Talk a Mile a Minute Instructions:

1. “Engaging students in a variety of meaningful oral expression activities, especially when they first encounter the words, is one way of improving vocabulary knowledge.” Source: Francis, M., Simpson, M. “Using theory, our intuitions, and a research study to enhance students’ vocabulary knowledge.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Sept. 2003.

2. Talk a Mile a Minute Instructions: Make up groups of related words (7) from a section or chapter, e.g. People Rome Conquered, Roman Government, Roman Generals, etc. Divide students into pairs or threes. Have teams choose who will be the first “talker”. The talker faces the board. Other team members turn their backs to the board. Allow the talkers to choose which group of words or category they want to try. Draw straws for first choice. The talker will say things about the first term until his team guesses it as quickly as possible, then move to the next term. Time how long it takes each team to guess the list. The talker may not use any words in the category title. For example: “This is the document that is the basis for our American government.” Source: Marzano, R., Pickering, D. Building Academic Vocabulary, 2005.

3. Talk a Mile a Minute Things Associated with the American Civil War. Gettysburg Merrimack Ulysses S. Grant Emancipation Proclamation States’ Rights Jefferson Davis