Teaching vocabulary

How can you teach new vocabulary to your students?

Situations – role playing? Definitions/ verbal explanations? Pictures – flashcards? Mime or gesture? Examples? Opposites? Board/OHP/Interactive white board drawings? Objects – realia?

Task: Look at the following vocabulary items listed below and decide which would be the best means for getting the meaning across to students.
Items:
1. to hurry
2. thirsty
3. I don't care
4. a torch
5. frightened
6. a baseball cap
7. shocked
8. to crawl
9. optimistic
10. a football team

Means:

situations
definitions/ verbal explanations
pictures/flashcards
mime or gesture
examples
opposites
board drawings
objects (realia)

What influenced your decisions?

In my opinion when teaching vocabulary your choice of method must be economical and clear. For example a picture for large objects is more practical than using the real object.

Visual aids

As a teacher you have great armory of materials around you to help your students learn new vocabulary.

Here is a list of some of the possible visuals you have around you, at this very moment, to teach vocabulary:

carrier bags, wallets and other kinds of containers, mobile phones, items of jewelery, bank notes, items of clothing, cigarette packets, sweet wrappers, parts of the body, family photographs, reading materials and items of furniture.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using visuals to teach vocabulary?

Advantages Disadvantages
economical make teacher's workspace untidy or cluttered
reduces teacher talking time can be distracting

takes focus off the teacher can be over-used

variety

brings outside world into the classroom

Don't over-use visuals. Know exactly why you are using that particular item.

Visuals can also be used to practise structural language. For example large pictures of street scenes with lots of activity can be used to highlight the 'happening now' aspect of the present continuous.
The boy on the left is cycling and the girl is running towards the sweet shop.

The elderly man at the bus stop is reading a newspaper and the tall policeman is talking to the young teenager.

They can also be used to practise functional language, for example polite requests – Could I.....? May I ......? Would you mind if I......... ?. Bring in various day to day objects and get your students to focus on the language. Include natural responses.

Could I borrow your newspaper? Yes, of course.
Would you mind if I borrowed your mobile? Yes, I'm afraid I would. I need it myself.

Hints for using Visual Aids

Anything your students see in the lesson that helps them to understand or produce language:flashcards, prompts, the board, OHP, interactive whiteboard, realia, video, people, yourself!

Remember the following points:

– Don't over-use them; just enough to achieve your aim.
Know exactly why you're using them.
Plan exactly how you're going to use each one.
– Vary the kinds of visuals that you use, to bring as much variety as possible in the lesson.
– Use presentable pictures; mount them on card.
– Flashcards must be seen by everyone in the class
– Avoid 'confusing' or 'cluttered' pictures with the vital detail somewhere in the middle.
– Never throw anything away! Look after them, file them and re-use them.
– Build up a good stock of materials which will cut down on preparation.

Sources of materials

Magazines, free publications, menus, recipes, timetables, catalogues, holiday brochures, guide books, maps, junk mail, the internet, newspapers, comics, videos, television, CDs and DVDs.

Flashcards

Collect groups of flashcards, either hand drawn, from magazines or taken from the internet.

1. SINGLE NOUNS.
Example drilling practice: I've got a(an) cat/ bird/ house/camera.

2. COUNTABLE NOUNS.
Example drilling practice: There aren't any beds/ children/ glasses.

3. UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Example drilling practice: There isn't any butter/ cheese/ milk in the fridge.

4. ACTIONS
Flashcards showing actions are best kept in packs that correspond to different kinds of verbs, eg.

Transitive verbs with objects – eating food, drinking beer,
Transitive verbs that take indirect objects – showing him the book, giving her a letter,
Intransitive verbs – birds fly, dogs bark, she swims (everyday),
Verbs like 'look/ smell/ taste/ etc. + adjectives – he looks cold, it smells sweet,
Intransitive verbs with which a participle is necessary – stand up, sit down,

A further group can be made on a phonetic criteria, eg.
Regular verbs where the '-ed' is pronounced /t/ - washed, cooked, smoked.
/d/ - played, moved, smiled.
/id/ - departed, painted, waited.
Verbs where the 3rd person 's' is pronounced /s/ - cooks, breaks,
/z/ - buys, flies, plays,
/iz/ - washes, watches, kisses.

Action flashcards are very useful for drilling interrogatives & negatives. Some flashcards can highlight a particular structure or pattern.

Single pictures such as a person smiling with an open envelope and letter in his/her hand:

He/She's just received some good news.
passed his her examination.
won the lottery.

Double-sided pictures can be used to compare two tenses. Eg. On the one side a young man at a shop counter,
He usually works in a shop.

On the other side, ...... but today he's playing football with his friend.'

Double sided pictures to show different stages of a story, eg. On one side two people walking through the park on the other side a picture of dark clouds:

While they were walking through the park, a storm began.'

Flashcards can be used for set the scene for a story or show by each picture how the action developed. Students can make their own interpretations of each picture and how the story develops. Students can discuss in pairs or groups as to what happens next and how the story ends. Once the students have discussed it they can gain valuable writing practice by individual or group writing.

Two basic Procedures
Teacher-Centred Presentation
This intensive procedure can be used for up to about eight lexical items and is perhaps more appropriate at elementary and intermediate levels.
Clarification and Very restricted Practice

1. Build up a memorable mini-situation. Use flashcards, mime, gesture, explanation, opposites, questions etc. to get the concept (meaning) clear.
2. Try to elicit or draw the vocabulary item from the students. See if they know before you give it to them. Check the meaning. Drill the word as a class and then individually. Let the students see the word – the written form but don't let them write just yet.

