Tired of using the same old textbooks? Struggling to keep your language learners motivated and engaged? Here’s 15 of the best and most dynamic language activities that will inject fresh energy into your language lessons.
This blog post delves into the what, why, and how of each activity, offering practical classroom ideas and adaptations to suit the diverse learning preferences and skill levels in your classrooms. Whatever approach you take, these language learning activities will help create a classroom that’s full of the joy of language discovery!
1. Charades
Students dancing in a classroom
This is a fun, active game where teams act out words or phrases without speaking, relying on body language and gestures for their teammates to guess the correct answer.
It promotes non-verbal communication, teamwork and vocabulary development. Charades also helps create a lighthearted and engaging study environment where students learn through collaboration and laughter.
Benefits:
Acting out words without speaking enhances non-verbal communication skills and understanding.
Describing and guessing words expands vocabulary knowledge in a fun and interactive way.
Teams work together to guess and act out words, fostering communication and collaboration.
Classroom ideas:
Don’t just use words or phrases from their L1. Challenge students to act out words from their L2 as well.
With more advanced learners, get teams to work together to act out complex concepts or multi-word phrases.
2. Flashcards
Image of a child using flashcards to memorize new words
In either printed or digital form, flashcards display vocabulary words, phrases or grammatical structures on one side, with their corresponding translations or definitions on the other of the “card”. They are a simple, yet highly effective learning tool that promotes active recall and spaced repetition.
By testing themselves and reviewing regularly, students build information in their long-term memory, making them ideal for memorising key points of information. They’re portable and adaptable, allowing students to practise anytime, anywhere.
Benefits:
Students actively retrieve information, not just passively read, thereby strengthening memory and knowledge retention.
Reviewing cards at spaced intervals reinforces memory and prevents forgetting.
Flashcards can be developed with images, sounds or mnemonics to cater to different learning abilities and topic areas.
Classroom ideas:
Encourage students to create their own cards, personalising the learning process and boosting engagement.
Use digital flashcards for spaced repetition reminders and gamified learning experiences. Check out also our other blog post which gives a good overview of how to use flashcards on Sanako Connect.
3. Gap-fill or Fill-in-the-blank exercises
In this instance, students are presented with sentences, paragraphs or dialogues with missing words or phrases. Their mission? To become linguistic detectives, using their knowledge of the target language to fill the gaps and complete the puzzle.
Ultimately these are controlled grammar and vocabulary tests, but they’re just much more engaging! When filling in the blanks, students can actively apply their understanding of specific language points, be that verb tenses, prepositions, or sentence structures. Importantly, educators can easily tailor the difficulty level and target specific learning objectives by choosing appropriate texts and gap types.
Benefits:
Try to focus each exercise on targeted language points such as specific grammar rules or vocabulary sets.
Always aim to provide instant feedback to enable immediate correction and reinforcement. Online language teaching platforms like Sanako Connect make this super easy and straightforward.
Classroom ideas:
Where possible, use authentic real-world texts like song lyrics, news articles or advertisements in the target language. This exposes students to authentic language use and makes the activity more relevant.
Incorporate visual cues or images to support understanding, especially for beginners or less able students.
4. Jigsaw activities
Students are initially divided into groups and then further divided into smaller “expert groups” to focus on specific parts of a topic (e.g., different sections of a text or aspects of a topical news story). Within their expert groups, students delve into their assigned role, researching, discussing, and building their understanding.
Students then return to their home groups and take turns sharing their expertise with their peers – creating a collaborative learning experience where everyone acquires a comprehensive understanding of the entire topic.
Benefits:
The requirement to teach their peers helps reinforce students’ own knowledge and develops communication skills.
Students actively engage with texts, videos, or other resources, honing their language skills.
Collaboration encourages clear communication and effective knowledge sharing within groups.
Classroom Ideas:
Try to conclude with a group reflection on the learning process, discussing challenges, effective strategies and key takeaways.
Divide a short story, poem, or play into sections for jigsaw groups. After their research, have each group present their part, then piece together the story as a class.
Assign each group a different famous person or event related to a topical issue. After their expert sessions, get each group to take turns in teaching the rest of the class and engaging in a discussion about the overall theme.
5. Journaling
Speaking diary
This is the increasingly popular practice of learners regularly writing down their thoughts, experiences and reflections in their target language. It’s a highly flexible approach that provides a personalised practice space for students to express themselves and develop writing skills.
Although self-directed, language educators should set parameters for this work and ensure that new vocabulary and grammatical structures are being used in a meaningful context. Used correctly, journaling can foster fluency, reflection, and a deeper, more personal connection to the language.
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