ETpedia

10
Vocabulary
500 ideas and activities
for teaching vocabulary
Years of Authors:

ETpedia Fiona Mauchline,

Julie Moore and
Stacey H. Hughes

2024 marks the 10-year anniversary of the launch of ETpedia! In

that time, 6500 practical tips and ideas have been shared across 12
different titles. Each title in the ETpedia series is divided into units
containing 10 bite-sized tips and ideas to give you real practical help
with planning and preparing for your lessons. To celebrate the 10-
year anniversary, we are sharing 10 collections of ideas across 2024!
Here, you can explore 10 practical ideas from ETpedia Vocabulary,
which is full of practical ideas, inspiration, tips, and classroom
activities for teaching vocabulary in the English language classroom.
Enjoy 10 ideas from across the book below!

10 Ideas
Unit 5: 10 ways learners’ first
language affects vocabulary learning
Idea: 3. False friends
False friends are words shared by languages that appear to be similar but
which, in fact, have quite different meanings. For example, the word actual is
often used incorrectly by speakers of several European languages because in
these languages, a similar word means ‘current’ or ‘happening now’ (French:
actuel, Spanish: actual, Italian: attuale, Polish: aktualny). In English, however,
it means ‘real’ or ‘existing in fact’. This can lead to confusion and sometimes
even embarrassment when words are substituted unwittingly by a learner. For
example, a Spanish student who says they are ‘constipated’, may just have
a cold (constipado = congested / having a cold)! Recognising false friends
and highlighting them in class can lead to fun discussions, which may help
students avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Unit 7: 10 ways to present a new word
Idea: 7. Words on a scale
Some sets of new words lend themselves to being presented on a scale such
as boiling, hot, warm, cold, freezing or always, often, sometimes, occasionally,
rarely, never. Here’s an example of a scale from a lesson about likes and dislikes:
love really like like don’t like hate
Ù---------------------------------------------------------Ú
++++ +++ ++ –– ––––
Alternatively, you can provide students with the scale and they label it themselves
with a set of words.

Unit 9: 10 tips for memorising vocabulary

Idea: 3. Use spidergrams
We generally find it quite easy to walk around a familiar room in the dark because
our brains create maps in our memories to help us remember. In the same way,
creating maps and spidergrams is a good way to memorise vocabulary. Give
students a list of items relating to a topic such as ‘house’, ‘freedom’ or ‘animals’,
or ask them to review their notes and find the vocabulary. They’ll need a clean
page or sheet of paper. Ask them to write the topic word in the middle of the
page and to organise the vocabulary into a spidergram by grouping the items as
they wish. When they have finished, they can stick them in their notebooks for
reference or use them as classroom posters.

sofa bed stool

chair
table furniture
rug
armchair detached
carpet
curtains soft things
House adjectives semi-detached
carpet cushion
kitchen terraced
living-room rooms

study/office bedroom bathroom

Unit 12: 10 ways to teach the grammar
of a word
Idea: 9. Odd one out
Choose sets of four words in which one is the odd one out grammatically; for
example, three nouns that are always plural (scissors, trousers, sunglasses) and
one that isn’t (shoes). Write the set of words on the board or read them out and
ask students to (1) guess the odd one out and (2) explain why it’s different. Give
clues if necessary. Here are some examples of sets you could write on the board:
X buy, bring, teach, laugh (they are irregular verbs with a -ght past simple
ending, except laugh which has a regular -ed ending)
X quick, slow, good, careful (they have related adverbs formed by adding -ly
except good, which has the irregular adverb form well)
X air, snowflake, wind, rain (they are uncountable nouns except snowflake,
which is countable)
X make, do, be, have (they are auxiliary verbs except make)
X news, series, address, crossroads (they are singular nouns ending in -s with
no plural except address, which has the plural addresses)

