Quiz-Quiz-Trade
Every learner holds a vocabulary card: a target word on one side, the definition or prompt on the other. They stand, pair up, quiz each other, then swap cards and find a new partner. The deck of cards circulates through the whole class within minutes.
Procedure
- Prepare one card per student, each with a vocabulary word on one side and a definition, example sentence, or L1 translation on the other.
- Everyone stands. Hand out one card per learner. Give 30 seconds for them to study their own card.
- Students raise a hand, find another raised hand, and pair up.
- Student A shows the word side. Student B attempts a definition. Student A praises ("Exactly!") or coaches ("Close — it's actually…"). Roles reverse with Student B's card.
- The pair trades cards and finds a new partner with hands up.
- Repeat for 8–10 minutes. Each learner will have encountered many words via different partners.
- Debrief: collect cards; ask the class which words were trickiest.
Why it works
The trade is the mechanism. Because learners keep swapping cards, each student does not own one word — they meet the whole set. Coaching (rather than marking right/wrong) keeps the affect low, and the physical movement sustains attention longer than seated drills. Spencer Kagan's PIES Principles framework analyses why: positive interdependence (I can't quiz without you), individual accountability (you own the card in your hand), equal participation (everyone pairs, every round), and simultaneous interaction (half the class talks at once).
Variations
- Collocations: Word on one side, collocate on the other (make / a decision, a mistake, progress).
- Question-answer: Comprehension questions from a reading text instead of vocabulary.
- Sentence completion: Gap-fill cloze on one side, completed sentence on the other.
Tips
- Differentiate cards by difficulty. Colour-code cards for two or three tiers so you can hand stronger learners harder words.
- If learners get stuck on a word, they consult a third classmate rather than the teacher. The goal is peer teaching.