ACTIVITIES: WORDS OF GREEK ORIGIN

Activities for the English as a Foreign Language classroom

WORDS OF GREEK ORIGIN

Read the following whatsapp conversation and try to guess which words have Greek origins. How can you guess it?

EXERCISE 1

• PAINKILLER
• FOOT DOCTOR
• EYE DOCTOR
• RAPID HEARTBEAT
• BRUISE

• PODIATRIST
• OPHTHALMOLOGIST
• HEMATOMA
• TACHYCARDIA
• ANALGESIC

Many medical words in English come from ancient Greek. However, some of them have an equivalent in English. Match the words with their equivalents.

EXERCISE 2

When there are two ways of calling an illness, treatment or doctor, what is the main difference? Choose the correct option:

• a) The word of Greek origin is more formal
• b) The word of Greek origin is only used by doctors.
• c) The word of Greek origin is usually preferred by elderly people

EXERCISE 3

1. I suffered a _____________ last night because I was very nervous because of my final exams.
2. If you can't hear properly, why don't you go to the _____________?
3. He was in hospital because of a heart attack and the ____________ told him to stop smoking and drinking alcohol.
4. When I have strong headaches, I take an ____________ and go to bed.
5. He wanted to try alternative medicines so he visited an ____________ last month.
6. My grandmother has an appointment with the _____________ to see if her blood is better after the treatment.

otolaryngologist hematologist osteopath tachycardia cardiologist analgesic

Complete the sentences with the words in the box:

EXERCISE 4

OPHTHALMOLOGIST (English) -OFTALMÓLOGO (Spanish) -OPHTALMOS (Greek origin)

https://padlet.com/Paolaperezsegovia/d792yebcxdi8hx4s

In groups, find at least 5 more words which have Greek origins and classify them into SPECIALISTS, TREATMENTS and ILLNESSES. Share your findings in Padlet. You must write the words in English, Spanish and the Greek origin. Here's an example:

EXERCISE 5

PAOLA PÉREZ SEGOVIA

THANK YOU!