Learn English » Vocabulary Worksheet-1 for Beginner Level Learners

Use of realia (real objects) and actions/gestures

The exercises given in this worksheet make use of realia (real objects) and actions/gestures. These exercises can be used to teach the names of fruits as well as some basic verbs. These are for learners who have not yet begun to read or write.

1. Learning names of fruits/vegetables

The teacher brings a bag full of fruits to the class. She/he invites a student to close his eyes and take one fruit. After the fruit is taken, the student is asked to say what he/she calls that fruit. If the student is familiar with the English name of the fruit, let him/her say it. If the student knows the name of the fruit in another language, he says that, and the teacher gives the English name. However, it is advised that the teacher should try to elicit the name from the students themselves as far as possible.

The fruit is then passed around to be held and felt by all the students. The last student to hold and feel the fruit puts the fruit on the teacher’s table. This procedure is repeated with all the fruits.

The same activity can be done with vegetables, instead of fruits, or flowers.

2. Learning verbs

The teacher has some fruits on his/her table. He/she calls a student and asks him to take a fruit and give it to her.

For example, the teacher may call Jack, and say ‘Please give me an apple’ and hold out her hand. After Jack gives the apple to the teacher, another student is called. This time the command is to give an apple to another student, for example, “Anne, please give this apple to Patricia.”

The idea is to repeat the words ‘apple’ and ‘give’ at least 4-5 times, till these two words are learnt by the students in context. After apple, it can be the other fruits one by one. The action verb ‘give’ can be replaced with ‘eat’, ‘cut’, ‘put’, ‘count’ etc. Each command should be accompanied by an action or gesture that shows what to do. Some sample commands are given below.

“Carmen, please put this orange in your bag.” (pointing to the orange and then the bag)

“Anne, please count these apples.” (showing action, and counting 1,2,3 …)