It’s always fun exploring new Grammar with my students. This week we focused on Synonyms and I was impressed at how quickly they absorbed the new vocab. As teachers, we always try our best to create interesting and active lessons. We’re great at multitasking. Eg: A busy teacher could be found printing new resources that she just created in Power Point, she’s using the guillotine (paper cutter, my non-teaching friends) while searching ideas on Pinterest and deciding what she should cook for dinner, with 5 dogs needing her attention. Oh wait… what’s that smell? Is that the laminator? haha
Well back to creating engaging lessons. As much as we prep (I’m speaking for myself here) and laminate like crazy to use things over and over again, which I most certainly do. I am still constantly creating new resources because:
- It’s fun!
- You found this amazing idea on Pinterest (Dangerous yet exciting place)
- You’ve forgotten where you stored those puzzles…
- You want something new and know that your students will love it!
And isn’t what it’s all about? So what does this have to do with Synonyms? Basically I had a great action planned week for my students and was thrilled that they enjoyed all the prep. Below is a break down of our one day during our stations. Bear in mind that I am teaching in Cambodia. Some of my students are basically 1st language speakers. They’re confident and will happily correct a grammatical error I may have made and then there are some students, who are bran new to our school and to English. So when creating resources, I have to create a balance where it is challenging for my strong students but also helpful to my newer students. Basically what any ESL teacher goes through.
You can grab your free copy of the Synonym Template below.
So here’s what we got up to during our stations:
Station 1: Synonym Bingo Dab
I love creating Bingo Dab worksheets. They’re fun and get students excited about using something else other than a pencil or coloring pencils. If you have never used them before, I would highly recommend it. The ones that I use were bought by a very good friend of mine and that was about 4 years ago.
It’s easy peasy. Students just need to stamp the synonym to the word.
Station 2: Synonym Stenciling
This was a real hit with my kids as I don’t think they get to use stencils often, especially with color markers. Throughout the week we practiced 48 of the most common synonyms and it’s always rewarding watching your kids enjoying the learning process.
I love how focused they are!
Station 3: Synonym Stamping
I love whipping out the stamps and will use any excuse because they’re just great. My students felt the same way.
Station 4: Synonym Match Up
Our final station consisted of matching up our plants to the watering can. As I said previously, my students were practicing 48 of the most common synonyms, however, you could just choose which ones you want your students to use.
The Synonym Plant Match up is available in our store but grab your FREE copy of the Synonym Stations template.
Happy teaching!