Teaching plus

Ideas for pre-teaching vocabulary Extra ideas – how to …

Before reading and listening tasks, it’s often necessary to Class survey
make sure students understand a few key words. This is Use: to revise tenses, verb patterns, verb collocations,
called ‘pre-teaching’. There are a number of ways to do conversational language
this. Here are some ideas: Dynamic: whole class
Give a definition: Use a short sentence to explain the Procedure:
meaning of a word. If you wish, use the definitions given • Write a list of questions which practise the target
in the rubrics or Vocabulary support boxes throughout the language. Ideally, each student will have a different
Teacher’s Notes. You could also use a learner dictionary question, but if this is difficult, aim to have one question
to find on-level definitions, e.g. dive – to swim under water, per two students.
usually with breathing equipment (from Cambridge Essential • Photocopy the list and cut up into strips to give out.
English Dictionary, Second Edition). Make sure each student has a question, even if the
question is the same as another student’s. Alternatively,
Draw/Show a picture or object: One of the easiest ways
dictate each question to one (or two) student(s) in turn.
to teach students new words is to draw a picture on the
• Ask students a question as an example and elicit a
board, or show a picture on the interactive whiteboard or
response which uses the target structure. Write the
on a computer or tablet. Using (or drawing) funny and/
response on the board.
or interesting pictures is a good way to ensure students
• Set a time limit for the activity, e.g. 10 minutes. Students
remember the new words, e.g. to teach the word dive you
move around the class and ask their question to as
could find a picture of a diver with a big shark behind him.
many other students as they can. They write down the
Act it out: It can be useful to show the word by acting it responses in their notebooks.
out, rather than giving definitions which may use above- • When the time is up, divide students into smaller groups
level vocabulary. and ask them to compare their most interesting responses.
Elicit it: Elicitation allows you to check what words
Running dictation
students may already know. Don’t tell them the word you
Use: to revise vocabulary
want to teach. Elicit it by asking questions or saying open-
Dynamic: whole class
ended sentences, e.g. What is the activity when we swim
Procedure:
under the sea and look at fish? or When we swim under water
• Choose a short text or a list of sentences/questions which
and look at fish, we … ? (dive).
you wish to revise. Around six to ten sentences should be
Gapped sentences: It’s useful for students to see the word adequate, depending on how confident your students are.
in a sentence to understand the context. Write a gapped Choose a text of the appropriate level for your students
sentence(s) on the board (this can be one from the text), and which does not contain unfamiliar words.
e.g. Cristina in the Mediterranean Sea every • You will need one sheet for each pair of students, plus a
summer. She loves to see the beautiful fish under the water. few extra sheets. Put the extra sheets on a far wall of the
(dives). Allow students to guess what word goes in the gap, classroom or just outside the classroom door. Mark the
but don’t confirm if they’re right or wrong. After they read halfway point on the text.
the text, they can guess again. Then confirm their answer. • Divide the class into pairs: Student A is a reader and
Discussion questions: With stronger students you can Student B is a writer. A has to go to the text/list and
write discussion questions containing the new words on memorise as much as he/she can. Encourage students
the board. Then give students one or two example answers to remember a few words accurately rather than try to
to these questions. Students try to guess the meaning. Give memorise too much. Student A goes back to Student B
more example answers, if necessary. You may then wish and dictates what he/she can remember. Student A must
to allow students to ask and answer these questions for walk over to Student B before dictating and not shout
themselves. the text out! Student A is not allowed to do any writing
Pre-teaching for listening: You can use any of the at this stage. The dictation continues until Student A has
above ideas, or others you may have, to teach new words reached the halfway point of the text.
before students listen. It may also be useful to model the • The students swap roles, with Student B dictating and
pronunciation of the words so students are used to hearing Student A writing.
how it sounds. This is particularly useful when a word has • As each pair finishes, give them a copy of the text and
an unfamiliar spelling rule. If you don’t want to model allow them to check their text against the original.
the word, it can be useful to write the word in IPA on the Students should correct their mistakes. Monitor and
board (you can find this in all dictionaries). help students to decide whether any differences are
grammatically correct or not.

