Vocabulary

Objective & Activity Overview

The pedagogical objective is to consolidate spelling mastery and memorization of fundamental A1 level vocabulary, while developing deduction skills from written clues. The resource is presented as a table of six scrambled word exercises ("Word Scramble")[cite: 1, 3]. Students must decode frequently used words (BANANA, BOOK, BUS, FAMILY, RED, SUN) from their scrambled letters (e.g., NANABA, KOOB, SUB, etc.). Each word is associated with a descriptive clue ("Hint") in English (e.g., "A long, yellow fruit"; "Public transport for many people"). This activity is an excellent way to actively revise vocabulary.

Suggested Procedure

Before the activity (~5 min): ANTICIPATE AND CATEGORIZE

• Theme Announcement: Inform students that they will be deciphering everyday vocabulary words. Display the categories (Food, Objects, Transport, Family, Colors, Nature).

• Word Recall: Conduct a quick round table for students to mention a word they already know in these categories, to prepare their lexical field.

During the activity (~15-20 min): DECODING IN PAIRS

• Step 1: Reading the clues: Distribute the worksheet. Ask students to work in pairs. The first step is to read each clue ("Hint") and predict the word in English before even looking at the scrambled letters.

• Step 2: Decoding and Spelling: Pairs decode the letters to form the correct word (BANANA, BOOK, BUS, FAMILY, RED, SUN). Ask them to underline the letters used to ensure they match the scrambled word.

• Step 3: Interactive Correction: Correction on the board. For each word, the teacher asks a pair to give the answer. Other students check their spelling. Take the opportunity to ensure students pronounce the decoded words correctly.

After the activity (~10-15 min): CLUE CREATION

• Production / Reinvestment: Each student chooses 3 of the words found. They then must create a new clue sentence, more complex or more personal than the one on the worksheet, using a simple structure (e.g., instead of "A long, yellow fruit", write "I love to eat a banana for breakfast").

• Riddle Mini-Game: Students read their new clues aloud, and others must guess which word it is. This reinforces active use and comprehension of words in context.

Adaptations

• To simplify (Level A0/Beginners): Write the words to be decoded (BANANA, BOOK, etc.) in random order on the board. Students must first match the clue to the correct word, then only check that the scrambled letters correspond to the word.

• To deepen (Towards A2): Ask students to write, for each decoded word, a synonym or antonym (e.g., for RED, find BLUE; for SUN, find MOON or STAR) or to create a short 3-sentence story linking at least 3 of the words found.