The document discusses teaching prepositions to language learners. It provides several suggestions: 1) Introduce prepositions that occur with new verbs and adjectives. 2) Use matrices to help students learn the spatial meanings of prepositions. 3) Play games like "A Bear Hunt" that associate prepositions with actions. 4) Teach the prototypical and metaphorical meanings of individual prepositions like "on" systematically using examples.

1. TEACHING
PREPOSITIONS

2. •Words that are used to connect nouns or
pronouns and noun structures to other
structures in the sentence. Prepositions
show relationship between nouns or
pronouns and other words in the sentence.
•the words linked to, are called
Prepositions
OBJECT
S
• The book on the
table.

3. The cat is under the table.
NOU
N
PREPOSITION
OBJEC
T

4. •Words often used as PREPOSITIONS
About Before From On Under
Above Behind In Out With
After Beneath Into Over
Among Beside Upon Through
Around Between Near To
Along By Of Up
At Down Off

5. e.g.
One-word: in, at, on, over, among
Two-word: out of, up to, in for
Three-word: in control of, in contrast
to
There are one, two, three-word prepositions:

6. • Place or position: in, at, by, around, above, through,
across, along, below, beneath, beside, between, near,
under.
•What prepositions commonly indicate?

7. • Direction or motion: to, from, at, by, across,
around, about, up, down, toward, over

8. • Time: at, by, before, after, during, while,
through, in, on, till, since, about, for,
throughout
Grandma
turned on the
T.V. before
leaving.

9. Teaching Suggestions
•1. Form. At the beginning and intermediate
levels, it probably suffices to make sure
that when new verbs or adjective are
introduced, any prepositions that occur
with them are also thought. At the
advanced level, it would be helpful to
systematically review the particular
patterns of verb + preposition and
adjective+ preposition clusters that are

10. •For Example Frodesen and Erying (1997)
recommend an exercise that gets
students to practice verb + for
combinations by having them discussed
different immigrant groups to the
United States. The students are given
certain information and are asked to use
it to say why they think that the
different groups immigrated. For
example:

11. • The Pilgrims longed for freedom
from religious persecution.
• In the 1840s and 1850s, the Irish
hoped for freedom from hunger.
• In the late 1800s, the
Scandinavians yearned for farmland.

12. •2. Meaning. Using matrix, such from
Quik et al. (1985:674) and from
American English state, will help
students in learning the spatial
meaning of prepositions as
contrasting sets rather than
independent lexical terms.

14. • Perhaps charts
like these could
be placed in the
classroom for
students’
reference and to
foster peripheral
learning.

15. •3. Meaning. There is a children’s game that
affords practice with repositions. It is called
“A Bear Hunt”, the narrator tells a story
about going to hunt bears, and as the
story is told, the narrator mimes the
corresponding actions in exaggerated fashion.
The listeners repeat the words and actions
after each sentence. For example:

16. • Let’s go on a bear hunt. First we go out the door
(mimes action). Then we go under the fence (mimes
action). We have to walk through some deep grass
(narrator makes swishing noise rubbing hands
together). Next week, we have to wade across a
stream (narrator picks feet up in an exaggerated
fashion as if walking through water). Then, we have
to walk on a path to the forest (narrator slaps
hands on thighs, alternating left and right, in order
to make a “clopping” sound) In the forest, we have
to go through a swamp. . .

17. •When a bear is sighted, the narrator leads
the group through all steps again, this time
in reverse order, so as to get everyone
safely home. Such stories may not be
appropriate for older learners but some
enjoy them, and they can be entertaining
ways of associating forms with meaning.

18. •4. Meaning. Lindstormberg (1996)
outlines a systematic approach to
teaching the prototypical meaning of
prepositions, and how to treat their
more abstract meanings derived by
metaphorical expresions. He illustrates
his approach with the preposition on.
Here’ the synopsis.

19. • Lindstromberg first uses classic approaches, such as the
use of Total Physical Response and schemata, to make
the prototypical place and goal meaning of a preposition
clear: for example:
Put on the table.

