Most of us get bored when we follow the same routines, and it's the same with kids! It's good to use a "variety of techniques... to make content concepts clear" (Echevarria, Vogt, and Short, 2014).
The standard way of teaching vocabulary used to be making a list of words and having students read it, maybe review flashcards, or have the students write the word in a sentence. However, teaching English learners new content concepts can - and should - be done in a variety of ways.
Echevarria, Vogt, and Short suggest in the SIOP model using visuals, hands-on activities, demonstrations, gestures, and body language. A good "tea party" or "meet-and-greet" activity can use all of those.
The standard way of teaching vocabulary used to be making a list of words and having students read it, maybe review flashcards, or have the students write the word in a sentence. However, teaching English learners new content concepts can - and should - be done in a variety of ways.
Echevarria, Vogt, and Short suggest in the SIOP model using visuals, hands-on activities, demonstrations, gestures, and body language. A good "tea party" or "meet-and-greet" activity can use all of those.
I had my students do a mock trial, but before they did, they needed to learn about the roles at court. Some of the words were unfamiliar, such as "attorney" and "defendant." So, each student received a card with the word, a synonym if relevant, a description of the job, and a visual.
The card they received assigned them a role. They had a moment to read the job description, and ask questions if needed. Then, they introduced themselves to other students in the class, speaking their job description to someone else. By reading and speaking the definition of their job description, they were able to get practice in multiple modalities of speaking in English and understanding their own job description. They were also able to hear the definition of other students' job descriptions as well. They had to "meet" each "role" at court. We then rehearsed the vocabulary in other ways, having students write about their roles by filling in their trial script.
We continued to practice with the words in multiple ways, so by the time of the trial, everyone had mastered their roles!