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Let them practise on their own Match them up

Match across three columns

A picture, the new word and the word they already know, lined up in one row. A row counts only when all three belong together.

When to use it

The first lessons on a new topic in a foreign language, when the words need to stick to the things they name. A station in a language classroom where pupils work in pairs. A quick check before a speaking task, so the nouns are ready when they are needed.

What makes it this

Built on the Match them up generator with these changed. Everything else is the default.

  1. Columns

    Players see these headings above the cards. Every pair has one card per column.

    In the builder: Pairs & columns

  2. Drag answers into slots Off

    Every first card gets an empty slot beside it and the other cards wait in a bank above. Off, the cards stand in columns.

    In the builder: How it plays › How players match

  3. Connect with lines Off

    Players tap a card in each column and a line is drawn between them. Off, they drag the cards in the other columns into line.

    In the builder: How it plays › How players match

Preview

View only — copy it to play.

Setting the table in Spanish: picture, word, meaning

The pictures stay where they are. Move the Spanish words and the English words up or down until every row shows one thing three ways: drag a card, or tap it and then tap where it belongs. A row turns green only when all three cards match, so watch out for cuchara and cuchillo.

8 pairs

Why the example is built this way

  1. Every column has a job.

    The picture is the meaning, the English is what learners already know, and the Spanish is the exercise. Picture to English is easy on purpose. It gets a row half built, and the row still counts only once the Spanish word is in it.

  2. The pictures stay put.

    With Keep the first column in order on, the pictures are never shuffled and can't be picked up, so the board reads as a list of eight things. Players only move the two word columns, by dragging or by tapping a card and then the place it belongs.

  3. Two near misses, on purpose.

    Cuchara and cuchillo start the same, and learners read vaso as vase or reach for copa. Put in a pair or two like that. The pictures in the first column settle it, so the mix-up is fixed on the board rather than in a test.

Build it yourself

  1. 1 Open the Match them up builder and fill in the Pairs & columns tab.
  2. 2 Change the settings under What makes it this. Each one says where it is in the builder.
  3. 3 Share the link with your players, or embed the activity in your own site.

Or skip the building: copy this example and swap in your own content.

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