Vocabulary activities

1. Match the words with the pictures.

2. Match the parts of the phrases.

3. Match the words with their definitions.

4. Guessing game. Look at the pictures and answer my question: “What’s this?” Now I’ve chosen one picture, try to guess what it is.

5. Memory game. Look at the pictures on the blackboard and remember the place of each picture. Now I will turn them back. Name the pictures in correct order.

6. Find the odd word out.

7. Put the letters in the correct order to make words.

8. Complete the sentences using a suitable word.

9. Read the text. Change the pictures into words.

10. Read the sentences and choose the word that best fits each space.

11. Find the words in the chain.

12. Complete the puzzle.

13. Put the following words into the columns under the headings …

14. Write the words on strips of paper. Group the pupils by 4-5. Arrange the words on the desk in front of each group. The teacher pronounces the word, the pupils should find it quickly and grab it. The pupil with the greatest number of words is the winner.

15. Parrots. The teacher shows pictures and names them. The pupils repeat after the teacher if he’s right. If he’s not right they don’t repeat it.

16. Bingo.

17. Answer my questions. Give laconic answers.

18. Miming game. Mime the word for everybody to guess it.

19. Password. Explain the meaning of the word to the group to guess it.

20. Brainstorm the words you know on the topic … and complete the spidergram.

21. Correct the factual mistakes.

22. Hot seat. A pupil sits down on the chair in front and translates the words suggested by his class-mates from Ukrainian into English. If he’s mistaken or doesn’t know the answer, the seat becomes hot and the game for this pupil is over. The next pupil takes his seat. The pupil who manages to translate the most number of words becomes the winner.

23. Interview. Make up questions with active vocabulary. Ask your class-mates to answer them then report back.

24. I spy. A teacher says: I spy with my little eye something that begins with letter L (e.g. lake). The pupil who is the first to guess takes the card with the word. The pupil with the most of the cards is the winner.

25. Category game. The teacher chooses a category (animals, colors, school objects, kitchen gadgets...) and each student has to say a word that belongs to that category.  If a student doesn't know, he / she stands up. Then, the teacher chooses another category the following student starts again. In the following round, the student who's standing will have another chance. If he / she can say a word that belongs to the new category, he / she can sit down. 

26. Give students, in groups of 3-4, a set of cut-up cards, and instruct them to place all the cards face-down and spread them out on the table. The first student turns over two cards. If the two cards form a strong collocation (e.g. to listen – to music, to read – a book), he keeps the pair and has another go. If the cards do not collocate, he turns them over again, leaving them in the same position on the table, and the next student has a turn. The winner is the person who has most pairs at the end.

Exercise 1. Match the words in A and B to complete the commands:

A	B
Supply Put Fill in What is How Look Repeat Consult	the gaps/blanks using the given words the English/Ukrainian for…? the word up in the dictionary the words after me the given words in the right categories would you translate it? the dictionary the missing word

Exercise 2. Fill in prepositions where necessary:

1. Write … all the words you know connected with school. 2. Fill … the gaps using the words … the box. 3. What is the English … “театр”? 4. Look the word … in the dictionary. 5. Copy the list of the words … the board … your vocabularies. 6. Repeat the words … me. 7. Look … the pictures and answer … my questions. 8. Come … … the front. 9. Explain the meaning … the word … the group. 10. Make … questions with active vocabulary.