quick vocabulary activities-1

Vocabulary Activities as seen on the Teacher Support Ezine.

Please note: these instructions will be updated regularly whenever new games or activities are introduced in the ezine.

CONTENTS

1. Memory Game (Pelmanism)............................................................................................................... 2

2. Hangman ............................................................................................................................................ 2

3. Replace the synonym – Money Adjectives .........................................................................................3

4. Antonyms dominoes – Money Adjectives ...........................................................................................5

5. Dominoes – blanks ............................................................................................................................. 6

6. Mixed letters – Money Adjectives ....................................................................................................... 7

7. Crossword – Work Verbs.................................................................................................................... 8

8. Word Families – Work Verbs ............................................................................................................ 12

9. Word Families – blank ...................................................................................................................... 13

10. Mixed Sentences – Work Verbs ...................................................................................................14

11. Wordsearch – Weather words ...................................................................................................... 16

12. Speed Definitions – Weather words ............................................................................................. 20

13. Speed Definitions – blank ............................................................................................................. 21

14. Pictionary ...................................................................................................................................... 22

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Vocabulary Games & Activities www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org of 22

1. Memory Game (Pelmanism)

1. You can play the Memory Game with one learner, in pairs or in small groups.

2. Prepare a set of cards. This set contains pairs of words.

3. Deal the cards face down on the table.

4. Players take it in turns to turn over two of the cards.

5. If the cards are a pair, the player takes them.

6. If they are not a pair, they are turned over face down.

7. The game finishes when all the pairs have been found.

If you are making your own set of cards, it can be very difficult to include only one possible way of combining words. Don’t worry. Tell learners to look for common combinations or only for combinations covered in the lesson

2. Hangman

1. Choose a word, phrase or sentence. e.g. “technology”

2. Draw one dash for each letter of the word. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3. Each player guesses one letter at a time. If the letter is in one of the words fill it in everywhere it appears.

e.g. If the first player player picks “e” add the “e” _ e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

then the second player picks “o” add the “o’s” _ e _ _ _ o _ o _ _

If a player guesses a letter that does not appear in the word then add a line to the

drawing of a person.

Here is an example sequence of drawings, but you can use any drawing you like.

4. If the drawing of the person is completed before the word or words are guessed, the guessing players lose. If the players guess the word or words first, they win.



3. Replace the synonym – Money Adjectives

Use the words in the box to find synonyms for the words in bold.

budget financial precious

cheap free reasonable

economical half-price rich

expensive poor well-paid

1. He is a successful and wealthy man.

2. Food is usually inexpensive in supermarkets.

3. Being a professional football player is a very lucrative job.

4. He decided that owning two cars was not good value for money.

5. He didn't buy the shirt because it was too pricey.

6. He always uses low-cost airlines to save money on holiday.

7. I am so sorry because I broke the valuable vase you had in your bedroom.

8. Members all receive a complimentary copy of the monthly newsletter.

9. Most of these people are very badly off. They cannot find any work.

10. She paid a fair price for the hotel room.

11. The railcard allows students and young people to travel with a 50% discount on most trains.

12. They're having a few money related difficulties at the moment.



ANSWERS 1. rich 2. cheap 3. well-paid 4. economical 5. expensive 6. budget 7. precious 8. free 9. poor 10. reasonable 11. half-price 12. financial

NOTES

You can make a similar activity for any adjectives by looking up synonyms in a thesaurus.

However, be aware that:

some adjectives do not have a one word synonym, so you might have to use a phrase. For example in question 4 we have replaced ‘economical’ with ‘good value for money’

some adjectives have a different register. In other words, some adjectives are formal and some less formal. For example in question 5 the word ‘pricey’ is less formal than the word ‘expensive’

some adjectives are only used in combination with certain nouns. For example the words ‘budget’ and ‘low-cost’ are often used in combinations such as budget/low-cost airline, budget/low-cost holiday and budget/low-cost hotel

some adjectives have the same meaning in one context, but not another. For example you can call a vase both ‘precious’ and valuable’. However, a footballer can be described as ‘valuable’ but not ‘precious’.

You might want to highlight these points to your students when you use worksheets like this with your class.

When you are making your own activities, it is a good idea to:

use real examples from native speakers/writers whenever possible. You can find these in course books, newspapers, magazines and good dictionaries

check the meaning and examples in at least two dictionaries, if you are not sure, to make sure that the synonyms are compatible.



