Teaching words from other languages
Aim: Recognise spellings English borrowed from French and Greek.
How to explain it
Some English words came from other languages and kept their spelling. In words from French, ch often says 'sh' (chef, machine), and the /g/ and /k/ sounds at the end are spelled -gue and -que (league, unique). In words from Greek, ch often says /k/ (school, chorus, character).
Starter (5 minutes)
Say 'chef', 'chips' and 'school'. Children write each ch word under the sound it makes: /sh/, /ch/ or /k/.
Main activity
Where did it come from? Children sort word cards into French ch (sh), Greek ch (k), and -gue/-que words, then look up one word from each group in a dictionary to see its origin.
Dictation sentences
- The chef used a machine to make the pastry.
- Our school chorus sang at the league final.
- That antique clock is unique.
Watch out for
- Writing the sound (shef, mashine, skool, leeg, unik).
Quick check
Ask children to spell these without help:
- brochure
- tongue
- echo
- antique
Example words
- chef
- machine
- brochure
- parachute
- school
- chorus
- character
- echo
- league
- tongue
- unique
- antique