Harsh Words: English Words for Chinese Learners

10. Fun Vocabulary Learning Activities

10฀ Fun Vocabulary Learning Activities Introduction Most students enjo y learning in a fun wa y and s o they ask for game s to mak e the process more motivating and entertaining . Popular board game s includ e Scrabble and Pictionary, but ofte n ther e i s a limit to th e numbe r o f players. If there are enough materials, small groups can be formed, or substitute versions can be developed using the blackboard or an overhead projector. This chapter describes some games that are an excellent way of revising words and ca n fill in an y spare moments a t the en d o f a lesson. Hangman This game is always popular, with a student writing a word o n th e board tha t the rest of the class has to guess by calling out letters of the alphabet. Correc t letters ar e written up , while incorrect guesse s result in stroke s tha t form th e outline o f the victim t o be hanged . Te n guesses are usually allowed resultin g in a drawing like this : o฀ HA. 1 3 8฀HARS H฀WORDS !฀ENGLIS H฀WORD S฀FO R฀CHINES E฀LEARNER S฀ Animal Alphabe t Animal alphabet uses letters of the alphabet as the basis of word games. Each student, or group of students, takes a turn t o name an animal beginning with each letter , so we have A for ant, B for bird, C for cat etc, but becoming mor e difficult wit h eac h roun d a s th e sam e anima l canno t b e repeated . W e the n move t o mor e challengin g word s lik e ape, bear, cheetah etc. Variations ca n b e food, place s etc . Word Chai n This can b e quit e a tricky game. The first player (o r teacher) put s a word o n the board , lik e elephant, and th e nex t person o r tea m ha s t o give a word tha t begins with th e las t letter o r letter s o f the word, suc h a s antelope, the n opener ... error ... original etc. Word Pair s Word pairs can be written in advance on cards and then mixed up so that players have to match the pairs. Pairs could be salt and pepper, or opposites such as black and white. A lively version o f thi s involves pinning a car d t o th e bac k o f eac h player an d the y have t o find thei r partne r b y asking for clue s about th e wor d on thei r back. Clues might be: It's a colour, or You put it on your food. Word Squar e The simpl e versio n i s t o dra w a grou p o f letter s o n th e boar d (o r a transparency) fo r students to see how many words they can make. Use topica l words like Christmas or Hallowe'en or Chinese New Year and se t a time limit . More complex variations on this can be drawn using a grid of various sizes. Students have to make as many words as they can with the letters given within a limited numbe r o f minutes. The winner is the player or team with the mos t words — or the most words that no one else has. A nine letter word can for m the basis of the 3 x 3 gri d and th e winner is the one who guesses the origina l word. Here i s an exampl e usin g the word inspector. N R E C S T p o I FUN฀VOCABULAR Y฀LEARNIN G฀ACTIVITIE S฀ 1 3 9฀ The gam e ca n b e mad e mor e challengin g b y stating tha t th e middl e lette r must be include d i n ever y word an d tha t eac h lette r ca n b e use d onl y once . Sample words include set, nest, rents, pest, step and inspect. A larger gri d ca n be used with th e rul e tha t only adjoining letter s in...