4. Antonyms dominoes – Money Adjectives

1. Cut up 1 set of dominoes for each group of 3/4 people. (Note that each adjective appears on two dominoes).

2. Each student takes four dominoes. The remaining dominoes are put in a pile face down.

3. One player plays a domino and the next player has to add an opposite.

When a player plays a domino, they must make a sentence using one of the adjectives. If they cannot make a correct sentence, they cannot use that domino and must wait until their next turn.

4. If the player cannot play a domino, they take one from the pile and wait for their next turn.

5. The winner is the person who gets rid of all their dominoes first.

budget badly-paid badly-paid budget

cheap needy needy cheap

duty-free unreasonable unreasonable duty-free

economical amateur amateur economical

half-price worthless worthless half-price

inexpensive rich rich inexpensive

poor high-priced high-priced poor

precious full-price full-price precious

professional wasteful wasteful professional

reasonable duty-paid duty-paid reasonable

wealthy expensive expensive wealthy

well-paid pricey pricey well-paid



5. Dominoes – blanks

Here is a blank set for you to copy and use to design your own dominoes. Or, as an alternative, why not get your students to create them?



6. Mixed letters – Money Adjectives

A really fun way to review vocabulary at the end of the lesson or the week is to mix up the letters of each word.

Write a word or words on the board.

The students then race to identify the vocabulary.

cheap peach expensive neevipexs poor ropo free refe half-price carelfhip rich hirc duty-free feudtyre financial cannilifa inexpensive sineevenipx professional elpasofirson reasonable abaloneres valuable bluelava budget betdug economic iconcome economical micecono precious icepusor wealthy tealwhy well-paid dewillpa



7. Crossword – Work Verbs

Instructions

Here are two ways of using the same crossword.

Traditional

This method is useful for setting the crossword as homework or to enable students to work more quietly on their own or in pairs.

1. Each student works alone or in pairs to solve the crossword with clues provided by the teacher.

This crossword and the solution are on pages 9 and 10.

Interactive

This method involves students working together to produce clues and then to solve the answers

1. Put the students into two groups, Group A and Group B.

2. Give each group a crossword with only half of the answers completed (see page 11)

3. Each group works together to review the meaning of the words in their half of the crossword.

4. Each group then works together to write clues for each word.

The best clues for students to produce are dictionary type definitions and/or example sentences with a gap for the target word (see hints on making crosswords below).

5. Pair one student from a Group A with one student from a Group B. They then take it in turns to ask each other clues and to complete their crosswords.

Hints on creating crosswords

There are many free programmes on the internet for creating your own crosswords. Searching for the phrase “free crossword maker” will bring up many useful links.

In the traditional crossword, the clues are all definitions. You can save a lot of time by taking the definitions from dictionaries. These definitions were all taken or adapted from the Cambridge Dictionary Online

Dictionaries are also an excellent place to find example sentences. These can then be used to find gap fill type clues.

e.g. Clue: We ___________ a large number of cars from Japan

Answer: We import a large number of cars from Japan



http://dictionary.cambridge.org/


Across

2. to organize or control something

5. to be in control of an office, shop, team, etc.

7. to produce goods in large numbers, usually in a factory using machines

8. to begin to operate (a business or organization)

11. to send goods to another country for sale

13. to begin to to employ someone

15. to give someone money for the work that they do

16. to buy or bring in products from another country

17. to leave your job and stop working, usually because you are old

Down 1. to give someone a more important job in the same organization

3. to get money for doing work

4. to officially tell your employer that you are leaving your job

6. to request something, usually officially, especially by writing or sending in a form

9. to teach someone how to do something, usually a skill that is needed for a job

10. to spend most of your time doing one type of business

11. to have someone work or do a job for you and pay them for it

12. to formally establish a new company, organization, system, way of working, etc.

14. to do a job, especially the job you do to earn money



Solution

Across 2. RUN

5. MANAGE

7. MANUFACTURE

8. START

11. EXPORT

13. HIRE

15. PAY

16. IMPORT

17. RETIRE

Down 1. PROMOTE

3. EARN

4. RESIGN

6. APPLY

9. TRAIN

10. SPECIALIZE

11. EMPLOY

12. SETUP

14. WORK



Group B



8. Word Families – Work Verbs

Here is a completed word family for verbs related to work. On the next page there is a blank chart that you can give to your students to complete.

