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Nice vocab practice idea

This came from FrauSue, a German teacher who posts on the TES site.

For vocabulary revision, each student has a mini whiteboard or their rough book. The teacher gives a word and asks the class to think of any other semantically related words. While the class are writing down as many as they can think of in a time limit of, say, one or two minutes, the teacher writes down his or her own related word.

So, the teacher might announce the word piscine, then pupils could write words such as maillot de bain, eau, baignade, nager, se baigner, natation, plonger. Pupils get a point if one of their words matches the teacher's chosen word.

I think classes would go for this and the game has the advantage of being instantly adaptable to the level of the class. With a really smart group, the teacher could choose more obscure words; with a less able class the teacher could be more generous.

As a variation, a bright pupil could come to the front and lead the activity. Alternatively, with a well-disciplined group, the task could be done in groups of, say, four to six students.

Teachers delivering the GCSE course might find this a fun way of revising synonyms and associated words in preparation for the reading papers, in which examiners often use synonyms and near synonyms in matching tasks.

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