Ingredients
- a set of words that you want to practise, arranged into a snake, with a head and a tail (see the photos)
- a piece of paper and a pen although we started with a snake on the board
Procedures
- revise all the words that you are working on, with flashcards or electronic flashcards
- give out the snakes
- tell the students to call out the words they find i.e. ‘I’ve got ‘kitchen’!’
- as the students go through the words and circle them on their copies, make a list on the board, as a point of reference for the class
- if there is time, the words on the board can be used to tell a story, to ask questions, to describe a picture (depending on the topic)
- as a follow-up, the students can create their own snakes for the teacher or for their peers. They can do it in class or at home.
Why we like it
- The main reason why I love this activity is that my kids love it and they really dive into it and read, read, read. It helps them work with working on the single word level and to focus on the accurate spelling.
- I tend to include some distractors and Easter eggs and they love finding them, all the ‘lalala’, ‘zzz’, ‘bye’, ‘toilet’, and the other favourite words.
- The list on the board is a reference points. My stronger students are not interested in them but some use it for support and that is how the activity works for the mixed ability groups, too.
- All students are always fully involved in the task. What’s more, whenever I forget and a few days go by without a wordsnake, there is always someone who kindly reminds me to prepare one.
- The task can be made more challenging (by connecting the words together with the first / last letter, making it longer with more words) or less challenging (fewer words, easy ‘punctuation’ words (i.e. cat) or adding pictures for each word included).
- This particular task, especially when set as homework (or a self-study task) is the one that is always completed by everyone and, again, with full dedication and creativity. And it is always amazing to look at what they have created. The words are there but there are also so many ways of writing them. Checking that is pure pleasure! Check out our gallery!
Happy teaching!