Learning from others

I learn most from my conversations with other teachers. Yesterday, I gave my students, many of whom have transitioned to my ABE class from advanced ESL, a vocabulary quiz. To review the vocabulary for the week, one of the techniques I used the previous day was to have students work with a partner to talk about the words. For example, one of our words was mission. I told the students to turn to a partner and tell the partner about their most important mission. "My mission is . . . ." Next, they were to tell a partner what their objectives were for the weekend. Since the word was plural, they needed to tell at least two objectives.

Here's what I learned about reviewing vocabulary from my friend and colleague Liz. Liz writes each of the vocabulary words on a slip of paper and places them face down in the center of the table. In small groups, students take turns drawing one slip of paper. This individual needs to explain the vocabulary word and the other students in the group guess the word.

I thought this was a great idea, since it integrates speaking into vocabulary practice. I plan to try it out with next week's words. I won't need to create a complete set of vocabulary words for each small group since I can divide up the words and then have small groups exchange the set of words with the other small groups. If I use different colored paper for each set, that will make the rotation process a little easier.