Verb Noun Adjective Person

work work working worker

earn earnings earned earner

apply application - applicant

employ employment employed / employable employer/ee

manage management managed manager

pay pay paid payer/ee

promote promotion promoted -

retire retirement retired retiree

run - run -

set up - set up -

export export exported exporter

hire hiring hired hirer

import import imported importer

manufacture manufacturing manufactured manufacturer

resign resignation resigned -

sack sack sacked -

specialize specialization specialized specialist

start start - -

train training trained trainer/ee



9. Word Families – blank

Verb Noun Adjective Person



10. Mixed Sentences – Work Verbs

Rearrange the words to make complete sentences.

1. there / for / I’ve / a / job / applied

2. £50,000 / more / a / earns / year / she / than

3. employ / company / how / your / does / many / people ?

4. cheeses / exported / French / different / are / countries / many / to

5. hire / image / we / relations / should / public / improve / consultant / to / our / a

6. Japan / import / large / of / number / we / cars / from / a

7. King Street / used / she / to / manage / bookshop / the / on

8. that / works / a / for / he / company / manufactures / parts / car

9. boring / pays / it / at / my / is / job / but / least / well

10. been / she’s / promoted / just / manager / to / senior / sales

11. she / headteacher / as / resigned

12. 1990 / in / retired / he

13. ran / she / own / her / restaurant / five / years / for

14. set / own / up / business / plans / he / to / his

15. lawyer / a / who / she’s / specializes / cases / criminal / in

16. company / software / his / started / own / he /

17. computer / staff / training / system / how / use / to / we / the / are / our / in / new

18. he / for / company / computer / works / a



Mixed Sentences - Answers

1. I've applied for a job there.

2. She earns more than £50,000 a year.

3. How many people does your company employ?

4. French cheeses are exported to many different countries.

5. We should hire a public relations consultant to help improve our image.

6. We import a large number of cars from Japan.

7. She used to manage the bookshop on King Street.

8. He works for a company that manufactures car parts.

9. My job is boring but at least it pays well.

10. She's just been promoted to senior sales manager.

11. She resigned as headteacher.

12. He retired in 1990.

13. She ran her own restaurant for five years.

14. He plans to set up his own business.

15. She's a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases.

16. He started his own software company.

17. We are training all our staff in how to use the new computer system.

18. He works for a computer company.

NOTE : Dictionaries are an excellent place to find example sentences, which can be used for many exercises.

These examples were taken from the Cambridge Dictionary Online.




11. Wordsearch – Weather words

Instructions

The aim of a wordsearch is to find the words hidden in a grid of letters. The words may be placed horizontally, vertically and diagonally. They are always in a straight line. Words might overlap each other.

Traditional

This method is useful for setting the wordsearch as homework or to enable students to work more quietly on their own or in pairs.

1. Each student works alone to solve the word search crossword with clues provided by the teacher.

This word search and the solution are on pages 17 and 18.

Interactive

These methods involve students working together and interacting to solve the puzzle.

1. The students work in pairs to complete the gap fill sentences on page 19

(Answers to gap fill: a. cold, b. humid ,c. hot, d. icy, e. cloudy, f. rainy, g. foggy, h. pouring, i. snowy, j. mild, k. stormy, l. chilly, m. breezy, n. frosty, o. cool, p. misty, q. freezing, r. boiling)

2. In the same pairs the students try to find the answers to the gap fill in the word search.

For more energetic students

1. Put the students into teams.

2. Give each team a different colour pen.

3. Project the word search puzzle onto the whiteboard.

4. The teacher tells the class one of the words.

5. The students look at the board to try and find the word. Once they have found it, one of the team runs to the board and marks the word.

6. The winning team in the one that marks the most words.

Hints on creating wordsearches

There are many free programmes on the internet for creating your own word searches. Searching for the phrase “free word search maker” will bring up many useful links.

Dictionaries are an excellent place to find example sentences. These can then be used to create gap fill sentences.



