Posted by permission from Keith Toda
I’ve always said that students love any activity involving whiteboards and dry-erase markers. Here is a fun vocabulary activity:
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Write four known random vocabulary words on the board.
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Students have one minute to draw a picture on their whiteboards which incorporates/depicts all of the words (not four separate pictures, but one)
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Tell students if they do not know a word, then they should focus on what words they do know.
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When the minute is up, students show their whiteboards to each other, pointing out each word in Latin.
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Ask students to show their whiteboards to you, while you walk around and check them.
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Pick 2-3 boards to show the class, and using a document camera, project student pictures onto the screen
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Describe these pictures in Latin to the class, using the vocabulary words
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You can also circle questions about words in the picture
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Added variation – if you have time, draw a picture yourself beforehand involving the four words and show your version to students.
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If you are able, try now to Ask a Story from one of the pictures projected. Ask the student who did the drawing for details. He/she will usually be able to come up with a great story since it is his/her picture.
Obervations
- Drawing a visual depiction of the vocabulary word gives students another way to acquire vocabulary.
- Since students are drawing the vocabulary words themselves, it personalizes the acquisition process
- Even though everyone is drawing a picture using the same four words, I am always surprised by how many different interpretations there are. Students are too and enjoy seeing each other’s pictures.
- I will usually do 2-3 rounds of this activity in a period, lasting a total of 15 minutes (if I do not do an Ask a Story from one of the pictures)