[Download] Vocab Lesson for ELLs – Occupations!

This vocabulary theme lesson is a great way to help your students increase their vocabulary knowledge!

There are so many ways you can use this resource in your classroom.

Check out the ideas below!

What’s Included

• Activity Ideas
• Word Bank with Words
• Word Bank without Words
• Blank Picture Dictionary Page
• Matching Worksheet
• Sentence Cards
• Flash Cards

Activity Ideas with This Lesson:

Partner Quiz: Students get in groups of three. Student A gets a word bank with the words and Students B and C gets word banks without the words. Student A calls out a number and the other two race to say that word. This can also be played using the flash cards. Student A holds up a flash card and the other two students race to say it.

Writing Revision: Change or add vocabulary words to a piece of your writing or a paragraph from a text you’re reading. Try to fit in words you don’t normally use from the vocab theme.

Taboo: Students can either use the Word Bank or the Flash Cards to play the game Taboo. One student acts out or describes or describes a situation so that other students can guess the word, but the student cannot actually say the word. Teams can race to see which team can get the most words in a minute.

Sentence Boards: Students can use the Sentence Cards (included) to make sentences. You can pair the cards with cards from other lessons. You can also have students cut out the pictures instead for speaking practice, or a combination of words and pictures. You can grab the sentence boards below to focus on different types of sentence structures. Links: 1. Basic Sentence Boards 2. Preposition Boards 3. Conjunction Boards

Write It:Write out as many words as you can from memory. You get 1 point for remembering a word and another point for spelling a word correctly. (Use the vocab page in this pack with no words, only pictures.)

Pictionary: With a partner, draw one of the words while your partner tries to guess. Use a timer. If the partner guesses before the time runs out, then you both get to take a turn in a boardgame or, alternatively, the drawer gets 2 points, the guesser gets 1

LDI – Listen, Discuss, Identify: You play this before teaching the vocabulary. You describe or act out a target vocabulary word from the vocabulary page. In small teams or individually, students discuss which picture from the page best illustrates what you’re describing as well as which vocabulary word goes with that picture. Students cast a vote for their choice of picture and word. You then tell them the answer. Students get a point for choosing the correct picture and a point for choosing the correct word.

John’s Favorite Go-to Vocabulary Game: Print sets of flash cards, enough for every 3 students to have a set. Put the students in groups of 3. One student is the caller. The caller holds up a card and the other 2 race to say the word. The 1st person to say the word gets that card. The person with the most cards after they are all gone gets to be the next caller. With a little training, you can even get kindergarten kids with absolutely no English playing this fun, student-centered game.

Charades Race: Each team of students lines up behind a chair with a stack of flash cards on it. When the teacher says go, the first student from each team runs around to the other side of the chair, turns over the first flashcard, and acts it out using motions and/or words. The player cannot say the word (a little like Taboo if you’ve played that game). His or her team guesses what the word is. When the team guesses correctly, the player runs to the back of the line and the next player steps up. The first team to get through all of their vocabulary flashcards wins.

Around the Room: You can hang flash cards around the room on the walls, clear away the desks and have the students stand in the middle. Start with saying a particular vocab word and having the students run to that flash card. Then you can do “Which is better?” (i.e. Which is better? Hamburgers or hot dogs?” Tables or chairs? etc.) and the students run to the one they think is better, etc.

Picture Dictionary: Have students start making their own picture dictionary. They get 1 or 2 pages for each unit. They draw a scene, put all of the vocabulary words in the scene and label them. You can give them extra words that are useful or funny on the board for them to add to their pictures and label if you have time.

Bananagrams: In groups of 2, students choose a word from the list of vocabulary words. They both look at how the word is spelled, then turn the book over, say “go,” and race to spell that word using Bananagram Tiles or the letter tiles print-off you can find here. Whoever finishes spelling the word correctly first wins a point. The student with the most points at the end wins.

PWIM – Picture Word Inductive Model – For more advanced practice, students label an image related to one of the vocabulary words with any nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. Afterward, they can write sentences about the image. There are often PWIM resources included with lessons.

Brainstorm More Words: If the vocabulary words are easy for your students, then you can brainstorm more related words, make a word tree on the board, and have the students make their own flash cards on little squares of paper. They write the word on 1 side and draw a picture on the other. They can play games with their flash cards like the activities below. Check out the Kid-Inspired Vocabulary Themes as well for more ideas.

Want more great activity ideas for your ELLs? Check out the link below.

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