The end of the school year is upon us once again. You know it’s really close when everyone, teachers included, is suffering with a bad case of the blahs. Ennui has set in. We can all relate.

The question is, what can we do about it? How do we make it those last two weeks to the bitter end and still retain our sanity? It’s hard enough to deal with our own torpor, let alone the students’.

I find that two things help me overcome the end of the school year blahs: humor, and mixing up my usual classroom routine. That’s how the last two vocabulary lessons in What’s That Word? came about.

“Boring!” pokes fun at all the tedious lectures, mundane routines, and trite cliches students have experienced at some point during their schooling, while acknowledging the fact that the end of the school year is just that. It even comes with an “Itty Bitty Boring Quizzy!” to cap off an interminable case of the blahs. As an added bonus, there are three French words in the lesson: cliché, ennui, and passé.

“Couch Potato,” on the other hand, turns the idea of the old theme, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” on its head, and focuses on all of the hebetudinous ways to spend an indolent summer break. Enthrall your students with a parting vocabulary word (or ten) before atrophy sets in.

And just to mix things up a little, I’ve started posting the individual lessons from What’s That Word? on the website Teachers Pay Teachers. If you’d like to have a little fun with the end of the school year blahs, you’ll find the “Boring!” vocabulary lesson here, and the “Couch Potato” vocabulary lesson here. Both are downloadable, printable .pdf files, complete with quizzes, short writing activities, and the answer keys to the lesson.