Categories

Purpose: listening comprehension of isolated words and vocabulary review

Preparation Time:  5 minutes to list items in a category

Materials:  blackboard or whiteboard with chalk or markers

Preparation: Be sure to link any activity to what went before or what is coming after.  For example, “Yesterday we talked about shopping for food.  Tell me the names of some of the things you buy at the supermarket.”

Procedure:

1. Demonstrate by drawing two or three columns on the board.  Ask students to do the same on a piece of paper.

2. Write a category heading for each column, such as “food” and “drink”.  Other categories could include:

animals/objects

big/small

round/square

land/sea/air

3. Then dictate (or have a student dictate) a series of words which can fit into one of the categories.  Students make a check mark or X in the appropriate column as each word is dictated.

You’ll need to note the results yourself in order to check the results.

Variations:

For a more difficult and time-consuming exercise, students actually write out each word in its appropriate column.