Dictionary skills are vital but practice can become boring if prolonged.
Little and often is the key with a variety of activities and competitions.
KS3. Organise a race by issuing sets of cards to be arranged in alphabetical order.
* Call out an unfamiliar word, spell it in the target language and ask pupils to find the definition. Ring the changes by requiring synonyms, antonyms, plurals and so on.
* Give everyone a flashcard and get the class to line up in alphabetical order. Set a time limit to add pace.
KS4. Draw attention to grammatical markers by issuing phrases for translation, eg “in a second”; “I second that”; “the second person”. Use this to encourage cross-checking in the target language to English pages, eg “that’s a lie”; “they lie down”.
* Worksheets developing dictionary skills are excellent for cover lessons as non-linguists can still offer support.
