Jazz Up Your Lesson

Make the introduction of the new words exciting! Your students will certainly memorize the new vocabulary better if the words come naturally in a game. Here is an example of introducing new vocabulary through little linguistic games.

The Vocabulary Itself

The words are given with their definitions so that it would be easier for students to guess the meaning using English-English methods without direct translation. Try to use the mother tongue only in case of emergency.

1. to book a trip – to reserve a place, accommodation, etc for a journey.
2. to be seasick – feeling sick, esp. in the stomach as a result of the motion of a ship.
3. to set sail – to start a voyage.
4. to go hitch-hiking – to travel by getting free rides in other people’s vehicles.
5. to have a complaint – to have a reason for not being satisfied.
6. environmental protection – taking care of nature; keeping it safe from harm.
7. guided tour – a trip that is accompanied or led by a person, employed to show the way and to point out interesting sights.
8. package holiday – a holiday, organized by a travel agent, for which one pays a fixed price that includes the cost of transport, accommodation, some meals, etc.
9. thrilling experience – an event or activity that a person did which caused great excitement.
10. weather forecast – a description of what the weather will probably be like for the next day, or a few days, especially one broadcast on radio or television.
11. yacht – a light boat with sails and an engine used for pleasure trips or for racing.
12. jet – an aircraft with one or more high speed engines.

Game 1: Broken collocations

Material needed: sheets of paper, pens.

How to play: The task is to match the words to make the collocations.

1. to set 2. weather 3. to be 4. guided 5. to have 6. package 7. to book 8. a light graceful 9. thrilling 10. a fast 11. environmental 12. to go

a. hitch-hiking b. experience c. a trip d. yacht e. protection f. jet g. forecast h. a complaint i. sail j. tour k. seasick l. holida

Key: 1. i; 2. g; 3. k; 4. j; 5. h; 6. l; 7. c; 8. d; 9. b; 10. f; 11. e; 12. a

Game 2: Eliminating

Material needed: sheets of paper cut into cards.

How to play: Give the students the cards that should contain all the new words and three extras. Let the students guess and eliminate the extra words.

The extras:

Game 3: Word Hunt

Material needed: a table of letters for each student.

How to play:

a) Let the students find all the new words in the wordsearch puzzle.

b) Let the students compete with each other individually or in pairs/small groups by making up the longest logical sentence containing all the new words.

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COMPLAINT GUIDE JET PROTECTION SEASICK TOUR WEATHER FORECAST

ENVIRONMENT HITCH HIKING PACKAGE HOLIDAY SAIL THRILLING TRIP YACHT

Game 4: Crossword

How to play: Let the students guess all the words in the crossword puzzle.

They may work individually or in small groups; time may be limited.

Across:

3. a light boat
6. a person who takes care of the whole trip
8. a fast plane
9. a pre-paid and organized holiday
12. the nature around us
13. to be on a sea voyage
14. a feeling of dissatisfaction

Down:

1. travelling in somebody’s car without paying for it
2. news about the weather for the next day
4. a synonym to the word “trip”
5. an action of keeping something safe
7. a little journey
10. feeling unwell in a boat
11. very exciting