The Situation
You want your students to practise using a variety of words.
The Solution
Exposure to a wide vocabulary is a vital aspect to the English curriculum. It is important that students are always practising using different words – even if it does not directly involve writing.
With my students, I have created a powerpoint with a range of anagrams to test their vocabulary. There are a number of different ways you can present your anagrams.
- You might present it on a television screen and let students work in pairs to solve.
- Or, you could have them printed and laminated. They need to then go up to each anagram and solve them before going back to their desk.
Consider the following when scrambling your words.
Change the difficulty
The power of anagrams is that you can jumble them based on the ability of your students. Take for example the word ‘nappy.’ I can write it in an easy format, ‘pynap’, or a difficult format, ‘ppany’.
Subvert their expectations
For great anagrams, you do not need to include difficult language. Why not challenge your students to think differently about common words and jumble them up in an unexpected way. Consider the following anagram:
lsioniveet
As I have condensed the e’s together and created a new sound with ‘veet’, the anagram is so far removed from the word ‘television’ that students will not likely jump towards the correct answer.
Check out the following anagrams to get you started. Can you solve all of them?
The English Classroom 