IT WORKS

IN PRACTICE
More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all
worked for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us your
own contribution. The contributors to this issue will each receive a digital
subscription to Modern English Teacher.

BESPOKE WORD CARDS The following activities involving word cards are conducive
to the active study of vocabulary: They can form the main part
Christine Röll, Jena, Germany of a lesson or be used as fillers.
Vocabulary acquisition is a major aspect of language learning, and
learners enrolled in any type of English course – whether general Categorising
English or English for Specific Purposes – need to engage in It is believed that words are stored in the mind in a kind of
activities that allow them to commit vocabulary to long-term network or web, in a highly organised and interconnected
memory and store the words in their mental lexicon. Research manner. An activity that promotes the formation of this type
suggests that we actually have to use a word seven times before it of network is to get the students to organise their vocabulary
becomes fixed in our memories. Students, therefore, need cards according to categories, which they choose
opportunities to revise relevant vocabulary on a regular basis. themselves. For example, in the case of concrete words,
A highly productive method for enabling students to review these categories could be professions, workplaces and tasks.
vocabulary at regular intervals is to produce ‘bespoke’ word cards With abstract terms, the categories might be positive and
(in the sense that they are personalised by the students), which negative. Categorising can be done individually or with a
can be used for many different types of vocabulary exercises, partner. After finishing the task, the students can compare
done individually or with a classmate. Word cards allow the their versions and comment on them. Depending on the
students to engage in tactile activities, such as sorting words and topic, they can also rate the cards according to personal
moving them physically. This type of activity is likely to facilitate preferences, for example the extent to which they like or
learning for all types of learners, but it is particularly useful for dislike a word/topic or are interested in it.
those learners who require hands-on tasks where they can touch
and manipulate material. Many students with a learning disability, Learning and revising
such as dyslexia, also benefit from tactile activities. Where the words for the cards are supplied by the teacher, the
Word cards are quite easy to produce. Each time you cover a students can be asked to sort them according to their level of
relevant lexical field or text, all you have to do is to prepare a understanding: the words they understand and can use
handout with important words and collocations arranged in a grid productively are placed in one pile, the words they only know
(three or four words in a row). Make sure the grid is the same size receptively go in a second pile, and the words they don’t know
each time, so that the cards form a unified pack. With more yet in a third pile. The students can then revise the vocabulary
advanced and ESP classes, the students themselves can be regularly outside the classroom until all the word cards have
involved in the compilation of the relevant terms. Get them to cut been moved to the first pile.
the word cards out at home and bring them to class. If the
Writing
students want to write a translation of the words on the cards, it is
better to do this on the back: to increase the learning effect, the Some, or all, of the words can be used for collaborative text
translations should not be immediately visible, thereby requiring reconstruction (the students are told to use certain word cards as
the students to the foundation for rewriting a text they have previously
retrieve the encountered), or as a basis for the students’ own writing.
meaning of the
Guessing
words from
memory. The For this activity, the students work in pairs. They take turns to
cards can be held choose a word from one of their word cards and explain or
together with a paraphrase it to their partner. The partner then has to guess
paper clip or which word is meant. The students in each pair can work on the
rubber band and same lexical field or a different one.
may be stored in When you bring the class back together, each student
an envelope for chooses a number of words from one or more lexical areas, and
easy transport. defines them for the whole class. n

32 Issue 130 • September 2020 www.etprofessional.com

 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE

TREASURE HUNT
Noel Harrison, Lavant, UK
An end-of-course fun activity for my summer school students
involves a treasure hunt around the local area. This takes quite
a bit of setting up, but it is always a popular activity and well
worth the trouble. The students are divided into two teams.
Each team is given a piece of paper with the first clue. This will
take them to a particular location, where they are told to look
for an empty food tin which will contain the next clue. That clue
will lead them to another location, where another tin contains
the next clue, and so on. The final clue sends them back to the
school to receive their prize. To avoid littering, it is explained to
LIFE IMITATING ART the students that each tin will contain two copies of a clue: one
for each team. If they arrive at a tin and find both clues still in
Marion Delaney, Cork, Ireland there, they are to remove one clue only and move on. If they
During the Covid-19 lockdown, friends around the world sent find only one clue, they have to remove that and take the tin
me links to a challenge originally posed, I believe, by the with them. Dire punishments are threatened for any team that
Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and which subsequently finds two clues in a tin and removes both of them!
spread to museums in a variety of different countries. The
We have never had any problem with the tins being left
challenge was to recreate a well-known work of art, using
behind or being removed by members of the public before the
only household objects as props, together with the people
students find them, but we have a pretty good relationship with
who were in lockdown with you: generally, members of your
our neighbours and they have got used to seeing our students
family. The craze definitely caught on and the internet and
roaming around looking for clues – and to staff members
social media networks were full of the results.
creeping out early in the morning to place the tins!
Many people also involved their pets. In one of my favourites,
The clues can be worded according to the language level of
the participants had simply persuaded their golden labrador
the participating students, and are a useful way of encouraging
dog to lie down and look backwards over its shoulder in a
the students to take an interest in the local area. Clues may be
provocative pose reminiscent of the naked woman in ‘La
based on local history or geography (discussed during their
Grande Odalisque’ by Ingres. A particularly fine version of
course, so there is an added incentive to pay attention!). They
Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ was set up by a group
can also be linguistic, involve anagrams, riddles ... the
of masked and gowned health workers in a hospital canteen.
possibilities are endless.
In other creations, toilet rolls were used to represent the
flamboyant wigs in 18th-century portraits or neck ruffs from When both teams return to the school, the tins are
the 16th century, hockey sticks were halberds and TV remote collected and prizes are awarded, with the winning team
controls were fans. Some of the recreations were incredibly getting slightly better prizes than the runners-up. n
complicated and inventive; some were simple but effective.
All were hilarious, and had clearly helped to cheer people up
and give them something fun to do during what was, for
everyone, a very trying period.
I thought that my students might like to take up this challenge
as well, and to present the results as a live tableau during a
Zoom class. To bring in a language learning element, I told
them that they had to do some research on the original
painting and/or its artist and give a short presentation on it.
When they had shared their tableau, they had to talk us
through it, explaining what each object was and what it
represented. At the end, we all voted on the best one.
Of all the activities I set my students during the lockdown
period, this was the one that they found the most motivating,
and they engaged with it enthusiastically. It helped that they
could involve their families, too, and an atmosphere of friendly
rivalry developed, as families competed to give their student
the best chance of winning the final vote.
Once Covid-19 is finally over and we are safely back in the
classroom with no social distancing requirements, this is an
activity that I will go back to – perhaps as an end-of-term
treat for the students. n

www.etprofessional.com Issue 130 • September 2020 33