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 German and Intermediate Level Revision Practice Activities by Topic
German GCSE and Intermediate German Revision Practice If you want to practice your intermediate German language skills and revise topics covered at German GCSE level or German CEFR A2/B1 level, then try out the activities below. Theses GCSE German revision activities are original and include a range of tasks from the most common topics German courses to help you improve your intermediate German language skills. Improve Your Intermediate Level German by Topic and Skill The tasks have been created by topic and by skill, such as: reading, writing, listening, speaking and translation, as well as vocabulary training activities to help you with your intermediate level German revision. The revision tasks…
Holidays in Germany – GCSE German Listening Lesson with Transcript & Activities
GCSE German Listening Lesson on ‘Reisen und Tourismus’ in Germany for Intermediate Language Learners There aren’t enough GCSE German listening resources online for listening practice. Especially listening materials for the topic of holidays in Germany or for intermediate (A2-B1) level learners. So, I have created this GCSE German listening lesson on ‘Reisen und Tourismus’ in Germany to fill the gap! Feel free to use with your GCSE German students for listening practice or reading practice on the ‘Tourismus in Deutschland’ topic. You can download the audio file and the two-page word document below. Who Use This Tourism GCSE German Listening Lesson And What’s Included? My GCSE German listening lesson comes …
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.…
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…
Umweltschutz in Deutschland Listening Tasks and Transcript
A Lesson for German Learners on “die Umwelt” I’ve put together another listening activity for German students studying the topic of ‘die Umwelt’, or the environment, entitled: ‘Umweltschutz’. I feel that this listening based lesson is perfect for GCSE German learners, German A Level students, as well as CEF B1 or B2 learners. The environment listening lesson includes the following, which could take anywhere between 60 minutes and 120 minutes to complete, depending on which activities you choose to do: What is included in the “Umwelt” listening lesson? MP3 audio file read by a native male German speaker which lasts just over 2 minutes and 40 seconds If you do…
Meine Stadt und Ich – German Listening Activities and Transcript
If you are teaching students learning German the topic of ‘meine Stadt’, then try out this listening activity! Combining an MP3 audio file with a two-page word document with full transcript and seven activities, you can use it to fill a whole lesson and use as homework too! How will this listening activity help students learning German? The activities include: listening comprehension questions on the topic of ‘my town’, vocabulary development tasks, as well as spontaneous speaking and writing activities. Not only will these activities fully exploit the audio, they will aid students to improve their listening skills. As well as develop their vocabulary on the topic of ‘meine Stadt’.…
