Examples and appropriate use of words that collocate for SS 1

Class: SS 1
Term: First Term
Week: 2
Age: 15 years
Duration: 60 minutes
Subject: English Language
Curriculum Theme: Grammatical Accuracy
Focal competence: Applying the rules of collocation
Key competencies/values: Communication; ICT and Digital Competencies; Digital Competencies; Collaboration; Information Literacy; Respect

Skills:

• give examples of words that collocate

Previous Lesson: Types of registers
Topic: Collocation: Examples And Appropriate Use Of Words That Collocate
Subject Matter: Examples and appropriate use of words that collocate

Specific Objectives

By the end of the lesson, pupils/students should be able to:

Cognitive Domain

• give examples of words that collocate.
• explain the meaning of collocation.
• identify different types of collocations.
• use collocations appropriately in sentences.

Affective Domain

• appreciate the importance of using correct collocations for effective communication.
• show interest in learning and applying new vocabulary combinations.

Psychomotor Domain

• participate actively in collocation matching games.
• construct sentences using appropriate collocations.

Social Domain

• collaborate with peers during group activities to identify collocations.

Reference Materials

The following resources were used in planning this lesson:

• 2025 New Revised Senior Secondary Education Curriculum (SSEC)
• Relevant State Unified Scheme of Work
• A suitable English Language textbook for SS 1
• The HeadTeacher Scheme of work For The New Revised Senior Secondary Education Curriculum (SSEC)

Instructional Materials

The teacher will teach this lesson with the aid of:

• Flash cards with collocations
• Course book
• Standard English dictionary
• Online resources (if available)
• Whiteboard/Blackboard
• Markers/Chalk

Rationale for the Lesson

Understanding collocation is essential for students to achieve grammatical accuracy and fluency in English. It helps them to speak and write more naturally and effectively, avoiding awkward or incorrect word combinations. This lesson provides the foundation for students to expand their vocabulary and improve their overall communication skills.

Prerequisite/Previous Knowledge

Students should have a basic understanding of parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adadverbs) and sentence construction.

Lesson Content/Board Summary

Collocation: Examples And Appropriate Use Of Words That Collocate

What is Collocation?

Collocation refers to the natural pairing or grouping of words that frequently occur together in a language. These words sound “right” when used together, while other combinations may sound unnatural or incorrect, even if they are grammatically correct.

For example, we say “make a decision” not “do a decision”, and “heavy rain” not “strong rain”.

Types of Collocations

Collocations can be formed in various ways, often involving different parts of speech:

1. Adjective + Noun: An adjective commonly paired with a noun.
2. Noun + Noun: Two nouns that frequently appear together.
3. Verb + Noun: A verb that is naturally used with a particular noun.
4. Adverb + Adjective: An adverb that modifies a specific adjective.
5. Verb + Adverb: A verb that is typically modified by a certain adverb.
6. Adverb + Verb: An adverb that modifies a verb.

Examples of Collocations

Here are examples for different types of collocations:

1. Adjective + Noun:
   1. heavy rain
   2. strong tea
   3. deep sleep
   4. fast food
   5. bright idea
2. Noun + Noun:
   1. a round of applause
   2. a sense of humour
   3. a surge of anger
   4. traffic jam
   5. tea break
3. Verb + Noun:
   1. make a decision
   2. take a photo
   3. pay attention
   4. catch a cold
   5. do homework
4. Adverb + Adjective:
   1. fully aware
   2. bitterly cold
   3. highly successful
   4. deeply concerned
   5. ridiculously cheap
5. Verb + Adverb:
   1. speak softly
   2. drive carefully
   3. live happily
   4. read widely
   5. apologise profusely
6. Adverb + Verb:
   1. strongly recommend
   2. fully understand
   3. badly need
   4. sincerely hope
   5. deeply regret

Importance of Appropriate Collocation

Using appropriate collocations is important for several reasons:

1. Naturalness: It makes your English sound more natural and native-like.
2. Clarity: It helps to convey your meaning more precisely and avoids ambiguity.
3. Fluency: Knowing common collocations improves reading comprehension and speaking fluency.
4. Accuracy: It reduces grammatical errors and awkward phrasing.
5. Vocabulary Expansion: Learning words in chunks (collocations) helps to expand vocabulary more effectively than learning individual words.