Unit 16: 10 vocabulary warmers to start

your lesson
Idea: 3. Word chains
Form groups of five or six students and ask them to stand in circles and number
themselves from 1 to 5 or 6. Give a word to all the number 1s, e.g. rainbow. They
say the first word they associate with it to number 2, who says the first word they
associate with that word to number 3. Number 3 then says the next word they
can think of to 4, and so on. For example, rainbow – gold – ring – phone – talk
– listen – music – sing... If they can’t think of a word within 10 seconds, or if they
repeat a word, they fold their arms and no longer play. After two minutes, shout
Stop! Find out which group has the most members still playing and how many
words they have each thought of. The group with the most should try to tell the
class all the words they’ve said.
Unit 24: 10 tips for teaching phrasal verbs
Idea: 7. Phrasal verb dominoes
Students work in groups of three or four for this activity. Make one set of
dominoes per group using the set on page 211 of the Appendix. One member
of the group deals out the dominoes equally to each player. The first player
puts down a domino in the middle of the table. Then the second player (moving
clockwise round the group) adds a domino to make a complete phrasal verb.
They also have to say it in a sentence. The rest of the group can challenge
a player if they think the phrasal verb either doesn’t exist or has been used
incorrectly; if necessary, the group can check in a dictionary or ask you. Then the
next player plays, and so on. The winner is the player who plays all their dominoes
first. One variation is for the player to make a question using the phrasal verb; the
player on their right has to answer it.

Unit 29: 10 writing activities to use

target vocabulary
Idea: 7. Playing with language
This higher-level activity helps students see how word choice can give a different
impression to the reader. Put students into pairs and give each pair one of the
story openings below. Make sure they understand the meaning and nuance of the
verb in italics. Ask them to write a short story beginning with the story opening.
Regroup students so they can share their stories. Discuss how the verb in each
story opening influenced how the story developed.
He gazed at the mirror … He peeped at the mirror …
He regarded the mirror … He stole a look at the mirror …
He eyed the mirror … He focused on the mirror …
He stared at the mirror … He had a quick look in the mirror …
He glanced at the mirror … He squinted at the mirror …
He glowered at the mirror … He frowned in the mirror …
He gaped at the mirror … He scowled at the mirror …
He contemplated himself in the He studied the mirror …
mirror … He scrutinised the mirror …
He inspected the mirror …
Unit 32: 10 vocabulary activities for
intermediate learners
Idea: 3. Word of the day
Task students with finding new words for the class to learn. Start by showing them
some possible sources for new words, such as the word of the day from an online
learner dictionary (see Unit 43). They could also find words in books and articles, in
films, videos and TV programmes, in podcasts and radio shows, or in social media
memes. They can either look for new words that have recently been added to the
English language (e.g. humblebrag or adulting), or words that are new to them,
which they feel are useful or interesting in some way. Create a rota so that students
know which day is theirs. Ask them to prepare a digital poster using an app such as
Padlet (see Unit 15.7) or by creating and sharing a slide. They should include a link
to the audio pronunciation, a definition, and an example sentence. They could also
include a picture and collocations. If this technology is not available to you, ask
them to make a small poster to pin up in the classroom where you display the word
of the day. Encourage students to try and use the word during the class period in
a speaking or writing exercise. At the end of term, hold a team competition to see
who can remember the most ‘words of the day’.

Unit 46: 10 tips for using images for

teaching vocabulary
Idea: 3. Using students’ own photos or artwork
Probably the most motivating way to bring images into the classroom is to ask your
students to provide them. They can bring their own photos and selfies, drawings
or artwork, or they can research images in copyright-free photo resources online.
Images provided by students can be used to illustrate one single item (e.g. sign,
traffic lights, zebra crossing, phone box) or as stimuli for brainstorming sessions.
For example, you can tell students to bring photographs similar to the type used
in speaking exams and ask them to work in pairs to make a list of all the vocabulary
they could use to talk about the photo and ‘impress’ the examiner.

Unit 48: 10 tips for using realia

Idea: 9. Different textures
Realia are particularly good for conveying certain concepts that are tricky to
explain. Items of clothing, small purses, pieces of sofa or curtain fabric, different
kinds of paper and other items and materials are useful for teaching adjectives
such as rough, smooth, soft, wrinkly, as well as a range of opinion adjectives from
wonderful and lovely through to unusual and unpleasant. Ask students to place
materials in order of preference and to decide which adjectives best describe each
one. They then compare their reactions with those of other groups. You can also
use fabric to teach clothes by handing out snippets cut from old garments and
asking learners to guess what item of clothing they’re from (e.g. gloves, jeans,
pyjamas, beret, etc). See also Unit 40 for activities using texture to elicit vocabulary.
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Unit 24.7 Phrasal verb dominoes

Cut out the dominoes to play.

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on look up bring forward move

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on give back stand up tell

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off wash up eat out go

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along run into take off go

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up come across put on back

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down break into make off bring

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up move on grow up come

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into do up try out get

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ETpedia: Vocabulary © Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd and its licensors 2019.