1. Strategies for Encouraging
Oral Practice
Talk, Talk ,and More Talk

2. Concentration
Make two sets of activity cards for each table group.
Use the cards to play "concentration."
Each child picks two cards and turns them over . If the cards
are the same, the student gets to name them and keep them. If
they are different, the child uses them in a given sentence
frame and turns them back over.

3. Family Feud
Students are divided into two groups and stand in two lines
facing each other.
The teacher holds up a card for identification by the students.
The first person in each team competes to say the vocabulary
word first.
The student who correctly says the word first gets a point for
their team and then goes to the end of the line to give the next
person in line a chance to compete for the team.

4. Find .......................................Your
Partner
Each student is given a card that matches another student's
card in some way (picture and word, question and answer, first
half of a sentence and second half of the sentence).
Students ask each other to share what is on their cards to see if
they have the cards that go together.

5. Four Square Vocabulary
WORD EXAMPLES
soothing music, nap
________________________ ________________________
___ __
DEFINITION NON-EXAMPLES
comforting, offering relief tests, loud noises, being
called on to answer hard
questions

6. Found Poem
Students are exposed to a piece of literature with interesting
and powerful vocabulary.
After the teacher reads through the selection the first time, the
teacher asks students to identify words that elicit feelings and
clear pictures in the students' minds.The teacher highlights
these words as the students volunteer them. Then the teacher
writes the words on sentence strips, and cuts the words apart
so they are each on their own piece of sentence strip.
Then the teacher models how to choose a few of the words and
puts them into a pocket chart to create a poem.

7. Inside-Outside Circle
Students are placed into two circles facing each other.
The students on the inside circle each have a vocabulary card.
Students on the outside circle rotate until a signal is given.
They then stop, and say the vocabulary word on the card the
person in the inside circle is holding.
Variation: Students say the word and use it in a given sentence
structure.

8. Numbered
Heads Together
Numbered heads together is a simple structure consisting of
four steps:
1. Students number off
2. Teacher asks a question
3. Students put their heads together to discuss
4. Teacher calls a number for a response

9. Talking Ball
A ball of yarn can be used to play "talking ball". The students
will practice a particular grammatical structure.
A student starts with the ball and verbalizes a sentence, holds
onto the yarn, and rolls the ball to another student to do the
same.
As the yarn ball gets rolled each student needs to hold on to
their part and this will form a web of yarn.

10. Toss
-----
Vocabulary Ball ------
Generate ten words or terms you want to practice.
Write the words on pieces of tape and stick them onto a ball.
Students stand in a circle and take turns tossing the ball to
each other.
The person who catches the ball uses the word or term that is
facing them in a sentence.

11. Four
Corne
rs each corner of the room a vocabulary word or picture.
Assign
Students complete a specific sentence frame using the word in
their corner.
Students then go to a new corner and repeat the process with
that vocabulary word or picture.