Contrasting Words
See also: CVC Word Patterns
Showing posts with label TESOL ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TESOL ideas. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Friday, July 10, 2026
Write the First Letter (for Vocabulary)
(TESOL Ideas--Any Vocabulary Set)
Over the past year, I had been struggling with how to do writing activities with a kindergarten class (who didn't know how to read and write yet).
One idea my mentor suggested to me is instead of having the students write out the whole word (as I had done when I taught elementary school age children in Vietnam), I could have them just write out the first letter of the word.
Below is an example of how this would work. It was designed for a kindergarten class who already had some exposure to letters and sounds (i.e. a kindergarten class in the spring term, not the fall term). We did it as an all class activity. I put the worksheet up on the projector, and elicited from the class what the names of the pictures were. Then we sounded out the first letter of the word together. Then the students told me what letter made that sound, and I wrote it down on my copy on the projector, and they also copied down the same letter on their paper.
Thursday, July 09, 2026
Write the Words Next to the Picture: Vocabulary Practice
(TESOL Ideas--Any Vocabulary Set)
This is an activity that I've used many times before on this blog, but I was just realizing that I never formally listed it under my list of activities for vocabulary. Well, better late than never.
This is an activity that works best with vocabulary that can be visually represented, so it tends to work best with lower level students. But at the same time, the students need to be able to read and write at least a little bit for this activity to work (so in most countries, it's not appropriate for students below 6 years old or so.)
Here is an example of a time when I used this activity (docs, pub)--from English World 2: Unit 1 p.24-25 Reading. You can see that at the top of the sheet I have a word bank, and the students match the words from the word bank to the pictures.
This activity would take place during the clarification stage of a vocabulary lesson.
Write the words next to the picture:
Friday, May 22, 2026
Monday, May 11, 2026
Picture Word Inductive Model
This is a new technique for me, and I don't believe this method was widely used abroad (i.e. in the CELTA and Delta methodologies in which I was trained up in.) But, as always, it could just have been a personal blind spot. Let me know if you've used this method before.
Although it's new to me, it's not new, and there are lots of webpages out there describing (see here, here, here and others). But I will also try to describe it below as my mentor explained it to me.
You start out by projecting a picture onto the whiteboard. Then, eliciting vocabulary from the students, you help the class to label as many things in the picture as they can. The teacher supplies the vocabulary as necessary, but ideally most of it should come from the class.
Then, once all the concrete objects in the picture have been labelled (i.e. all the nouns), then the teacher encourages students to think about appropriate adjectives for these nouns. What color are they? Are they big or small? Et cetera.
Then, the teacher encourages students to think of verbs associated with these nouns. What are the things doing?
Finally, the teacher guides the students to making full sentences with these words. The teacher writes it up on the board, and then the students copy it into the notebooks.
As my mentor demonstrated it, this then lead into independent student work. After the teacher had demonstrated how to write sentences on the board, the students discussed with partners, and continued to write their own sentences.
Then, at the end of the class, some of the students read back to the class some of the sentences they have written. As my mentor pointed out, this technique incorporates all the skills or reading, writing and speaking. (And perhaps listening as well, if the students have to listen to the their classmates' sentences.)
This activity can be used in some classes as just a general language fluency building activity. But, it can also be used to introduce and practice a certain vocabulary set, if you have a picture that goes with that vocabulary set.
I'm currently using Oxford Picture Dictionary Content Areas for Kids and Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas in my class, and these work great for they have a big picture for each topic which shows all the key vocabulary words in one picture.
But of course, these days you can just as easily use AI to create the perfect image, if you need to fit all the vocabulary into one picture.
I suppose this activity could also be used for practicing certain grammar points, with the right picture. In this respect, it would be similar to the "Describe a Picture" activity I mentioned in this previous post.
Monday, April 27, 2026
Using Coloring Sheets for Young Learners: Vocabulary
(TESOL Ideas--Any Vocabulary Set)
If you follow this blog regularly, you have probably noticed that recently I've been including a lot of coloring sheets with my lessons. (See, for example, my lessons for Oxford Picture Dictionary Content Areas for Kids.) So I thought I should make a post outlining my thinking about using coloring sheets in class.
In one of the schools I taught at in Vietnam, it was normal for teachers teaching young children to spend about 20 minutes out of a 2 hour lesson on coloring activities. However, even though this practice was widespread, it was also controversial. Many of the managers disapproved of it, and it was tolerated more than it was encouraged.
The reason that this practice was disapproved of was because it didn't actually practice language, and was thought to not be helpful in language acquisition.
The reason that it was so widespread was (I assume) because it was a good activity to calm the children down. It was also thought that 2 hours was too long to do language drills with very young children, and that the act of coloring added in a nice change of pace. The practice of coloring, especially learning to color within the lines, was thought to add with the children's cognitive development and motor skills, even if it did not relate to language learning directly.
But back in those days (2015-2020), it was before AI, so the coloring sheets were just random coloring sheets that could be found in the teacher's resource room or off of the Internet. Now, with AI, it is possible to create coloring sheets that are tailored exactly to vocabulary words that the students are learning.
