Module 4: Lesson 2 - Grammar & vocabulary activities

Question 1

Name 6 grammar & vocabulary activities you can do with BE students.

Answer 1

• Mock interviews
• Practicing conditionals through negotiations
• Describing a graph - practicing future tenses
• What did he say? - practicing reported speech
• What has happened? - practicing modal verbs
• Brainstorming - vocabulary by category

Question 2

Explain the activity:

Mock interviews

Answer 2

Using vacant job postings, carry out mock interviews among the students. Students take turns being the candidate and the employer.

NB: pre-teach vocabulary, adjectives for strengths & weaknesses, review simple past structures, interrogative - irregular verbs.

Question 3

Explain the activity:

Practicing Conditionals Through Negotiations

Answer 3

Create role-plays for each pair of students, remembering to keep it as related to their context as possible. In the role play, each pair will have to use the information given to them in order to try to gain an advantage in the negotiation.

Students can also practice their speaking and listening skills throughout the interaction.

Question 4

Explain the activity:

Describing a Graph - Practicing the Future Tenses

Answer 4

Give the students one or two sentences describing the background to the graph and ask them to describe what has happened. Then ask them to make predictions about what will happen next. A possible extension could be to change the circumstances of the graph and use it as an opportunity to incorporate conditional tenses, too.

The students have to use vocabulary related to graph description, and they need to use the future tenses, simple past and present perfect tenses, making it an effective review activity for these tenses.

NB: These scenarios reflect typical discussions that take place in their team meetings and so it is highly relevant to them to be able to describe graphs and make predictions based on this information.

Question 5

Explain the activity:

What Did He Say? - Practicing Reported Speech

Answer 5

This activity aims to activate students by getting them speaking and listening to each other, while also practicing the correct use of reported speech, along with direct and indirect questions.

This task is extremely effective in energizing your students and getting them to interact with each other. It can focus on the production of a wide range of vocabulary or grammar, but it will always include the basic content of interrogatives and reported speech.

Question 6

Explain this activity:

What Has Happened? - Practicing Modal Verbs

Answer 6

Provide students with different scenarios and ask them to explain what happened. The scenarios can be based on typical issues and events in their company, and can also use previously introduced vocabulary. An extension could be to choose the top 3 “favorite” explanations and discuss how likely they are to occur.

This activity is very effective in encouraging students to hypothesize using modal verbs and teaches them how to show degrees of certainty by using these structures. It provides opportunities to not only practice modal verbs in the present, but also in the past.

Question 7

Explain this activity:

Brainstorming - Vocabulary by Category

Answer 7

Students will use their brainstorming skills to come up with relevant vocabulary for the topic under discussion. One person provides a word from within a category, and the following person must provide another word from the same category, beginning with the last letter of the previous word.

An extension activity could be to work on the antonyms of the words given.

This activity is a great way to brainstorm vocabulary from a specific category in order to build on what the students already know. It also helps with student attention and motivation.