Nancy Feigenbaum, Spanish teacher at Yorktown Middle School, VA, U.S.

1. For speaking practice: have each child draw a container appropriate to the vocabulary (example: for fruits and vegetables, have them draw a refrigerator; for sports equipment, a gym locker). Have them draw 4-6 of the vocabulary words being studied. Now have half the students get up visit the other half. At each desk, they must name as many of the items drawn as possible. "There is an apple. There are grapes," etc. After a few minutes, the students walking around take a seat. The other students get up and take their place naming words.
2. For audio input: decide ahead of time several classifications for the vocabulary (ex: fruits, vegetables, drinks). Teach the students the sign language for the first letter. In this case, they will sign the letter "f" every time they hear a "fruit," "v" for vegetable, etc. I post the signs on the board, as well as modeling them. They are easy to find online. Then show the vocabulary words and check the class's hand signals for comprehension.
3. For writing practice: have students create variations on an item. (example with fruits and vegetables: each pair of student has the task of inventing a new type of juice.) Have them draw, label and describe this new product. Then let everyone look at each other's work and rate it.

TLM resources for similar lessons: clip-art and our flashcard tool

You start with a regular word such as "DOG" and write it on the board.
Each student takes a turn and must come up with a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word.
So, if the word were "DOG" then the next student might say "GRAPE" and the next "ELEPHANT" and so on.
Continue until every student has gone once (or a few times, depending on class size)

Next, the students must go through the words and come up with a synonym/similar word of each word on the board.
So, "DOG" might become "WOLF."
Continue until every word has a synomyn.
(To make it even more difficult, they have to find a synonym that starts with last letter of the previous word... but they have to be pretty advanced for it to work!!)

Next, the students must come up with an antonym.
So, "DOG" might become "CAT".
With lower levels, you often need to prompt them to find antonyms of some words.

Once you have a board full of words, there are various options that you can do, depending on level.

1. You can go through the words and explain a slang or irregular way of using the word.
   So, for "DOG" you might explain the term "he's a downright dog" or the idiom "Dog eat dog"
   "WOLF" might explain "to wolf down your food"
   "CAT", "to be catty"
   Depending on the class you can have them look up different words.
2. You can write down each of the words on pieces of paper. Then the students must discuss and put the words into categories. This is especially good when practicing reported speech. "I think that..." "he said that..."
   Once they are in categories you can use them to bring up other words. (I like to bring in an extended list to the next class)
3. You can play "fill in the blank." Each person writes 3-5 sentences using these vocabulary words.
   Then each student reads their sentence only replacing the vocab word with "do-do-do-do" or whatever.
   A super challenge is try and put as many word in one sentence.

I have chosen a painting by Sir Arnesby Brown called The Line of the Plough to use with my students.
I would show it to my class and ask them to jot down all words starting with S. They would probably mention: sea, sand, seagulls, sun, and so on. Then I would ask them to repeat the words aloud and see if they could "hear the sea" (alliteration).
Afterwards, I would tell my students that they were going to listen to a poem called "With Kit, Age 7, at the Beach" by William Stafford. Before listening, they could speculate on the words that could be part of this poem using their own initial suggestions. This should be a natural link between the previous activity and this one.
As a purpose for this listening activity, I would tell them to check their answers and to write down all the words that were added to their "sea words". This is just vocabulary work.
Besides developing students speaking/listening/reading/writing skills it would also broaden their knowledge on the topic using art and poetry as means of prompting discussion.
Instead of using a painting, I could also use a piece of classical music to create a mood and lead students to list words associated to the same topic (At the seaside).

"With Kit, Age 7, at the Beach"
William Stafford

We would climb the highest dune,
from there to gaze and come down:
the ocean was performing;
we contributed our climb.

Waves leapfrogged and came
straight out of the storm.
What should our gaze mean?
Kit waited for me to decide.

Standing on such a hill,
what would you tell your child?
That was an absolute vista.
Those waves raced far, and cold.

"How far could you swim, Daddy,
in such a storm?"
"As far as was needed," I said,
and as I talked, I swam.

1. To introduce an element of unpredictability and to increase tension in the game, another pile of smaller cards can be made with the five different tasks written on them. Make several cards for each task. This pile is also put in the middle and each student picks one at random to perform.
2. Depending on the age and level of the students, the teacher might choose to limit the number or nature of the tasks to be performed.
3. For more able students, ask for words of different parts of speech. E.g.: the noun for the word STRONG, the verb of the word STRONG etc….
4. Spelling check: the teacher might choose to incorrectly spell the word to see if the first player can detect the mistake. E.g.: Imposible; Aftenoon …. Please remember to warn the class that some cards might be spelled incorrectly. The student with the card says the word out loud and adds “Wrong spelling” without correcting it.