I've been using Google Gemini myself for this, and have generally had good luck with it--once I learned to modify the prompt appropriately. I've discovered that sometimes if you just ask Google Gemini to make a coloring sheet, it will produce something with very intricate and small designs that aren't suitable for kindergarteners coloring with big crayons. So I've learned to add in the following instructions in my prompt:
Because Kindergartners are still learning how to color, the coloring sheet should not have any small objects, but big pictures of everything
I've also learned that Google Gemini will occasionally try to include words or captions in the coloring sheet. I'm not opposed to text per se, but the problem is that AI seems to have a problem with accurate spelling when it's generating images. (AI is able to produce accurate spelling when it's generating texts, but not generating images. I assume this is a glitch that will eventually be worked out in future generations of AI, but for now this is the way it works. So I will often add in this additional instruction:
Do not include any words or names on the coloring sheet.
The standard prompt that I use for Google Gemini then is this:
Make a coloring sheet for kindergartners for ________. It should include these images: _______________. Do not include any words or names on the coloring sheet. Because Kindergartners are still learning how to color, the coloring sheet should not have any small objects, but big pictures of everything.
For an example of a recent time when I used this prompt, see this chat here.
I generally have good luck with this prompt, although it's obviously not 100% effective. (Using AI is always somewhat touch and go).
As to why and how I use coloring sheets in my lesson, here are my uses so far:
* In cases where I'm unsure about the timing of the lesson, I will sometimes print out coloring sheets just as an optional final activity, just to give myself that additional safety cushion. (As all teachers know, there's nothing worse than running out of activities with 10 minutes in the lesson left to go.)
* When working with young children in small groups, I will discuss the coloring sheet with them as they color. (e.g. "What color do you want to color the tomato?" or "I see that you're coloring the dog green.")
* There are some young children who are less disruptive during the lesson if they have something to do with their hands. I find that coloring helps to keep them occupied while I practice the vocabulary with them. (Although the obvious disadvantage of this is that it means I only have half of their attention when I'm presenting the vocabulary to them.)
* One of my mentors recently suggested to me that the coloring activity could easily be made more language focused if I made it into an activity in which the young learners listened to my instructions, and colored accordingly. (E.g. "Look at this. What is this?" (It's an apple.) "Let's color the apple red. Can you find your red crayon?" etc.)
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Monday, January 19, 2026
Food Vocabulary
* What food do you like? (drive, slides, pub) (from Circle Time: English Conversation Topics for Young Learner)
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Monday, December 08, 2025
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Thursday, November 13, 2025
Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas (Supplementary Materials Index)
(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks Subdivisions)--This index uses the style described in this post here.
Google Drive Folder HERE
Quizlet Folder HERE
Unit 1: General Knowledge Folder
1 The Classroom p.2-3 Folder
2 The School p.4-5 Folder
10 People at Work p.20-21 Folder
Unit 2: The U.S. and the World Folder
11 The United States and U.S. Territories p.24-25 Folder
Unit 7: Living Things Folder
50 Fruits p.112-113 Folder
52 Mollusks and Crustaceans p. 116-117 Folder
53 Insects and Arachnids p.118-119 Folder
54 Fish p.120-121 Folder
55 Amphibians and Reptiles p.122-123 Folder
56 Birds p.124-125 Folder
57 Domestic Mammals p.126-127 Folder
58 Wild Mammals p.128-129 Folder
59 Prehistoric Animals p.130-131 Folder
Unit 9 Earth and Space Science Folder
64 The Universe and Our Solar System p.144-145 Folder
Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3K3QcVL (This is an Amazon Associate's Link. If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Quiz Quiz Trade
(TESOL Ideas--Any Vocabulary Set)
This activity was recently introduced to me by one of the trainers at my school.
As it was explained to me, it works like this:
Each student is given a flashcard (or printed paper) with a picture of a vocabulary word on it. Each student has a different picture.
They walk around the room and find another student to pair up with. Then, each student asks the other one "What is this?" The other student must identify the picture.
Then, after both students have quizzed the other one, they trade pictures, so that each student now has a new picture.
They must then go and find another student to quiz with their new picture.
This activity can also be used for grammar points if a student is given a prompt that requires using a grammatical feature in the answer.
I've done a brief search online just now, and have found a few websites that do a better job of explaining this activity than I have done. So see also here, here, here, etc.
Thursday, November 06, 2025
Monday, November 03, 2025
Sunday, November 02, 2025
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Oxford Picture Dictionary Content Areas for Kids (Supplementary Materials Index)
(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks Subdivisions)--This index uses the style described in this post here.
Google Drive Folder HERE
Unit 1: At Home Folder
1 Every Day p.12-13 Folder
* Sorting sheet for daily routines: docs, pub (cut up the pictures on p. 12 and 13, and have students sort into what they do and what they don't do.)
* Wake Up! Daily Routines Song for Kids
2 Friends p.14-15 Folder
4 Home p.18-19 Folder
5 The Bedroom p.20-21 Folder
6 The Bathroom p.22-23 Folder
7 Breakfast in the Kitchen p.24-25 Folder
8 The Living Room p.26-27 Folder
9 Everyday Clothes p.28-29 Folder
10 Seasonal Clothes p.30-31 Folder
Unit 2: At School Folder
12 The School p.36-37 Folder
13 School Supplies p.38-39 Folder
14 The Classroom p.40-41 Folder
17 Lunch in Cafeteria p.46-47 Folder
18 Physical Education p.48-49 Folder
19 The Nurse's Office p.50-51 Folder
Unit 3 Community Folder
22 The Neighborhood p.58-59 Folder
Unit 6: Life Science Folder
47 The Ocean p.114-115 Folder
48 The Desert p.116-117 Folder
50 The Rain Forest p.120-121 Folder
51 The Grassland p.122-123 Folder
Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4nwtCTA (This is an Amazon Associate's Link. If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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