Vocabulary Theme Groups: Build connection to classmates, vocabulary words and other mental representations of meaning.

What is the community context in each individual classroom? How can an instructor leverage community context to increase students’ engagement with input throughout language study? Students will yearn for social interaction whether we find ways to use it or not. As Hurst et al (2013) state, “…that individuals
actively construct knowledge and understanding and that constructing
understandings of one’s world is an active, mind-engaging process. (The Impact of Social Interaction on Student Learning. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts. Volume 52, Issue 4, pg. 377).

Creating a vocabulary theme group game allows students to interact, understand how others connect to words, and opportunities to build connections between words. And when an evaluator comes in they will see students interacting, completing a task centered on multiple goals while interacting with target language vocabulary independently within their groups. This is not an activity to create input but an activity to build community while making deeper connections with target language words. Consider your context to create variations to the base of vocabulary theme groups below:

• Use a recent text, class story or discussion topic to create 1 theme per group per round that is connected to recent vocabulary.
• Create groups of 3-5 students. I prefer to allow students to choose groups as they will group with those who think similarly and create a list with a sub theme.
• Explain the phases of a round to students.
• Hand out 1 theme to each group.
• Phase 1 – the group makes a list of as many target language words connected to the theme as possible. As long as they can explain the connection, it works. I roam the room and ask them questions as they create this list.
• Phase 2 – swap lists with another group – it works better if they swap with a group who is not in their vicinity. The group makes a second list that is tighter. There are multiple ways to do this. Have the group make a secondary theme and they can only pick words related to that theme from this list. Or give the group a number they must reach and can’t exceed. I like a minimum of 1/2 with a max of 2/3. It is okay if they are not exact but close to those threshholds.
• Phase 3 – Each group gets their original list. They guess the words on the second group’s smaller list. When guessing, the team score a point for a correct guess. The team not guessing scores a point when the guessing team makes a guess not on the new, smaller list.

Repeat rounds as desired. I prefer not to use timers as my observations show students changing how they engage with words when a timer pressures them. The disadvantage is the round may take longer than I like. Set timers for each phase if you need to stay within a time frame.

When using this a second time in class, use the themes to create groups. Make a sticky note for each student before class. Have the number of sticky notes for each theme the same as you want students to be in a group. As students enter the room have them pick the theme they like the most. This becomes their group.

This is a wonderful activity to invite an evaluator to observe. Students will collaboratively create, plan and strategize their guessing and celebrate together. And they will focus on mental representation of target language words.