Games, as well as dictionaries, can help students improve their vocabulary.
Teaching and learning vocabulary can be a dreary affair with the focus often on dictionaries, thesauruses and reading comprehension exercises. However, in the 21st century, teachers can use interactive vocabulary games online or on an interactive white board. Students can play board games in the classroom to improve their vocabulary while teachers can adapt some TV games for the school environment.
Online Games
Students can play online games to test and further their vocabulary knowledge. For instance, many websites include interactive vocabulary games. One game provides a dictionary definition of a word and then students have to click the right "meaning" from a list of multiple-choice options. Other vocabulary games online let students read a word and then find the synonym from a list of options.
Board Games
Some websites feature board games for teachers to print out. For example, in one board game, students select a vocabulary word from a pile and throw a die. If the student can correctly describe what the word means --- one student has the list of answers and acts as judge --- then he can move his token around the board based on the throw of his die. Teachers could make simple board games based on synonyms or antonyms.
Class Games
In the game Call my Bluff, the teacher divides the class into groups of three. The teacher then gives each group a different selection of words. These should be words that the students have not heard of --- for example, "conflagration" --- and each member of the group has to devise an interesting definition of the word. In each group one of the definitions is true while the other two are false. Each group presents the word and definitions to the rest of the class who have to guess which word is the correct definition.
Smart Board Activities
Teachers can find lesson plans on vocabulary and vocabulary games to use on interactive white boards. For example, there are games for individual students or groups to practice color vocabulary and even vocabulary for specific novels being studied in high school. You can also find vocabulary games for different subjects such as science, where students have to match a word to the correct description.
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