Walk
Exceptional Expressions for Everyday Events
The way we move our body as we walk can convey emotion and meaning. Students who are tired from activities on the playground may walk slowly into the classroom. Students who have argued with one another on the playground may walk in an agitated fashion.
Encourage students to recognize the different ways in which people can walk. One way to understand the distinctions in movement is for students to “practice” walking in particular ways. For example, while plodding and strolling are both slow, the two ways of moving have distinctions.
Follow-Ups
- How might a person walk if he/she was trying to be quiet?
- Someone who is skipping may be feeling happy. How would you describe someone who is shuffling along?
- If people have an injured leg, would they be hobbling or stomping?
The Spanish Connection
The word walk is a merging of two different Old English words that are cognates of the Middle Dutch word walken. The Spanish word for to walk is caminar. Walk and caminar are not cognates. However, some of the synonyms for walk do have Spanish cognates.
Word Changes
- Walk can be used as a verb and as a noun. As a verb, walk is one of the ways people move on land.
- Walk can also be used as a noun. As a noun, walk is often used to describe a path or a place where people can walk on, or the act of walking.
- Interesting thing to note is that some synonyms of the verb walk are also synonyms of the noun walk. For example, a person can stroll through a park, or they can take a stroll through a park.
- Don’t forget walk, used as a noun and a verb, also has a particular meaning in baseball!
- “To hoof it” is to walk. This idiom comes from the fact animals do not drive a car or a boat, ride a bike, or fly a plane as a mode of transportation.
- “To walk the plank” is to move slowly from a place of safety to a place that you don’t wish to go. For example, Sally walked to the principal’s office like she was walking the plank. It comes from the days when pirates forced prisoners or people to walk the plank so that they would fall to their death into the sea.
