Title – But…Where Are You?

By – Joan M Diez Cliville

Subject – Language Arts

Grade Level – Grades 2-4

Do your students need to learn/revise vocabulary? If so, try the following project… so they know where they are and can name a few of the objects around them! This activity is simple, useful and enjoyable. Just what you are looking for! Students, working on their own or in small groups, make their own picture dictionary covering both topics of general interest and specific semantic fields. They will be so proud of their output that they will keep it handy and show it to anyone who cares to look at it! Beating ordinary dictionaries on the market is just a question of time, you know.

MATERIALS:

places where there are pictures (brochures, catalogues, magazines, computer programs, CD-ROMS)

sheets for the picture books

METHOD:

According to level and particular needs, give your students a list of interesting places so that they can start their research. Read the following for inspiration: Airport, Beach, Bedroom, Boutique, Camping Site, Classroom, Country, Department Store, Do-It-Yourself Shop, Farm, Garden, Garage, Hospital, Jeweler’s, Kitchen, Library, Living-Room, Market, Motorway, Music Rehearsal Room, Office, Pet Shop, Playground, Restaurant, Seaside, Space, Sports Center, Street, Supermarket, Town, Toy Shop, Zoo.

Decide which category/-ies everyone is going to deal with and the number of terms to be included (somewhere between 10-20)

Students draw or find pictures (in old brochures, catalogues, magazines and even computer programs and CD-ROMs) and stick them on two sheets. It is a good idea to use only one side of the sheets and place one next to the other on a notice board or alternatively bind the final product into one volume with the pictures – and the words- in any one section facing one another as they would in an ordinary book. Who knows…When you have reached this stage, your students could add a line here and there and make their very own encyclopedia!

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Joan

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