20. • Later, also using pictures, he introduces more
metaphorical extensions:
on = about or concerning
An article on holidays in
France
The burden metaphor: The engine died on us.

21. The vehicle metaphor:
It’s hard to get through the
day on one
sandwitch.

22. • Finally, along the way, Lindstromberg contrasts
prepositions with overlapping meaning, such as on
top versus on..
• As Lindstromberg himself notes, the use of
schemata to represent prepositional meaning long
predates prototype theory. However, what may
be innovative is to use a schemata to show how
prototype meaning holds throughout its
metaphorical extensions.

23. • He was work, sitting quietly his desk. She’s not here, he
thought, what on earth was she playing? His suggestion she
had promised to visit him the end of the day, when everyone
had left. But she still hadn’t come. “six o’clock I’m leaving”
he thought. Ten past seven he was still there.
• He was work, sitting quietly his desk. She’s not here, he
thought, what on earth was she playing? His suggestion she
had promised to visit him the end of the day, when everyone
had left. But she still hadn’t come. “six o’clock I’m leaving”
he thought. Ten past seven he was still there.
Gap filling
•Activities

24. • For IN:
Use your hands to make a circular gesture around
yourself.
• For ON:
Hold one hand palm upwards, tap your palm with
the tips of your fingers on your other hand.
• For AT:
Stand next to a chair, table or desk and point down
at the desk.
•Illustrating IN, AT, ON with gestures
and simple diagrams.

25. • Divide the class into two groups of the same number of students, A
and B.
• Tell the As that they must draw a picture of an office and include six
or seven objects of office vocabulary (e.g. desk, armchair, plant,
photocopier…)
• Tell the Bs that they must draw a picture of a living room and include
six or seven things which you typically find in a living room (e.g.
television, sofa, bookcase…)
• Give them a time limit to finish their drawings. Write the furniture
vocabulary words up on the board for students to refer to.
• Ask each student A to work with a student B. Without showing
his/her picture, A dictates to B everything that is on his/her picture
while B draws. Then swap roles, with B describing and A drawing.
• Circulate and make notes of any problems they have with prepositions.
• Finally, ask them to compare their drawings. Focus on the errors that
students made with the prepositions.
•Office and living room

26. • An Important Event
I was __ _____________ (place) when it
happened. It was __ ___________ (time) __
___________ (day). It was __ ___________
(month), __ ___________ (year). I remember
that I felt ___________ (how did you feel?).
•Where did it happen?

27. • My neighbor said she wanted to ask me for a small favor. Little
did I know what was in store for me when I agreed to feed her
cat. After my neighbor left on her trip, I walked across the
street to her house. Once I got inside the house, I was
overwhelmed by the stench of cat urine. I looked around the
house and couldn’t believe what I saw. My eyes fell on two salad
dressing containers sitting on a table beside the couch, which was
completely covered with dirty laundry, except for this one worn
area by the table. The volume on the TV was turned up all the
way. In disbelief and despite my better judgment, I
walked toward the restroom. Around the base of the tub I saw
these red velvety mushrooms coming up between the tub and tile
floor. This filth was beyond anything I’d ever seen in my
life. Within two minutes the cat was fed and I was out of there.
Since she returned from her trip, I have never been available to
watch her cat again.
•Spot the Preposition

28. • My neighbor said she wanted to ask me for a small favor. Little
did I know what was in store for me when I agreed to feed her
cat. After my neighbor left on her trip, I walked across the
street to her house. Once I got inside the house, I was
overwhelmed by the stench of cat urine. I looked around the
house and couldn’t believe what I saw. My eyes fell on two salad
dressing containers sitting on a table beside the couch, which was
completely covered with dirty laundry, except for this one worn
area by the table. The volume on the TV was turned up all the
way. In disbelief and despite my better judgment, I
walked toward the restroom. Around the base of the tub I saw
these red velvety mushrooms coming up between the tub and tile
floor. This filth was beyond anything I’d ever seen in my
life. Within two minutes the cat was fed and I was out of there.
Since she returned from her trip, I have never been available to
watch her cat again