I usually use pictionary boards at the beginning of a new lesson to introduce the vocabulary that my students will need for the rest of the lesson (I simply hate it when they stop every 5 seconds to say �Excuse me, what �s the English for ...? �  If we do something on hobbies without revising or introducing the vocabulary, I usually get something like: �I like ... Excuse me, what �s the English for ...?, and I love ... Excuse me, what �s the English for ...? But I hate ..., Excuse me, what �s the English for ...? � )

 

I have observed that weak students tend to like this type of activity because they can do it. But I must say that the fact that one English word out of three comes from a French word helps a lot! There are lots of similarities in the two languages.

So I usually give them a few minutes to complete the worksheet. Then we correct it and here is what I do (and I think it is the most interesting part): I tell my students to say complete sentences. If they are sure of the answer, they must say �It is the verb / adjective ..... If they are not sure, they must ask a question: �Is it the verb / adjective ...? � (It is so difficult for French students to ask questions!) You can also think of some expressions like �Perhaps ... �, �Maybe ... �, �It is probably ..., �I think it is ... �, etc. Students who are not confident feel reassured.  They know they are here to learn!

 

Most of the time they get 75% of the correct answers. I tell them that they must then focus on the 25% that they did not get correctly (usually the words that are typically English and that we don�t have in French). You can ask your students how many words they guessed correctly! You can also ask them how they found the words. Usually, I get answers like: �Well, in a video game,  the character says ...� or �On this sign you can read ...�. Students make quick connections. 

 

Of course my students are likely to mispronounce the words. But if they looked up the words in a dictionary, they would mispronounce them too. So I correct their pronunciation immediately, and we repeat the new words a lot. After a while, they start to notice a few things, like the pronunciation of the ending �-tion�, or �-ism�, or the letter �i�, etc. I do lots of games afterwards to help them memorize the vocabulary.

 

Thanks a lot for your post! I think we don�t talk a lot about HOW we teach.

 

As you said "I think we don�t talk a lot about HOW we teach."