R
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ecycling and
eviewing towards
esponse
By:
Mª Antonia Castro
Silvia Benítez
Mª Antonia Castro is the Director of the Escuelas de Idiomas Ebenen in Torrejón de Ardoz and
has over 20 years experience in EFL as well as DaF (German) teaching. She is doing some research on
how to change attitudes towards the learning of foreign languages in Spain. She is co-writing materials for
promoting communication in EFL and DaF teaching.
Silvia Benítez has been an English and German language teacher at Escuela de Idiomas Ebenen for
eleven years. She is currently co-assistant in the direction of the school, and is especially interested in
learning processes and psychology applied to the language teaching. She is, together with Mª Antonia
Castro, writing materials for promoting communication in EFL and DaF teaching.
“A language is learnt more easily and is used with greater
precision if we review it on a regular basis, if we play with it,
if we teach it in phrases, with their collocations. The user of
a second language will feel more confident if he has had
enough practice before being exposed to it. If after
presenting a new word, this is reviewed either in an easily
understandable text, where its use will inevitably emerge,
through activities involving oral communication, or simply
by using it as part of a game, this word will be
spontaneously incorporated, it will begin to belong to the
active vocabulary. Whether it remains at this active level,
will depend on the frequency of its use. Hence the
importance of reviewing and revising not only words, but
also grammatical structures.
In sum, everything that constitutes a new language has to
be practised, it has to become part of our habitual way of
expressing ourselves, and this is only achievable by
encountering either the words or structures as often as
possible. A mere presentation is not enough.”
“All my life is an act of revision” (John Irving)
“The first draft reveals the art, revision reveals the artist”
(Michael Lee)
TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH
1.- MAKE A FILM (www.devolver.com)
Aims: Vocabulary and grammar
Level: All
Organisation: Groups
Preparation: None
Procedure: The teacher tells the students to go to the website and gives them 10 minutes to make a
video with the vocabulary she wants to revise. Then the students/ other teachers vote for the best
video.
2.- MAKE A COMIC-(www.stagedproject.com)
The same procedure as the previous activity
3.- CLASS BLOG
4.- JEOPARDY
Aims: Vocabulary and grammar
Level: All
Organisation: Groups
Preparation: Questions with the vocabulary/ grammar the teacher wants to revise
MIXED APPROACH
1.- UNJUMBLE THE WORD
Aims: Spelling and vocabulary
Level: All
Organisation: 2 groups
Preparation: Sentences containing a jumbled word (PPT)
Procedure: A sentence will be shown. The first group unjumbling the word will score as many points as
the letters in the word. If they need extra help (e.g. first letter), they will only score half of the letters
the word contains.
“My father loves ghopipns, he usually spends a lot of money".
“The whole nation had nuermdo the death of their great leader”
2.- 20 WORDS
Aims: Spelling and vocabulary. Listening
Other: imagination, memory
Level: All
Organisation: Class/ Individuals
Preparation: 20 words to dictate. The same words on slides (PPT)
Procedure: The teacher will give the students 4 headings and dictate them 20 words that they have to
classify in the categories they think they fit. How? By using imagination. Then the words will be
presented on slides to check the spelling. The teacher will define all the words. The students will not
take any notes at this stage, but listen to the teacher. Then the students will have a second opportunity
to re-organize the words under their headings. At the beginning of the next session, the teacher will give
the students gapped sentences to complete with these words.
“He spent a lot of time washing the dishes and now that he’s got a ____________ he doesn’t know what
to do with his free time”
“It was high time to change her ___________. She always woke up with a terrible backache”
3.- SLIDES WITH QUESTIONS
Aims: Grammar. Vocabulary. Spelling
Level: All
Organisation: Groups
Preparation: Power Point presentation with questions.
Procedure: The teacher makes a power point slideshow with a question on each slide. As the slides run,
the students in their groups have to write down the answers. The group having the highest number of
correct answers is the winner.
4.- FOSTERING MEMORIES
Aims: Grammar. Vocabulary. Speaking. Listening.
Level: All
Organisation: Groups
Preparation: Two similar pictures (per group) shown on a TV screen
Procedure: 2 groups A/ B. Group B will give the back to the screen and A will face it. A will describe it
and B will only listen without taking any notes. Then on the other way round. After that As and Bs will sit
in pairs and collect as many differences/ similarities as they can remember. The pictures will be shown
again and the group with the highest number of guesses will be the winner. The pictures should be
selected to revise pre-taught vocabulary.
5.- VIDEO BINGO
Aims: Vocabulary.
Level: All
Organisation: Individuals
Preparation: Teacher searches for a video with the vocabulary she wants to revise
Procedure: Teacher sets the topic (e.g. Objects in the kitchen). Students predict 5 objects they will see in
the video (e.g. Mr. Bean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ifjObwsUlw for adults and Ratatouille
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3sBBRxDAqk for children). Students cross out their words when
they see them in the video.
CLASSICAL APPROACH
1.- BODIES
Aims: Vocabulary. Grammar. Spelling
Level: All
Organisation: Groups
Preparation: Questions with the vocabulary/ grammar the teacher wants to revise
Procedure: Class divided into groups. One slate per group. The teacher divides the board into two parts
and writes the name of the parts of the body on the left. Every group in turns will ask for a part of the
body and the teacher will ask the question she has assigned to this part. The students write the answers
on their slates. Only the group who answers the question correctly gets that part of the body. The most
“complete” body is the winner.
