Language Families

[fox_sejant]

Trying to explain "context" to a student who did not grow up speaking a Latin-based language is challenging.
Trying to explain it to my Spanish-speaking students should be easier but many of them do not recognize the Spanish word "con" in the word "context".

Comments

[eliskimo]

What prompted this? I would think the concept of a "situation" around a word or topic would be fairly easy to explain, but maybe I've been consciously aware of context for so long that it is second nature.

But seriously, even elementary kids know that "bear" changes meaning depending on context (are we talking about animals or carrying stuff?) and a lot of humour (not just puns) depends on manipulating context. My favourite "bar" joke comes to mind ("So two guys walk into a bar which is weird because you have thought the second one would have seen it coming"). Furthermore, social graces depend heavily on context, eg. it's appropriate to wear a bathing suit at the beach. It is not appropriate to wear one to class. It's appropriate to yell at a football game. It's not appropriate to yell at a funeral. What changes is the context - the surroundings - not the person. This I would think is self-evident to anyone over the age of 6.

[fox_sejant]

The context of my post is teaching writing to ESL students. The idea that a particular word or phrase does or does not not fit the context of a given sentence seems to fly right over their heads.

[eliskimo]

I assume then that you were trying to break down the word "context" itself ("with (the) fabric")? With ESL students, I don't I would go that route. I'd explain the concept rather than the word