• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Multiple-meaning words: 'most nearly means' in context; Academic vocabulary in context (SAT/ACT)). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Is the proposed answer correct? The theory doesn't HOLD once you look at the new data. → grip (yes, it is correct / no, it is not correct) → no, it is not correctPrompt: The most common meaning of the word is often a trap. Read the whole sentence.
2. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word? The researcher's ___ approach — testing each variable one at a time — produced reliable results. (careful and systematic) (haphazard / impulsive / casual / methodical) → methodicalPrompt: Read the whole sentence. What does the gap need to mean? (A clue is given in brackets.)
3. As used in the sentence, the word in capitals most nearly means: The old warehouse will HOUSE the new art collection. (contain / build / decorate / shelter people) → containPrompt: The most common meaning of the word is often a trap. Read the whole sentence.

• Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
• Share the objective: High-utility SAT words (set A): corroborate, mitigate, pragmatic…. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which word matches this description? having mixed or contradictory feelings about something
• Step 1: High-utility academic words appear across SAT texts in science, history and literature.
• Step 2: ambivalent: having mixed or contradictory feelings about something
• Step 3: So the answer is: ambivalent
• Answer: ambivalent
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which word matches this description? to notice or recognise something that is not obvious (discern / candid / viable / superfluous) → discernPrompt: Do you know a related word or root? (corroborate ~ robust; mitigate ~ make milder)
2. Type the word (in English) that matches this description. to make pain or a problem easier to bear → alleviatePrompt: Do you know a related word or root? (corroborate ~ robust; mitigate ~ make milder)

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Which word matches this description? seeming reasonable or likely to be true (compelling / scrutinise / plausible / pragmatic) → plausiblePrompt: Do you know a related word or root? (corroborate ~ robust; mitigate ~ make milder)
2. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word? Although the plan looked good on paper, engineers doubted it was ___ in the harsh desert climate. (inadvertent / superfluous / viable / ambivalent) → viablePrompt: Find the clue in the sentence: a colon, a contrast word (although, while), or a cause.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-11.