2.- OUR CLASSROOM PET SOCIETY (Based on the so popular game on Facebook).
Aims: Vocabulary. Grammar. Spelling.
Level: All
Organisation: Groups (although it can also be individuals or pairs)
Preparation: Big cardboards showing the walls of a house. Pieces of furniture/ items of decoration with
their “prices” on them.
Procedure: At the beginning of the course/ a term the teacher will provide the students with a sketch of
a house and tell them that they have to buy items of furniture and refurbish their houses. During that
term the students will be able to “win” money in all the revision activities. (The teacher will decide,
depending on the degree of difficulty, the amount of money an activity is worth). Once the term is over,
the owners of the nicest house get a special prize.
3.- FIVE IS ENOUGH
Aims: Vocabulary.
Level: Pre-Intermediate - Advanced
Organisation: 2 groups
Preparation: None
Procedure: The teacher calls out a word and the students individually have to write down in 1 minute 5
words related as much as possible to the word given by the teacher. Then they will share the words in
their groups and together decide on the 5 words which are most associated to the word given. Both
groups will present the words to the class and fight for them to be chosen by the teacher. Only 5 words
will be selected, winning the group with the highest number of selected words. This activity usually
generates a lot of discussion. It is up to the teacher to determine when to stop it and in most cases to
have the last say.
4.- HILFE!
Aims: Vocabulary. Listening. Speaking
Level: Pre-Intermediate- Advanced
Organisation: Pairs
Preparation: None
Procedure: The class will be divided into pairs. Each pair will get a word to define in 1 minute. They will
define the word in such a way that one student in the pair will start describing the word without giving
too many clues and will shout “HILFE” when this definition is becoming too obvious, to give the other
person the chance to finish the definition within the time. The students guessing the word will always
score one point, whereas the chances for the pair defining the word are different; if any student guesses
it while the first person is speaking they will only score 1 point, but if they manage to define the word as
expected after both having defined it, they will score 2 points.
5.- WRITE IT!
Aims: Vocabulary. Grammar. Writing
Level: Pre- Intermediate -Advanced
Organisation: Groups
Preparation: None
Procedure: The teacher writes on the board recently learnt vocabulary and grammar structures and
assigns a certain number of points to each of them. Students are given 10 minutes to create a piece of
writing in their groups and get as many points as they can by using these words. Once the activity has
been checked, the teacher will collect the pieces of writing to “play” with their mistakes in following
sessions (e.g. auction sale)
6.- FOLLOW THE CODE
Aims: Grammar.
Level: Elementary- Intermediate (Especially for kids)
Organisation: Class
Preparation: None
Procedure: The teacher creates a sentence following the code and students have to guess it. Then the
students create their own sentences. Eg: “The students are listening to the teacher”
THE- Standing up and both arms opened
NOUN- mime
AUXILIARIES (is, have, etc)- snake
VERB- mime
PREPOSITION- folding arms
OBJECT- mime it
7.- WHOSE CLASSROOM IS THIS?
Aims: Vocabulary. Personalisation of the classroom
Level: Elementary- Advanced
Organisation: Individuals
Preparation: None
Procedure: At the beginning of the term the teacher invites the students to write a word starting with
the first letter of their names. The teacher sticks them on the wall and uses them for further games.
Variation: looking for words containing as many letters as possible from the ones in our names. (e.g.Roberto- robber, Carlos- lord).
8.- REACT
Aims: Grammar. Good practice for KET, PET, FCE exams
Level: Pre-Intermediate- Advanced
Organisation: Class
Preparation: Cards containing either synonym words or words/ expressions with the same function.
Visuals. E.g.- 4 cups and 6 people sitting at the table.
Procedure: The teacher shows a visual. The student reacting the quickest and producing a correct
sentence using one of their cards scores the point. E.g.: There isn’t enough room/ There are too many
people.
9.- MARATHON
Aims: Vocabulary.
Level: Elementary- Advanced
Organisation: Individuals/ Groups
Preparation: Sheet with questions
Procedure: The teacher gives each student a sheet of paper with some clues/ definitions/ synonyms/
antonyms, etc for the words on the walls. The first student/ group guessing all the words is the winner.
E.g.:
FIND:
• A word that has more than 4 syllables
• A word which is the opposite of smart
• A word which is a synonym for put up with
• A word which fits in this sentence: “I’m trying to ______ out the meaning of this idiom”
10.- SCF LETTER
Aims: Vocabulary.
Level: Elementary- Advanced
Organisation: Individuals
Preparation: Letters on cardboard (1 for each student)
Procedure: As students go into the class, the teacher gives them a letter. In the middle of the session,
the teacher tells the students to think of a word beginning, containing or finishing with this letter. The
range of words will be restricted. It is up to the teacher to decide the lexical set. It could be any of the
words learnt or reviewed in that same session. At the end of the lesson these words will be stuck on the
word for further activities, such as defining, etc.
Enjoy our recycling activities, try them all and let us know if they work
Mª Antonia Castro & Silvia Benítez