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Practising vocabulary: here are some activities to try.
§ matching activities: learners match words with definitions, or (near) synonyms, or opposites
§ sorting activities: learners categorise a set of words under various headings (eg fruit, vegetables, meat, drinks)
§ crosswords: all the clues define or explain the target items
§ word searches: a matrix of letters contains some hidden words for the learners to find
§ odd-one-out: sets of four or five words, one of which doesn't belong - for example, apple, orange, carrot, grapes, banana
§ jumbled letters: learners unscramble the letters to form the target word - for example, pleap > apple, enargo > orange
§ word wheels: on A3 paper, draw a cirle divided into five or six segments (about 10cm in diameter). Each segment is labelled with a recent topic word (for example: sports, hobbies, travel, entertainment, cultural activities).
Groups of four learners have a die and a counter; in turn they throw the die and move the counter accordingly to land on a sector. They have to say and write a word that accords to that sector (for example: travel > tourist). The next time anyone lands on the travel sector, s/he must add a different word (for example: travel > journey).
Play for several minutes until the groups start to run out of words to add. Then collect all the A3 sheets, compare them, and run some feedback. Finally, the groups choose one of the sectors and discuss it, using the words they have written (and any others from the othe groups' sheets).
§ word cards: groups of learners each receive seven cards, each with a target word - they must try to use this word while discussing a topic or doing a task
§ true/false definitions: the learners must decide if the definition of each word is accurate or not, and if not, they must correct it
§ vocabulary cloze texts: create a cloze text and put all the missing words in a box. The learners have to put them into the correct gaps.
§ ranking/clines: provide a set of words, and the learners rank them from "lowest" to "highest"- for example: crawl / creep / stroll / walk / jog / run / race
§ see the online mindmaps for Oxford's English File and Navigate course book series:
https://elt.oup.com/teachers/englishfile
https://elt.oup.com/teachers/navigate
§ matching activities: learners match words with definitions, or (near) synonyms, or opposites
§ sorting activities: learners categorise a set of words under various headings (eg fruit, vegetables, meat, drinks)
§ crosswords: all the clues define or explain the target items
§ word searches: a matrix of letters contains some hidden words for the learners to find
§ odd-one-out: sets of four or five words, one of which doesn't belong - for example, apple, orange, carrot, grapes, banana
§ jumbled letters: learners unscramble the letters to form the target word - for example, pleap > apple, enargo > orange
§ word wheels: on A3 paper, draw a cirle divided into five or six segments (about 10cm in diameter). Each segment is labelled with a recent topic word (for example: sports, hobbies, travel, entertainment, cultural activities).
Groups of four learners have a die and a counter; in turn they throw the die and move the counter accordingly to land on a sector. They have to say and write a word that accords to that sector (for example: travel > tourist). The next time anyone lands on the travel sector, s/he must add a different word (for example: travel > journey).
Play for several minutes until the groups start to run out of words to add. Then collect all the A3 sheets, compare them, and run some feedback. Finally, the groups choose one of the sectors and discuss it, using the words they have written (and any others from the othe groups' sheets).
§ word cards: groups of learners each receive seven cards, each with a target word - they must try to use this word while discussing a topic or doing a task
§ true/false definitions: the learners must decide if the definition of each word is accurate or not, and if not, they must correct it
§ vocabulary cloze texts: create a cloze text and put all the missing words in a box. The learners have to put them into the correct gaps.
§ ranking/clines: provide a set of words, and the learners rank them from "lowest" to "highest"- for example: crawl / creep / stroll / walk / jog / run / race
§ see the online mindmaps for Oxford's English File and Navigate course book series:
https://elt.oup.com/teachers/englishfile
https://elt.oup.com/teachers/navigate