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Grammar auction Classroom whispers
Use: to revise a specific grammar area or general grammar Use: to revise tenses, verb patterns, verb collocations,
Dynamic: whole class (in teams) pronunciation and listening skills
Procedure: Dynamic: whole class
• Prepare 10–15 sentences containing items of grammar Procedure:
from the unit you are currently working on or areas of • You will need a list of short sentences and/or questions
grammar which you know students find problematic. which practise the structures you wish to revise. You will
Some of the sentences should be correct and some need one sheet per three students in the class.
incorrect. • Divide students into groups of three. All the Student As
• Write the sentences on the board and explain what an go to one part of the classroom, all the Student Bs to
auction is (when you sell something to the person who another, and Student Cs to another.
offers the most money). • Model the activity by standing with the Student As and
• Put students into small groups and tell them they have showing them the first sentence on the sheet. The Student
£100 and they need to buy the correct sentences. In their As then walk to the Student Bs and whisper the sentence
groups, students discuss which sentences they think are they have remembered. Make sure the Student Cs can’t
correct and decide which to buy and how much they are hear. The Student Bs then go to the Student Cs and repeat
prepared to pay for each. Don’t help or allow students to the sentence and the Student Cs write down what they
look at their notes or the Student’s Book. heard. Write the correct sentence on the board. Student
• Take the role of auctioneer and sell each sentence to the Cs compare this with what they have written.
group which offers the most money. Keep track of how • Start the activity by showing the second item on the list
much each group has spent. Remind students that once to the Student As. The activity then continues as per
they have spent all their money they can’t buy any more your model. After the Student As have had two or three
sentences, so they shouldn’t spend too much too soon. turns, they swap roles with the others in their group. The
• After all the sentences have been sold, go through them activity continues like this until they reach the end of the
one at a time, revealing which are correct and which are list.
incorrect. Ask students to correct the mistakes. • When the students have finished, give each group of
• The winning group is the one which has bought the most three a copy of the sheet and they compare this against
correct sentences. If it’s a draw, then the group which what they have written. The group with the fewest
has got the most money left wins. mistakes wins.
Guess who? Sentence chains
Use: to practise question forms, present simple, present Use: to revise a specific lexical set, e.g. items to take on
continuous, past simple, etc. holiday, etc.
Dynamic: whole class (with optional group/pair extension) Dynamic: groups/pairs
Procedure: Procedure:
• Tell students that you are thinking of a person and that • Before the class, decide which lexical set you’re going to
they have to guess who it is by asking Yes/No questions. test students on and decide the best sentence to lead in
• If you wish to practise a specific grammar area, you to this. You can use: Before I went on holiday I packed …
might tell students that this person is living (for present (my ticket, a guidebook, my clothes, a map). However, if
tenses) or dead (for past tenses). Alternatively, you can you want to revise a different tense as well as the target
use this activity to practise question forms in general by lexical set, you could amend the sentence as appropriate,
not specifying anything about the person. e.g. I came home from holiday and I had spent all my
• Put students into pairs or small groups to brainstorm money. I had … (bought a lot of souvenirs, done a lot of
possible questions. Specify a total number of questions, sightseeing, stayed in a luxury hotel).
between five and ten, for the class to try and guess who • Demonstrate the activity with the lead-in sentence and
you’re thinking of. Students then take turns to ask you then the first item, e.g. Before I went on holiday, I packed
some of the questions they thought of. my ticket. Gesture to a student to repeat your sentence
• Make sure you reply only with yes or no (not Yes, he/she and add a new item, e.g. Before I went on holiday, I
is.) in order not to give away if the person is a man or a packed my ticket and a guidebook. Nominate the next
woman. student who repeats the sentence and adds another item
• Students win if they guess the person within the specified and so on until the entire set has been used.
number of questions. The teacher wins if students can’t • Put students into groups of three to five to play together.
guess the person. • Depending on your students, you may wish to adjust
• Continue the game either as a class, by asking a student the difficulty of the activity, e.g. ask students to include
to choose a person and take over from you at the front information about a list of nouns, e.g. my plane ticket, a
of the class, or by putting students into pairs or small heavy guidebook, my beach clothes, a local map.
groups to play.

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Backs to the board
Use: to revise a specific lexical set or general vocabulary
Dynamic: whole class (in teams)
Procedure:
• Put students into small groups of four to five. If possible,
mix stronger students with weaker students so no group
is noticeably stronger or weaker than another.
• Tell students in each group to sit close together, leaving
space between the groups so they can’t easily hear one
another. Tell one student in each group to sit with their
back to the board and the others to sit so that they can
see the board.
• Explain that you’re going to write a word or phrase on the
board and that the students who can see the board have to
communicate the meaning to the student who can’t. They
can use any method to do this, drawing pictures, mime,
synonyms, simple explanations, etc. However, use of their
own language will mean they are disqualified.
• When the student(s) with their back to the board think
they know the word, they put their hand up. Ask the first
student to put their hand up to say the word and, if they
are correct, award their group a point. If they aren’t, the
other teams continue. Any student who shouts out the
answer is also disqualified.
• The winning group is the one with the most points at the
end of the game.
Tennis
Use: to revise specific word pairs, e.g. opposite adjectives,
past simple / past participle forms, collocations
Dynamic: pairs
Procedure:
• Explain which lexical set you’re going to work on, e.g.
travel collocations. Demonstrate the activity by asking a
stronger student to help you. Say the first word of the
pair, e.g. pack, and ask the student to respond with the
second, e.g. a bag. The student continues with a different
first word and you respond with the second, e.g. A pack
B a bag − stay at A home − stay in B a hotel −, etc.
• Tell students that, just like in a real game of tennis, it’s
important not to pause for a long time. If one of the
students pauses too long between items, they lose that
round, e.g. in A travel B abroad − make A plans −
plan B ummm ahhh … a holiday, B would lose.
• Put students into pairs to play together. Tell them they
should continue for as long as possible. If one student
loses the round, they start again.

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