Vocabulary Boardgame

Building vocabulary is an important part of acquiring a new language, but drilling it is dull and ineffective for memorization.  One solution I tried recently was making the vocabulary into a trivia-style boardgame.  This game is great for kids who have a hard time focusing on more standard classroom activities or who really enjoy learning through social interaction, and it's a great way to get students thinking hard about new vocabulary words.  My student loved it!

The game is played in two groups, and students in the groups take turns being the group representative.  The representative rolls a die with vocabulary printed on it (you can make a six sided paper die, or, especially if you have more words, make a numbered list of them and roll a twelve or twenty sided die to determine the word), then spins a spinner like the one here, at teachersnotebook.com to determine how he or she needs to try to convey the meaning of the word to his or her team.

The possible ways to give clues are:
1. Act out the word.
2. Give 3 synonyms for the word
3. Write a sentence using a word, but put a blank instead of the word.
4.Give three clues to help your group guess the word.
5. Give a one-word definition for your word
6. Play hangman with your group.
7. Give three antonyms for the word.
8. Draw the word on a whiteboard.

(Instructions for making a spinner can be found here.)

The student has two minutes to try to get his meaning across.  If his or her group guesses the word in two minutes, the team can roll the color die and move to the color on it.  If the group cannot guess the word in two minutes, they don't get to go.

The board, as you can see, is a standard monopoly-like board.  After rolling the vocabulary die and having the word successfully guessed, the representative advances his team's marker by rolling a six-sided die with a different color on each side and moving to that color.  If a student passes a DECISION POINT, the team has twenty seconds to confer, and then the representative must immediately give the definition of the word.  If it is incorrect, or the student does not know the definition, the team takes a longer path to the finish line.

If a student passes a CHANCE space, he or she can draw a chance card.  You can make your chance cards whatever you want, but I included:
            -Reroll vocabulary word
            -Spin the spinner again
            -Pick a new representative to explain the word
            -Reroll opponent's vocabulary word
            -Spin opponents' spinner
            -Roll the vocabulary die twice.  If you can immediately give the definition for both words, roll              the movement die twice and move both times.
            -Opponents can't talk this round

First one to the finish line wins!