Everyday Vocabulary: School, Communication & Celebrations
A2 word knowledge from the core program themes.
Building a strong vocabulary means learning not only what words mean, but also how they work together. At A2 level we learn the names of jobs and the places where people do them (a teacher works at a school, a doctor works in a hospital), and we connect jobs to actions using word formation, where we change one word into another by adding an ending (teach becomes teacher, act becomes actor, sing becomes singer). We also learn synonyms, which are words with a similar meaning (big and large), and antonyms, which are words with the opposite meaning (happy and sad). Words often go together in fixed pairs called collocations, so we say 'make a phone call', 'send a message' and 'tell a story' rather than other verbs. The program themes give us useful word families: School (subjects, classroom objects, jobs), Communication (phone, email, letters, talking) and Special Occasions (birthdays, holidays, presents, celebrating). Knowing the right word for the right place helps you read and understand texts more easily. For example, the word 'celebrate' goes with 'a birthday', and a person who studies at a school is a 'student'.
Key terms
| Theme | Words |
|---|---|
| School | teacher, student, cook, notebook, lessons, homework |
| Communication | phone, email, message, phone call, tell, send |
| Celebrations | celebrate, birthday, party, presents, Novruz, New Year |
| Word / Phrase | Meaning / Use |
|---|---|
| make a phone call | Use the verb 'make' with 'a phone call'. |
| send an email | Use the verb 'send' with 'an email' or 'a message'. |
| tell a story | Use the verb 'tell' with 'stories', not 'say' or 'speak'. |
| have a party | Use the verb 'have' (past: had a party), not 'make a party'. |
| celebrate a birthday | Use 'celebrate' with a special day or holiday like a birthday or Novruz. |
- 1Sentence: A doctor works in a ____.
- 2Think about meaning: Match the job to its place: a teacher works at a school, a cook works in a kitchen, a doctor helps sick people in a hospital.
- 3Answer: A doctor works in a hospital.
- 1Start from the verb: Take the verb that names the action, for example sing, teach, drive, paint.
- 2Add the ending: Most of these add -er: sing becomes singer, teach becomes teacher, drive becomes driver, paint becomes painter. A few use -or: act becomes actor.
- 3Result: A person who sings is a singer; a person who acts in films is an actor.
Match the collocation to the noun: we 'make a phone call' but 'send an email' or 'send a message'. Do not swap the verbs (made / sent, not sent / made).
We 'have a party' (past: had a party), not 'make a party'. With stories we 'tell' a story, not 'say' or 'speak' a story.
Watch synonyms and antonyms: 'glad' is a synonym of 'happy' (not its opposite), and 'hard' is a synonym of 'difficult'. The opposite of 'happy' is 'sad' and of 'difficult' is 'easy'.
Most job words add -er (teacher, singer, driver, painter), but a few add -or, for example act becomes actor. The ending also changes the word class: 'helper' is a person, but 'helpful' is the adjective you need after 'is very kind and ____'.
Rules
- 1A synonym is a word with a similar meaning (begin = start); an antonym is a word with the opposite meaning (open / close).
- 2Word formation adds an ending to make a new word: a person who teaches is a teacher, a person who sings is a singer.
- 3Learn each job with its place: a teacher works at a school, a doctor works in a hospital, a cook works in a kitchen.
- 4Some words go together in fixed pairs (collocations): make a phone call, send an email, tell a story, have a party.
- 5Choose the word that fits the meaning of the whole sentence, not just one nearby word.
Practice
10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard
10 random questions per test