Do the same for the other words.

3. Written clarification and check the meaning of each word.

If you are pre-teaching vocabulary, you can now go straight on to your focus questions for your reading passage. These are simple questions to give your students a reason for reading.

If you want to give more intensive practice of the new vocabulary, do stages four and/ or five.

4. Less-Restricted Practice Devise a pairwork activity which gives your students practice in the words you have just presented.

This could be a question and answer activity or a vocabulary – definition matching exercise.

5. Authentic Practice An activity which gives your students the opportunity to freely use the new vocabulary.

Student-Centred Presentation

This is sometimes called 'Test-Teach-Test'. This procedure is often more suitable for higher levels ie. Intermediate and above where you cannot be sure exactly who knows what. This technique is especially useful for students doing examinations such as FCE and puts more focus on students building their own vocabulary.

1. Test
Introduce the students to the theme of the vocabulary. Prepare an exercise which involves either matching vocabulary items to pictures or definitions or putting words into similar groups – chair, table, bed = furniture. (See example)

Watch the students to see how well they do and how much they know.

2. Teach

Check their answers. Clarify and check form and pronunciation and meaning. Drill where appropriate.

3. Test

Further activities to practise the vocabulary. This could be any of the following:

-Expose the students to the new vocabulary in a text – story, newspaper article,

-Restricted practice. A pairwork exercise as an example would enable the students to use the new vocabulary you have presented.

-Authentic practice activities. You will need to devise an activity which gives the students the opportunity to freely use the new vocabulary. This could be examples such as matching exercises, or building a dialogue incorporating the new language.

Example of a student Centred Vocabulary Exercise

Topic: House and Home

The students work in pairs or groups and try to complete the sentence with a suitable word or phrase related to the house. This is done before the teacher explains any of the vocabulary. You can make the exercise easier by adding the first letter.

1. I keep all my clothes in the w...................... in the bedroom.
2. If someone wants to buy a property they usually have to arrange a m........... with a bank.
3. My grandmother had to leave her house because she couldn't manage to climb the s............ anymore.
4. We have gas c................. h................. in every room in our house which keeps us warm.
5. Our next door n........................... are a young couple who often have loud parties at the weekend.

You can vary this kind of exercise by offering alternatives for the students to select the best one.

1. A ................................ is a kind of house where all the rooms are on the ground floor and very popular for elderly people.
cottage bungalow bed-sit palace semi-detached
2. Some houses have a room underground called a(n) ........................ where people can keep
things which are no longer used.
attic larder playroom cellar loft

Once the students have checked the exercise and had a chance to repeat the new vocabulary, this should be extended to allow less controlled practice. Get the students to discuss the following questions with a partner or in groups:

What kind of house or flat do you live in?
How many rooms do you have? Which are your favourite rooms? Why?
Do you live in the city or the country?
Is your home very different from your partner's home?
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why?

These questions could be adapted to suit the level to include a range of structures or
functional items and incorporating the new vocabulary.

As a follow-up activity the students could write a short article on their own homes.

To Check Understanding of a Language Item

1. It isn't enough to explain. The students might not all understand your explanation.

2. Don't ask: 'Do you understand?'

Students might incorrectly think that they do understand.

Students might lie to save face.

Don't ask the students to explain. Student involvement is excellent but it is a poor
teacher who asks is/her students to do something that he/she does not feel confident about doing. If a student does explain a new word well, how can you know the other students have understood?

Concept Questions

1. Concept are the best way to check understanding. If a student can answer your concept question s correctly, he/she understands.
2. Concept questions can be difficult are difficult and you may need to plan them beforehand. With more practice you will be able to think of concept questions on the spot.
3. Making concept questions:
Break the language down into its components of meaning.

eg. (target language) He used to drive a Rolls Royce =

He drove in the past.
He drove often/ for a long time in the past.
He doesn't drive now.

Turn these into simple yes/no questions. Don't use the target language or any language
more complex than the target language in these questions.

eg. Did he drive in the past? Yes.
Did he drive only a few times? No.
Did he drive for a long time? Yes.
Does he drive now? No.

Criteria for Selecting Vocabulary to Teach

Remember, when choosing vocabulary for your students consider the following points:

– frequency - a word such as happy is more frequently used than words such as elated or
overjoyed.
– range - a word such as chair can cover different types of chairs – armchair, highchair,
garden chair,
- the word walk can cover different ways of walking – march, amble stroll, creep,
– familiarity - choose vocabulary that your students are more likely to see on a daily basis –
toothbrush, mobile, desk,
usefulness – choose vocabulary that your students will be able to use immediately. Bus stop may be more appropriate than limousine or taxi rank.

Consider all these points when teaching vocabulary. Teach words that will have similar meanings or fit together in thematic groups or 'lexical sets' . This will help your student to remember these words and will aid recall at a future date.

Task: Group the following words into four groups of lexical sets, each having a similar theme or
connection.

referee salary
injection pilot
runway team
references X-ray
take off thermometer
stadium application form
coach interview
medicine check-in desk

The lexical sets are:

sport health/hospital work the airport
referee injection salary pilot
team thermometer interview check-in desk
stadium X-ray application form runway
coach medicine references take off

Choose the most appropriate means of teaching for each word. Remember it must be concise, clear and easy to understand. Build up each vocabulary step by step. Make sure the concept is clear and get as much as possible from the students (elicit) themselves. This is then followed by oral practice and checking of understanding.

Don't introduce new vocabulary at the same time as new a structure or function as this will overload your students.