VINTAGE VOCABULARY

Who likes teaching vocabulary?  

I'm guessing there weren't many hands raised just now.

Some see vocabulary as a necessary evil, but I like to have fun with it. I recall the days of studying for my end of week vocabulary test in elementary school-  not my idea of the a great way to start the weekend!  One thing I did enjoy and fondly remember, were the wacky tv game shows from the 70's and 80's. Now, that was fun!

Does anyone remember 100,000 Dollar Pyramid?  For those of you old enough to remember, take a walk down memory lane by clicking here. For those who are too young to have any idea what I am talking about, you definitely need to take a look. Comedic stars partner with regular folk to describe a simple word without saying it...so nostalgic, so simple, so fun. 

Are you interested in recreating this experience in your classroom? 

Here are the steps.  You can also download your own free list of steps here.

1.  Prepare two unique sets of your vocabulary words.  Keep them hidden.

2. Place students in partner groups.

3. One student will face the vocabulary words and the other will have their back to the vocabulary words.

4.  When you give the cue, the student facing the screen will begin to explain the first word without using the actual word.  

5. The process continues until the partner facing away from the vocabulary words has guessed them all correctly. 

6.  If they struggle with a word, students can skip it and come back.

7.  When they finish all the words, the pair stands. 

8.  You can choose to stop the game after a few pairs stand, or you can continue as long as you wish.

9.   Then, the partners switch roles and repeat steps 4-7.

Bottom line:  this is FUN!  Your kids will forget they are practicing vocabulary.  And, this is gold for your English Language Learners.   Try it, and let me know how it works in your classroom.