Vocabulary Tag

Sherry Lin

PREPARATION:

Vocabulary in English and its corresponding definition (whether by pictures or Japanese) written on flashcards big enough for the whole class to see. Adjust amount of vocabulary to fit your student level. 15 is a good number for my intermediate class.

(optional) Prizes of encouragement for the winning team

PROCEDURE:

1. Teach or review the vocabulary
2. Post the English vocabulary words in random order on the board
3. Split the class into 2 – Side A vs. Side B
4. Explain to the students that they will send a team member to the board every round and compete to see who can touch the correct vocabulary first
5. Repeat until either every student has had a turn, or until time is up

(optional) keep track of scores on the board for added excitement

VARIATIONS:

1. When the game begins, and there are 2 students ready to go at the front of the class, tell them to face the board. They cannot look at the JTE. The JTE will then display the definition to the rest of the class, and they are supposed to shout out the answer in English to their teammate. (This variation keeps more of the class involved)
2. Try posting the definitions on the board, and have the JTE display the English (this might not work well for the whole class participation method, because the students might communicate in Japanese instead of English)
3. Once the students can remember the vocabulary from J=>E and E=>J, mix up all cards, and post them all on the board. The students can enjoy a memory game. They take turn flipping the cards, and trying to find the correct pair of vocabulary and definition
4. For advanced levels, instead of having students “tag” the correct vocabulary, you can have them compete to see who can write out the target vocabulary word (with correct spelling) the fastest
5. For an additional challenge, once the students have tagged the word, bonus points goes to the team who can come up with a grammatical sentence using the target expression