• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (High-utility SAT words (set B): anomaly, empirical, salient…). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which word matches this description? liable to change rapidly and unpredictably (volatile / futile / equivocal / resilient) → volatilePrompt: Use roots: em-pirical (experience), pro-liferate (multiply), im-partial (not taking part).
2. Type the word (in English) that matches this description. based on observation or experiment rather than theory → empiricalPrompt: Use roots: em-pirical (experience), pro-liferate (multiply), im-partial (not taking part).
3. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word? Coral that survived the heatwave proved surprisingly ___, regrowing within a few years. (resilient / lucrative / futile / equivocal) → resilientPrompt: Underline the words that explain or contrast with the gap.

• Show an interesting word in a sentence and ask what it might mean from the clues around it.
• Share the objective: Advanced words in context (set C): belie, capricious, tacit, trenchant…. 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? optimistic, especially in a difficult situation
• Step 1: Sophisticated vocabulary lets you describe ideas, people and arguments precisely.
• Step 2: sanguine: optimistic, especially in a difficult situation
• Step 3: So the answer is: sanguine
• Answer: sanguine
• 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? seeming reasonable but actually wrong (enigmatic / specious / iconoclast / obfuscate) → speciousPrompt: Use any root you recognise: circum- (around), dis- (apart, down), ob- (against, in the way).
2. Type the word (in English) that matches this description. intended to teach, often in a preachy way → didacticPrompt: Use any root you recognise: circum- (around), dis- (apart, down), ob- (against, in the way).

• 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? to find a way around an obstacle or rule (esoteric / obfuscate / iconoclast / circumvent) → circumventPrompt: Use any root you recognise: circum- (around), dis- (apart, down), ob- (against, in the way).
2. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word? The weather in the mountains is notoriously ___: sunshine can turn to snow within an hour. (capricious / reticent / prosaic / tacit) → capriciousPrompt: Look for a colon, a contrast word, or a detail that defines the gap.

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