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Module 8: How to teach Vocabulary?

Contents
Module 8: How to teach Vocabulary? ........................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Lesson Structure ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Teaching Vocabulary .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Meaning ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Usage ............................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Form ............................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Pronunciation ............................................................................................................................................................ 10
Concept Checking Questions ................................................................................................................................... 10

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Introduction
Remember: Integration of skills is paramount!

Teaching new words to students is a vital part of language teaching but it's not that straightforward as many
words in the English language have more than one meaning. For example, the words 'top' and 'bottom' both
have more than one meaning.

There are also many idioms in the English language, which need to be taught. For example, 'it costs and arm
and a leg', 'a piece of cake' and 'break a leg.'

Idioms are difficult because they cannot be understood from the meanings of the words alone. They need to
be taught in context with the situation where they are used.

Many different elements need to be considered when you teach vocabulary.

Let's now explore the best ways to teach vocabulary.

Take the Quiz: PPP Review

Lesson Structure
Let's consider the basic structure of a vocabulary lesson before we examine it in more detail.

You will follow this structure when you teach a vocabulary lesson.

Introduction:

Introduce yourself and write the lesson aims on the board and explain clearly what your plans are for the
lesson.

Warmer:

Use a warmer to get students acclimatised to the lesson.

Presentation:

Present your new vocabulary.

Practice:

You will now practise the new words with some controlled practice activities.

Production:

This is the stage of the lesson where you give students a chance to practise without the control. The aim of
this part of the lesson is to let your students try to extend their knowledge and use the target language in a
freer, more creative way.
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Summary and Reflection:

Summarise your lesson and reflect on the lesson by asking students what they enjoyed or what went well.

Cooler:

End the lesson with a fun, positive activity.

Let's now have closer exploration of each of these parts of a lesson.

Teaching Vocabulary
When we teach new vocabulary we need to consider the following:

 Teach and practise words in the spoken form first or students will attempt to pronounce the words as
they are written.

 New vocabulary needs to be introduced in context and also practised.

 Teach the students about syllables in words and the intonation of a word.

 Practise the spelling of words.

 Revision of words so that words are not forgotten. This is termed 'recycling'.

 Use concept-checking questions to check the understanding of a new word.

 Present new vocabulary in a memorable and fun way so that students can remember the words.

Ways to introduce new words memorably and in a fun way:

You can introduce a new word by speaking it, by showing it visually by using an image or drawing, by using
realia or by kinaesthetically using your body or gestures to illustrate it.

Remember: You will have many different types of learner in the classroom, so you should try all the
different ways of introducing the new word.

 Draw a picture on the board and ask 'What is it?'

 Bring in real objects (realia)

 Mime or act it or get one of your students to mime it.

 Say it.

 Use a synonym or similar word. For example: 'What word has a similar meaning to 'broad'?'

 Use an antonym (opposite) word. For example: 'What is the opposite of the following: 'short', 'thin',
'old'?'
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 Use a gap fill sentence. For example: We fly to different countries in a________.

 Get students to look it up in a bi-lingual dictionary or a monolingual dictionary.

All of these different ways to introduce new words give you the opportunity to play games with your
students, which they and you will enjoy. This is also an excellent way for checking if the students have
understood the new word.

It's also crucial to use different methods of checking from the ones you used to illustrate the example.

Here are tried and tested ways to check the understanding of new words:

 Word games and puzzles

 Picture compositions

 Word sets

 Filling in tables

Learning new vocabulary is crucial to the success of speaking a language. Many of the textbooks you will be
using will contain much of the basic vocabulary you will need. However, new vocabulary will arrive each
time you teach.

We would like you to confidently present the new vocabulary, let students practise using it and then let them
get creative with it in your fun and safe learning environment. You can use your Mindfulness techniques
and reflection techniques to create a calm and deep learning classroom.

Gestures and Mime

We mentioned gestures and mime in the section above. Let's examine these in more depth.

When teaching a class, on many occasions you can use simple phrases to direct the learners: That's right.
That's not right. Who's next?

But you can also convey many instructions, requests, invitations and corrections by using various types of
gestures and mime.

Gestures and mime spark interest and encourage participation. So, in addition to your voice, you could use
your hands, your eyes or, more frequently, a combination of both.

Such gestures and mime can be simple and effective and will encourage the students to speak, thereby
reducing teacher talking time (TTT), and they will also save time.

Obviously the set of gestures and mime that you develop will have to be recognisable to the learners to
avoid confusion, so they will need to learn them.

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Gestures and mime can be used very effectively in teaching certain words. For example, the difference
between 'shy' and 'confident' would be quite difficult to explain in simple language to a beginner class but
could be demonstrated very simply in a few seconds with mime.

Students generally enjoy seeing their teacher acting out a word or miming an expression and it can add a
sense of enjoyment to a class. If they laugh at your mime or gesture, all the better, because it will be more
memorable!

Using gestures and mime is important when it comes to vocabulary. You can use them to elicit certain words
and phrases.

