Quiz Quiz Trade – Fun Vocabulary Building Activity for Language Lessons
Background into Vocabulary Building British Linguist, David Crystal states: Vocabulary is a matter of word-building, as well as word use. I totally agree with him. You have to learn vocabulary, but physically use it too. That’s why Quiz Quiz Trade is an effective vocabulary building activity for language lessons. Not only does it combine vocabulary building, it promotes understanding, as well as meaningful interaction between people. That’s what language learning is about right, communication and interaction between people? Many language teaching professionals advise not to teach vocabulary in isolation. Whilst, I agree with this theory to some extent, according to the National Reading Panel (2000), one principle of effective vocabulary…
Complete GCSE French and Intermediate Level Revision Practice by Topic & Skill
200+ Intermediate and GCSE French Level Revision Activities by Topic please check back here tomorrow, I am currently working on adding my materials to this page. Revision can be quite boring and tedious, you can certainly use an interactive website with gap fills at sentence level, but why not do your French revision by topic with vocabulary rich activities, testing your intermediate French language skills in a more interesting way? If you wish to practice your intermediate French language skills and revise topics covered at French GCSE level or French CEFR A2/B1 level, then try out the activities below. There are over 20 common topics found in GCSE French courses,…
Vocab, Speaking and Writing Prompts – ‘Take Your Pick’
Useful Vocabulary, Speaking and Writing Prompts for Language Classrooms As a language teacher, I am always on the look out for interesting activities. Especially speaking and writing prompts. Mainly, because I use them to help my students with vocabulary recall, new vocabulary and develop grammar structures in the language classroom. Where Did The ‘Take Your Pick’ Vocabulary Prompts Come From? Last week, I found this ‘I Spy’ worksheet whilst browsing the web. I felt it was a brilliant starting point for revising vocabulary and learning new words and perfect inspiration for speaking and writing. What Is This Activity Useful For? Whilst it’s not quite the traditional guessing game of ‘I…
Fun Games for The MFL Classroom
Fun Language Games for The MFL Classroom To Engage Learners Games are defined as ‘activities that one engages in for amusement or fun’. Nowadays, when learners think of language lessons, they don’t usually synonymy them with the expression fun. So, why not change their thinking? You can do this, fairly simply, by including some low-prep, fun language games for the MFL classroom into your teaching repertoire. Josh Beattie, Assistant Director at the Department for Education stated in 2018 that not enough pupils are taking languages, because “they either consider them boring, dislike their teachers or think they are too difficult.” Although I definitely don’t think that teachers have to have…
Fun Speaking Activity for First Lesson in Language Classrooms
Want to get some weird looks and questions from your family when packing for a new term of college? Get some toilet roll out…! Ready for a fun speaking activity during first lessons in any language classroom. The ‘Loo’ Roll Speaking Activity For First Lessons Today, I started back at college, teaching a speaking and listening course. This ‘loo’ roll activity for speaking was the first fun speaking activity that I learnt during my teacher training course in 2009. I often use it to get students to talk about themselves from the outset of a new course or class. It works for post beginners, intermediate and advanced speakers and allows them…
Great Speaking Ideas for First German or Language Lesson Back
Start As You Mean To Go On with Any Of These 5 Amazing Speaking Activities for the First German Lesson Back (or French, English, Spanish or any other language!) How I do enjoy the first German lesson back after a summer holiday! I also love my first French lessons back and my first English lessons back too at the start of a new term! It’s a great opportunity to show your passion for the language you teach and re-enthuse your students to feel the same way. Who has ever done a ‘find someone who’ speaking activity in their first German lesson back? Me. It meets the criteria of speaking task.…
The Essential List of Websites To Learn French Online for Students
Where To Find Self-Study Websites to Learn French Online? I started teaching French in 2012. Ever since then, I have always been on the lookout for great self-study websites to learn French to share with my students to help improve their French level. I use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram religiously (come and follow me: @theidealteacher), which makes that task really easy. #mfltwitterati and languages teachers all over the world share websites to learn French online on these social networks, and in turn, I share these with my followers, as well as any other useful links I find myself. Thank you to all of you who share the best French resources…
Spontaneous Speaking with Video Clips in Language Learning
How To Improve Your Speaking with Short Video Clips Short video clips are fantastic prompts for spontaneous speaking practice when it comes to learning any language. “Videos generate visual stimulants that wake up the brain cells and demand focused attention” which can be used to enhance the language learning process. This post on using video clips for spontaneous speaking practice in language learning comes mainly from personal experience. Although “most teachers regard video as useful input” (Warwick University – Video For All). So…read on to see how using short video clips helped me to overcome my fear of spontaneous speaking, and to see some great websites with excellent short video…
French GCSE Speaking and Writing Handout with 39 ‘Ingredients’, Examples and Translations
Useful French GCSE Speaking and Writing Phrases for Grades 4-9 Sometimes I wonder if we give students too many handouts. Especially when I consider how often they look at them. Or on the other side of the scale, how reliant students can become on using handouts to produce their ‘own’ work. For these reasons, I am reluctant to give out so many handouts in my lessons. Usually only sharing those which I feel my language learners will truly benefit from, or can learn from. This is were this 39 Ingredients to Access Higher Grades in French GCSE Writing and Speaking handout document comes in! It’s a brilliant revision resource as…
First Lesson After Christmas Break – Top 5 Activities for the Language Classroom
Get the new year off to a fantastic and productive start with my TOP 5 ACTIVITIES FOR THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM below, which are absolutely perfect to get students in the right frame of mind for learning from the first lesson back, after the well-deserved Christmas break. Despite loving the last couple of weeks of term in December, I seriously used to dread the first week back in January after a wonderful two-week break. Students (and teachers!) seem to be lethargic and it can often be really difficult to get everyone motivated to get back into the swing of learning. So, I’ve put together my TOP 5 ACTIVITIES FOR THE FIRST…