TLM resources for similar lessons: flashcard tool

Vocabulary game – ”The Sofa”
Preparation: Notes with the words that need to be practiced, it needs to be one note per pupil, and one different word on each note. It is also helpful to hand out a sheet that includes all words for the pupils to look at whilst playing, or put it up on an over head or write on the black board.

Put chairs in a ring as below, with either a sofa or a substitute (can be 4 chairs, desks, etc) that 4 persons can sit on. With the chairs and the sofa, there will be a seat for each person participating, and it also needs to be an empty chair. Divide the participants into 2 teams, and tell them to remember which team they belong to. The persons sitting in the sofa to start with, need to be represented with 2 from each team.
Give the pupils a word note each, and tell them they can’t tell anyone which word they got. The person to the left of the empty chair, starts the game by saying one of the words included, and whoever got this word, leaves his/her chair to sit in the empty chair. She/he then trade notes with the person to the left. Next person to say a word is whoever sits to the left of the now empty chair, and the person with that word goes to sit on the empty chair and so on.
After a short while, the pupils will have some idea of who’s having which word – therefore it is important to remember the word and who has it! The point is, to get 4 persons from the same team up on the sofa, which is why it is important when there is an empty seat in the sofa, the team of the person to the left of the empty seat, helps out by deciding which word to say next, meaning which person to get up on the sofa. It is cheating if a person tells someone his/her own word.

TLM resources for similar lessons: flashcard tool

Ekaterina Marnitsyna, English teacher at Saint-Petersburg State University of Technology and Design, Russia

Psychologists claim that the more unusual and extraordinary the surrounding of the word is the easier and quicker the word is to learn. So I am trying to encourage my students to compose this unusual surrounding. For this purpose I widely exploit fairy tale characters, including both world famous and local ones and folk heroes. Here I would like to give some of the tasks which I apply. Of course, students are welcome to use their imagination.

1. Give a list of characters. Each student chooses one and describes character's working day / travels / food / house, etc whatever the topic is at the moment.
   The task could be done as a written home task then the teacher corrects the works, comments on the common mistakes and reads the best ones to the class. Or the students themselves read their stories in front of the class.
   It could be done as a five minute activity at the beginning of the lesson when a student continues talking on the topic without mentioning the name of the character until the rest guess who he/she is speaking about. For low level students that could be just sentences, like She rides on a broomstick. The rest guess a witch.
   
2. The activity could be based on one character. For example, the topic is Clothes and the heroine is Cinderella. The tasks could be What Cinderella puts on to go to a party / ball / forest / kitchen / shop, etc. That would be recommended as a five-minute activity as described above.
   
3. The task could be a long-term work. At the beginning of the course each student chooses a character and works on the character's profile during the whole course, covering all the topics which are dealt with in the frame of the course. The last lesson is a presentation when each student presents his/her character and character's everyday life and activities.
   
4. With young learners the presentations could end up with creating posters about the character. Or one poster called Our Fairy Tale Kingdom. Each student contributes with a story and a funny picture.

Though the tasks are mostly (but not completely) for general English study, they are suitable for all levels.

Here I would like to quote an example. That is a work of one of my students and it was my attempt to extend the activity to learning Business English. The circumstances were the following:
Level: Intermediate, Business English.
Topic studied: Types of Management Style.
Task: Describe a management style of a fairy tale character (about 100 words).
(The text is provided without any corrections, as it was generated by the student.)

Management Style of Stromboli (from a cartoon about Pinocchio)

Stromboli was an untalented manager, responsible for running a small theatre. His subordinates feeling his proficiency had a strong sense of hierarchy and power. Stromboli threatened the staff, using his authority. He took decisions and gave orders that sometimes required from his subordinates reaching impossible objectives. That's why they obeyed him, without trying to participate in decision-making. But, however, one of his new subordinates, Pinocchio, didn't admire the qualities of this leader. In response to manager's demands, he encouraged other employees to quit. Stromboli didn't try to be fairer with his subordinates. He wasn't afraid of lawsuits and his management didn't conform with equal-opportunity rules. So, he was left alone.

Mariana Popescu, English teacher at Children's Palace in Constanta, Romania

In my opinion the best way to teach young Ss. new vocabulary is through songs and drama activities. I have been using this freequently in my English lessons altogether with other traditional methods but this one has proved to be the most successful because it is the most enjoyble . Everybody enjoys singing, especially young Ss. And if singing is associated with drama activities than teaching new vocabulary is very efficient.