Teaching Methods/Instructional Techniques

Discussion, Explanation, Question and Answer, Pair Work, Guided Practice, Matching Games

Instructional Procedures

Step 1: Introduction

Time: 5 minutes

Teaching Skill: Engaging Questioning

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher greets the students and asks them to complete some common phrases, e.g., “make a…” (decision), “heavy…” (rain). The teacher then introduces the topic of collocation as words that naturally go together.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils respond to the teacher’s questions and listen attentively to the introduction.

Learning Point: Introduction to collocation

Step 2: Explanation of Collocation

Time: 10 minutes

Teaching Skill: Explanation/Definition

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher explains what collocation means, providing a clear definition and simple examples like “strong coffee” vs. “powerful coffee” to illustrate the concept of natural word pairings. The teacher writes the definition on the board.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils listen, ask questions for clarity, and repeat key examples.

Learning Point: Meaning of collocation

Step 3: Types of Collocations

Time: 10 minutes

Teaching Skill: Classification

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher introduces different types of collocations (e.g., adjective + noun, verb + noun) and gives one or two examples for each type, writing them on the board.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils listen and identify the parts of speech involved in each type of collocation.

Learning Point: Categories of collocations

Step 4: Examples of Collocations

Time: 10 minutes

Teaching Skill: Illustration/Demonstration

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher provides more examples for each type of collocation, ensuring a variety of common pairings. The teacher may use flashcards to show word pairs and ask students to identify the type.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils observe the examples, try to form their own, and identify the types of collocations shown on flashcards.

Learning Point: Various collocation examples

Step 5: Collocation Matching Game

Time: 10 minutes

Teaching Skill: Guided Practice/Activity

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher guides students to play a collocation matching game in pairs. Using flashcards, one student picks a word and the other finds its natural partner. The teacher moves around, assisting and correcting where necessary.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils work in pairs to match collocations using flashcards, discussing and correcting each other.

Learning Point: Practising collocation identification

Step 6: Appropriate Use of Collocations

Time: 5 minutes

Teaching Skill: Application/Reinforcement

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher discusses the importance of using appropriate collocations for natural and accurate English. The teacher gives examples of sentences with correct and incorrect collocations, asking students to identify the appropriate ones.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils listen, identify appropriate collocations in sentences, and explain why some combinations are better than others.

Learning Point: Importance of correct usage

Step 7: Evaluation/Review

Time: 5 minutes

Teaching Skill: Questioning/Assessment

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher evaluates the learning by asking the following questions:

1. What is collocation?
2. Give two examples of adjective + noun collocations.
3. Provide a verb + noun collocation and use it in a sentence.
4. Why is it important to use appropriate collocations?

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils answer orally and in writing.

Learning Point: Assessment of understanding

Step 8: Note-Taking

Time: 10 minutes

Teaching Skill: Guided Writing

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher guides pupils/students to copy the essential Board Summary notes on collocation, its types, and examples into their notebooks.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils/students copy the notes carefully into their notebooks.

Learning Point: Recording lesson notes

Step 9: Conclusion

Time: 5 minutes

Teaching Skill: Summarisation

Teacher’s Activity: The teacher briefly recaps the main points of the lesson, emphasising that learning collocations helps students sound more natural and accurate in English. The teacher encourages students to pay attention to word pairings when reading or listening.

Pupils’ Activity: Pupils listen to the summary and ask any final questions.

Learning Point: Collocation concept reinforced

Continuous Assessment/Further Study

Type: Homework

Instruction: Complete the following tasks in your notebook:

1. List five more examples of verb + noun collocations.
2. Use each of the collocations you listed in question 1 in a grammatically correct sentence.
3. Find three examples of collocations from a newspaper article or a storybook and write them down.
4. Explain in your own words why “do a mistake” is incorrect while “make a mistake” is correct.

Lesson Keywords

• Collocation – words that naturally go together
• Adjective + Noun – e.g., heavy rain
• Verb + Noun – e.g., make a decision
• Adverb + Adjective – e.g., fully aware
• Appropriate use – using the correct word pairings

Differentiation

Support: For students who struggle, provide a list of common words and ask them to choose the correct collocate from a given set of options. Focus on the most frequent types (e.g., verb + noun).
Extension: Challenge advanced students to create a short paragraph or dialogue using at least five different types of collocations correctly. They can also research less common collocations.

Suggested Lesson Videos

For further understanding, students can search on YouTube for: collocation english language SS1