The document provides ideas and activities for teaching very young language learners. It describes 5 activities: 1) Having students find flashcards hidden around the room. 2) Playing a whisper game where students whisper vocabulary words to each other in a line. 3) Having students guess vocabulary words by holding up flashcards. 4) Using miming and gestures to convey vocabulary words. 5) Chanting and singing words to help students learn stress and pronunciation. The activities aim to make vocabulary learning engaging and memorable for young learners through games, movement, and multi-sensory techniques.

1. Very Young Learners
Ideas and activities for beginners
Find the flashcard / object
Teacher asks the students to close their eyes and arranges the flashcards /
objects that have been used in the lesson all over the classroom. Teacher
calls students to find the cards / objects individually or as a race (with the
latter, make sure there is enough room to run around).
Whisper in line
Students stand in a line, teacher puts down flashcards / objects in front of
the first one then goes to the back of the line and whispers one object to the
student at the end of the line. The students whisper the word to each other
until the first in line has to choose the right word. It is originally (ideal as) a
team-race (which team is quicker to transfer the whisper and to choose a
card) but my students enjoyed it without the competition part in a single
line. It is very effective for fixing words and their pronunciation, not to
mention the effect on the students’ social skills.
Guessing
Teacher holds flashcards that have been used previously in class to
him/her. Students guess what is on the card. It is very good for repetition,
pronunciation, listening comprehension (if the teacher explains what is on
the card). A variation is when the flashcards are on the board and the
teacher has small copies so that the students can see what they need to
choose from. The card itself can be given as a reward for the correct guess.
At the end of the activity the teacher can ask the students for the cards
individually.
Miming and mimicking
Every word that can be appropriately taught to a 5 year old can be conveyed
with a sign or action. When students are introduced to new vocabulary it is
good to assign a movement or gesture to it. It works especially well in stories.
During revision, the teacher can make the sign or gesture so students can
guess what the word is. The teacher can then appoint a new “teacher” who
plays with the classmates. My students especially like if I whisper the word
they have to show to the others into their ears.
Chanting
The idea here is that every word has a rhythm and can be said in different
ways and in different voices. When learning new vocabulary, it is useful to
use clapping or tapping and funny voices so that students can remember
word stress or sentence intonation. Also, songs and chants (especially ones
that list items, eg. Old McDonald) can be “remixed” using the new

2. vocabulary – and sometimes students will do this by themselves.