If you teach very young students, it is also common to associate gestures with words to help students
remember vocabulary better. Using the same gesture every time you say a particular word or phrase will
help these students associate the two.

Gesture/mime example:

If you have just finished a section on feelings, make a list of feelings on the board and have students choose
a slip of paper from a hat.

Each slip of paper should contain a sentence such as You are happy or sad or confused etc. Students should
keep their sentences a secret.

Have one volunteer at a time mime the chosen sentence while the rest of the class tries to guess it.

To check individual comprehension, you can use the same basic idea but instead turn it into an interview
activity where students have a sheet of paper with all the emotions listed as well as their secret emotion.

The idea is that students go around the classroom miming and guessing emotions in pairs and getting a
student signature for each emotion.

When you go through the worksheet as a class, you can have students read aloud from their worksheets
sentences like Jane is sad and ask Jane to mime being sad for the class.

Some gestures you could use to encourage speaking and participation:

 Encouraging a response from the student group: with a smiling, open-eyed look, draw your hands to
yourself as you would when asking a group to come closer to you

 Instructions: Gestures for giving instructions might include, for example, a finger moved from left to
right to show that something is wrong with the sentence, and that the student should try to correct it.
This might be accompanied by a slight screwing up of the eyes.

 Listen: The gesture for listen might involve cupping a hand around one ear with a raising of the
eyebrows to denote a question.

 Quieten down: Quietening the class down could be achieved by moving both hands up and down
with the palms facing downwards, again with the eyebrows raised.

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 Correction: Gestures can be equally useful when giving immediate corrections to learners' speaking
errors.

A letter T made with both hands can indicate the wrong tense has been used or that the article the is missing.

An inverted V made with the index and middle fingers of one hand with the index of the other used as a bar
across it to form an A could mean wrong subject-verb agreement (e.g. he live here).

One very common set of gestures is used by teachers to show the required tense - pointing forwards with
one finger means a future tense, pointing down to one's feet means present tense, while indicating over one
shoulder with the thumb means past tense.

All of these different gestures can initially be taught by giving the instruction orally along with the gesture -
learners will soon get the point.

Of course, you can add to these and develop your own catalogue of gestures.

Be careful with some gestures:

Very few gestures are universally understood and interpreted. What is perfectly acceptable in the UK or
Thailand may be rude, frowned upon, or misleading in other cultures. Here are some useful examples:

Beckoning with your index finger. This means come here in the UK but not in the Middle or Far East,
Portugal, Spain, Latin America, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. It is more acceptable to beckon with the
palm down, with fingers or whole hand waving.

Pointing at something in the room using your index finger. It is impolite to point with the index finger in
the Middle and Far East. Using an open hand or your thumb is more acceptable.

Making a V sign. This means Victory in most of Europe when you make this sign with your palm facing
away from you. If you face your palm in, the same gesture means get lost or worse.

Forming a circle with fingers to indicate OK. Although this gesture may mean OK in the U.S.A. and other
countries around the world, there are some notable exceptions. In Brazil and Germany, this gesture is
obscene. In Japan, this means money. In France, it has the additional meaning of zero or worthless.

Patting a student on the head. This is very upsetting for some Asian students. The head is the repository of
the soul in the Buddhist religion. Children from cultures which are influenced by Buddhism may feel
uncomfortable if their head is touched.

Passing an item to someone with one hand. In some Far East countries, this is very rude. Even a very
small item such as a pencil or business card must be passed with two hands. In many Middle and Far Eastern
countries it is rude to pass something with your left hand, which is considered unclean.

Nodding your head up and down to say Yes. Take care in some countries. In Bulgaria and Greece,
nodding your head up and down means 'No'.

Let's look at how you can teach vocabulary using the PPP technique:

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Introduction:

Introduce yourself and write the objective on the board, telling the students what they are going to learn in
today's lesson.

Warmer:

You will start the lesson with a warmer activity to engage the students and get them feeling more relaxed.
You could also try one of the Mindfulness techniques.

Present:

Present the new vocabulary and add context. You can present new words using any of the following:

 Realia

 Miming it

 Drawing it

 Using a flash card

 Using synonyms or antonyms

 Putting the word in a sentence

 Defining it

 Getting the students to look it up in a mono-lingual dictionary or bi-lingual dictionary

 Checking understanding using CCQs

Presenting new words to a class of students can be lots of fun. Some people like to do it visually, some
aurally and some kinaesthetically (by moving around). Let's consider some solid ways to present new words
and elicit information from the class.

 Realia: Realia means using real life objects to introduce new words. You can bring in a few objects
or you can use the physical objects that you can see in the room like your watch, clothing, school
bag, table, etc.

 Mime: This is huge fun. You can act out a word. It's good for presenting abstract words like 'happy'
or 'sad' or 'thinking'.

 Flashcards and Images: Flashcards have images on the front and the meaning on the back of the card.
They are good for all levels.

