Contents
=> “People Types #4″ - contemporary vocabulary
=> “Easy People Types No-material Activity” - vocab-building activity
=> “People Type Internet Homework Activity”
=> “People Type Skits” - role play, writing, speaking activity
=> “Past People Types” - review
=> Word Origins: Caucasian
=> Being Honest Response From Last Issue
=> Cool Link: www.elt.freehomepage.com
=> In the Next Issue

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“People Types #4″ - contemporary vocabulary
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1. copycat = someone who imitates or steals others’ ideas

2. fifth wheel = someone who, in certain circumstances, is an unwelcome extra

3. freak = just a really strange, weird, unusual, off the wall… Well, just a freak!

4. hotshot = a person, usually a guy, of skill and daring, especially one who is really confident

5. pushover = it’s easy to sway this person’s opinion or to convince her to do something

6. sad sack = an extremely inept or clumsy person; someone often sad and down

7. sleaze = a guy who’s tasteless, cheap, and slimy. He goes after ANY woman; or he might try to sell you something disgusting

8. softie = a little like a pushover. He’s weak and sentimental. This person also finds it difficult to be strict

9. wet blanket = this person ruins the fun, because he’s not fun himself. He discourages fun and enjoyment

10. wise guy = he has a clever answer for everything (at least he thinks his answer is clever)

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“Easy People Type No-material Activity” - activity
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Here’s how you do an activity without making copies, without material.

Write the People Type words on the board. Let students look at them. Perhaps let students guess the meanings.

Next read the definitions at random. Ask the class to guess which People Type is being defined. Circle each word as they guess it correctly.

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“People Type Internet Homework Activity”
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Ask students, if they have internet, to choose one of the above words. Have them do a Google/Yahoo/Yandex search and come back to class with two authentic sentences using the words. Have the students read them (leaving a gap for the People Type Word) and see if other students can guess the word that fits.

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“People Type Skits” - role play, writing, speaking activity
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Once students get a feel for the above words, put them in small groups of 3 or 4. Each student will choose a “people type.” Each group will design a short skit (one or two minutes long) in which a “people type” is demonstrated but not mentioned outright. After the performance, the rest of the class will guess which student represented which type.

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“Past People Types” - review
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You may remember that ETs in Russia has done People Types before. People Types 1-3 can be found “EtsinRussia” 4,5, and 33.

(Also, if you’re interested in how ANIMAL words can describe people, go to “EtsinRussia” 15.)

Here, anyway are the earlier people types. How many meanings do you recall?

blabbermouth
class act
chicken
cry-baby
egghead
flake
go-getter
good sport
has-been
headcase
hearthrob
jerk
klutz
know-it-all
loser
lush
party animal
party pooper
prude
scatterbrain (that’s Kevin!)
sissy
show-off (also Kevin)
slacker
slob
smart-aleck
straight-arrow
wallflower
worry-wart
weirdo

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Word Origins: Caucasian
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When a guy from Azerbaijan goes to America he will sooner or later receive
a questionnaire at some point asking about his background. One of the options
on the questionnaire will be “Caucasian.” But the Azeri will not choose Caucasian, even though he comes from the Caucasus Region.

The word Caucasian, strangely, refers to anyone of white ancestry. That’s because A German physiologist named Johann Blumenback believed that white Europeans came originally from that area. Caucasian is still used regularly in the
United States as a synonym for “white.”

It’s not very accurate, but then again Native Americans are called Indians because Columbus thought he’d sailed all the way to India.

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“Being Honest’ Response From Last Issue
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Last issue I told you about how, on more than one occasion, I was honest and returned extra change I had been given by some cashier.

Some Russians wrote to me and told me that the cashier was afraid because I was a foreigner. Or she was embarrassed for having made a mistake. That’s why she didn’t say thank you.

Next time I’m going to ask for a kiss instead of a thank you.

Thank you for your responses, Marina from Moscow, and Yulia Gumanova from Moscow State U. Law School.

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Cool Link: www.elt.freehomepage.com
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I’ve been looking through www.elt.freehomepage.com, a site created by Dr. Radislav Millrood from Tambov, and it has tons of free and useful downloads
for teachers.

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In the Next Issue (around January 25th, 2004)
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Love and Valentine’s Day junk.

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Copyright 2005 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty
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