Pearson Longman Kids E-Link

While reinforcing the words using flashcards from the Longman Young Children's Picture Dictionary, children also learn great values through teamwork and helping each other out in order to win the game/activity. These activities can be used with flashcards provided with Pearson Longman books or can be adapted with what is available to the teacher.

"What's Missing?" Magic Version

This activity is a good way to remember a group of words from the same topic.

Student age:

4 to 12

Materials:
Flashcards (all from one topic, and one or two cards from the different topic)

Method:

1. The teacher selects a number of flashcards from one single topic. The teacher then reviews these cards with the students.
2. The teacher places the cards face-down in front of the students. Then one-by-one the teacher turns the cards over and asks the students, "What is this?"
3. After the teacher flips over all but one card, point to the last card and say "What is this?" Students guess the card.
4. Repeat steps two and three a couple of times so the students understand what cards are in the set.

Extension:
After the teacher feels the students know most of the cards, the teacher secretly changes one of the cards. Teacher has to remember this card.

The teacher continues to flip the cards over while having the students say what the cards are. When the teacher gets to the last card (the card from another topic) ask the students again, "What is this?"

None of the student should be able to guess what the last card is, since it is from another topic. Flip the card over and the teacher screams "I'm a magician!"

Get the Same Topic!

This activity can be used to reinforce the vocabulary using flashcards and to introduce new words by collecting cards of the same topic.

Student age:

5 to 12

Materials:
Flashcards (four cards from each different topic. How many sets? It depends on the number of players.)
For example, 5 players; you need 5 sets from each topic.
   (1) Topic 2, Bugs in the Forest (insects):
        beetle, cricket, bee, ant
   (2) Topic 3, Fruit for Grandma (fruits):
        pear, coconut, pineapple, strawberries
   (3) Topic 5, Is that you, Grandma? (body parts):
        eyes, mouth, arm, elbow
   (4) Topic 11, The Petting Zoo (animals):
        cow, puppy, kitten, rabbit
   (5) Topic 24, Playtime at Home (vehicle):
        plane, bus, boat, train
Tokens (anything like marbles, coins, candy, colored paper; one less token than total number of players).

Download Flashcards and try Get the Same Topic!
YCPD_Flashcards.pdf

Method:

1. The students sit in a circle with tokens in the middle, and the teacher reviews the cards with the students.
2. Then the teacher shuffles the cards and deals them face-down to the students. The students pick up their cards. Don't let the students show their cards to other students.
3. The object of the activity is for the students to collect cards from the same topic. Play the activity by having each student pick one card they do not want (usually from a different topic they do not want to collect). Then everyone says, "Let's pass the card!" When this is said, all students take the card they do not want and pass it to the student to your right.
4. When a student collects all cards from one topic, the student should try and take a token from the middle of the circle quietly. If another student notices, they are allowed to grab a token as well.
5. After all the tokens are taken from the middle, have the students (starting from the first student that completed their collection) read aloud their cards. If they are not able to say what is on the cards, all students need to give the token back to the teacher. However, students are allowed to help each other.
6. After all students have said what is on their cards, the teacher will take the cards, shuffle them, and start the game again.
7. There should be one less token for the number of players. This is because of the teacher who is participating in the game as well. Generally the teacher will lose the activity on purpose.

Extension:
You can change the number of the cards depending on the students' level. For example, if this is too complicated for smaller children, start with three cards from each topic then add cards like four cards from each topic, five cards, six cards from each topic.

The more students that are participating in the activity, the more fun each activity can be! Do not forget to change the number of topics based on your class. For example, if there are six students, remember to change the amount of topics to six topics. For the big class, divide the students into smaller groups.

This is a good activity when you introduce some new vocabulary or review the vocabulary. Kids love to remember the cards to win the game. The number of cards can be decided by the teacher depending on how many words the teacher wants the students to learn.

 Sanae Kawamoto

Owner of English Time and Sunday English Time (Saitama). She also volunteers to guide Tokyo and its suburb area for tourists from overseas. She has published various books for learners of English. Member of JALT, ETJ.