Students can add words to their vocabulary with card games.
As students move through their schooling, they add words to their personal dictionary by studying and retaining vocabulary terms. Teachers can assist their students in the development of vocabulary by providing them with engaging card games. These games allow students to interact with each other and their newly acquired vocabulary words, cementing their knowledge and enhancing overall understanding.
Synonym Memory Game
Allow students to practice their understanding of synonyms by creating a memory game. Create a list of common and easily identifiable synonym pairs. After building your list, transfer these synonym pairs to separate index cards. Jumble the cards and lay them face down in front of students. Allow students to turn over two cards. If the student turns over two matching cards, such as hot and warm, the student gets to pick up the cards. If the student turns over two cards that don't match, such as hot and cold, the student has to make mental note of the card placements and turn the cards back over. Play continues, with students collecting pairs of cards. The student with the most correctly matched pairs at the end wins.
Vocabulary War
The biggest word takes the prize in this vocabulary version of the classic card game, War. Prepare for this game by writing vocabulary words that you have studied with your students on index cards. Once class begins, select two students to play the game. Divide the cards evenly. Ask each student to set his stack of cards face down in front of him. When you say go, ask each student to flip up the top card on the stack. The students must then count the number of letters in each word. The student who has flipped up the card containing the most letters collects both cards and places them at the bottom of the stack. Play continues in this fashion. If the students flip up a pair of words that have the same number of letters, the students must then engage in war. Each student places three cards from his deck face down, coming off his original card. He then places the fourth card face up. The students each count the letters in the fourth card. The student with the word that has the most letters collects all the cards, including those that are face down. Play ends when one student holds all the vocabulary cards.
Vocabulary Go Fish
Students must match words to their definitions in this Go Fish-themed game. Write your recently studied vocabulary words on index cards. Write the definitions for these words on separate cards. Shuffle together your word and definition cards. To play the game, deal six cards to each student. Scatter the rest of the cards face down in the center of the group. Students must select one of the cards in their hand and try to obtain a match. To do this, the player selects and reads the opponent the word or definition on his card. The opponent then has to give the other player the card containing the word or definition that pairs with his card if he has it in his hand. If he does not have the card, he can tell the other player to "go fish." The player must then select a card from the center. If the player finds a match to one of his cards, he can set his matched pair down. Play continues until all the cards have been paired. The student who holds the most pairs wins the game.
Tags: face down, cards student, each student, index cards, must then