Engage them in current events. Have your students find newspaper clippings or print off articles from the internet that mention three different locations in the world. When discussing the articles, see how many can point to the locations on the class world map. Talk about the news and ask pointed questions about the relevance of these places and their experiences to the students' own. Guide them if they struggle to make connections.
Take one continent at a time. Remind them of the basics: the continents and their major natural boundaries or features, and begin to look at the microcosm of each. Break down each continent into its countries and discuss important aspects of each one: capitals, imports and exports, major events both current and historical, natural features that are well known and language. Teach them how to draw each continent on a black sheet of paper and practice adding natural and political boundaries at the beginning of each class.
Discover the details with your students. As you discuss a single continent, break it down into its countries, provinces or states. Continue discussing current events, but keep them focused to a particular area of the world as you progress. Assign students research projects either in groups or individually that focus on these political divisions of a continent or country. Have them give oral presentations that include both a written component and a visual piece such as a flag, map or collage that relate their discoveries to the rest of the class.
Become tourists in your own country. Hold a lottery with your class to have them choose a state or province at random. For small countries, the students will need to work in groups. Have them write to the tourist boards in the areas they were assigned requesting information. Tourist packages often include maps, locations of interest and other surprises to encourage people to travel. From this information, have them design their own tourist brochures either on computers or by hand. The brochures should contain important information including places of note like capitals and landmarks, and any features that should be alluring to a tourist like beaches or good hiking terrain.
Test their knowledge. At the end of the school year, see how much they gained from their daily practice, weekly discussions and projects. While a written or multiple choice test is standard, giving a drawing test in addition to the written component will truly show how well your work with them stuck with them. Provide them with a 9" x 12" piece of blank paper with their tests. Ask them to draw from memory the continents as they would appear on a world map, and place on their personal maps 50 natural boundaries or landmarks and 50 political boundaries with appropriate labels. Tell them at the start of term that this map is worth half of their final test grade, and see how much they can surprise you if you provide them with guided practice and instruction each class.