In many classes, I noticed my students chatting in Portuguese during the first few minutes—often gossiping or catching up about their lives. I couldn’t always understand the slang they used, but those moments turned out to be interesting learning opportunities. When they struggled to find an English equivalent for a particular expression, I’d ask them to explain what it meant so I could suggest a translation or similar term in English. This not only pushed them to communicate creatively but also expanded my own “slang” vocabulary.
As Harmer (2007) points out, activities that encourage students to negotiate meaning promote both fluency and confidence. That’s exactly what I began to see happening in those spontaneous exchanges. Inspired by this, I decided to turn the idea into a warm-up activity: a competition where students explain a slang word without saying it, while their classmates try to guess the term.
Level: A2 or above
(Depending on the chosen slang expressions)
Time: Min. 10 / Max. 15 minutes
Materials: Slips of paper with examples of Brazilian slang. Here are some examples:
• Trampar/Trampo – To work / A job.
• Dar um rolê / Rolezeira(o) – To hang out / Someone who loves to go out.
• Fechado – Agreed / Deal! / It’s set.
• Coringar – To lose control / To act crazy like the Joker.
• Calabreso – Relax. (used to calm down someone who’s stressed)
Lead-in: Write one Brazilian slang term on the board (Example: casca de bala; best friend). Tell students that you have a friend from another country who heard this expression and aske for your help, but you weren’t able to explain. Check if they know what it means
Development: Tell students that they’re competing in 2 teams who will each receive a piece of paper with a slang term, and they will need to explain its meaning in English so a member of their own team can guess the slang. Set a time limit of 1 minute per term, and if their team cannot guess the expression, the points will go to the other team.
Create 2 or 3 slips of paper with the terms per group.
ICQ’s
• Are you going to say the slang word or explain it in English without saying it?
• How much time do you have to explain each slang term?
• What happens if your team can’t guess the expression in time?
Discussion: After the teams have finished guessing the slang expression, carry out a group discussion.
• Which expression was the hardest to explain in English? Why?
• Did you find any slang expressions that don’t really have an equivalent in English?
• What new English expressions could we use to describe similar ideas or feelings?
