Phonics can help students build their vocabulary by recognizing common-sounding or similarly spelled words. A game called Phonics Baseball can spice up the study of phonics for the young student and also the student learning English as a second language, who is likely to be at least a little familiar with the game of baseball. Draw a baseball diamond on the board and use magnets for the "runners." Divide the room into two teams. "Pitch" a phonetically spelled word. Team 1 is at bat; if the first batter spells the word correctly, Team 1's runner goes to first base. If the batter spells the word incorrectly, he's out. If the batter from Team 2 spells the word correctly, Team 1 gets another out. Runs are scored as each runner reaches home plate. Ten runs wins the game, and games can be played as a series.
Parts of speech are introduced early on in building a vocabulary. In a game called Stick-it, students race to identify parts of speech in sentences written on the blackboard. Each student is given eight Post-its -- one student gets red, the other student gets yellow. On each Post-it is one of the eight parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun, interjection, conjunction. Each sentence has a particular part of speech underlined, and when the teacher signals for the race to begin, the student who sticks the most Post-its correctly wins a small prize.
Spelling skills are crucial to building vocabulary, as some words simply cannot be recognized phonetically. Spelling should be emphasized in vocabulary training, particularly since it has been devalued by such phenomena as texting, which encourages misspelling for the sake of speed. The old game of Hangman can be adapted to a classroom spelling contest. Two stick figures, each with two legs, two feet, two arms, two hands, a head and a torso (10 total parts for each) are drawn on the board. The class is divided into two teams and players take turns trying to spell a word. If they succeed they get to erase a body part. The first team to make its stick person disappear wins.
Analogies are a bit more complicated than phonics, spelling or parts of speech, and students can be apprehensive about studying them, but they can be a vital part of building or revising one's vocabulary. In a game called Race to Compare, students are divided into two teams and line up facing the blackboard. A line divides the board into two columns. In column A, the teacher writes the first part of an analogy (for example: "Bird:fly") and in column B writes half of the other part, leaving a blank ("kangaroo:____") At a signal students race to the board and write in the word (they must spell it correctly) that completes the analogy. The first student to write in the correct word earns a point for his team.
Familiar and popular games such as "Jeopardy," "Wheel of Fortune," "Password" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" can all be adapted to the classroom to present vocabulary lessons. In "Jeopardy," for example, each category could be a different aspect of vocabulary building (Parts of Speech, Analogies, etc.). A variation on the game of Bingo has students given a bingo card with a word written in each square. The teacher reads a definition and the students mark an "x" through the square with the word that fits the definition. The game ends when one student fills a row and cries "Bingo!"