Tag: 20 minutes

vocabulary

Vocabulary: Dictionary race

Astrid van Houwelingen

Nowadays many of us resort to an app or the internet when we want to know the meaning of a word. This is all fine as long as you are not in an exam setting. Because my students are sitting exams in a few months I would like to make sure that they know how to use a dictionary quickly and correctly. And what better way than to make a race out of it?

The Basics

Level: A1-C2 (Elementary, Pre- Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Learning new vocabulary, using a dictionary
Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Cards with words (2 or 3 sets), markers (2 or 3), whiteboard, dictionaries (2 or 3)

Aim

Students learn to use a dictionary with speed. Students learn some new vocabulary items or revise words from their vocabulary lists.

The task

Before you start you need to make sure students know how to find words in a dictionary quickly. You could do a practice round by giving the class a word to look up and to let the student who knows first raise their hand and read the right definition to you.

  1. Prepare two or three similar stacks of cards with words from the dictionary on them.
  2. Divide the class in two or three groups.
  3. Put two (or three) tables in front of the room a couple of metres from the whiteboard. On the tables you should have: one stack of cards, one dictionary and one whiteboard marker.
  4. Let the groups of students line up behind a desk.
  5. Explain that they are to take one card from the top of the stack and look up the word as quickly as they can. Once they have found the definition they race towards the board and write down word and definition as quick as they can. When finished, they return their marker to the desk to pass on to another student and join the back of the line.
  6. Set the timer to the required amount of minutes and yell ‘GO!’.
  7. The group with the most correct answers in a limited amount of time wins.

Additional ideas

If you do not want the bustle of the race but do want to make a game out of it you could have the students sit at a group of tables with the stack of words and a couple of dictionaries and have them write down their answers on a piece of paper. Once they have gone through their stack they raise their hands and wait for your approval. First group that is done wins.

If you have a larger group I would advise to use the grouped table method described in the previous paragraph.

If you want the students to have their spelling on point you could decide to only give the point if their spelling is correct.

An alternative way of playing this is to not set a timer, but to allow all groups to work through the same amount of words. The fastest group wins.

If you want students to revise their vocabulary you could use words from their wordlists for this race.

Over to you: Do you ever let students race each other? How does that work in your classroom?

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid

Geen categorie, vocabulary

Vocabulary: Hot seat

Astrid van Houwelingen

In the past few weeks this site has featured a number of ideas on how to revise vocabulary. Here is one to add to that list: The Hot Seat. It is a game which students enjoy as it is the right mix of frustration and victory. It is a tightrope we are walking but the victory is that much greater when you succeed.

The Basics

Level: B1-C2 (Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Revising vocabulary, listening, speaking
Time: 10-20 minutes
Materials: Vocabulary list, a large screen or large sheets of paper, seat facing the classroom (teacher position)

Aim

Students revise their vocabulary. This can be done either before a test or after you have set some vocabulary revision homework.

The task

A Hot Seat is a situation in which you put a student in front of a class, where they perform an act or share their knowledge in one way or another. In this case however, the student in the Hot Seat is the one who needs to figure things out.

  1. Prepare a slideshow or a set of papers with one word of the vocabulary list on each slide.
  2. Put one volunteer in front of the room with their back towards the screen or the paper signs.
  3. Instruct the class that they will have to allow the Hot Seat student to guess the vocabulary item by using descriptions, synonyms, antonyms and any other ways they might think of. They are, however, not to use the word itself, nor are they allowed to use parts of it.
  4. If the student in the Hot Seat guesses correctly a point is awarded.
  5. Repeat with another vocabulary item for as long as you want.

Additional ideas

If you want to add an element of competition you could put two or even three students in front of the room and divide the class into two or three competitive groups. The group that has the first correct guess wins the point.

If you want the students to have their spelling on point you could give them a piece of paper to write their answers on. They will only get the point if their spelling is correct.

If you want to discourage using the native language you could subtract points for each word or instruction used in the native language.

If you want to sit back and relax you could ask one student to select and hold up the vocabulary item to the class and another to be the ‘referee’. 😉

Over to you: There are many other ways in which Hot Seat could work in a classroom. Have you made use of it in the past? If so, how?

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid

Geen categorie, vocabulary

Vocabulary: Revision Bingo

Astrid van Houwelingen

Getting students to revise their vocabulary often enough so it sticks can be a tough one. Students find it tedious. They feel like they know it all after having read through the list a couple of times. Getting them to be active and work with the vocabulary can be a challenge. But there is no better way to get students’ interest than the words let’s play a game. In this case: BINGO!

The Basics

Level: A1-C2 (Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Revising vocabulary, listening
Time: 20-30 minutes
Materials: Vocabulary list, empty bingo cards (or let your students make a grid in their notebooks)

Aim

Students revise their vocabulary. This can be done either before a test or after you have set some vocabulary revision homework.

The task

So if you have never heard of BINGO, it is a fairly simple game in which you listen out for the information in your grid and cross it out once your number, or in this case word, has been called.

If you want to get started quickly you can make the cards yourself beforehand and skip to step 3 or even four. However, if you’re more like me, you make your students do the hard work.

  1. Explain the game to students that have never done the game before. You might want to model it the first time.
  2. Give your students an empty card or let them make a grid in their notebook (3×3 or 4×4 or 5×5). The larger the grid the longer the game will take.
  3. Instruct them to fill their grid with words from the vocabulary list you are going to call out from. You can let them write down the word in their native language or the word in the target language.
  4. Once students have their bingo cards ready you will tell them when they have bingo. Is it one vertical/diagonal/horizontal row or the whole card. Agree with students what the ‘penalty’ will be for a false bingo. My class opted for singing a song in front of the other students.
  5. One by one, call the translation or definition of the words. The students will have to mark off the word that has the same meaning. Keep tabs on which words you have called to be able to check for false bingo.
  6. When a student calls BINGO! they will have to show their card to you to verify they were correct. If so, congratulate them or give them a small prize. If not, let them perform the previously agreed on penalty.
  7. You can choose to give other students a chance at bingo or let them have a go at filling up their cards.

