Slang For Boomers - Using Slang To Teach Vocabulary

I am SO excited to share my latest lesson with you. I used it for my sophomores in English 10 as their final project, but it’s a great assignment any time of the year. They playfully referred to it as Slang for Old Folks or Slang for Boomers. And, despite the fact that no boomers were actually involved in this lesson, I kind of liked the name.

The “students” for the hour (our technology teacher, art teacher, and admissions representative) modeled typical student behavior. They took notes, but also ate snacks and periodically checked their phones!

Why I Made It

Despite doing weekly grammar and vocabulary, my students just can’t seem to understand parts of speech. Not only that, but they also don’t care. I was frustrated, obviously, but I also wondered why they should care. I mean, would I have cared about parts of speech in high school? (The answers is definitely no.)

A few weeks ago, I was trying to understand a new slang word my students were using. The word was “merch” and I finally got the understanding when you told me it’s something you have (adjective), not something you are (noun) or do (verb). I turned this on its head, telling students that their Gen Z slang is often difficult for older generations because the word inverts the part of speech.

Then, I got an idea. What if, I pitched to them, they had to teach us “old folks” their slang as their final project? They’d have to make a lesson and handout and their students could even be their current teachers. They were hooked and the project began.

To get started with this lesson in your classroom, check out this (very cheap!) lesson that lets you personalize it as needed!

Beginning Steps

To start the project, my students brainstormed different slang words for the lesson. There were a few rules, such as no acronyms and no words with suggestive or inappropriate meanings. I knew I wanted each group of students to teach five words, so I needed at least 30 words for them to choose from. Here is a partial list of the words they chose:

Bussin’
Gas
Clap
Ghosting
Periodt
Low Key/High Key
Cap vs. No Cap
Merch
Slay

I let students choose their own groups (because, drama). Next, we did a “word draft.” I put the groups into the Wheel of Names (one of my favorite classroom tools) and spun it around. Whoever was chosen first got to pick their word first. We continued until the groups all got a pick, then continued the “draft” in that order until each group had 5 words. I recommend having a few extra left over, just in case students don’t like some.

After the draft, I told students that the order the picked would also be the order they present. Then, it was time to work on their presentations. I gave students 2 ½ class periods (48 minutes long), but I think they could do it in just two.

Each group distributed handouts, so the teachers could review and take notes.

The Expectations

For this lesson, students were expected to create:

A slideshow – This slideshow should explain each vocabulary word, including:

Part of speech
Definition
Example sentence

A handout – This handout will be used for teachers’ notes. It should have room to record the information on the slideshow and be clear and aesthetically pleasing.

A lesson – The lesson will be co-taught by all group members and should include the following:

An introductory activity (such as a media clip or warm-up activity)
The lesson itself (where students teach the content)
An exit slip (some kind of review activity with incentive for paying attention)

This group used a Kahoot as their exit slip.

I also used the slideshows and handouts to create a 15-point quiz. The rubric stated that the teachers’ scores were averaged into a component of their overall score. This gave students an incentive to teach clearly, rather than try to baffle or trick their teacher “students.”

Prep Work Required

Before assigning the project, distribute project expectations and the rubric. You can create these yourself or download no-prep materials from TpT to save a lot of time.

You should also select a date and email teachers and staff who are free during that hour. Ideally, students will have an audience of at least three students, so I suggesting inviting at least ten!

Lastly, before the presentation (but after the work days), you’ll need to create your teacher quiz. Students could also work together to create this, but I think it would take another class period. I found it faster to just make it myself.

Here’s a group of boys teaching the difference between cap and no cap

The Lesson

On the day of our lesson, students double-checked their handouts and proofread my quiz. I welcomed our guest students, normally our teachers, and gave everyone the instructions. For 7-10 minutes, the students would become the teachers. But this also meant that teachers became the students. You would not believe how much they enjoyed this! I think we confiscated 5 phones and one teacher even started watching TikTok in the middle of a lesson. They were also actively asking questions, some of which were stumpers. Some students got frustrated, but they also recognized that the teachers were modeling real student behavior.

One thing I required was the use of an warm-up activity and exit slip for each lesson. This added variety and creativity to the day. One group played “hot seat,” putting my friend Carly, the 9th grade ELA teacher, in a seat at the front of the room. On the white board behind her, they wrote various slang words, and her peers had to describe the word to her. Another group created a Kahoot for review. Honestly, they were so fun!

Here is Carly in the “hot seat,” with her teacher peers giving her clues to guess the slang word.

After the lessons were done, the teachers took our quiz. Each class had one student who aced it and the others got Bs, so the average as a 14/15. I think everyone was pleased with the class averages.

My Takeaways

This project was so fun. Both teachers and students praised the project for how fun it was, but I also noticed how subtly rigorous it was. For the first time, my students mastered parts of speech. This was because they didn’t just need to know it for their handout, but in order to field questions during the lesson. They also learned to work together and adapt plans for unpredictable circumstances, such as adults acting as unruly students.

Bellringer Help

Looking for more vocabulary lessons? Check out my ELA Bellringers, which expose students to vocab, lit terms, grammar, and nonfiction every week with no prep! Read this blog post about them here.