Wanna know how to practice parts of speech in a super fun way? I love to practice parts of speech with my students by using Mad Lips! It’s a super fun, game-like way to help students understand something that can be quite challenging. And it’s honestly hilarious, I’m just saying.
So why do Mad Lips work so well to practice with parts of speech?
Mad Libs is a game in which one player prompts others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading it aloud. The words that are asked may be verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. (the Parts of Speech). The players cannot know what the story will be about beforehand. Once they have given all their choices, one student will read the story out loud, and it’s bound to be super funny and absurd! 🙂
This is a great game for several reasons:
- It helps students practice their knowledge of the Parts of Speech. They can help each other remember which is which.
- Mad Lips help students understand how each type of word can change a story completely.
- It helps students practice their reading skills, and understand context.
- And they are practicing their speaking skills as well, when they read the story out loud.
- It’s just having fun with the language!
How best to use Mad Lips as practice for parts of speech
I bought myself a book of Mad Libs stories (available on bol.com or amazon.com. Then I went and photocopied some of the stories (9 in total, I think). Next, I laminated the different stories. Finally what I do is I give each group a (laminated) story and a dry erase marker. One student will prompt their group mates for the list of words and will write them on the laminated story. This is also the student who reads the story to the group when it’s all done.
After the group is done, they will erase the words they came up with and the next group can use it. Stories will rotate between groups once, twice, or more times. This way, groups will get to do this task for a couple of stories, whatever you have time for, of course. And the sheets are reusable every time, which is better for the environment.
It’s great fun and I hope you feel like trying it yourself!
If you want to get more tips on teaching grammar, check out this page with useful articles.
Wanna find some other resources to practice Parts of Speech with your students? Check out my resources in my store, among which are BOOM cards and a memory game, here.
