HOW TO PRESENT VOCABULARY USING GAMES?

Vocabulary is key to learning any language. Whether you are a teacher of ESL (English as Second Language) students or simply helping high school students study for a standardized test, vocabulary must be taught and learned. However, few things are more dreaded than lists of unknown words. Using games to teach vocabulary can help make the whole process more engaging for you and your students.

Cuisenaire Rods:  This is another tactic to help visual students. You can use different colored rods to symbolize different types of words, such as prepositions, verbs, or adjectives.

Mime: Miming works well with younger students. You can mime out emotions and everyday activities to teach new words.

Pictures: Some words work well with pictures, particularly nouns. This can also be a good way to introduce blocks of related words, which is often utilized in foreign language classes, such as nouns and verbs related to the classroom or the house. Pictures can also be used in printable worksheets and flashcards, where pictures are matched to the word they represent.

 Antonyms: Like synonyms, antonyms build on words or phrases that students already know. At lower levels, you can use words like rich and poor. However, this does not work for all advanced vocabulary lessons, since rich actually has more meanings than "having a lot of money." For older students, prefixes and suffixes are also helpful.

Synonyms: These can be effective since they build on words and phrases that students already recognize. Adjectives often have several symptoms, and phrasal verbs will usually have a non-phrasal verb equivalent. Use caution that you do imply that all the words have exactly the same meaning, since different words often are used for different connotations or to imply different meanings.

Rankings: If you have several gradable words to introduce at the same, you can introduce them together on a scale. For instance, you can use frequency, such as always-often-occasionally. Or you can do emotions in this way, with cheerful-happy-joyous-ecstatic.

Games for Teaching Vocabulary

Telephone Game:  The computer will select a hidden word. This is the word you must guess. In order to figure out the computer's hidden word, the computer will give you two pieces of information: A clue word which is (in some way) related to the hidden Word. The sequence of numbers that, on a telephone's number pad, share a key with the letters of the word. Most of the telephone keys contain two three letters; for example, the key which contains the number two also contains the letters "A", "B", and "C". Thus, if the list of numbers begins with a number two, you know that the word must begin with either the letter "A", "B", or "C". Once you have figured out the word, enter it in the space provided to find out if you are correct.

Stop the bus: Put the students into teams of three or four.Draw on the board a table like the ones below and get each team to copy it onto a piece of paper.

Students simply have to think of one item to go in each category beginning with the set letter.

Give an example line of answers for the first time you play with a new group. The first team to finish shouts “Stop the Bus!” .

Check their answers and write them up on the board and if they are all okay that team wins a point. If there are any mistakes in their words, let the game continue for another few minutes.

If it gets too difficult with certain letters (and you can’t think of one for each category) reduce the amount of words they have to get. You can say. “Ok. For this round you can Stop the Bus with 4 columns”. 

Bingo: The teacher writes up 10 words, phrases and/or expressions on the board. Each student chooses any 5 of the items from the board and writes them down. The teacher then selects one of the items at random (bits of paper from a hat, for example) and offers a brief definition or synonym of the item but does not say the word itself. If a student thinks they have the word the teacher described, they tick it. When a student ticks all of their words, they shout BINGO!! The first student to shout BINGO wins the round. Additional rounds can be played with different sets of words.

Play a game of "Unscrambling" to enrich vocabulary in particular categories, such as animals, transportation, fashion, sports, or media. For example, list four short, scrambled animal names, including one unusual name you want to teach. Let students work in small groups with the goal of being the first group to unscramble all four. With a dictionary at hand, "BEXI" will fairly quickly be unscrambled and turned into "IBEX." Once students get the idea of the game, give them an opportunity to create their own lists for challenging their classmates.

Challenge students to a session of "The Prefix Relays." After presenting six prefixes, let students put the lesson to the test. Divide them into two relay teams. Provide each team with a pile of root words written on large cards. Also provide a pile of prefixes. The first player races to the finish line with a root word. The second player races with a prefix to attach to the root. If an actual word is not created, the player must race with the prefix back to the team, and the next player must try to complete the word. Play continues until one team has created six valid words. Following the relay, challenge students to write sentences using the words they created. (See site below in the Resources section for ideas.)

Taboo: Divide the class into Teams A and B. Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, Team B sits on the other side. Bring two chairs to the front of the room so that when seated, a student is facing his or her respective team and their back is to the blackboard or white board. One member from each team sits in their team's chair. The teacher writes a word, phrase, or sentence on the board. The students in the chairs mustn't see what's written on the board. Once the teacher yells 'go', the teams have one minute, using only verbal clues, to get their seated teammate to say the item written on the board. The only rule (or taboo) is that they MUSTN'T say the item written on the board, in full or part. The first student in the hot seat to utter the word scores a point for their team. When the round is over, two new team players are rotated into the hot seat and a new item is written up. The first team to score X number of points wins.

 Memory Challenge: Put the students into pairs or small groups. Give them a time limit (e.g. 3 minutes) and ask them to write down as many words, phrases, and/or expressions as they can from the last lesson on topic X. The pair or group that can remember the most items wins.

Pictionary: Divide the class into Teams A and B. Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, Team B sits on the other side. One member from each team goes to the board. The teacher flashes them a word, phrase, or expression written on a piece of paper. The students have one minute to get their respective team to say the item only by drawing pictorial clues on the board. Written words, verbal clues, or gestures are forbidden. The first team to say the word scores a point.

Reflection:

I believe that teaching vocabulary using games is very useful because teachers can create a good environment in class and they help students to understand the new word’s meaning and at the same time they can feel relaxing.