• 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? to refuse to deal with a person, company or country as a protest (from Captain Charles Boycott, Ireland, 1880) (boycott / mercurial / narcissistic / herculean) → boycottPrompt: 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. needing enormous strength or effort (from Hercules and his twelve labours) → herculeanPrompt: 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 new rules, which banned phones even at lunchtime, struck students as ___. (laconic / quixotic / draconian / stoic) → draconianPrompt: 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? by itself; in itself (Latin) (per se / raison d'être / quid pro quo / carte blanche) → per sePrompt: Spanish speakers often recognise the Latin ones: status quo, de facto, vice versa.
2. Type the phrase (in English) that matches this description. pleasure at someone else's misfortune (German) → schadenfreudePrompt: 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? Walking into the old school hall, she had a strange sense of ___. (status quo / déjà vu / carte blanche / quid pro quo) → déjà vuPrompt: What idea does the gap need: genuineness, the current situation, freedom, a mistake, an exchange…?
2. Which phrase matches this description? genuine; real (Latin: 'in good faith') (zeitgeist / vice versa / bona fide / schadenfreude) → bona fidePrompt: 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.