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.
- Prepare two or three similar stacks of cards with words from the dictionary on them.
- Divide the class in two or three groups.
- 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.
- Let the groups of students line up behind a desk.
- 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.
- Set the timer to the required amount of minutes and yell ‘GO!’.
- 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
Exciting English 