 Drawing it on the board: Draw a picture on the board or get the students to draw a picture on the
board. Pictionary is a super activity for this stage of the lesson.

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 Making a sound: This is just what it is and it's great fun. Good for animals.

 Antonyms and synonyms: These are words which have the opposite and similar meaning,
respectively.

 Putting the new word in a sentence: completing a sentence with a missing word.

 Looking it up using mono-lingual or bi-lingual dictionaries.

 Giving the students a text and getting them to read and highlight words they don't know. This is a
good way for students to understand new words from context.

 Working in pairs, ask students to try to identify new words from a text.

Don't forget to use positive language when you are eliciting information.

Practice:

How can we practise new vocabulary?

Drilling:

Model and drill the word.

A good way to practise a new word is by using drilling. You can choose to do a whole class drill or you can
go around the class and get a student to repeat after you individually.

Then it's time for your students to record their work in their notebooks. Most of the time students will do this
automatically. However, it's a good idea to remind them and get them to make notes of any board work,
especially new words.

Production:

Let the students get creative, using a freer form of practice activity in real life scenarios.

Summary:

End of lesson, and a reflective element creating the process for deeper learning.

Cooler:

Cooler to finish.

When we teach a new word we need to consider the following:

 Meaning

 Usage: how is it used?

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 Form: is the word a noun or an adjective?

 Pronunciation: how do we say it?

 Stress and intonation. We will explore this fully in the next module.

 Let's explore these.

Meaning
There are 4 different types of word in the English Language which you will have to explain.

 Concrete words can be identified through one of the five senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing, smell).
These words are quite straightforward to teach because you can show students these words visually
or give them an object to touch. These words are specific.

 Abstract words cannot be identified using the five senses; they represent ideas or feelings. Therefore,
in order to teach abstract words you will have to act or mime or show specific images and video to
convey their meaning.

 For example, when explaining the meaning of 'sadness' or 'happiness' you could draw happy and sad
faces or act out these feelings.

 Words with more than one meaning: In English, words with more than one meaning are common and
are confusing for learners. Being able to tell the difference will depend on you adding context to your
lessons.

 Generic words: These are words that give a general meaning to a collection of items like 'furniture'.

You will have to teach all of these meanings. It's worth noting that the more specific words a learner uses,
the more descriptive and detailed his language will become. Therefore, teaching more specific words will
enrich a learner's vocabulary.

Usage
The words, functional expressions and grammar structures we choose to use are determined by the situation
we are in and/or what we want to communicate to our listener(s). Usage is interconnected with meaning.

Usage answers the question: When or why is the vocabulary, functional expression or grammar structure
used?

Form
Your learners must be able to understand the meaning of a word, the usage of a word but also the form of a
word.

With regards to form, this means that a student must understand whether the piece of vocabulary is a verb, a
noun, and adjective or something else.
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Teaching your learners the difference between words will depend on two things:

Position:

 Position and use in a sentence: Let's look at an example with the word 'show', which can be used as a
verb or a noun:

The teacher showed the student how to answer the question.

The teacher took the students to a Broadway show, 'Sleep No More'.

Prefixes and suffixes:

 If you add a group of letters to the beginning or end of a word, this will change the meaning of the
word.

For example:

The word 'appears' becomes 'disappear' when the prefix 'dis' is added.

The word 'comfort' becomes 'comfortable' when the suffix 'able' is added.

The best way to teach the form of a word, similar to the way for teaching meaning, is to add context to your
lessons and activities.

Pronunciation
One of the most difficult parts of learning English is the pronunciation of a word because sometimes a word
looks nothing like how it should be said. When teaching the pronunciation of new vocabulary, you should
try to teach stress and intonation, and use phonemic charts.

Stress and Intonation

We will discuss this fully in the next Module.

We will focus on Phonology in the next section 'How to teach Phonology'.

Concept Checking Questions


You will need to ask Concept Checking Questions to check if your students have understood a new word.

As you know, it's really important to ask more than 'Do you understand?'

Let's consider some examples:

New words:

1. Shirt
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2. Chair

3. Hair

Let's see what sort of Concept Checking Questions you could ask to check whether your students have
understood these words.

1. Shirt

Teacher: Am I wearing a shirt?

Student: Yes.

Teacher: Is it blue or white or another colour?

Student: It's blue and white.

Teacher: Does it have long sleeves or short sleeves?

Student: Long.

2. Chair

Teacher: Can I sit on it?

Student: Yes.

Teacher: How many legs does it have?

Student: 4.

Teacher: What colour is it?

Student: Blue.

Teacher: What is a chair for?

Student: Sitting on.

Teacher: How many chairs are in this room?

Student: 25.

3. Hair

Teacher: What colour is my hair?

Student: Brown.

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Teacher: What kind of hairstyle do I have?

Student: Short.

Teacher: What do I wash my hair with?

Student: Shampoo

Teacher: How many times a week do I wash my hair?

Student: Never, once, everyday...

Concept checking questions are for checking students' understanding when you are presenting any new
material.

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