iPad: vocabulary/dictionary activities and games

Use iPads plus online dictionaries and tools to create old-time favourite class games such as
– Taboo
– Call my bluff
– Or to create board races around collocations, word chunks etc

You can prepare these yourself. However you will get better value out of the exercise by getting your students to do the hard work and then to challenge their classmates.

So, for example, get one team to use Just the word to make a list of the 10 most frequently used collocations with "make" and another with "do". They show these to each other and as a whole class you make use of the opportunity to talk together and come up with examples of how the collocations are used in context.

Each group then makes cards for each of their examples. These include the verb plus the first letter of the word(s) that collocate with it and blanks for the letters that make it up e.g. 

make n _ _ _ _   = make noise.....

Now you can use the cards the students have made for a board race. Divide the class into teams. Stick the cards on the board one by one. The team to come up with the correct collocation wins the card and the team with the most cards wins the game.

Useful online tools:
for Taboo /Call my bluff
– MacMillan online dictionary

for board races on collocations or word chunks
– Just the word
– Oxford collocation dictionary
– Fraze.it

for brainstorming vocabulary
– AnswerGarden

You can also get students to create their own vocabulary quizzes:
– They can use Kahoot to create impressive class iPad challenges. IKahoot is pretty simply to use but if you want one, here's a Kahoot tutorial to help you out.
 Edmodo also has a tool for making quizzes. Check out this detailed tutorial from Russell Stannard
– Quizlet is another possibility and here's a tutorial showing what to do.

You might also be interested in these ready-made lesson plans for developing dictionary skills and building vocabulary:
– Dictionary skills for primary students
– Snack facts: recording vocabulary

Finally, the real bonus of using these online vocabulary tools with students is that you introduce them to ways that they can improve their language skills by themselves outside of the classroom which is half the battle towards making them more autonomous learners.

Putting Your Vocab Bag Online: Memrise and Quizlet

Intro

This post is essentially a comparision of two websites, Memrise and Quizlet. Both sites allow you to upload groups of words, both sites have activities to help students learn the words. My main interest has been from the perspective of making our class vocab bag virtual but they are a vocab-building resource you might encourage your learners to use regardless.

Background

For a couple of years I've created a 'Vocab Bag' page for students on our class wiki. The purpose of this was to encourage more self-study. Although this proved a good reference and record for the students, it basically ended up being just a list of words. Once when I was feeling particularly keen, I found time to link some of the words to online dictionary definitions and others to howjsay.com, where they could at least hear the words pronounced. This example is as good as it got but I found it far too time-consuming in the end and really not that good. Memrise and Quizlet offer much more.

What Memrise and Quizlet have in common

• Easy sign up

• Option to sign in with Facebook

• Ability to create your own word groups

• Option to pinch other people's word groups

• Words can be either paired with their translation or English definition

• Games and activities to help learn the words

• Quick and easy to upload new words

What's special about Memrise

The sound thinking behind Memrise is that words must be revisited and recycled before being commited to the long-term memory. In Memrise words are seeds which first grow in your greenhouse and then are moved to your garden. If you don't water your words, you'll get an email informing you that 'some of your words are wilting'. Here's are virtual vocab bag from term 1 this year.

Why I like Quizlet best

Whilst Memrise is certainly more attractive-looking, Quizlet has a number of features which make it my current choice:

1. Students can listen to the words!

2. You can monitor your students by creating an online group

3. There's a greater variety of games and activities

   
   

And what the students think

From a class of 10 adult intermediate students, 6 have signed with 3 students very active on this term's virtual vocab bag. I see this as a success. What I need to do next is to find out why some of the class are seemingly not interested. It maybe that web-based learning doesn't appeal to them – this has to be accepted by the tech-loving teacher! On the other hand, it may be they're having problems getting started – a class trip to the computer room might be the answer.

I recommend giving it a try whether or not you're a tech-loving teacher - it's certain some of your students will benefit. Give me a shout if you want help setting it up with your class.

More on online dictionaries and vocabulary building

Tools for helping students build their vocabulary:

• lingro paste URL of  a website to make all words clickable with dictionary definition or translation. Students can also create wordlists and play games with them
• wordnik gives a series of definitions, shows the word used in context and lets you hear it pronounced
• forvo hear words pronounced by people from all over the world
• wordia with videos to illustrate a words
• SnaPanda for Android phones recognises words and offers definitions
• Shahi visual dictionary that conbines a search of Wiktioanry and Flickr
• Spezify searches the internet for all media - photos, sounds, videos, music - related to a word

Life for weary students?

Want to inject a bit of life into a weary bunch of students? Here's a post on using Discovery's puzzlemaker.

Also a list of the best learning games for English language learners from reknowned blogger, Larry Ferlazzo

Imaginative ways to recycle vocabulary

One of our perrenial tasks is to help our students build up their vocabulary - which means that we have to be inventive in finding ways to recycle and extend the words they know.

Here's some great ideas from Cecilia Lemos which work for all age groups and also a list of further activities from the TeachingEnglish website for you to try out .

What does it mean to know a word?

A presentation from Karenne Sylvester to help you and your students with vocabulary building.

Great way for students to improve their vocabulary

Get them to find an article, song or any piece of text that they're interested and go to WordSift.

Paste the text in the box provided and they will get incredible results - all they need to extend and make their use of vocabulary more accurate. Great fun too!

(Thanks to Jon Brown for the link)