Weather Words Wordsearch - Puzzle

u f b z d p n m i l d b c y t

p f d o f j h u m i d e c u y

o z r y i y a m p t i i p r o

u w y o t l a v i p m e y a v

r w g s s y i l u x e d c i t

i a i n m t o n n a u f l n s

n m z r j o y z g o l u g y n

g u o z c l w f l x i a g j o

h t m v l c c c g h m x v k w

s k b i y e o o s m c a a z y

c u h g y b j x l w f z b t x

j c g y n m d x i d d y o f k

c o b v v j n t h r h h t c i

f b r e e z y c b y h f r i o

f r e e z i n g r p v d e o p

Can you find these weather words in the

puzzle?

cold

hot

cloudy

foggy

snowy

stormy

breezy

cool

freezing

humid

icy

rainy

pouring

mild

chilly

frosty

misty

boiling



Weather Words Word Search - Solution

- - b - - - - m i l d - - y -

p f - o - - h u m i d - c - -

o - r - i y - - - - - i - r -

u - - o t l - - - - - - y a -

r - - s s y i l - - - d - i -

i - i - m t o n - - u - - n s

n m - r - o y - g o - - - y n

g - o - c l - - l - - - - - o

- t - - l - c c - - - - - - w

s - - i y - - o - - - - - - y

- - h g - - - - l - - - - t -

- c g - - - - - - d - - o - -

- o - - - - - - - - - h - - -

f b r e e z y - - - - - - - -

f r e e z i n g - - - - - - -



Weather Words Word Search – Gap fill sentences

a. You'll feel ……. if you don't wear a coat.

b. Singapore is very hot and ………… in the summer.

c. It was a ………….sunny day, so we had a picnic.

d. She fell off her bike on the ………….street.

e. It was about to rain and the sky was very ………………..

f. On a ……..night, I was walking down the street with an umbrella.

g. It was so ………………. that I couldn’t see the car in front.

h. It’s too wet to play tennis - it's …………!

i. We had a very …………..winter this year. The kids were able to go skiing a lot.

j. We've had a very …………..winter this year. It hasn’t been very cold

k. It was a dark and ……………. night. Lightening flashed across the sky.

l. It was a …………. October day so I put on a jacket.

m. It was a ………….. day, just right for sailing.

n. It was a cold and ……………. morning and the windows were covered in ice.

o. A nice ………….. breeze made us feel more comfortable on the hot beach.

p. It was …………… in the morning, so it was difficult to see the top of the mountain.

q. It was a …………… day, so I wore two jumpers and a coat.

r. In the summer at midday it is ……………...



12. Speed Definitions – Weather words

1. Divide the students into small groups.

2. Write each word on separate small pieces of paper. Prepare 1 set of words for each group. Fold up the pieces of paper and place each set in a hat or similar container.

3. Place one hat/container on the table in the middle of each group.

4. Each student is given a 30 second time limit.

5. The student takes one piece of paper at a time from the hat/container. The student tries to explain the word on the paper to their group.

6. If the group guess the word, the student gets one point and takes another piece of paper from the hat/container.

7. If the group cannot guess the word, the student folds the piece of paper and replaces it in the hat/container and takes another piece of paper.

8. The game is over when all of the words have been guessed.

9. The winner is the student with the most points.

Here are two sets of pre-prepared weather words. On the next page there are two blank sets for you to use with your own words.

cold humid

cold humid

hot icy

hot icy

cloudy rainy

cloudy rainy

foggy pouring

foggy pouring

snowy mild

snowy mild

stormy chilly

stormy chilly

breezy frosty

breezy frosty

cool misty

cool misty

freezing boiling

freezing boiling



13. Speed Definitions – blank





14. Pictionary

1. Divide the students into small groups. Give each group a large sheet of paper.

2. Write each word on separate small pieces of paper. Prepare 1 set of words for each group. Fold up the pieces of paper and place each set in a hat or similar container.

3. Place one hat/container on the table in the middle of each group.

4. Each student is given a 30 second time limit.

5. The student takes one piece of paper at a time from the hat/container. The student draws a picture that represents the word.

6. If the group guess the word, the student gets one point and takes another piece of paper from the hat/container.

7. If the group cannot guess the word, the student folds the piece of paper and replaces it in the hat/container and takes another piece of paper.

8. The game is over when all of the words have been guessed.

9. The winner is the student with the most points.

This game is similar procedure to 12. Speed Definitions, so you can use the same pre-prepared cards as those in 12. Speed Definitions

Here is an alternative way to play.

1. Divide the class into three or four teams.

2. In turn, a member from each team comes to the board.

3. Give the student a vocabulary word either in writing, or for students that can't read, just whisper it in their ear.

4. Then the student has 1 minute to draw the word you gave them.

5. Each student’s team shouts out guesses.

6. If after 1 minute the team can't guess the word, the person stops drawing, and the other teams, each get one guess.

Make the student put their writing hand behind their back and use their other hand to draw. This is a good way of making teams equal if some of the students are better at drawing than others

The students have to race to the board to draw their pictures. This is effective if your students are more energetic.

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