Spot the vocabulary


This is a visual activity which helps make the process of recalling vocabulary motivating and memorable. students enjoy the 'suspense' aspect at the start, which really gets them involved. I find this short activity works well particularly with lower levels, for vocabulary that has been studied thematically. It can be used at any point in a lesson, as a warmer, filler or lead-in.

Preparation
You will need a picture (this could be an illustration from a book, from the web, a photo, even your own sketch!) that depicts 'things' on a particular theme which your students have recently learnt (ex: furniture/ food/ in the classroom).
Prepare one copy per groups of two or more students.



Procedure

I hold up the picture so that the students cannot see it, and start building up interest by saying, 'Hey, this picture is interesting, isn't it?', 'Can't you see it?'.

I then ask students if they want to see the picture, turning it round for them to see just for a couple of seconds. I find my students are really eager to see more of it!
I then 'accept' to let them see it for a bit longer, walking round the class for each person to see the picture for a few seconds.
After this first 'suspense' stage, I hand out a copy of the picture to students in pairs/small groups. I tell them they have two minutes to identify and remember as many things as they can see from the picture, without writing anything down!
(of course you may find your students trying to 'cheat' by writing things down - which of course is fine, as this is likely to help their learning, without their realising!)
Once the time is up, I take back the pictures and ask students to write a list of everything they can remember.
I then pin up a few copies of the picture around the class for students to go up and check their list.
Whole class feedback can then involve one of various possibilities, depending on the students' mood by this stage and how much more exposure to the vocabulary items the teacher feels they need:
students call out the items and the teacher writes them up
the group with the most items reads out their list for the others to check against
each group contributes one item/ the item that forms the longest word on their list. They can come up to the board to write this
the teacher and/or students pick out any items that they found difficult to remember/pronounce and try to improve their knowledge of these items.
A variation of this adds a 'grammar' component to the listing of the vocabulary items. Following a focus on 'There is/ There are', for example, students can write their list under these two headings. Other grammar features that work well are headings for singular/plural, countable/uncountable or adjectives.

Quick revision games


Five things
Divide the class in two teams. Give each team a set of slips with five (or three or two, depending on their level) things they have to name.

Examples:
Name five things that move
Name five drinks
Name five things you would be doing if you weren't here
Name five ways to get rich
Name five animals.
A member of the team reads the category of things they have to name and the whole team shouts the words.

While team A is doing this, team B have to remain in silence. Then it's team B's turn.

Time each team. The faster team is the winner.


Category game
This activity can be used as a review. Students usually get very excited.

The teacher chooses a category (animals, colors, school objects, kitchen gadgets...) and each student has to say a word that belongs to that category.

If a student doesn't know, he / she stands up. Then, the teacher chooses another category the the following student starts again. In the following round, the student who's standing will have another chance. If he / she can say a word that belongs to the new category, he / she can sit down.

It's a great game for revision and to get students tuned into the lesson topic. It may also be used to elicit from the student what they already know about a certain topic.

Snake-word


To check how rich my students' vocabulary is, I have them play the snake-word game.

Each row or team sends a representative to the blackboard. He/she chooses a coloured piece of chalk and they stand in a line. I write a letter and the first student must write a word beginning with that letter; the following student writes a word beginning with the last letter of the previous word:

For example: D Data Amount Tomato On Narrow What........

They should write the words so that they make a snake…

Datamountomatonarrowhat….

Time is limited, depending on the level of the class. After the time devoted has passed, and you haven't written a word, you pass your turn. If you pass your turn 3 times, you are replaced by another pupil in your row/team. Only two replacements are allowed. After that, the row/team is eliminated.

The memory game

This is an adaptation of the popular game we all played as children when we had to pick up matching pictures, but in this activity we use the two parts of collocations.

Preparation
During regular classes, note down the word combinations that come up. Then put each part or the collocation on 2 separates pieces of paper. Here is an example I had when we were taking about the environment. The word combination were

ozone layer
oil spils
environmentally friendly
cut down trees
greenhouse effect
animal poaching
endangered species
melting polar ice-caps
recycle waste

The first part of each phrase should be written on one coloured sheet of paper, or if you haven't got coloured paper in a different coloured pen. Then with a different coloured pen ,or paper, write the second part of the phrase, for example, 'ozone' on the first and 'layer' on the second.


Procedure
Put the all of the first parts of each phrase together, face down on the floor. Then mix up the second group of words / phrases face down , in a separate group to the first.
In groups students work together to pick up one piece of paper from each group so as to make a phrase from the previous class.
As the students match them up incorrectly students start to recall the correct collocation or phrase.
The activity is fun which also aids efficient memorising of the target language. The more opportunities we allow out students to see the words the more likely they are to actually have them 'stuck in their heads' for easy access at a later stage.

Son düzenleme tarihi: 10-08-2007 03:34 AM. Düzenleyen: SyLphY.

Word guessing games

The following games can be played throughout the school year but are also very useful as a round up at the end of term. You can play them a few times. First play with the whole class and then try in groups (good for mixed ability groups).



Guess the word (can be used for abstract nouns)
Choose five words relating to recent conversational themes. Write sets of clues to help students guess the words. Play with whole class or teams. Use one word per lesson over five lessons or use all words in one session as a longer game.
Example clues:

I am a noun but I am very important.
I begin with the letter ‘f’.
People in prison have lost it and want it back.
People demand it when it is taken away by dictators.
It is related to speech.
(Puzzle word = Freedom)

Coffee Pot game (a very popular game in EFL)
This game is good for practising and reviewing action verbs and adverbs.

Ask one student to leave the room then the rest of the class choose a verb e.g. type, ski, fly.

The student returns to the room and asks questions to guess the verb. The missing verb can be substituted with coffeepot
Example questions:

Why do you coffee pot?
Where do you coffee pot?
Do you coffee pot by yourself?
Do you need any special equipment for coffee potting?