Games are a great way for students to practice and comprehend what we are teaching them. I encourage you to take a look at some of these games pertaining to vocabulary comprehension. Vocabulary practice can often be tedious and time consuming. If we just give the students the words with the definitions and quiz them, we won’t get long-lasting results. With games, students will be able to practice using, identifying, and learning vocabulary in a fun and interesting way. These games could be used for Literacy development or in a Special Education environment. The rules can be changed to meet the needs of your students. It’s always good to have games handy for your classroom.
Enjoy and have a wonderful Spring break!!
GAMES TO PRACTICE VOCABULARY COMPREHENSION TO USE
IN THE CLASSROOM
The students place words in a grid (ie: Tic Tac
Toe) of 9 or 16 and I then say the definition of the posted words. The first
student (students) to get the words across, down or diagonally, to stand and
say BINGO, would have to state the word and its meaning. Winners got tickets to
use towards less homework, candy treats, ice cream, free book, etc.
Students are divided into two teams. A word would
be defined. Those that know the answer stand. Those that don't and wish to
"bluff" the answer can stand, too. A student is called on to give the
definition. If correct, the number of points of students standing is awarded (or
deducted if the person called doesn't know the answer).
A vocab term is placed on the back of each
student. They then circulate around the room asking YES or NO questions of
others to "guess" the word on their back.
Small groups are given a list of vocab words and
a list of meanings. The students shuffle the words on a desk face down and then
take turns trying to match the word and its definition.
Students use a word, ie: Open door policy when
studying China and try to illustrate the word with a picture. This is kind of
like charades or the popular app Draw Something.
*(Create whole sheets, different colors, with the
definitions and answers in parenthesis at bottom.) Teams of 4 or 5 would gather
around a "campfire" (a box with red fire drawn on outside) and would
divide up their set of definitions. In turns, they would say their word and the
definition and make sure everyone knows their word. Everyone MUST know the word
before it could be balled up and tossed into the "fire.” Once they all
knew their sets of words and definitions, they would move to another fireside
with the same words, but with different wording of definitions, and the third
time it would be the same definitions and words on different colors of paper.
This is effective because the students are working together and practicing the
words at least three times. By mixing up the paper and the definitions, the
students will learn to recognize words even if the definition is different from
the specific way it is written in the dictionary.
The teacher selects a word from the dictionary
that students are sure not to know. On slips of paper, students write what they
think is the definition of the word. The teacher writes the real definition on
a slip, and then mixes up all the slips. After reading and talking about all
the definitions, students guess which ones they think are correct. Students get
a point for guessing the correct definition, and also get a point if someone
else picked the definition they wrote.
Hand out a list of the current week’s vocabulary words to each
student. The only rule is that the vocabulary words must be used correctly. The
first student can say one to three sentences to set up the story, using the
first word on the list in one of those sentences. The next student adds to the
story in one to three sentences, using the next word on the list, and so on.
This encourages student interaction, practice with writing, and practice with
vocabulary comprehension.
