A vocabulary jumble is usually used at the start of a new topic or as a pre-reading activity. It is a great way to get students to focus explicitly on key words and to work at their own level, while also cooperatively working together to find a meaning. Words are considered individually, in the group and then in the whole class, providing many opportunities to hear the words and their meanings and to reuse the vocabulary.
The teacher displays a list of 15 to 20 key words from a text/topic to the class. The students then have one minute to write down as many words as they can. The teacher then covers up the words and gives the students another minute to write the words and spell them, from memory. The students then check their words against the full list and then ask other members of the group for word meanings they don't know. Dictionaries can be used as well at this stage. Lastly, have a whole class discussion of words that were unknown or not fully known.
Watch this video to see vocabulary jumble being used in a year 11 English class
Teaching and learning sequence planning example:
Secondary level:
Published on: 19 Jan 2018
