Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Vocabulary Dice

"Vocabulary dice?" I hear you ask.

Why yes!  I found this idea on Pinterest and thought to myself that it would be a good one for Spanish vocabulary.  So I put some thought to it and re-created the idea for Spanish class.


The idea is that students practice their vocabulary together in novel ways - like drawing pictures and acting it out.  There is also linguistic practice like making sentences and definitions too.  I also put one on there that prompts them to spell the word out loud.  These sorts of activities stimulate the brain in unique ways that we don't always do in a typical foreign language classroom, and this can help students remember the vocabulary better than just doing the same activities over and over.

I have students draw a card, roll the die, then try to communicate the vocabulary word to their partner.  This has gained approval from my high schoolers and my adult learners at community college alike.  It's just nice to do something a little different once in awhile, right?

So here is a copy of the vocabulary dice template for you to download and print. 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27495706/2014/Vocabulary%20Dice.pdf

Learn from my experience, and make your dice at least a day ahead of time so that they will be dry and (relatively) solid.  (Yeah, dice wet with glue are not a good experience for anyone. . . )

And, here are some vocabulary cards for you too.  It is a set of reflexive verb cards, but you don't have to use these if you don't want to.  You could make cards for just about anything.  Keep in mind that some will need to be drawn and others acted out, so plan accordingly when choosing your vocabulary.


There are three blank cards with the set.  Either write your own vocabulary terms on them or, for more creative fun, allow students to choose their own word when they draw a blank card.

If you do this in class and have fun, I'd love to hear from you!  Don't be quiet - professional connections and collaboration are fun.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

2 comments :

Unknown said...

This is great! Thanks so much for sharing! I think I will have each action on your dice correspond with a number on the dice I already have so I do not have to glue anything (I don't have giant dice). Just thought I would share that for anyone else who is in the same boat :)

AnneK said...

Gracias Profe Netcoh. The nice thing about your idea is that it allows you to change up the options on the dice. Instead of spelling the word, you could have students give examples, say the opposite, or most any other thing. I knew a teacher once who had kids trace their words in little sandboxes or write them in shaving cream . . . the options are limitless. Thanks for your comment. I'm glad to know folks are reading and enjoying. --AnneK

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