Vocabulary Game - Research Paper Example

II. Players: The participants are divided into two to four teams. Each team is divided into equal members. Ideally, each team should be composed of at least four members but not more than eight people in one group to make sure that each member are able to contribute and participate in the activity. III. Materials: white board (paper), markers (pens or pencils), whistle, and timer. IV. How to Play: First, the moderator/ teacher would provide the instructions of the game—each team would be given two minutes to list down as many words as they could think of per category mentioned.

Then, the teams would have to wait for the signal from the moderator before they could proceed from writing. And once the category is given, the moderator would signal that the time had start by whistling. When the time is up, the moderator would whistle again and the participants would have to hold up their markers/pen to ensure that everyone had stopped writing. For instance, the category is “continental breakfast” each team would then have to make a “menu list” of dishes that are considered to be continental breakfast—i.e. omelets, hash browns, French toasts, oatmeal, bagels.

Categories could also work based on themes like ‘fruit-based dishes,’ ‘salads,’ ‘Mexican food,’ ‘pasta,’ ‘liquid form,’ any category that would inspire participants to think creatively and would invoke fun and humor to the game. This would make learning more interactive and enjoyable without the participants noticing that they are not only learning new words but they are also developing their socialization skills and confidence through interaction, team work and cooperation by working together as one group. V. Winner: To determine the winner, for each category, the moderator would have to check the list that each team had made for any errors and repetitions.

The checking would be done by the moderator and the other teams to ensure transparency. The most number of items listed per category wins one point. Points are cumulative. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. VI. Variations: There are many variations that could be made to this game. Though the game is called “menu listing” modification could be made to fit required lesson. If for instance the lesson is about pronouns or synonyms/ antonyms, ask the participants to catalog pronouns or synonyms/antonyms of the given category.

Menu Listing Game, an Analysis Vocabulary games are important learning tools for English Language Learners because it helps them get more acquainted with recognizable words and familiarize themselves with words that they do not often hear or use. Vocabulary improvement activities according to August, et al (2006), must include “both definitional information and contextual information about each word’s meaning, and that effective instruction actively involves students in word learning and provides multiple exposures to meaningful information about each word” (p. 97). Vocabulary games also develop the students’ knowledge with the various parts of speeches as it becomes the focal point of the game—through the categories, to which the game is played.

For instance, since the topic of our discussion is noun/ pronoun I based the ‘menu listing game’