Eloquent is the new sexy

October 25, 2013

Glenn Hetrick: Long-hair, tattoos and a literary vocabulary so big you’ll be gob-smacked.

I have noticed a scintillating trend in entertainment lately. From Glenn Hetrick, judge on Syfy Network’s TV show, Face Off, to social critic comedian, Russell Brand, there’s a new kind of sexy hitting the screen: Eloquence.

It is not board-room, corporate speak jargon, but real English. It is the use of verbs more interesting than “get” and “have”. It is sentences replete with subordinate clauses that are artfully woven together. It’s linguistic prowess at its best.

Hetrick critiques the work of make-up artists competing on a reality show. In a YouTube clip that shows Hettrick offering formative evaluations to competitors, Hetrick’s feedback succinct, precise and pithy. The summative feedback he offers at the end of every show is articulate and poignant. Unlike other TV show judges, Hetrick avoids profanity and F-bombs. He cuts straight to the heart of the matter without ever being vulgar.

Brand weaves words like “vitriolic”, “indefatigably”, and “litigious” into his interviews with anti-gay guests on his TV show, all while he mocks the infantile language shown on the placards brought in by his guests. Brand peppers his eloquence with blue collar vernacular such as, “Bloody ‘ell!” and the occasional “ain’t”.

Neither Hetrick nor Brand are Oxford-educated, wear suits or show any signs of being pompous. Instead, they are “men of the people”, with a healthy dose of rebel in them. They are raw, real and compassionate with in-your-face honesty. They go against traditional conventions in terms of their image. Sporting tattoos and long hair, both have an air of being unapologetically subversive. These men exude sexiness because they know who they are and what they stand for.

One thing they stand for is eloquence. Not only do they consistently use proper grammar, they both have the ability to create verbally majestic sentences when they speak. Their language is lyrical and fluid, flowing naturally from one phrase to the next. Their delivery is powerful and compelling. We listen to them and we want to hear more.

I am fascinated by these examples of linguistic elegance. That kind of loquacity takes years to develop. Their language is a cultivated as any Ph.D., but without any hint of being pretentious.

There’s a new kind of sexy on the screen. It is man with a staggeringly large vocabulary — who knows how to wield it.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Strategy for Learning Vocabulary: Building Confidence with Cognates

February 11, 2011

This week in my adult education Spanish class, we delved into vocabulary building, focusing on cognates. The students enjoyed themselves and “got lost in the learning”.

By the end of the class, they had created their own vocabulary lists and were energized to learn more words. Here’s an overview of the activity:

Define the word “cognate”

Cognates are words that look or sound the same in two or more languages and have the same, or a very similar, meaning.

Give examples of common cognates

For English and Spanish, there are loads of cognates. I chose examples in both masculine and feminine, as well as singular and plural:

el chocolate – the chocolate

la música – the music

los elefantes – the elephants

las naciones – the nations

Give them an authentic language example

Especially with adult learners, what they learn needs to be relevant and useful. Sometimes standard textbooks provide vocabulary that will be of little use to them in their everyday lives. (I mean really, do adults need to know how to say how many pieces of chalk there are in a classroom? Especially in today’s world? And yet, the textbooks we use still have vocabulary such as this in the introductory chapters. I think this is mostly because “that’s how it’s always been done”. From my experience, I can see my learners’ eyes glazing over with boredom when we have to learn vocabulary by rote that really has no relevance to them as working and professional adults who want to travel or do business abroad.

I keep to balance what we need to cover in our textbooks with real life examples of words they might encounter during their travels.

For this activity, I have a selection of magazines in a variety of topics including news, business, science, fashion, home and garden and even mechanics. There are enough magazines so that each student can chose one.

Have them seek and identify cognates

The students are challenged to find as many cognates as they can in their magazine in a given time period. I usually give them 5-10 minutes. I challenge them to find at least 10 new words – and hint that they can probably find 30 or 40, maybe more. Giving them a time limit keeps them on task and focussed.

Record the cognates

Students write down the words they can pick out and recognize. I tell them to add el, la, los, or las in front of the word to remind them of its number and gender. This turns the passive activity of identifying the cognates into an active activity of building their own vocabulary list. The act of writing it down engages them more and personalizes the learning as they build their list.

Share their cognates

Since each person has a different magazine, each will have identified and recorded different words. Once the time is up, students then work in pairs or groups of three to share their magazines and vocabulary lists. Each can add to their own list by learning from their peers.

Large group debrief

Once the students have shared in small groups, we debrief the entire activity reflecting on the process itself, as well as the new vocabulary lists they have built in a short period of time. Students inevitably report heightened feelings of confidence and interest as they find they can identify words from authentic materials. They become aware of the process involved in building their own vocabulary, recognizing that writing the words down will help them remember.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

10 Ways to Sound Smarter

November 10, 2010

Sarah Eaton speaker presenter keynote education literacyYou may wear the proper clothes and drive a snazzy car, but what about your “verbal image”?

