mantra
noun
[ C ]
UK 🔊
US 🔊
mainly UK
a word or phrase that is often repeated and expresses a particular strong belief
ENGLISH
The topics in my coursebook aren’t engaging my students. How can I supplement with some more relevant language?
The challenge
Many ELT coursebooks are necessarily written for a very wide audience of learners. That means that the topics aren’t always relevant to your particular class. That, in turn, can mean learners switch off and don’t engage with the topics and activities.
As teachers, we’re often told to adapt and supplement coursebook material to keep classes relevant to our learners, but that involves both preparation and inspiration.
Using topic word lists
Cambridge Dictionary has a huge collection of themed word lists that can provide inspiration on a whole range of engaging topics.
The lists are graded by level – beginner, intermediate, and advanced – so you can choose vocabulary appropriate for your class.
Each list contains between 12 and 25 vocabulary items around a particular theme. Remember not to throw a whole list of 25 new words at your learners, though, that would definitely be overload!
The words on the list are shown together with their dictionary definition. You can click on each word to go to the full dictionary entry to find examples and more. Here is an extract from a word list about coffee.
Each word list comes with a set of ready-made quizzes; a gap-fill, a multiple choice, and a listening activity.
Both the word lists and the quizzes can be downloaded. The word lists download as a spreadsheet which you can edit. This enables you to choose which items you want to share with your learners to create a manageable lexical set that matches their level and interests.
flat white
noun
[ C ]
UK 🔊
US 🔊
mainly UK
a type of coffee that is made with espresso (= a small, strong, black
coffee) and hot milk, which does not have much froth (= a mass of small
bubbles) on top of it
ENGLISH
Turkish coffee
noun
[ C or U ]
UK 🔊
US 🔊
very strong black coffee, often served sweet with small grains of coffee
still in the cup
ENGLISH
flat white
noun [ C ] mainly UK
UK 🔊 /ˌflæt ˈwaɪt/ US 🔊 /ˌflæt ˈwaɪt/
Add to word list
john shepherd/iStock/Getty Images
Plus/GettyImages
Plus/GettyImages
a type of coffee that is made with espresso (= a small, strong, black coffee) and hot milk, which does not have much froth (= a mass of small bubbles) on top of it:
• A flat white and a cappuccino, please.
Two ways to use word lists to create more engaging activities
Switching up coursebook activities
If you come to a coursebook unit that you know your students are going to roll their eyes at and complain it’s boring, search the word lists for a related topic that will be more suited to their interests. For example, you come to a unit about sports and all the vocabulary is about football, but you know your class hates football. Maybe, though, they do go to yoga classes – there’s a yoga word list (intermediate).
Or you’ve got a unit about food full of dishes that are nothing like the kind of food your learners eat. The street food word list (intermediate) includes bubble tea, burritos, tacos and noodles, which might be more to their taste.
chant
verb
[ I or T ]
UK 🔊
US 🔊
mainly UK
to repeat or sing a word or phrase continuously
ENGLISH
flex
verb
[ T ]
UK 🔊
US 🔊
mainly UK
to bend an arm, leg, etc. or tighten a muscle
ENGLISH
You don’t have to create a whole new lesson, you can just switch some of the coursebook vocabulary and activities for some of the new vocab. For example, if there’s a gap-fill activity in the coursebook, replace some (or all) of the items with examples from the word list. If you’re making activities for your own class, you can use the dictionary examples and just gap out the key word.
1. First, straighten your legs, then f___________ your feet. [answer: flex]
2. Yoga is a great way to s_________ your body. [answer: stretch]
flex
verb [ T ]
UK 🔊 /fleks/ US 🔊 /fleks/
Add to word list
flex verb (BEND)
to bend an arm, leg, etc. or tighten a muscle:
• First, straighten your legs, then flex your feet.
• He tried to impress me by flexing his huge muscles.
Student presentations
A good way to encourage learners to explore new vocabulary is getting them to teach each other. This works especially well if you pick topics they’re really invested in. If your learners are passionate about the environment, there’s a whole set of word lists around sustainability (intermediate). If you have a class of tech enthusiasts, they can stay up to date with the language they need to discuss AI (advanced) or internet security (intermediate).
Choose a topic that interests your learners and find a relevant word list. Divide the class into groups. You could choose different aspects of the same topic for different groups, or if your learners have very diverse interests, pick completely different topics.
Explain that each group is going to prepare a poster or a social media post to illustrate a set of words around a theme. With lower levels, it’s a good idea to select the vocabulary you allocate to each group; 6-10 words should be enough. For higher levels, direct learners to the online word list and allow them to choose their own set of vocabulary.
Encourage the groups to explore the vocabulary items using the dictionary to check the meanings and how the words are used in the examples. They can use the 🔊icons to check pronunciation too, as they’re going to be presenting their words to the class.
Students work together to create a poster or graphic to illustrate their vocabulary set. They could use photographs (perhaps taken on their own phones), hand-drawn pictures, simple icons, or diagrams.
Students present their finished graphic to the rest of the class, explaining the meaning of the key words and how they relate to the overall topic. Adjust the length of the presentation to the level of the class, encouraging higher levels to explain and expand on their ideas more.
Why this works
Choosing topics that are relevant and interesting to your learners will make them more engaged and more likely to learn. Demonstrating how they can find out about vocabulary to describe ideas that connect to their life and interests will motivate them to explore language for themselves so that they can express ideas they really care about in English.