Learning vocabulary in today's world part 1

Learning Vocabulary in Today’s World

Maria Lúcia Sciamarelli
IATEFL - Glasgow, 2012

2. Record and guess

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

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.

3. Creating photo albums

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

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.

4. Where animals live

Language Focus: names of animals; geographical
region and its descriptions; follow-up reading
Level: pre-intermediate to advanced
Technology: mobile phones or tablets
App: Wild Friends

In class:

Follow-up activity:

5. My favorite places

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

6. Dreaming your way into a story’s
vocabulary

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

7. Remember great food experiences

Language Focus: food vocabulary; follow-up writing
(recipe)
Level: basic to advanced
Technology: mobile phones
App: Evernote Food

8. Outsmarting Traffic

Language Focus: directions and related adjectives
Technology: mobile phones and tablets
App: Waze

9. Where does it hurt?

Language Focus: doctors, symptoms, facilities,
diseases, medications, procedures
Level: pre-intermediate to advanced (*only for adults)
App: iTriage

10. Words from pictures

Language Focus: some basic vocabulary for children;
pronunciation
Level: starter (children)
App: Flash Cards (Fun Fun Soft)

11. From sounds to words

Language Focus: rhythm, stress of words and chunks
Level: all levels
Technology: mobile phones
App: Ocarina

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/

12. The Weather Forecast

Language Focus: weather vocabulary
Level: all levels
Technology: mobile phones, tablets, IWB, computers
App: The Weather Channel

13. Best Friends

Language Focus: adjectives; follow-up writing
Level: lower intermediate to advanced
Technology: mobile phones, tablets
App: Glow Dark; Opuss

14.Unstuck

Language Focus: adjectives; language for advice;
question-making; reading and writing
Level: intermediate to advanced
Technology: tablets; computer
App: 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.

15. Planets

Language Focus: points of compass; directions;
geographical forms
Level: elementary to advanced
Technology: tablets, mobile phones
App: Planets

16. What’s happiness?

Language Focus: adjectives to describe feelings and
places; follow-up writing
Technology: computers, IWB
App: PowerPoint; Glow Dark
Activity adapted from “What’s Happiness” by Herbert
Puchta, Jane Arnold and Mario Rinvolucri

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.

17. How does music make you feel?

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

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.

18. Positive Qualities

Language Focus: words to describe positive qualities
Level: intermediate to advanced

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.

19. Yours, Vincent

Language Focus: description words; follow-up writing
Level: intermediate to advance
Technology: computers, IWB, mobile phones, tablets
App: Yours, Vincent The letters of Vincent Van Goch

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.

20. Dreaming your way into a poem

Language Focus: general vocabulary; follow-up
writing
Level: pre-intermediate to advance
App: POETRY from the Poetry Foundation; Opuss

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.

21. Imagine: from song to pictures

Language Focus: general vocabulary
Level: pre-intermediate to advance
App: Flickr

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.

22. What’s your style?

Language Focus: adjectives to describe people x
places
Level: advanced
Time: 100 minutes
Technology: IWB

Learning vocabulary in today's world part 1

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