Wipe out exercise

incl. materials
oral, written
15 min.

Objectives

  • The learner can consolidate new words.
  • The learner can learn a text by heart.

Materials

Black board

Preparation

Write a poem or a short story on the board.

Instructions

  • Read the text aloud.
  • Read it aloud together with the learners.
  • Let the learners read the text aloud (without your assistance).
  • Explain new words.
  • Wipe out a few words, such as the first and last word, while the learners are learning the text by heart.
  • Ask a first learner to delete one or more words, then a second learner and so on.
  • Once the whole text has been wiped out, let the learners reconstruct the tekst.

Variant

  • Delete parts of words.
  • Delete a specific word type: all articles, all verbs, all nouns, all adjectives, all prepositions…
  • Let the learners reconstruct the text in pairs.

Tips for the instructor

  • You can facilitate reciting and memorizing by
    • underlining the emphasized syllables.
    • reading rhythmically, e.g. alternately hitting your thighs and clapping your hands.
    • associating words with appropriate gestures or emoticons.
    • showing an image of the (deleted) words.
  • Emphasize that repetition is essential for learning new vocabulary.