Step 1: Introduction to subject (10 min) 

• Name the objective of the lesson: I will learn about the [language family] languages and I will be able to compare [the minority language] with other [language family] languages. Are there students who already know some of these [language family] languages? 

• the similarities between [minority language], [majority language], [language related to minority language] will be shown and discussed. 

 

 

Introduce the concept of cognates: because some languages are closely related, there are a lot of words that look a lot alike in those languages.  

 

We call those cognates: words that share the same origin and because of that they look alike (you can write these examples on your backboard/whiteboard).  

 

Example 1 

English-Dutch-Frisian: 

apple – appel -  appel
rose – roos – roas 

 

There are also words that look alike in two of the three languages but totally different in another.  

 

Example 2 

English-Dutch-Frisian: 

 

room – kamer – keamer
key – sleutel – kaai
father – vader – heit 

 

 

Step 2:  

 

• Play a quiz in which the pupils learn how one can deduce the meaning of words by looking for similarities with other languages or draw on their own knowledge. The examples on the whiteboard can help them and show what they should be looking for. Or they discover a ‘false friend’ – words that look alike but have a totally different meaning. 

 

Quiz example for the Frisian context 

 

In groups, pupils will work on which words have the same meaning, and 

match the words with the correct language. 

 

Write down each word individually on a card and shuffle the words (don’t mix nouns, adjectives, and q-words). Depending on your class size you might need to prepare multiple sets per category, 

 

Frisian-German-Dutch-English 

 

Nouns: 

wetter-Wasser-water-water 

waar-Wetter-weer-weather 

brea-Brot-brood-bread 

 

 

Adjectives: 

lyts-klein-klein-little 

slim-schlimm-erg-bad 

tûk/snoad-schlau-slim-smart 

 

Question words: 

wêr-wo-waar-where 

hoe-wie-hoe-how 

wa (‘t)-wer-wie-who 

 

 

What helped the pupils to match the words? Maybe  

• Words that sound (almost) the same: e.g. wêr (fry) where (eng) 

• Similar spelling: e.g. brea (fry) bread (eng), slim (fry) schlimm (deu) 

• Previous knowledge of false friends: slim (fry and nld) 

 

Explore examples from other languages can be found in the OWL+ module: 

1. For Portuguese-Spanish-Mirandese -> Mirandese unit 

1.  For Latvian – English – Latgalian -> Latgalian unit 

 

 

Step 3: Doing research by yourself (20 minutes) 

• After the class has been informed and solved the puzzle, the pupils will work by themselves. In pairs or in groups of three/four they will look up three different words in the three languages [minority language, majority language, other related (to minority language) language] that are: 

1. The same in all three languages 

1. The same in two of the three languages 

1. Different in all of the three languages 

Every group might look for words in a different category: at home, at the store, in church, and so on. 

Step 3: Present research results (15 minutes) 

• The words pupils found will be presented and discussed in the classroom 

Pupils give their presentation (in the minority language, but it is also possible to do it in another language)