Vocabulary is a key component to language learning, and making vocabulary meaningful for students is crucial for their success. When we start teaching students they possess prior knowledge and vocabulary that we can activate. Doing so allows us to gauge what they already know as well as fill in any gaps.
In this blog post I present three simple yet effective vocabulary activities to use with students of various ages and levels.
Activity One: The A to Z game
This activity is just what it sounds like. You decide on a theme, and students have to name at least one word for each letter of the alphabet for that theme. With younger learners this could be things like animals and cartoon characters. For adults at an elementary or pre intermediate level, this could be a topic such as food or places in a city. For higher level students, you could also make the topic something like verbs or adjectives. Here is the template I use:
A to Z Game
Topic: _________________
| A: ______________ | N: ______________ |
| B: _______________ | O: ______________ |
| C: _______________ | P: ______________ |
| D: _______________ | Q: ______________ |
| E: _______________ | R: ______________ |
| F: _______________ | S: ______________ |
| G: _______________ | T: ______________ |
| H: ______________ | U: ______________ |
| I: _______________ | V: ______________ |
| J: _______________ | W: ______________ |
| K: _______________ | X: ______________ |
| L: _______________ | Y: ______________ |
| M: ______________ | Z: ______________ |
The A to Z game can be used with classes of different sizes. With one on one classes with kids, I typically work with 5 or 6 words per class. We look at pictures of the word they say, and I ask them personalized questions about the word. It works nicely as something to do in class over a period of time, and by working with a limited amount of vocabulary per class they have the time to process and digest the words.
If you have a group class, the activity can become a collaborative effort. Each student can contribute what they know, and the vocabulary can lead to interesting conversations. Students in larger classes can be put into breakout rooms and generate their own list as a friendly competition with other students in the class. If competition doesn’t work well with a large class, the alphabet can be broken up with each group of students getting a specific number of letters.
Activity Two: Complete each category
Complete each category is a bit more complex. Like the A to Z game, the teacher chooses a theme. Students then have to complete a chart with words from that theme that fit into a variety of categories. Here’s an example:
Describing Food
Fill in each category with at least three foods. Do not repeat any words.
| crunchy | sweet | salty | spicy |
| healthy | sources of protein | salty | vegetarian meals |
| fried | raw | delicious | disgusting |
| foods I always eat | foods I never eat | foods usually eaten cold | foods usually eaten cold |
An activity like this works nicely with students that are at a bit of a higher level. I’ve actually used this with students at the intermediate level in conjunction with the English File unit called Mood Food. This gets students thinking about the topic of food but beyond the superficial level of just listing words they know. It can also lead to an interesting conversation about why students put words in particular boxes and what they think about them. Maybe something like pineapple on pizza might appear in one of the boxes, leading to an interesting debate.
Much like the previous activity, this one can be adapted based on the class size and topic. In a small group class, students can collaborate, and the teacher can require more (or fewer) words for each category. If a teacher wishes, students can also complete the chart individually and then compare their answers with the others in the class.
Activity Three: Vocabulary Brainstorming
The third activity is similar to the second one, but with an important difference. It is used for specific topics related to academic vocabulary. I’ve used it when getting students to think about topics that might appear on the reading or listening part of the TOEFL. Here is an example:
TOEFL Vocabulary Brainstorming- Disaster
| Natural disasters | Adjectives describing a disaster |
| | |
| Results of a disaster | Areas that are affected by disasters |
| | |
| Non-natural disasters | Other words related to disasters |
| |
This is based on a unit from 400 Must Know Words for TOEFL. Each unit of the book has 10 words, but before going into the book I work with students to see what vocabulary they know. This helps them recognize the words that they are already familiar with while also letting me introduce words that they might know in their first language but not in English. It can also work like a bit of a game to see if students can guess any of the ten vocabulary words before seeing the words in the unit.
Like the other activities, this can be adapted based on the whatever topic students are studying. It can also be used in conjunction with studying root words, prefixes, and suffixes and how they change the part of speech and meaning of a word.
Conclusion
These three activities require minimal planning on the teacher’s part and get students thinking about vocabulary. In addition, they help student realize they actually know more than they think or can introduce them to vocabulary bit by bit. These vocabulary activities are a valuable tool for teachers to have in their toolkit and can be a key part of successful language learning, regardless of your students’ age or level.