The words you use in business or an academic setting convey a message about you. Being articulate is often associated with being competent, being able to do the job, being able to rise to new challenges. Here are 10 tips to sound smarter, more professional and to boost your “verbal image”.

  1. Ditch the fillers. You don’t like fillers in your food, do you? There are certain words or sounds that can turn a perfectly good sentence into a verbal hot dog. Words such as “like” and phrases such as “ya know”, add nothing to the quality of your verbal spread. Eliminate them and you’ll automatically sound more eloquent and intelligent.
  2. Eliminate the “um”s and “ah”s. When you do, you’ll add quality to your speech by making you sound more confident and assured.
  3. Use transition words with care. Overusing words such as “well…” and “so…” can be annoying for the listener. Listen for these words in your speech. If you need to transition from one idea to another, add a few other key words to your vocabulary. “Therefore”, “in essence…” and “my point is…” are excellent additions that can often be used in place of tired words such as “well” and “some” that add little value to what you are saying.
  4. Pause. People are afraid of dead air. If it goes on for too long, or is accompanied by a look of panic, then silence is not your friend. But deliberate, well placed pauses show you are in control as a speaker. It also gives your listener time to process what you just said. Learn the subtle art of the gentle pause to command more attention.
  5. Be precise. Instead of saying “blah, blah, blah” or “whatever!”, instead say “et cetera” or choose a word that means what you’re actually trying to say. Instead of “stuff”, say “materials” or “substance”. Precision indicates that you have chosen your words with care; always a smart choice.
  6. Make the dictionary your friend. Knowing what words to say when can mean the difference between sounding educated and sounding like an idiot. Someone recently told me of a case where the person speaking confused the words “masticate” and “macerate”. It made the sentence hilarious. Sadly, the speaker didn’t sound like so much of an expert after that.
  7. Choose words of Latin or Greek origin. Words that come from Latin or Greek are more academic. Once the dictionary is your friend, learn the origins of words. Choose words that come from either of these two classical languages and you’ll sound more educated.
  8. Choose your words carefully. You may know that a word has a Latin or Greek origin, doesn’t mean you should use it. “Masticate” and “macerate” both have origins in an ancient language. Using big words improperly doesn’t make you sound smart. Know what words mean and in what context to use them.
  9. Power your sentences with verbs – used properly. “Me Tarzan, you Jane” lacks verbs and has become the quintessential phrase indicating a lack of formal education. Using verbs alone that should be paired with another verb is equally telling. “I drunk the tea” should be either “I drank the tea” or “I had drunk the tea.” Knowing the difference between these tenses – and when to use them, is the mark of an educated speaker.
  10. Eliminate the slang. “Ain’t”, “s’up” and “bro” may be fine for the street, but they have no place in the business or academic environment. There’s a difference between being relaxed and casual and sounding like you’re from the ‘hood.

The trick is to polish your verbal image without looking like you’re trying too hard. The reason TV characters like “Fraser” are so funny is that their speech is exaggeratedly intellectual. Subtle changes can sharpen your verbal image without making you sound like a pompous know-it-all. When in doubt, less is often more.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

How to teach vocabulary with color file cards

July 7, 2010

Color file cards are a great way to teach vocabulary. I’ve used this system as both a student and a teacher with excellent success. As a teacher, I used it when I taught Spanish and as a learner when I was studying German and French as an adult. There are lots of different ways to use them. Here’s how I do it:

Choose a different colour card for each part of speech. I like to use green for verbs, since green means “go” in the traffic lights, that colour is already associated with an action. I teach Spanish where there are both masculine and feminine nouns. I use the tradition of colours to create a visual cue. I put feminine words on a pink card and masculine words on a blue card. Some may call that sexist, but you can use any colours you like, really. I use yellow for adjectives, green for adverbs and purple for prepositions and anything that doesn’t fit onto one of the other cards. Students tell me that when they are in a pressure situation and can’t remember if a word is masculine or feminine, they try to recall what what colour card the word was on. The cards create a mental visual cue that students can use during tests and other situations.

Write out the cards. I like to fill up the cards by theme, putting 5 – 10 words on each card. For the green cards, I write the infinitive form of the verb on the back of the card, where there are no lines. On the lined side, I write out the verb conjugation. Some of my students say they prefer to put one word on each card, as it makes it easier for them to remember. The act of writing having the learner write out his or her own cards is an important part of the learning process.

Be monolingual or bilingual. You can either write just the target language on the cards, or you can write the target language and the learner’s native language on the cards. If you choose the bilingual option, you can use one side of the card for one language and the reverse for the other language.

Use the cards as a study aid. Cards can be stored in a file card box or carried around in a plastic zip bag. They are more portable than a big, heavy textbook.

At the beginning of a new term, I bring a few cards to class as an example of how I make my own cards. I explain how students can make their own cards and use them as a study tool. I emphasize that learners creating their own cards makes them a more powerful study tool than store-bought cards. Let students make the cards “their own” by allowing them the flexibility of having as many words on the cards as they choose, adding pictures or stickers or whatever it is that will help them learn.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

6 Comments | second languages | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.