Explore "I spy nouns"
“I spy nouns” is a fabulous activity that you can revisit time and again and practice how to look up unfamiliar language. It doesn’t have to end with “nouns”…….
Children will need a piece of rough paper or a white board between two, 2 pens and a bilingual dictionary or a reliable online word reference tool, and some sort of Battleships’ game type barrier to make sure there is no peaking , when one child is looking up a noun and writing down the target language.
If it’s the first time that children have used word reference tools then spend some time just exploring the tools. With bilingual dictionaries let the children find out for themselves about the “brand new books we are using “. Get the children to answer questions from “What do you think the book is?” “Is it like a normal dictionary?” “Where’s the English alphabetical list?” etc.
Remember that some children may already have seen their parents use or used bilingual dictionaries themselves
Best bit of advice too is to always apply the “Post It” rule.What’s the “Post It Rule”? It’s simple, it’s a post it or a slip of paper placed on the page where the target language words first end and the English words first start.
If you are using bilingual online word reference tools then once again you need to let the children do the exploring, ask similar questions and help them to see how you need to check what you find a second time and in a different way, to make sure you have the correct words.
And now to the game.
Step One
Give out the ”I spy nouns” sheet, we have provided.
Familiarize yourself and the children with the pictures and make sure that they know what the words are in English.
Step Two
Children work in pairs,
Partner A selects a picture for which he or she wants to find the target language word and then looks it up in the bilingual dictionary. There must be no peaking at the word from Partner B.
Partner A writes the word down in the target language for Partner B.
Partner B now looks up this word in the bilingual dictionary and reads aloud in English the meaning of the word and finally locates the picture representing the word on the picture sheet.
Partner A and Partner B swap roles and they start the activity again.
Build in
Moments to feedback: how the pairs are suing the bilingual dictionaries, what problems and challenges there are when using online tools or making sure it’s the target language first or second being used a s the reference source etc \.
Partner swaps: to enable a fresh partner to mentor or support or be supported by a partner who is beginning to easily access the reference tools.
Free resource
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I spy nouns/ adjectives/ verbs 5 minutes into future language learning lessons, to continue to reinforce children’s working knowledge of how to access unfamiliar nouns that they may want to use or understand.