Vocabulary can often seem boring - a mere exercise in rote memorization. Part of the problem is that teachers often treat vocabulary as a boring memorization exercise, giving lists that students must learn, mostly on their own, before the next test. Vocabulary might also seem irrelevant to some students, especially if it is being learned in preparation for a standardized test. To combat this, one might present vocabulary in the context of a story, or split the students into groups, and assign each group a vocabulary word. Each group is responsible for coming up with as many sentences as possible using that word, as well as contexts in one's daily life in which one might use those sentences. To foster competition, there might be a small prize involved for the group that comes up with the most examples.
This article however, will concern itself primarily not with the original presentation of vocabulary material, but with innovative ways in which teachers can review that material in class. The goal of these activities is to foster student participation and student-student, as well as student-teacher, interactions.
Vocabulary Activity 1: Charades
In Charades, a student silently acts out a vocabulary word. The class must guess which word is being acted out. Charades might seem like an obvious choice for verbs, however, they can also be effectively used for adjectives as well - one can mime being happy or sad. Profession nouns also lend themselves well to this game. If one wants to make the game slightly easier, one could write a list of vocabulary words on the blackboard. The student who is acting must choose from that list of words. This makes it easier for the students to guess, since they have the list of words in front of them. It can also make the acting student feel less on the spot. If the vocabulary being covered is extensive, the teacher might want to choose only select words from the vocabulary curriculum to include on the blackboard list.
Charades can be slightly tweaked for adjectives. Thus, there could be a set activity each student must mime or even act out without being silent, but they must do so in a certain manner. Students then guess the vocabulary word based on how the acting student is performing the task. To make this more interactive, the acting student can choose an adjective. Other students then call out activities for the acting student to act out, in a manner that shows which adjective she or he has chosen. If the adjective is loud, for example, and the activity is walking, the student might stomp loudly.
Vocabulary Activity 2: Hoge-Podge
Hodge-Podge is a game where one person says one sentence. The next says a sentence that continues the story started in the first.
For example: A: Sarah liked red. B: She has a red coat and a red scarf.
Together, the group forms a story from the "hodge-podge" of their sentences. In a big class, it might be better to break the class up into groups for this activity. To begin with, each person must write down a vocabulary word on an index card and pass that card to the person on their left. Then, they should play the game, with one caveat - when forming their sentence, each person must use the vocabulary word on the index card that has been handed to them. In order to make things easier for the students, one might tweak the game a little, so that each group has ten minutes to collectively come up with a story using the vocabulary words on their index cards, and then one person from each group will read the story to the rest of the class. This puts students less on the spot: Instead of having to quickly come up with a sentence by oneself, one is working with others to form a story.
Vocabulary Activity 3: The Party Game
For a less advanced class, the teacher produces "character cards" - cards containing details describing a character that students will have to act out during the game. In a more advanced class, the teacher might ask students to produce their own cards. Each card should contain vocabulary words. If students are being asked to write the cards, there might be a minimum number of vocabulary words they must use while doing so. This game lends itself well to vocabulary describing personality traits, adverbs (ex: This character is a person who does things slowly), professions, nationalities, and activities (ex:This characters likes go so sailing). If the cards are written by students, they must be collected by the teacher and then distributed during the game.
Each student receives a character card. They are given five minutes to memorize as much information as possible from the card. (If cards are being written by students, each card should have a word or sentence limit, in order to ensure that each card is easily memorized.) Then, students walk around, pretending they are the character from their card, and are at a party. During the party, they must introduce themselves to others and get to know them. Each student may be given a sheet in which they must write down the name of each person they "meet", and one fact about that person, in order to keep students on task and ensure this game does not devolve into chit-chat. The students can then either have to hand the sheet in, or, at the end of the game, be asked to report one interesting fact they learned about one character, based on what they have written on their sheet.
In order to make the atmosphere more party like, light snacks or soft background music may be provided.
Vocabulary Activity 4: Taboo
In this game, the class is divided into two teams. Each team has two official time-keepers and word-watchers, who make sure the other team does not go over-time, and that the individual from the other team whose turn it is does not use forbidden words. The two time-keepers and word-watchers from each team take turns at their tasks.
The teacher provides index cards with vocabulary words on top, in bold, with a group of other words beneath it. The student whose turn it is must describe the vocabulary word on top without using any of the words on the bottom. The student's teammates must guess the word being described. Each time they get correctly, they get to keep the card. The team with the most cards wins.
Vocabulary Activity 5: Improv
The following game is an improvisation exercise that works best when students must immediately act after being given their cards, in order to keep up the momentum. However, if that is too much for one's students, one can give each new set of card-holders two minutes after they see their cards to either think about what they are going to say individually or to collaborate together.
- Adjectives/Adverbs
A pair of students is called up. Each student is given a card with an adjective/adverb. The class then chooses a scenario, and the two students must act while interacting with each other in a way that shows which adjective/adverb they are acting out. The class guesses the word. Whoever guesses correctly first comes up next, and is given a partner. The scenario may be altered with each pair or it may stay the same. Having pairs of students come up, as opposed to individual students, is a good way of getting students who might not want to be up there alone to perform in front of the class. As with charades, a word list may be written on the board to make this game easier for students.
- Verbs/Activities
This is the same as A, but either each pair is planning an activity, and can not use the vocabulary word itself while planning, or the pair is given a scenario and must use that scenario to get to know each other and describe their hobbies. But again, they cannot use the vocabulary word itself while doing so.
- Professions
This is slightly different. Each pair may be given a scenario involving professional roles, i.e. lawyer-client, nurse-patient, etc. To make things easier, the teacher might provide a scenario as well. Alternatively, students could call out scenarios - making things potentially very wacky. For example, if the professional pair is nurse-patient and the scenario proposed is dinner and a movie. As with B, students may not use the vocabulary word itself during their performance.
This game may be altered by dividing the class into pairs and giving each pair time beforehand to come up with a skit, which they then perform in front of the class. A small prize might be awarded to each student who first correctly guesses which vocabulary word is being performed in the skit.
Vocabulary Activity 6: Never Have I Ever
This game lends itself best to verbs or activity-nouns. Large classes should be divided into groups for this game. Students say, "Never have I ever", and then insert the vocabulary word. Thus, for a verb, it might be "fenced", whereas for an activity-noun, it might be "gone sky-diving". If the class is working in groups, each student might be asked to hand in a written piece of paper recording one fact they learned about each member in the group. (Example: Tara has not gone sky-diving).
This game might also be adapted to a party context, with students walking around and light snacks provided. In that case, students ask each other "Have you ever...", and answer each others questions. Students may be given a sheet to record their classmates' answers, which can then be handed in, or from which they can be asked to choose one fact about one person to share with the class.
Shayna Abramson - Shayna Abramson is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University, where she was an active member of the Johns Hopkins Interfaith Center. She ...
