Please share your own quick exercises with other teachers by clicking on the "Readers Repond" link at the bottom of this page. The more activities we share, the more we will all be armed and ready at a moment's notice!
More quick classroom activities to use in a pinch:
Quick Fun Activities
Quick Speaking Activities
Quick Grammar Activities
Here are some vocabulary activities that can be used to help students improve their vocabulary skills, or activate vocabulary areas before beginning a lesson that will focus on specific related vocabulary:
Odd Word Out
Purpose: Recognizing Word Groups
List words in groups of four or five. In the group their should be one word that does not fit in that particular group. Students need to choose which word does not fit and explain why.
Examples:
A computer A telephone A broom A television
Answer: a broom - because it is not an electrical appliance, it is not used to communicate, etc.
Match Opposites
Purpose: For Lower Levels - Learning Adjectives / Comparative Language
Write two lists of adjectives on the board. The first list should contain adjectives and the second the opposite of those adjectives. Students can then put this new vocabulary into immediate use by then using comparative and superlative sentences to compare various cities, objects, friends, etc.
Vocabulary Trees
Purpose: Learning Related Word Groups
Ask students to choose a room in the home or a particular subject area. Students should put this room or subject area into the middle of a piece of paper and then think of all the various related vocabulary, such as the various types of objects found in a room, and add these words around the central room or subject. Under each of these further categories, students should list the various objects in the category.
