Behind the scenes – S1 Practical English – Explaining things

Recently in S1 Practical English some students have been practicing how to explain unknown words. ack of vocabulary is a challenge when learning a foreign language, so this lesson was designed to help students get over communication gaps quickly and easily.

After studying some techniques, we played a game to test their ability.

Techniques included:

– Say the category

– Give an example

– Say similar words

– Say opposite words

– Describe look/function/ material

Four students sit with their backs to the screen, onto which pictures have been projected.

Their team-mates race to explain the object in English.

As the pictures show, we all had a great time. One of our Australian exchange students, Izzy, joined in, too.

It wasn’t always super-easy to understand the hints but it was a fun opportunity to really communicate in English.