Connect Two Learning Strategy

In a Connect Two activity, students think of any connections they want between any two of the new vocabulary words. They use the words on an analytical level, and make connections to them, before they encounter them in the new reading passage or the BrainPOP ELL movie. Connect Two is a wonderful vocabulary strategy to use instead of simply asking for a sentence and definition for 10 random new words. If the activity is done in pairs, then the students have the bonus of thinking it through, and communicating their ideas to each other. This activity is good for differentiating instruction, since students can contribute sentences on any level while thinking analytically about the words. One student might say: Farm and farmer are connected because the farmer works on the farm. Another student might say: Choose and menu are connected because we look at the menu to choose food.

Procedure: A model such as the following must be used. You can create a hand-out with multiple examples of the model sentence, or simply write it on the board. Students connect any two of the words, in any way that makes sense to them.

__________and __________ are connected because ___________________.