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Revising Vocabulary. Starting your classes with 5 minutes of 5 second challenges.

Image result for students in pairs in the classroom

 I love to watch my students review what they have learnt in class through games and challenges, but the question is, how can we quickly review what we have previously taught them without affecting their class schedules?
For some teachers, many classes begin with revision. Personally, I like to begin many of my classes by revising what I taught the previous lesson. My favorite activity for revising vocabulary, which I am outlining in this article, takes just five minutes, but it makes a huge difference to students ability to retain what they have learnt.
The following activity is based upon something that was shared with me many years ago, and over the years, I have altered it to suit my classes, my students and my methodology.
I hope that you find it interesting, and are able to adapt it to suit your own classes.
Image result for students in pairs in the classroom:
This is an activity requiring students to be in pairs.
Prepare a set of 7-10 basic, but level-appropriate questions for each pair. They need to be questions that can be answered very quickly.
Classroom:
1. Place students in pairs with each pair becoming a team that plays against another. (Team A and Team B….. 4 students)

2. Tell each team that you will ask each of them a specific number of questions. Explain that after you have asked each question, one by one, they will have just 5 seconds to think about their response and answer the question. If the answer is correct, or appropriate depending on the style of the question asked, then they will score 1 point.

3. Have the students, in pairs, sit facing each other in a clear view of the other pair who will be listening to their answers and keeping score of the points they get.

4. Ask the first question, count down 5 seconds and then ring a bell or use something else that makes a noise to signal when their time is up. Then ask Team A to give their answer. Get Team B to make sure that the rules are followed according to your instructions

5. Continue until all of the questions have been answered.

6.Repeat the challenge for Team B using their list of questions and then compare results to see which team answered the most questions correctly.

English Grammar and 11 Guidelines for Making it More Understandable.
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/understanding-grammar-11-key-rules-for.html

Making the Rules of Grammar Easy to Understand
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-essential-rules-of-english-grammar.html


The questions, of course, must be level appropriate, based upon the subject/vocabulary that is being revised and able to be answered simply in just 5 seconds. Personally, I have used this activity to review vocabulary from basic all the way up to C2 level and even for international exam preparation students, often with the advanced levels facing the greatest challenges.
In addition, if you really want to push your students to their limits, for higher levels you can make them include the most recent grammar structure in their responses.
This activity is challenging for all levels, it is fun and sometimes quite noisy, but most of all, it is the perfect activity for revising vocabulary.
I hope you find this activity useful and that you have years of fun and rewards utilizing it in your classes.
     


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