Fun with vocabulary in the 7th grade
This year I teach English in the seventh grade in Norway. As a part of my studies in English 2 at OsloMet I have been tasked with trying out a vocabulary activity. In this blog entry I will describe the task as well as how it went and how I assess my students.
I chose the activity Desert Island Words described in How To Put Words To Work by Thornbury. Where the pupils are given a list of vocabulary and then asked to rank the top five things they would like to bring to a deserted island. I wanted to focus on the aim from LK06 «understand and use a vocabulary related to familiar topics» which is an aim both in oral and written communication.
Before starting the activity we went through the vocabulary on the SmartBoard. I wanted to be sure the pupils knew or had some understanding of the words on the vocabulary list. I chose six words that I were confident that they knew and six words I thought were harder, for example box of matches. The vocabulary were a god fit as the pupils had just been to school camp for a week.
At my school the students work with learning partners. I decided that it should also be a part of this vocabulary task. I am glad I did because the pupils were eager to make their own lists but when they compared their lists to a classmate the discussions got interesting. At the end of the lesson each student were asked to share one sentence with the rest of the class, containing a word from the vocabulary list as well as their reasoning for bringing it along. We ended up having a lengthy discussion about all the things you could to with a knife and a rope.
While the students were writing their lists I walked around the classroom and offered help and guidance as well as assessing how well the learning partners worked, how the pupils pronounced the words and if they managed to make complete sentences. I collected all the written work so I can have a closer look at them in peace and quiet.
Next week I plan on recycling the vocabulary from the desert island activity. I am going to have them write a short story about living on a deserted island. I have also prepared a crossword puzzle with the vocabulary which I made on
https://www.education.com/worksheet-generator/reading/crossword-puzzle/ Where the pupils will get hints and have to retrieve the word from memory. The third recycling activity I have planned is a simple word scramble.
My pupils and I enjoyed this activity and I recommend other teachers to give it a go. If you have any questions or want to try my vocabulary worksheet in your classroom send me an e-mail and I will send it to you.