Additional ideas

If you do not work with translations in your wordlist but words and definitions then this would work just as well. Let the students fill in the word and you read out the definitions. You could do it the other way around but that would take up some time when creating the bingo card. Nice homework task though!

If you do not have a vocabulary list per se but you do want to expand your students’ vocabulary you could let them play bingo with synonyms or even antonyms. You would need to agree on a set of words that are part of the game. A selection of words from a reading text could work well here.

Over to you: Do you have any other ways in which a game like BINGO could be used in the classroom?

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid

vocabulary

Vocabulary: 30 Seconds revision game

Astrid van Houwelingen

At the time of writing we are getting closer and closer to the Christmas holidays. The cold, short days and holiday preparations take their toll on students and teachers. People are getting tired and with the two-week school break approaching it is tempting to just put on a dvd or log in to Netflix and call it a listening activity.

But what if we can find a way to bring the Christmas spirit into the classroom without the help of a Christmas film? When asked what students enjoy most about Christmas with their families, many students mention playing games with their loved ones and enjoying each other’s company. Now I am not one to leave a suggestion like that go unnoticed. And because my students were sitting a vocabulary test I dusted off the old 30 seconds vocabulary revision game. Let’s play!

The Basics

Level: B1-C2 (Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Revising vocabulary, speaking, listening
Time: 20-30 minutes
Materials: Vocabulary list, palm-sized cards (or let your students cut these), timers or stopwatches

Aim

Students revise their vocabulary. This can be done either before a test or after you have set some vocabulary revision homework.

The task

30 seconds is a family board game in which two or more teams of 2-4 people battle against each other. One member of the team pulls a card from the deck and gets 30 seconds to describe to their team the five words or terms that are listed on the card. The word itself or translations thereof cannot be used. For each correct guess the team gets a point. When the 30 seconds are up the turn goes to the next team. The team with the most points wins the game. (In this instance I don’t use the board itself. It does not add much to the gameplay in my opinion)

If you want to get started quickly you can make the cards yourself beforehand and skip to step 4. However, if you’re more like me, you make your students do the hard work.

  1. Explain the game to students that have never done the game before. You might want to model it the first time.
  2. Give your students an empty card.
  3. Instruct them to write down five words from their vocabulary list on the card and return them to you once they are finished.
  4. Divide the class into teams and put them around a set of tables shoved together.
  5. Put the stack of cards in the middle and provide a timer (or let the students use the timer on their phones)
  6. Let them play and enjoy the scene.

Additional ideas

With a larger group of students you will find it works better to divide the group into smaller groups of a maximum of ten students. When this is the case you will need as many sets of cards as you have groups of students. This is easily done by asking students to not make one but two or three cards. The students can give these back to you and you divide the cards into two or more stacks, creating two or more game sets.

Depending on the amount of words they had to study you can ask them to make two of the same cards or two different cards.

If you want an even distribution of the words between students you can assign them units or pages of vocabulary.

If you have a pre-intermediate group or a group who finds it difficult to describe vocabulary in the target language you could give them more time to describe the terms. Note, however, that if you allow them too much time, the pressure of the game subsides and the stress factor, which makes it fun, is taken out.

Of course you can save the sets of cards to play in future. It saves you time when you want to play it with another class next week, next semester or next year.

Over to you: Do you ever use family games in your classroom?

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid

Listening

Listening: Bluff the listener

Astrid van Houwelingen

For English teachers there are a myriad of resources to expose our students to real-life English language. It is just a matter of finding suitable material. It can be hazardous and time consuming to find a fragment that is just the right language level, the right length and interesting as well.

Thank the internet for podcasts. These freely available radio shows are a gold mine when it comes to suitable listening material. They cover fun and interesting topics on all aspects of society. There are great shows which are masterpieces of storytelling such as Radiolab, This American Life, The Moth and Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!.

This last podcast (for the ones who are not familiar with it) is a news quiz in which the hosts and three comedians review the week’s news in several quizzes. These fragments are fun, current and best of all: between two and ten minutes per fragment. Perfect for an authentic, real-life listening assignment!

The Basics

Level: B2-C1 (Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Listening to a longer piece of text, summarizing, speaking
Time: 20 minutes
Materials: Speakers and internet connection, students need pen and paper

Aim

Students will learn to focus on a longer piece of audio. They will practise taking notes in key words and verbally summarize what they heard. They can pick out the main idea of a fragment.

The Task

In the slideshow you will find a step-by-step lesson plan which can be used with little preparation. All it takes is going through the slides beforehand so you know what to expect. Before you present this to your students, double check if the audio fits their level of English.

Additional ideas

The podcast releases a new episode every week. You could adapt the audio so it is related to the week’s news.

You could easily extend this into a writing activity. Have groups of three students find a remarkable but true news story. Then one student summarizes the real story while the two other students come up with a fabricated story on the same topic that could be true. Students present their quiz to the class. The rest of the class votes on the story they think was the real story.

If you want to add an element of competition to the task you could add a points system where the students who guess correctly get a point whilst the students who chose the wrong story give a point to the story they chose (whilst they themselves receive none of course). The student with the most points in total wins.

Over to you: Do you ever use real-life materials in your lessons? What do you do with those materials? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid