Step 1: Strategy Introduction (15 minutes)

• Demonstrate common communication strategies to your class:
  • Description: Explaining what something does/looks like. For example, you can describe the word “stapler” as “a metal tool that joins papers together”.
  • Circumlocution: Talking around the word. For example, if you don’t know the word for “library”, you can still say that “you are going to return a book”.
  • Using synonyms. For example, take a nuanced or complex word and break it down into simpler synonyms – “very sad” can replace “devastated”.
  • Gestures and body language.
  • Drawing or pointing to objects
• Have your class practice come up with their own examples before practicing in context.

Step 2: Strategy Practice (20 minutes)

• Divide your class into pairs – the student finding strategies should face you and the student guessing should turn their back to you.
• Show cards or write words on the whiteboard for the pairs to find strategies for:
  • Start easy with concrete objects of daily use. If your minority language is similar to a national one, you can take this opportunity to review false friends and words with different roots.
  • Move on to more abstract concepts. Do not hesitate to prompt them with difficult words; the objective of this activity is to be strategic, not to memorise lots of new vocabulary.
  • Require your students to use a different strategy each time.
  • Circulate to provide support and suggestions.

Step 3: Real Scenario Role-Play (10 minutes)

• Set up one or two real life situations where specific vocabulary might be missing
• Examples you can use:
  • Explaining a traditional recipe without knowing all ingredient names.
  • Giving directions when street names are unknown.
  • Answering a job interview question where they might not know a technical term.
• Have your students try to maintain the flow of the conversation without checking their notes or textbook.

Step 4: Reflection (10 minutes)

• Lead a discussion about which strategies worked best for different types of words
• Let students share which strategies made them feel the most confident and which ones felt natural to use in every day conversation.

Notes: Continue to remind your students that perfect vocabulary isn’t necessary for effective communication. These communication strategies will help them minimise code-switching and will increase their confidence.