English word Building

As it is proved it is very important the visual input when teaching languages to primary students. The method used in our school for the students from 1st and 2nd grade to learn vocabulary through pictures flashcards and word cards has been very successful. Although we try to use them in a variety of ways. Like uncover a small section of it and see if they can guess what the picture is. Stick them on the board and hand out cards with the corresponding words on them. Let the children see if they can guess which words go with which pictures, etc...
During the course we have also introduce vocabulary in other ways that has motivated and kept our students interested. Activities such as Picture and word pairs. We use pictures and words on cards with two of each word. Put them all face down and then get the children to take it in turns to find the pairs. Each time they turn over a card they have to say the word on the card. That way they will say and hear the words over and over again. Here you can see some of the cards for the topic of food they have cut out or like in the case of second grade students, they have prepared themselves.

Another activity we have done to learn new vocabulary is trough a game called Taboo. This is the game where one person has a word on card and has to describe it without saying what’s on the card. We did that with fruits and vegetables. Here are some examples of the descriptions they had to do:

Taboo

• Name a fruit that start with “A”. It is white on the inside and can be red, yellow, or green on the outside.


• Name a long, thin fruit that starts with “B”. It is yellow on the outside and white on the inside.


• Name a long, thin, orange vegetable that grows underground. It starts with a “C”.


• Name a vegetable that is green on the outside and white on the inside. It start with a “C”.

Esther Casorrán Torres
Primary English Teacher