Learning Vocabulary in Today’s World

Maria Lúcia SciamarelliIATEFL - Glasgow, 2012

Language Focus: describing words Level: all levels Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobiles phones or tablets to

record ; computers or IWB to reproduce Website: http://www.screencast-o-

matic.com/screen_recorder

2. Record and guess

In class: select words in a given text. The number of words has to be the same as the number of students in class. Divide the class in pairs. Each pair will be responsible for two words. They have to create a definition for the words and using “Screencast-o-matic” with their mobiles phones or tablets they record it.As a competition, the recordings are then played with a computer and/or IWB by the teacher. After each definition, the first pair who comes up with the word, scores.

Language Focus: describing pictures; writing a follow-up text

Level: all levels Time: up to 50 minutes Technology: IWB or computers to show the

albums; mobile phones or tablets to write Website/ App: http://www.flickr.com /

Opuss

3. Creating photo albums

Out of class: each group of students is responsible for creating an album of photos using Flickr based on a different topic studied in class.

In class: All the groups share their albums; all the other students have to use one word to describe each photo. The words are then recorded next to each photo.

Follow-up activity: each group is responsible for writing a text for their album, using the words that were used to describe it and then share it using Opuss app.

Language Focus: names of animals; geographical region and its descriptions; follow-up reading

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones or tablets App: Wild Friends

4. Where animals live

In class:

Follow-up activity:

Language Focus: description of places; follow-up postcard writing

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones or tablets App: Gogobot

5. My favorite places

Language Focus: travel vocabulary; follow-up blog writing (your dream travel)

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones or tablets App: HipGeo

6. Dreaming your way into a story’s vocabulary

Language Focus: food vocabulary; follow-up writing (recipe)

Level: basic to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones App: Evernote Food

7. Remember great food experiences

Language Focus: directions and related adjectives

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones and tablets App: Waze

8. Outsmarting Traffic

Language Focus: doctors, symptoms, facilities, diseases, medications, procedures

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced (*only for adults)

Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones and tablets App: iTriage

9. Where does it hurt?

Language Focus: some basic vocabulary for children; pronunciation

Level: starter (children) Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones and tablets App: Flash Cards (Fun Fun Soft)

10. Words from pictures

Language Focus: rhythm, stress of words and chunks

Level: all levels Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones App: Ocarina

11. From sounds to words

Focus: rhythm of words Groups are responsible for some words

and/or chunks They have to play and the other groups have

to guess the word/chunk based on the correct stress and rhythm

Mobile phones, tablets http://ocarina.smule.com/

Language Focus: weather vocabulary Level: all levels Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones, tablets, IWB,

computers App: The Weather Channel

12. The Weather Forecast

Language Focus: adjectives; follow-up writing

Level: lower intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: mobile phones, tablets App: Glow Dark; Opuss

13. Best Friends

Language Focus: adjectives; language for advice; question-making; reading and writing

Level: intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: tablets; computer App: Unstuck

14.Unstuck

In class: in pairs, students follow the instructions of the application – one asks the questions and fill it in with all the information needed and give the other student feedback (reading / writing). Then, they change roles.

At Home: writing about the advice given to students and their own impressions.

Language Focus: points of compass; directions; geographical forms

Level: elementary to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: tablets, mobile phones App: Planets

15. Planets

Language Focus: adjectives to describe feelings and places; follow-up writing

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced Time: 30 to 40 minutes Technology: computers, IWB App: PowerPoint; Glow Dark Activity adapted from “What’s Happiness” by

Herbert Puchta, Jane Arnold and Mario Rinvolucri

16. What’s happiness?

In class: Play a nice relaxing song. Ask students to sit comfortably and read the following:

I’d like to invite you to go back in time and think of a situation where you were very happy. Allow yourself to be in a place and feel that you’re fully there, in a place of perfect happiness. Take your time to become aware what that place looks like and if you are alone or if there are other people with you. Wonder what kind of sounds you can hear in your place of perfect happiness.

Now I’d like to ask you to feel this feeling of happiness and notice how you can feel it. Now I’d like you to imagine that from that place of happiness you are looking back over your life, like in a film, a film of happiness – and you can see all the situations in which you were happy. Just notice where you were, how you were feeling happy, who were with you and what you heard and did and saw. Notice whether these situations have anything in common or whether they were completely different. Just notice those situations before you come back to this classroom and open your eyes again.

These questions should be written on the IWB before students open their eyes:

1. What does it mean to be happy?2. How do you know you’re happy?3. Do you know when other people are happy?4. Is feeling you are happy the same as knowing you are happy?5. Are there different kinds of happiness?6. Could you be happy all the time? Why / why not?7. Can other people make you happy or can you only make yourself

happy? Explain.

They discuss the question in groups and build a mind map, using Powerpoint or Glow Draw as homework.

Language Focus: words to describe feelings; follow-up writing

Level: pre-intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: computers, IWB

17. How does music make you feel?

In class: groups students in even numbers, preferably 4 or 6. Play a song with images on the IWB. Stop the song 4 times if there are 4 students in the groups, or 6 times, 8 times etc. Each time you stop the song, change the image - they have to write one word related of how the song/image makes them feel and change papers. When they get to the original, play the whole song while they write a text using all the words that the group produced.

Language Focus: words to describe positive qualities

Level: intermediate to advanced Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: computers, IWB

18. Positive Qualities

In class: on the IWB show all these words for one or two minutes. Ask students to read them.

Then write only the first letter of each word and ask them to write as many as they can remember.

In groups, share their words and try to reproduce the whole list.

Follow-up writing: ask them to write a text using at least 5 of the words describing a person they admire.

Language Focus: description words; follow-up writing

Level: intermediate to advance Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: computers, IWB, mobile

phones, tablets App: Yours, Vincent The letters of Vincent

Van Goch

19. Yours, Vincent

In class: select one video from the app. In pairs, students watch it and then select a series of pictures and write all the words related to them. Then they share with all the other pairs in class and check how many words were the same.

As a follow-up writing, they choose one picture from the selection and write a description for it using some of the words seen before.

Language Focus: general vocabulary; follow-up writing

Level: pre-intermediate to advance Time: 20 to 30 minutes Technology: computers, IWB, mobile

phones, tablets App: POETRY from the Poetry Foundation;

Opuss

20. Dreaming your way into a poem

In class: Write one of the poems in app on the IWB, omitting some words. In groups, ask students to come up with words to fill in the gaps. Then they read the original poem in their mobiles phones or tablets and compare with what they produced.

As a follow-up writing, share the poems with their words using Opuss. The other groups have to comment on each poem that was produced.

Language Focus: general vocabulary Level: pre-intermediate to advance Time: 50 to 60 minutes Technology: computers, IWB, mobile

phones, tablets App: Flickr

21. Imagine: from song to pictures

In class: Play the video “Imagine” by John Lennon on the IWB. Ask students to write all the words related to it. In groups, ask them to share the words. Then ask them to build their “Ideal World” by answering these questions:

1. If I imagine my ideal world, some of the things I would like to see or see more of are:

2. Some things I would like to eliminate are:

3. As I imagine my ideal world, I see these differences in people’s lives:4. I see cities like this:5. I see the country, sea, mountains, forests etc like this:6. In my ideal world I see myself as:

In the next step they have to find pictures in Flickr that summarize their “Ideal World” and label them with the words previously written when listening to the song. They can build albums and share with the whole class.

Language Focus: adjectives to describe people x places

Level: advanced Time: 100 minutes Technology: IWB

22. What’s your style?