Thing do-ers

- Activity: Grammar activity

- Topic: Household objects
- Age group: Teens; Adults jamie
keddie
- Time: 20 minutes
- Material: Video + worksheets
- Language level: B1 +
- Language point: Compound nouns
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Materials and preparation

1. For this activity, you will need the following video which is titled
‘Thing do-ers’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Wc5LNiSnY

2. For each student, make a copy of Handout 1 (on page 4) and

Handout 2 (on page 5).

The grammar point

This activity deals with a type of verb-centred compound noun which has the following
structure:

Noun deverbal noun in ·er

Cigarette lighter

Tennis player

Trouble maker (troublemaker)

Dish washer (dishwasher)

Ant eater (anteater)

Some notes:

1. Sometimes, words stay separate (football player) and sometimes they come together
to form one word (bodybuilder).

2. Different languages sometimes have their own equivalent structures. For example,
Spanish has un abrebotellas (literally an “open bottles”) and un rascacielos (literally a
“scrape skies”).

3. Of course, there does not have to be any correlation between different languages. For
example, in Spanish, a bodybuilder is un culturista (not a “build bodies”). Similarly, un
paraguas (literally a “stop rains”) is not a rain stopper. It is an umbrella.

Activity outline

Note: This activity makes use of number of objects, each of which is a ‘thing do-er’.
Once students understand that, their task is to make creative use of their knowledge of
English and guess the name of each object, according to its function, purpose or nature.

Thing do-ers - Jamie Keddie 2016 - Lessonstream.org jamie

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1. Introduce the grammar point to your students (see previous page). For example, take
three ‘thing do-ers’ into the classroom (a cigarette lighter, a bottle opener, a pizza
cutter, etc.) and ask students what they have in common.

2. Tell students that you are going to show them a video in which they will see some more
‘thing-doers’. Show the video from the beginning and pause it at 03:15. You can choose
to turn on the subtitles if you like.

3. Put students into pairs or small groups and give out copies of Handout 1 (page 4). Ask
students to try to identify all of the objects. If they know its name in English, that is
great. If not, even better! If they don’t know the name, they should make creative use
of their knowledge of English and try to guess the names of the objects according to
their function, purpose or nature. (Note: In order to avoid cheating, ban mobile phones
at this stage).

4. Circulate around the class and find out how your students are getting on. Write any
good ideas on the board without saying whether or not they are correct.

5. Give our copies of Handout 2 (page 5) and ask students to complete it.

6. Take feedback

7. Play the remainder of the video and let students

correct their answers. (Note: There is an error in
the video. I forgot to give the answer for number
12 which is a cheese grater)

8. As a follow up, ask students to make a note of all

the ‘thing do-ers’ that they meet before the next
class.

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H a n d o u t 1

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15.

Video
16. 17.

Thing do-ers - Jamie Keddie 2016 - Lessonstream.org jamie

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 Page 5

Ha n d o u t 2
For each object that you saw in the video, decide what it is called in English. Tick the box that
you think is correct:

1 a. A bottle puller ☐ 10 a. A potato grater ☐

b. A bottle opener ☐ b. A potato masher ☐
2 a. A pizza cutter ☐ 11 a. A nut breaker ☐
b. A can opener ☐ b. A nut cracker ☐
3 a. A pencil sharpener ☐ 12 a. A cheese masher ☐
b. A point maker ☐ b. A cheese grater ☐
4 a. A lens cleaner ☐ 13 a. A tongue cleaner ☐
b. A camera protector ☐ b. A breath freshener ☐
5 a. A charge puller ☐ 14 a. Make-up remover ☐
b. A phone charger ☐ b. Skin moisturizer ☐
6 a. A phone holder ☐ 15 a. A spaghetti server ☐
b. A phone catcher ☐ b. A spaghetti catcher ☐
7 a. A shirt keeper ☐ 16 a. A grasshopper ☐
b. A coat hanger ☐ b. A mountain jumper ☐
8 a. Nail biters ☐ 17 a. A skyscraper ☐
b. Nail clippers ☐ b. A skyscratcher ☐
9 a. A potato peeler ☐
b. A potato skinner ☐

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