A great way to get my students talking is giving them the topic of CLOTHING! Not many subjects spark such interest in teenagers. They love talking about their new sneakers or cool new brands of sweaters. But first, they must learn what all of these items are called in English. I'd like to share some of the things I do in my lessons to cover this vocabulary:
1. I start by making a word web on my whiteboard: What words for pieces of clothing do they already know? Usually t-shirt and jeans are first to be mentioned.
2. Then I ask them to describe some of the clothes they can see on their classmates. They must make full sentences! (Note: It's a good idea to cover the names of colors before doing this :-))
3. After that, I show them a list of English words for clothes, with pictures, and they must do some exercises to practice them. I give them fill-in ones, true/false ones, and I like categorizing items (winter/summer, legs/arms, etc).
4. And finally they must make new sentences with the words they just learned. This can be either a speaking or a writing exercise. Describe your own clothes, or your neighbor's.
Bonus: For homework, they could write a report on what their parents and siblings are wearing that day.
Bonus 2: We play a card game! I made a Dobble game, a dominoes game, and a memory game to help students retain their knowledge of the words even better! I love using games in my lessons to practice vocabulary and grammar in a fun way!
I've poured these tips into a lesson or worksheet (however you want to use it). Check it out here: Clothes Vocabulary Worksheet / Lesson
And check out my games here:
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