and structures? If I had to express the same ideas, could I |