Acrostic Whiteboard Vocabulary Building Activity
WORD ACROSTIC – VOCABULARY PRACTICE FOR LANGUAGE LESSONS There are so many vocabulary building activities that you can use in the language classroom and this one is one of my absolute favourites! Not only is this vocabulary building activity completely NO-PREP, it’s also very high impact and can be used at the beginning of a topic as a starter, as well as used as revision. I recently used the acrostic vocabulary builder to introduce the topic of ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ with one of my older groups. Some found it tricky, others enjoyed the challenge – there were a lot of food items on the list! What Do You Need To Carry…
Vocabulary Building Activity – Last Man Standing
Fun Vocabulary Building Game for Language Classrooms This vocabulary building activity is a game that is a little different to my other vocabulary games for the language classroom! The difference being that it has students standing up in a circle to begin with. Although this vocabulary game is supposed to be played at a fast pace, it does allow for a moment of thinking-time. In addition, it lends itself well for students to learn vocabulary and pick up on pronunciation from their peers. LAST MAN STANDING – VOCABULARY ACTIVITY Vocabulary Activity Resources Required:Soft ball or your choice of plush toyWhen To Use:Anytime. But works well as a starter or plenary.…
How Learn A Language Successfully – New Year’s Resolution
5 Tips To Learn A Language With Success This Year Some people might say that learning a language is hard. Those people would be right because learning a new language can be challenging and certainly time-consuming ! If you want to know how to learn a language, then read on. As you can see from the chart, there are plenty of reasons to learn a new language. Moreover, if you want to learn a new language, then there’s no time like the present to get started! Especially with it being a New Year and all. Are you daunted, don’t know where to start or feel that you might just fail?…
25 Best 5-Minute Starters To Settle Language Students
Fun 5-Minute Starters for Language Classrooms Which Get Students into Learning Mode I posted on my Facebook page recently that I have been implementing 5-minute starters with all my language groups recently. Not only with my ESOL classes, but with my private French, German and English classes too. The aim is to get students into ‘learning mode’ as soon as they enter the classroom or learning environment. I have rounded up my favourite 5-minute starters below, which have been divided into starter activity type. So, if you are looking for a snappy vocabulary starter activities, error-correction tasks, something to focus students on sentences or to develop comprehension abilities, check out…
21 Must-Use Reading Activities For Your Language Lessons
Fun Pre-Reading and Post-Reading Activities for All Language Classrooms I love language lessons which involve an element of reading. This is because there are so many opportunities for learning and improving language acquisition with topic-related texts. Reading activities are the perfect starting point to learn rich topic-related vocabulary (adjectives, nouns, verbs etc), pick up new grammar structures, steal ‘star phrases’ and ultimately improve comprehension and improve language acquisition skills. According to Moeller & Meyer (1995), reading, even at a slow pace exposes students to more sentences, grammar, and new vocabulary per minute than the average short class, TV show, or song. So, if you are in a rut with how you present…
Why Learn Languages? Ideas For Students!
Why Study A Language? I have been a language student for over 22 years and a language teacher for over 10 years and I often hear the question: ‘why learn languages?’ In this post, you’ll find some background, the benefits of language learning and a free PowerPoint which outlines why people should learn languages! Why Should People Learn Languages? It always impresses me hearing people speaking a language that is not their native tongue. I currently have a Business English student who speaks Spanish, German and English fluently. He also works as a successful manager at a well-known luxury car manufacturer. In addition, I have an ESOL student who speaks…
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…
Low-Prep & Fun Open Evening Ideas for MFL
10 Fun, Low-Prep MFL Open Evening Ideas Wow future linguists with the FUN ideas and activities below which are extremely low-prep and most of which are very low-cost for MFL Open Evenings I rarely enjoyed taking part in Y4/5/6 open evenings at secondary schools, as I always thought they were a waste of time. This was until one student who came to our school in year 7 said they loved the activities that we had for them when he came to visit the MFL department with his family on a school open day. He also mentioned that he had never tasted the French, German and Spanish foods that we put…
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…
