Conversation Scripts
Conversation scripts are templates we use in everyday conversations, and there are similar ones in many other languages. Learning scripts can be a great way for students to feel more comfortable about speaking English.
Student Projects
Tag: vocabulary
The Benefits of Holiday Vocabulary
Holidays are a time when students tend to be excited about something in particular, and they’re often surrounded by decorations, music, etc. for the occasion. Take advantage of both of these things and teach your students some holiday vocab!
Poker Idioms
Play poker with your students, teaching them terminology along the way. Afterward, take a look at some common expressions which are literal for poker but can also be applied to other contexts as idioms.
YLE Prep: Fill-In-The-Blanks
You can prepare for fill-in-the-blank sections of exams like the Cambridge Assessment: Young Learners English tests by combining the two techniques of recalling small, common words and writing down answers before looking at answer choices.
Great Vocabulary Board Games
Whether you want to do a nice vocabulary review or you just want your students to have fun for a day, here are some games we recommend for finding, creating, explaining, demonstrating, and guessing words.
Make Connections
As you introduce new grammar topics, make connections with related grammar topics that students have already learned. This is good for review, and it also helps students catch on to the new material easier.
Vocab Evaluation
The more students write, the more they should expand their vocabulary. However, it’s natural to develop favorite words, which can be overused. Try creating word clouds to see which words your students are using too much, then come up with some synonyms.
Review Activities
Here are some activities that you can use with your class to review vocabulary and grammar. There are quite a few to choose from, and each is customizable; use whatever is best for your class!
Grammar vs Vocab: where to place your focus
Is it better for teachers to focus on grammar or on vocabulary for elementary/intermediate students? Both are important, of course, but there’s only so much a learner can learn at a time.
3 Alternate Ways to Teach Idioms
With idioms, students already know the words that make up the expression. But since idioms aren’t to be taken literally, they still need to learn the meaning. Instead of teaching idioms like you would other vocabulary terms, why not build off what they already know?
Vocab-Building through Associations
There’s a lot of vocabulary to learn, but thankfully plenty of words are related to each other. Learning words by associating them with each other helps us to remember those words later. You can help students establish and strengthen those connections in your students’ minds.
Never Say ‘Good’
‘Good’ is such a generic word, but it has so many synonyms that are far more interesting. Encourage your students to expand their vocabulary by forbidding them to use the word ‘good’.