• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Words from myth, literature and history (herculean, quixotic, boycott…)). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which word or phrase matches this description? an independent-minded person who doesn't follow the group (from Samuel Maverick, a Texas rancher) (mentor / Achilles' heel / boycott / maverick) → maverickPrompt: Recall the story behind each word: the hero, the god, the place or the person.
2. Type the word or phrase (in English) that matches this description. to shock or stir someone into action (from the scientist Luigi Galvani) → galvanisePrompt: Recall the story behind each word: the hero, the god, the place or the person.
3. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? The goalkeeper's weak left side was his ___. (odyssey / Achilles' heel / Pandora's box / nemesis) → Achilles' heelPrompt: What idea does the sentence need: effort, few words, harshness, idealism, temptation, protest, weakness…?

• Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
• Share the objective: Borrowed phrases: status quo, bona fide, faux pas, zeitgeist…. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which phrase matches this description? the existing state of affairs (Latin)
• Step 1: English borrows many phrases from Latin, French and German; they are common in academic and journalistic writing.
• Step 2: status quo: the existing state of affairs (Latin)
• Step 3: So the answer is: status quo
• Answer: status quo
• 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 phrase matches this description? the other way round (Latin) (schadenfreude / de facto / modus operandi / vice versa) → vice versaPrompt: Spanish speakers often recognise the Latin ones: status quo, de facto, vice versa.
2. Type the phrase (in English) that matches this description. the most important reason for someone's or something's existence (French) → raison d'êtrePrompt: Spanish speakers often recognise the Latin ones: status quo, de facto, vice versa.

• 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 phrase best completes the sentence? For the young poet, writing was her ___. (modus operandi / faux pas / raison d'être / quid pro quo) → raison d'êtrePrompt: What idea does the gap need: genuineness, the current situation, freedom, a mistake, an exchange…?
2. Type the phrase (in English) that matches this description. something already done and unable to be changed (French) → fait accompliPrompt: Spanish speakers often recognise the Latin ones: status quo, de facto, vice versa.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-12.