Word Game upgrade

Each English class begins with a word game, a vocabulary building exercise. Sometimes we present students with a word, for example:

PRESENTATION

Our students are then asked to make a list of words by using the letters in the main word. For example:

1. sit

2. pat

3. station

4. sent

5. priest

Another way we exercise vocabulary is by giving students a single letter ie. "B". They then proceed to write down every word they can think of that begins with the letter "B".

Sometimes we will present two letters ie. S,T. Students must then make two words beginning with these letters, that make sense. For example, Sticky Tarts.

We have been practicing these word games for a number of years and the children love it. As of August 2014 we will be slightly upgrading the word game in an effort to try and give our students something new and fresh.

Students will now be making words and calculating the total of all the letters so that each word has a score. Of course, the more challenging letters to use have greater value!

We have another project lined up for August, which we'll discuss soon.

The Word Bank

To our students, young and adult, and to the parents of our students, here is an explanation of some exercises we are doing this month.

During the month of October 2013 we are conducting exercises from "The Word Bank." The Word Bank consists of various English words, which are made up of correctly and incorrectly spelled words, as can be seen above. Identifying the misspelled words and correcting them is one of four exercises being carried out this month.

In the second week of October, students will be asked to make 3 lists of words from The Word Bank, by searching for 'feelings', 'colours' and 'occupations.' For example, 'excited', 'pink' and 'pilot.' Once they have completed their lists, they will write sentences by combining 3 words in their lists. For example, "The pilot was excited because he saw a pink cloud."

In week 3 students will be searching The Word Bank for synonyms (words which are similar in meaning) of 'happy', 'big' and 'very.' Perhaps you can find some yourself!

The final exercise throughout week 4 will involve our students looking for words that begin with 'a', 'b' and 'c'. They will then practice writing sentences with those words in the past, present and future tenses.

The Word Bank is a large collection of grammar exercises, but designed to be done in a much more fun way than just going through page after page of workbook questions. Practicing English grammar can, and should, be a lot more fun and interesting!