I’m always changing up how students learn new vocabulary in my class. After bouncing ideas off of Kara, this is how we are doing our “What we like to do” unit goal: I can talk about sports I like to watch and play.Â
We watched bits and pieces several videos, similar to this one…
I didn’t expect them to understand a lot, but it set the stage for a nice little conversation about sports. I connected each sport to the country where the video came from like basketball and how it’s becoming very popular in Spain and baseball growing popularity in Mexico. As we talked students started to fill this sheet out.
Then we went to ESPNDeportes.espn.go.com to look at the names of other sports.
Then students practiced a little with these tweets.
That’s how they worked for their new vocabulary. I could have given them a list, but where’s the authenticity in that?
Great idea! I’ve always struggled with teaching vocabulary, because providing students with a list isn’t “progressive” enough for my school. I love the way you incorporated the sports along with the Spanish-speaking countries. Also, I bet students were more engaged when actually searching the words on the tweets, instead of just staring at a sheet with words on it. Did you search a “deportes” hashtag to find the tweets? Great way to introduce new vocabulary.
No hashtag, just searched the different sports and picked tweets that fit our topics best.
I am trying something new: I created a twitter account solely to display in class. I sign into this account and re-tweet things I want to use in class. I do NOT follow anyone on this account because it clutters up the feed.
Good ideas!
Love the authentic sources here, but I do have a question. How do you make sure students retain the vocab? Many times, my students LOVE these types of activities, but don’t really learn the vocab. Do they use those charts as their lists? Do you quiz them over the vocab? Unfortunately, many of my students won’t learn unless they are held accountable.
Students retain the vocabulary the actually need. If they don’t need it to communicate a message they probably won’t remember it long term (quiz or not). The charts we create in class end up becoming a little vocabulary list.
So it become a multiple step process. They learn some by listening and putting vocab on their lists. Then as we do other activities, students use the sheet until they don’t need it anymore. No studying, just using the language.
Instead of giving a list for everyone to learn the same words, I’d rather give scenarios and let them learn what they need to handle the scenario. Example, during our descriptions unit one goal was to tell about your best friend. So a student taught herself to say sister because she is her best friend. In the end, I’m not against vocab quizzes, I’m just not convinced they really help student communicate.
thanks! this is such a great idea… i think the next time our books are up, i will opt to purchase resources for theme units instead! 🙂
Please share if you find any good ones that are based on proficiency!
Yes! They need to be accountable!! But think about a vocabulary test… It takes them back to novice low/mid. If they do a performance based assessment, now it is at their level and a challenge. Interpretive ones make sure they understand a variety of words. Presentational makes sure they produce what is needed.
i love performance-based assessment! i do struggle though with making sure the students are not getting more bogged down in the format of the assignment (power point, poster, etc.) than in using the language.
Will you post your Video response sheet and tweet page on TPT?
that video is AWESOME! my kids will love it 🙂
I love this idea,love many on your ideas and purchase your ideas. Do you give vocabulary lists? I don’t use a textbook but struggle with the vocabulary list.
Awesome idea. I love your web page. I just found it, and I have been getting great ideas for my classroom. I have been struggling to teach vocabulary. I dislike presenting information in a powerpoint, and I also like to introduce it in different ways. I will take this idea for sure. 🙂
I love the idea of using tweets but how do you find them? I’m still not quite sure how to find my way around Twitter… 🙂
Go to twitter.com. In the search bar, type the vocabulary word you want in the target language. So if I wanted tweets about “dance”, I would type “bailar” or a conjugated form. Then the search will bring up tweets that have that word in it. I pick 2 or 3 I like and screenshot them (I explained this in another response). Then I would search for another key word. Always check the user’s name and picture for appropriateness before you copy. 🙂 I learned that the hard way!
I was trying to do the twitter idea and could not copy the whole thing, it was just copying text. Is there a trick?
I do a screenshot (fn + prtsc on PC or command+shift+4 on Mac). Then I crop it in a Word or Pages document.
I’ve got that part (you can avoid the cropping step on a Mac by doing control + command + shift + 4 on the mac- crosshairs come up and you only copy the exact part you outline to the clipboard). My question is- how did you get the ripped edges look on all of the tweets? Did you do it on powerpoint, photoshop, or is there a simpler way?
Thanks! <3 your blog =)
For an excellent list of sports vocabulary in English complete with pictures see Learning with Pictures – Sports on the Learning English Online website.