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Saturday, February 15, 2014

Four Word Vocabulary Picture

I've always said that students love any activity involving whiteboards and dry-erase markers. Here is a fun vocabulary activity:
  1. Write four known random vocabulary words on the board.
  2. Students have one minute to draw a picture on their whiteboards which incorporates/depicts all of the words (not four separate pictures, but one)
  3. Tell students if they do not know a word, then they should focus on what words they do know.
  4. When the minute is up, students show their whiteboards to each other, pointing out each word in Latin.
  5. Ask students to show their whiteboards to you, while you walk around and check them.
  6. Pick 2-3 boards to show the class, and using a document camera, project student pictures onto the screen
  7. Describe these pictures in Latin to the class, using the vocabulary words
  8. You can also circle questions about words in the picture
  9. Added variation - if you have time, draw a picture yourself beforehand involving the four words and show your version to students.
  10. If you are able, try now to Ask a Story from one of the pictures projected. Ask the student who did the drawing for details. He/she will usually be able to come up with a great story since it is his/her picture.
Obervations
  1. Drawing a visual depiction of the vocabulary word gives students another way to acquire vocabulary.
  2. Since students are drawing the vocabulary words themselves, it personalizes the acquisition process
  3. Even though everyone is drawing a picture using the same four words, I am always surprised by how many different interpretations there are. Students are too and enjoy seeing each other's pictures. 
  4. I will usually do 2-3 rounds of this activity in a period, lasting a total of 15 minutes (if I do not do an Ask a Story from one of the pictures)

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