How Can Revision, Simple Explanations and Games Improve English Lessons? – S05E07

How can revision help learners remember vocabulary, and what can teachers do when students arrive tired or lessons begin to feel repetitive?In this episode, Gav and Em share practical English teaching and learning tips drawn from their own classrooms. They explore how conversations, personal connections, emotional responses and simple keywords can make new vocabulary more memorable. They also consider whether teaching easily confused words together can create unnecessary problems.What should you do when students have no energy? Gav and Em discuss starting slowly, using your own enthusiasm, introducing music or video, getting learners moving and adapting online lessons so students become active participants again.You’ll also hear how random discussion questions can freshen up long-running courses and give learners more autonomy. Em’s attempt to elicit the words columns and rows leads instead to “pillars and paddles” and a useful conversation about when elicitation works, when it fails and when teachers should simply provide the answer.The episode finishes with a classroom-friendly Family Feud quiz. It demonstrates how survey questions can generate vocabulary, synonyms, collocations and practice with phrasal verbs such as break down.If you find the show useful, you can send us a thanks at https://ko-fi.com/howtoenglishpodVisit https://howtoenglishpod.com for practical teaching ideas and resources ready to use.Transcription with audio:https://share.descript.com/view/gt5XCBSPQOUQuiz of the Week:Family Feud questions for classroom gameshttps://hobbylark.com/party-games/list-of-family-feud-questionsChapters00:00 Welcome and introduction00:57 Why revision helps students remember vocabulary02:16 Revisiting and eliciting previously taught words04:05 How conversation and personal connections support memory07:55 What to do when students are tired09:12 Using videos music and movement to raise energy11:35 Helping low-energy students connect in class13:18 Support How to English TEFL Podcast13:52 How to freshen up long-running courses14:20 Using random questions to create speaking activities16:58 The vocabulary grid activity18:24 Pillars and paddles versus columns and rows19:30 When elicitation confuses learners20:28 Typing clues and using donkey bridges22:25 Why vocabulary explanations should stay simple23:20 How to explain the word pipe25:52 Explaining awe flimflam crestfallen and frustrated30:21 Quiz of the Week Family Feud32:52 Classroom quiz round one Kitchen liquids34:47 Classroom quiz round two Things that break down37:30 Classroom quiz round three Another word for book39:39 Extending quiz answers into vocabulary practice40:50 Final thoughts and goodbye