VIDBE-Q
Volume 62 Issue 2
Expanding Vocabulary through Verbal Games and Activities
Teaching vocabulary through exposure to words can be accomplished in several ways. Nelson,
Vadasy and Sanders (2011) suggest utilizing a cloze procedure, where students fill in the blank. It requires
students to use words in the correct context. Topor and Rosenblum (2013) encourage the use of story
generation. Students, using their own words, generate stories based on their own experiences, which can
provide insight into not only background knowledge, but how they utilize expressive vocabulary. We have
also based activities on the Fancy Nancy book series (also available as an app). In Fancy Nancy and Late,
Late, LATE Night, Fancy Nancy says "Here we are having tea on the veranda. (That's a fancy word for porch)."
A similar activity can be completed on a higher reading level using the book series A Series of Unfortunate
Events (Snicket, 1999), as the author quite frequently introduces words or concepts and then explains them:
"Klaus sighed, and relinquished - a word which here means "gave to Count Olaf even though he didn't want
to" - the book on nuptial law" or "Only Violet didn't cry, but merely trembled with fear and revulsion, a word
which here means "an unpleasant mixture of horror and disgust." These types of activities allow the student
to playfully engage with expanding his or her vocabulary. Another activity, word sorting, includes ranking
words that have generally the same meaning (e.g. "cry, sob, weep" or "fire, blaze, inferno") and having the
students organize the words - such as by intensity or volume.
Spoken language comes before written language, so it is important to try to include activities that
encourage students to speak new vocabulary terms. Nelson, Vadasy, and Sanders (2011) suggest using
sentence stems, or having a sentence starter and requiring the students finish the sentence on their own.
Sentence stems can be altered to include different and more varied vocabulary as the students' knowledge
of the language grows. Additionally, students can be encouraged to use vocabulary words in class. Instead
of students saying "I need a pencil" the teacher can encourage the students to say "I require a pencil" and
only giving them a pencil once they use the word require.
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