English Vocabulary Drills

[Niko]

How to Improve English Vocabulary

Building a strong English vocabulary is always a goal of any student. As there are many roads leading to Rome, so are there many ways of building English vocabulary.

One idea of building English vocabulary is through pictures. The teacher will ask the student to look at a picture and complete missing words from sentences that describe that picture.

Let's try an example!

Table Setting Vocabulary

There is a white ____ (palace, plant, plate, play) on this ____ (chair, desk, table, tail). On the left of it there are two ____ (forks, fours, fox, foxes), and on the right a ____ (kick, kite, knife, nice). At the other end of the table, there is also a ____ (soon, spoon, sport, suppose) on the left, and a ____ (cup, gas, glass, grass) on the right.


As you can see, the above is a simple exercise for students to build their English vocabulary. Further explanation and the words in parenthesis can be taught to students at the end of the exercise.

Remember to keep the exercise short, and sentences simple. The idea is to improve English vocabulary, so don't include overly difficult grammar structures.

Really interesting site. I think the entire ESL movement is quite popular in Australia. Have my own vocabulary blog. Would appreciate your comments.

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SpinalTrap

[rwall7943]

I think that drills really work well. American schools also use them in teahing american children english. This is an awesome to teach english.

[ShelleyV]

I agree that drills are good and they can be presented in fun ways, as games that are really disguised drills. Repetition is the mother of skill but we don't like repeating things back parrot fashion.

Here is a great drill game that can be used by the whole class at the same time:
Divide your class into teams. If you have space then line
the teams up in your space. If you have rows of desks then
make each row a team and have the children stand up in
between their desks. If you have children on benches with
no room to move, then make each horizontal row a team.

Give the first child in each row a flashcard with a picture
on it. When you say "go", the first child turns to the
next one, names the item on the card and passes it along
the line. Each child must take the item and pass it to the
next child in the row while naming the item.

The winning team is the one which gets the picture card
down the end of the line first. You can of course play so
that the card has to come back to the front again.

It is a good idea to use referees. A referee is someone
nominated from another team who listens in as the card is
passed down the line and makes sure that the word is said
properly, and that accuracy is not sacrificed for speed.

If you would like this game to be quiet then play as above
but make a rule that only whispering is allowed.

If necessary you can make a rule that anyone not playing
properly or messing around, or being loud, will mean that
the card in that team has to start back at the beginning
again, or is confiscated meaning that the team cannot win a
point in that round.

The use of picture cards is good because it adds a fun
element to the game. The children can see the progress of
the card travelling down their own line, and the lines of
other teams, so it adds some excitement.

In addition it allows you to see who should and who
shouldn't be talking.

You can have a useful rule where only the players holding
the card can talk - it is a "pass" to be able to speak. In
that sense you don't even have to pass down a relevant
picture, but can use anything - such as a book.