1. Step one. Start a short discussion ( in English, of course) with class about animals:( Rule: always name an animal which has not been previously mentioned ) Do you havre a pet? What pet do you have? Let us guess what pet you have. You tell us what your pet says and we will tell you what your pet is.(neigh-horse, bow - wow for the dog, ouinq - pig, etc).Another child will show the flashcard of the animal associated with the sound.
2. Step two. We extend the discussion to other animals: What is your favourite animal?(Rule:Always mention an animal which has not been previously mentioned)Animals on the farm/ in the forest / in the jungle etc.So, we enrich vocabulary with names of animals(Children like animals and they enjoy seeing them in pictures and speaking about them and imitating them.)
3. Step three. Using the videoprojector play the song Elephant Song by Eric Herman.Children just watch it and listen to it.
4. Step four. Children are given handouts with the song and they listen to it again but this time they follow the text and notice that some words( words they already know) are missing and they fill in the blanks. We check with the whole class to see if everybody fas found and spelled the words correctly.
5. Step five.Children listen to the song again but this time they try to identify the words which have been written in bold on their handouts.They will not even realize that words like:purr, curl, bark, windowsill, beehives, stomp,etc are new for them and that you are trying to teach them these words.
6. Step six. Ask children to write these new words (which are in bold on their handouts) on the blackboard. You repeat pronunciation of these words with the whole class.
7. Step seven. Ask children to order the teacher or one of their colleagues to curl or to purr or to stomp, etc.This is again funny and they practice pronunciation again .
8. Step eight. Ask the children funny questions about the animals in the song, like: Does the cat bark? / Does the dog purr? / Does the elephant say cock-a doodle-doo? etc. Teach them to answer short answers : yes, it does / no, it doesn't.
9. Step nine. Sing the song with the children and Eric Herman.One of your pupils can play the little child in the song.
10. Step ten. Ask the children to draw funny animals for a song of their own like those in Eric Herman's song or just the animals in the original song.Next time they will tell you about these animals using the words they have just learned.

1. Pass out 5 cards to each player.  3 players (4 max) per game.
2. Place extras face down in the middle.
3. Find a communicative topic. Example: school supplies "Do you need ..........." Yes, I need ........ or No, I don't need ...... . Go Fish
4. First player: ask the yes or no question to one of your opponents. If they answer yes, they give you the card, if not they send you fishing and that means you pick up a card from the pile and the play goes to the next player. The objective is to get the most pairs.
   
   Picture of calculator
   une calculatrice
   Il te faut une calculatrice?
   Oui, il me faut une calculatrice.
   Non, il ne me faut pas de calculatrice. à la pêche!

VOCABULARY LOTTO 

1. Make two sets of cards, concept cards (picture cards), and their matching vocabulary cards. Make sure that there are at least 20 concept cards and matching words in the pack.
2. Deal four concept cards to each player. 
3. Instruct the students to lay their cards out face up in front of them.
4. The vocabulary card pile is the draw pile. Place them face down in front of the students.
5. As each player has their turn, they draw one vocabulary card from the pile. They show the card to the rest of the players and read the card aloud. If the card matches one of their concept cards, they place them together in front of them. If it is not a match, the card goes to the bottom of the pile, face down.
6. The game continues until the first person has matched all of his concept cards to vocabulary cards. He is the winner!

TLM resources for similar lessons: bingo and our flashcard tool

HOW TO USE:

• Have your kids pick a picture-word from a bucket.
• Put it on the poster or paper so everyone can see it.
• Start asking your little ones to find words that we use when we say a story about that picture.
• Draw a scoring board and put a star for every correct response.
• Hang the poster or paper on the wall so your kids can remember what words we use when we want to describe the target word.

TLM resources for similar lessons: clip-art and our flashcard tool

Karen Boettcher,  Spanish teacher at Hamburg Middle School, NY, U.S.

I have my students go on scavenger hunts around the room to find vocabulary. I place pictures of the item with the Spanish word below it around the room. The students then receive their vocabulary list with the Spanish word on it and a blank for the English meaning. They walk around the room and try to figure out what the Spanish word means by looking at the picture. By doing this you are beginning to associate the picture with the Spanish word and in turn help the students remember the vocabulary. I find that students often remember where the pictures were in the room when they are taking quizzes, and it helps them remember the Spanish word too.

TLM resources for similar lessons: clip-art and our flashcard tool