Engage students of all ages with fun vocabulary activities.
Teachers know that students are much more likely to learn when they're having fun. But you don't have to be a teacher to know that learning as much vocabulary as possible is essential for mastering English as a second language. Combine this knowledge to create fun activities for ESL students to quickly learn vocabulary.
Artistic Activities
Play a version of Pictionary with your students. Cut 10 small paper squares and put five different vocabulary words on each. Divide the squares into two stacks and put them at the front of the room. Call one student from each team to the board and give each a square. They must draw each vocabulary word on the list, and their teammates have to guess each before proceeding to the next. Or you can put students into teams and give them a long list (about two dozen) vocabulary words and a few magazines. Use as many parts of speech as possible. Tell them to find magazine pictures that illustrate each of the words on the list.
Drama
Put students into small groups of three or four and use improvisation to teach and get students to quickly use new vocabulary. Put a list of five or six unrelated vocabulary words on the board and explain the concept of improv. Tell students to take one minute to put together a 30-second skit with the vocabulary words. Or put students into groups and do a short, two-minute play. Change the theme every week. For lower levels, use basic themes, such as "meeting a friend." Use more advanced themes, such as "resolving a problem in a restaurant," for higher levels. Explain as little as possible about the theme; encourage students to figure it out and determine what the appropriate vocabulary is.
Competitive Activities
Put two chairs (facing the rest of the students) at the front of the room and split the room in two for teams. Call a student from each team to sit in one of the chairs and write a vocabulary word on the board behind him. Each team must explain the word to the teammate in the chair without actually saying it. The teammate to guess the word first wins a point. Or put 10 categories on the board, such as jobs, places and food. Put students into small groups and designate a writer for each. Tell students they have one minute to think of a word for each category beginning with a certain letter. The time starts when you write the letter on the board. Tell students that only original answers (ones they don't share with the other teams) get points.
Other Activities
Split students into teams. Explain that you are going to send one person from each team out of the classroom. When she returns, you will give her a category, and she will have 20 seconds to name as many items as possible in that category. Award one point for each correct item. The second person gets the same instructions but only gets points for new answers. Let the students keep score. Or write emotions, such as happy or sad, on 20 slips of paper. Each student comes to the front and draws a slip, then must act out the emotion on the card. The first student to guess what he is feeling gets a small prize.
Tags: students into, vocabulary words, from each, from each team, Tell students