The strategies in the texts are wonderful for acquiring vocabulary and I especially like the Word Family Trees on pg 146 in Buehl’s book as it appeals to the word nerd in me. The strategies below are an alternative to the traditional vocabulary list.
I would like to introduce the idea of playing games for vocabulary acquisition because it keeps students active and you sneak in learning while they are having fun playing the game. When I was a Spanish and English teachers I used games and songs to help students with learning new vocabulary that first of all has to be relevant to students. I use technology to insert hyper links of definitions or images to help students to understand new vocabulary in word documents or on my wiki. Teachers do not have to create all these resources as students can create blogs with new vocabulary and teachers can make these available to other students on class blog. Sadly students told me over the years that I was the only teacher who played games with them. I was told by one student that regularly in one class he took 90 minutes of notes and was responsible for learning all the material himself. I don’t want to criticize the teaching of another teacher but the blood would run out of my ears in frustration if I had to learn like that.
These are a few of the games that I like to play with students and I have learned them in university, from other colleagues and I have invented some of my own.
Vocabulary Bingo
Give students lists of vocabulary and short definitions and they fill in a Bingo Card with 12 words of their choice on the list. The teacher calls out the definition of the word and the students need to scan their list for the definition and cross it off on their Bingo Card if they have it. I have students sit together in groups of four and they whisper the answers to each other and think that they were cheating but they were helping each other out. When a student has a line, she shouts out Bingo and then she has to define the words that she crossed out. You can also play this game with a Bingo Card full of images and have students cross out the object as they hear it.
Fly swatter
Separate the class into two teams and give a volunteer from each team a flyswatter. Place on the overhead projector, an overhead of vocabulary words or terms that you want to review with the students. Write the terms on the board if you don’t have a projector. This game is a great way to review concepts with students for a test and trains them to scan the overhead for the term they need. In an English 9 class, I put up an overhead of literary terms and say to the contestants “This is the term where something is being compared to something else with the word like or as”. The students run up to the board and the first one to gently hit the word smile on the overhead wins. The teacher also can create bonus marks by asking the students to give an example of a simile. This game can more cooperative by letting the students run back to their group to get help on what to hit. Students get very excited about this game and they don’t even realize that they are learning as they do it. ESL teachers can play on the overhead pictures with the vocabulary word underneath it. I use free clipart to create good overheads with the photocopier.
The Rules:
Everyone participates.
No yelling out the answer to your teammate or the other team gets the point.
No pushing the other student playing with you in fact no contact at all or we cancel the game.
The class needs to listen to the clues from the teacher.
If it gets too rowdy threaten to end all games in the future and then the students will settle down.
The vocabulary sticks in their minds and students who get restless from sitting down in class for 90 minutes enjoy the chance to get up and be active. The overhead can be filled with words or images. I use it a lot in Spanish and English classes and it can be modified for any class. The team that wins gets a small prize like a candy or a sticker.
Hot Seat
Separate the students into small groups of 4 and one student places their back to the teacher at the front of the room and faces their team mates. This student is now in the Hot Seat.The teacher reveals a term on the overhead or the board and the team mates have to define the term so that the student in the Hot Seat blurts it out. The teacher reveals a total of 4 terms or so and then the student rotate into the Hot Seat. The teacher can keep track to the teams to get the term first but I find that too much noise happens to do this. Explain to the students that they shouldn’t cheat by whispering the term to the student in the Hot Seat or giving lame clues like “It rhymes with memocracy” for the term democracy. It helps to have the terms written on an overhead so you can concentrate on spotting cheaters. Students criticize the student in the Hot Seat for not getting the terms but they then have to perform under the same pressure when they get in the Hot Seat. This game forces students to reach into their memory banks for clues or examples of the term to help out the student in the Hot Seat. Just make sure to warn the classroom beside you that you are going to play this game.
Scategories
Students enjoy playing this game and it helps them to add words to their vocabulary. Group students in small groups of 3 to 4 students and reveal on the overhead 5 categories to do with curriculum and students generate vocabulary e.g. emotions. The teachers then calls on each group and awards points for vocabulary words. Then the teachers reveals the next group of categories and on goes the game. You can also play this game by giving each group a large piece of newsprint with the vocabulary categories listed in columns. Then students are given a short time to generate as many words in each category in their groups. The teacher circulates and tallies up the totals. Students work cooperatively in this game and they help each other to build vocabulary.
I use these games to front load vocabulary for a lesson or a unit. This and many other games can place deposit words in the student’s memory bank and when the student comes across the word in the reading there is a “aha” moment of recognition instead of “ayy” another word to look up. The games also help in review for tests and to see what students already know about curricula. When a student teaches a concept or a vocabulary word to another student, new brain research shows that she will more readily retain the information. I teach the vocabulary games and then the students beg to run the games in the class and use them in their presentations to test the comprehension level of their classmates. Students also come up with new rules and variations of the games. A couple of students even told me that they played some of them games to study for final exams. Some teachers would not agree with my “fun” strategies but I want my students to enjoy learning and eject some joy back into learning. One of my colleagues was playing Fly swatter with her students and the principal came to her room to talk to her and the students asked the principal to come back later because they were so into the game. Imagine high school students excited about learning!
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