Vocabulary game - Vocabulary Marathon!

Vocabulary game!

Last year I created a game in order for my students to revise vocabulary and I have to say that they really loved it! So, find below a funny way to revise with your students vocabulary. The game is called "Vocabulary Marathon" and you can adjust it on every level! 

Vocabulary Marathon

Aim: 
To revise vocabulary

Materials: 
None

Preparation: 
1. Choose 10 words that you have already taught the learners.
2. You change the letter sequence of each word and you give your students either an English synonym or an English translation.

For example:
school:                                        lsocho
                                       an institution of learning

How to play: 

- Put the learners into pairs. In that way you also promote collaboration and cooperation. Otherwise, you can allow the learners to work individually.

- Write at the board the word and the English synonym :  e.g.            lsocho
                                                                                            an institution of learning

- Give students 3 minutes to find the solution. For extra help you can give them the first letter after the first minute.

- Each round ends in 3 minutes unless a student finds the solution earlier. In that case the student says "Stop".

- The student who finds the correct answer gets 10 points.


You can start the Vocabulary Marathon at the beginning of the school year and you can end it either before the end of each semester or at the end of the school year. In any case, you could prepare a gift for the student who has collected the most points, for example you can give him/her a "You are the winner" praise card.

Personally, we played with my students 3 Vocabulary Marathons throughout the year, one for each semester's vocabulary. We had a game every two weeks and we calculated each student's points at the end of each semester. Each winner got both a "You are the winner of the 1st/ 2nd/ 3rd Vocabulary Marathon" praise card and a small gift. The rest of the students got a "Congratulations for your Participation in the 1st/ 2nd/ 3rd Vocabulary Marathon" praise card and candies!

"How to write an essay" for advanced learners

"How to write an essay"
for advanced learners

A very important part of teaching English, is to teach our students how to write essays. This is not as simple as it sounds, especially when we are dealing with advanced learners. 

I was taught the following method in college. To be exact, this is not a how-to-write-an-essay method but it's more a how-to-think-correctly method. 

I remember my professors telling me always to prepare an outline. Spending time in preparing it, it's not a waste of time as many students may think. If the student has a detailed outline, he/she has more or less the essay done! 

Making an outline may demand a lot of time. Basically, students prepare their essays. They spend time in thinking what they will write and they put their thoughts in order. An outline "protects" students from not having a coherent essay. 

Here's a sample of how an outline could be: 

Introduction:

• Thesis statement

* Thesis statement is the last sentence in the intoductory paragraph in which the student makes clear    what the essay will be about in one sentence. Of course, we avoid generalizations in here. Thesis        statement is about being accurate.  

Main body:

1st parapraph:

• Topic sentence

          ü Paragraph’s main point 

          ü Paragraph’s main point 

          ü Paragraph’s main point 

Topic sentence is the first sentence of each paragraph of the main body. This sentence introduces to the reader what the paragraph will be about (e.g., advantages of using Internet.). 

Paragraph’s main point: students write here a couple of words as a reminder of the point they want to analyse in their essay (e.g., access to unlimited information) .

Conclusion:

In the conclusion the student paraphrases the main points of his/her essay. 

*The students should remember to use linking words!