The Dos and Donts of Language Teaching (Part 3) - Vocabulary

For this one, I will continue to illuminate the different key points of vocabulary teaching. I'm going to introduce one activity that I get delirious to use. Flyswatters!

(or something less fancy)

You can't imagine the surprise I observe each time I show them the swatters... They are used to traditional style of teaching and those kind of additions make them grin and anxious both at the same time... New is sometimes horrifying...

After successfully introducing the new vocabulary, involving the students in practicing is of great importance. I make use of PowerPoint Slides very frequently. Here are some examples I use with my beginner students, having introduced the things in the house, I challenged them to beat the other group. One person from each group grabbed a flyswatter and came to the board, waiting for me to click to change the slide...

And finally this is it, first thing they see is usually the picture, that is a mirror. The first to find and hit on the correct word gets two points, if the other student successfully pronounces the word, the other group gets one. This is my way of emphasizing the importance of pronounciation...

As is obvious on the photo, adding some unrelated words to mix things up is also good.

Don't forget to warn the students to keep silent because they get loud for sure and this is not kindergarten (but it can be)...

Make it more challenging and tell the students they only have one shot...

Spelling also matters, so maybe add words that only differ one letter from the target...

Students appreciate the challenge when you give them the chance to beat it. There are some other flyswatter activities I'm familiar with and comfortable with using. I will be sharing A LOT more of them.

As is implied in the title, this is a thread, pay a visit to my blog and see my previous posts on teaching vocabulary and leave comments, please.

Stay tuned, be productive...