ELT Network Lesson Plans

Five fun ways to teach

collocations
Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing
Created by: BCHK ELT Network Team
Aim(s) To introduce or revise common collocations

Flyswatters Board Rush Game

This is a fast-paced, fun activity that can be used as a warmer at the beginning of the class, a
stirrer in the middle or a filler at the end to revise previously taught collocations.

Time
10 – 15 minutes

Procedure

1. Write half of some collocations on the board, maybe ones that students often mix up, for
example, collocations using the verbs do and make.
2. Divide the class into teams and get them to stand in their teams, one behind the other,
facing the board – about a metre or so away from the board. Give the first person in
each team a flyswatter.
3. Say a noun that commonly goes with one of the verbs on the board, e.g. a mistake.
Students with the flyswatters rush to the board and swat the verb that goes with the
noun.
4. Award a point for the first team to swat the correct verb.

Note
This game can be adapted for a whole range of language points, for example:
 recognition of phonetic symbols – write the symbol on the board, say a word that
contains one of those sounds, students swat the correct symbol
 dependent prepositions – write some prepositions on the board, e.g. up, down, through,
say a verb that collocates with one of the prepositions, e.g. wake, students swat the
correct preposition.

Find your partner

This can be used as either a quick warmer to review previously taught collocations or
alternatively used to introduce new ones.

Time
10 – 15 minutes

Procedure

1. Write some common collocations on squares of card/paper – write only one word on each
square so that all collocations are split up.
2. Distribute the word cards to your students so that they all have one card each.
3. Students mingle around the class and try and find the person with the word that
collocates with their own word.

Extension
If you want to expand on this activity, once students have found their partner they can write a
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sentence together that uses the collocation.

Note
If your class has too many students for a mingling activity, the same idea can be used as a
simple matching activity. Give pairs of students a cut up copy of all the cards for them to
match the collocations at their desks.

Dominoes
This is a longer activity that students can actually make themselves in class – this means that
they are exposed to the collocations whilst making the game and then again when they play the
game prepared by another group.

Time
50 minutes to prepare, make and play the game.

Procedure

1. Put students into groups of three or four.

2. Ask the students to make a list of the collocations they have recently learnt in class.
Monitor the students to check spelling and understanding.
3. Give the students a table grid (see example in handout one below) and a pair of scissors.
4. Students should start in the second box on the top line of the handout and write the first
part of a collocation in this box. In the next box they should write the second part of the
collocation. They continue like this until the final box in the bottom right hand corner
which should be the first part of a collocation – the second part is written in the first box
at the top of the page. This ensures that when playing the game the collocations will
form a circle.
5. The students should then cut the dominoes so that each piece has got two words on it.
6. Groups should then pass their dominoes game to another group for them to play the
game.
7. To play the game, students should distribute the cards evenly between the players in the
group. If the number of cards cannot be divided equally or if there are many cards being
used then there could be a pile of spare cards put in the middle. Students who can’t go
when it’s their turn can then pick up one of these cards as a forfeit.
8. The first player lays down any card. The second player tries to lay down the card that
collocates with either word on the original card. If s/he can’t go play passes to the next
student. Play continues to pass around the group until all the cards are laid down. The
first player to use all his/her cards is the winner.

Whistling Gap Fill Game

This game is used as a revision exercise that, like the game above, exposes students to the
language whilst they themselves prepare the game and then again when they play the game
against another team.

Time
30 minutes

Procedure

1. Divide the class into groups of four or six students, and then divide that group into two
separate teams.
2. Ask each group to write 10 sentences that contain a common collocation.
3. When they have finished writing the sentences, put the two groups back together.
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 4. Groups take it in turns to read one of their sentences, omitting the collocation and
replacing it with a sound, for example, a whistle or buzzing noise.
5. The other team must guess what collocation goes in the sentence where the whistle was.
Points could be awarded along the lines of – if their first guess is correct they get three
points, two points if the second guess is correct and 1 point if their third guess is correct.

Note
This is another game that can be adapted for other language points such as phrasal verbs or
dependent preposition, or simply recently learnt vocabulary.

Pelmanism

Again, this activity can be prepared by students in the class in order to give them extra
exposure to the collocations.

Time
20 minutes

Procedure

1. Put students into pairs and ask them to list 12 collocations that they have recently
learnt.
2. Give each pair three sheets of A4 paper The easiest way of ensuring the words are
evenly spread out in the same sized squares is to ask the students to fold the paper in
half, fold it in half again and then again for a third time. The folded lines will make 8
equal size squares on the paper.
3. On each square students write half of a collocation, ensuring that they complete the
collocation on another square.
4. Students should then cut the squares along the folded lines so that they have 24 playing
cards.
5. When all the squares are ready students can either play pelmanism using their own
cards, or even better, if other groups have chosen different collocations to make their
game with, then they can play using another team’s cards to enable them to revise
more.
6. To play pelmanism, students need to place all the cards face down on their table.
Students take it in turns to turn over two cards. If they make a collocation the student
wins those cards. If they don’t make a collocation the cards are turned face down again
and play passes to the other student. Play continues until all the cards have been
matched. The winner is the person with the most cards at the end of the game.

Variation
If you have young students and the collocations are things that could easily be drawn, you could
ask students to write the full collocation on one square and then draw a picture of the
collocation on another card. Some students’ memory of the words benefit from being able to
visualize the words.

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 ELT Network Lesson Plans
Five fun ways to teach
collocations
Handout One – dominoes

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Cut along the dotted lines only!

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