10 Most Useful Phrasal Verbs for English Learners

Hello, class. Today we are going to try and figure out why leaves change color in the fall. You will work with a partner and if you have any questions, you will first have to try and work them out in your group. I would like to point out, that once you are finished your discussions, you should write down the answers on a piece of paper and hand them in. Does this make sense?

Sounds like a regular classroom teacher instruction. But if you are learning English, it can become a nightmare. Because phrasal verbs such as figure out, work it out, point out, hand in, etc. and the idiom make sense absolutely have no meaning to you. In fact, one of my students said that every time people would say “Does it make sense?” to her, she would wonder why are they asking her “Does it make a sentence?”

As you probably have guessed it by now, a phrasal verb consists of a verb and a preposition or an adverb (sometimes both) and the meaning of the entire phrase is different than that of its separate parts. I have come up (see how I just used a phrasal verb in my writing?:) with a list of 10 most frequently encountered phrasal verbs that your English learners should be familiarized with as soon as they are able to understand some English. Here is my list:

Figure out

Work (smth.) out

Point out

Hand in

Bring up

Blow up

Carry on

Come across

Come up with

And the idiom make sense

But how do you go about teaching it? Since I have about 45 minutes with my student every day, there are a few steps we follow.

1. I say it and ask her to repeat it. I want to make sure she pronounces the words correctly. We do this several times until she feels more comfortable with the taste of a new phrase.

2. I then have her write it down on an index card. Usually, she draws the line in the middle of the card and writes the word (phrasal verb) on one side and then draws an illustration on the other. The English definition and translation (if necessary only) go on the other side of the flash card.

      (Here is an example. May or may not have been my drawing…:)

3. I spend a good amount of time explaining what it means. I use simple sentences and try to relate it to something that my student is familiar with. For example, according to one of the online dictionaries (thefreedictionary.com), figure out means to solve or find the cause of a problem. So I could say that my student did not know how to solve a math problem and decided to do it by herself without the teacher’s help. She tried many different ways and finally figured it out. Another example of the same  phrasal verb could be a detective trying to solve a mystery (we had a context for that since she is reading a mystery book). The bottom line is to bring the phrasal verb to your student’s world.

4. The final step is to practice.  The student may write their own sentences using the phrasal verbs that we learned or use those verbs in different contexts while speaking. Another good strategy that I found works is asking the student to notice when the phrasal verbs are used by others.  Intentional language learning is more meaningful and in turn, the new language becomes a part of you.

I also created a short infographic for you. Print it out, pin it or otherwise share it! 🙂

Here are some questions for you: 

What are some of the ways you teach phrasal verbs?

What do you think are important things for an English learner to study early on?

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