TEACHING VOCABULARY

Teaching vocabulary isn’t simply providing students with word lists to study. Firstly, there are several features of words apart from their meaning that should be learned:

1. The meaning(s) of the word.
2. Its spoken and written forms (pronunciation & spelling).
3. What “word parts” it has (ex. any prefix, suffix and “root” form).
4. Its grammatical behaviour (ex. word class, typical grammatical patterns it occurs in).
5. Its collocations.
6. Its register - standard, compound, etc.
7. What associations it has (ex. synonyms or antonyms).
8. What connotations it has (idioms, slang).
9. Its frequency.

An example with the word “black” can be found in the following diagram:

Secondly, apart from the content side of vocabulary teaching there’s the issue of methodology. There are several methods and activities that enable a more impactful learning than simply seeing the word written. Such are a teacher fronted explanation, student-centered tasks and using context to work out the meaning. 

In both the resources provided to the students and the activities there should be a key element: an IMAGE accompanying the word(s), and maybe a description and usual phrases in which it’s used. Showing REAL objects (realia) and models gives real experience and sense to the  learners. Using demonstrations and showing pictures, charts and maps can help students understand a particular concept or word.

Setting a good context that is interesting, plausible, vivid and has relevance to the lives of the learners, is an essential prerequisite for vocabulary teaching as it helps in both engaging the attention of the learners and naturally generating the target vocabulary. Furthermore, context can help the students work out the meaning of the word.

Other methods

• Etymology
• By drawing pictures
• Associated vocabulary
• Using morphological analysis of words
• Dictionary
• Collocation
• Synonyms
• Antonyms
• Homonyms
• WordMaps
• Word formation
• Reading the word
• Series, scales, systems

RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES

Here are some examples of resources that could be handed to the students or stuck on the classroom walls:

Activities can be designed taking into account this word+image principle, and expand knowledge associating other features with the word, such as descriptions or uses:

On a large scale, vocabulary learning doesn’t have to and shouldn’t be reduced to individual activities or even lessons. Here is an example of a “word wall”, a compilation of vocabulary sections regarding the same topic that allows the students to have a whole corpus of words to discuss and write about a subject. In this case, this science word wall includes a colour key that associates each color with a topic (so that students can frame their contributions according to it and categorise the items), and an example of sections with “Food webs and ecosystems” and “Electricity” with their respective terminology lists.

Finally, vocabulary doesn’t necessarily stop at individual words or concepts. Word walls with discourse expressions, connectors and structures can be created in order to work on speaking and writing skills:

Let’s see a real example of a vocabulary activity…

“DON’T STEAL CHRISTMAS, MR. GRINCH!”

This activity is aimed at students of 3rd grade (8-9 years old) and scheduled for December. The lesson begins with the teacher asking students which Christmas characters do they know. Predictably, they’ll mention The Three Wise Men and Santa Claus. If someone mentions the Grinch, that will be used as introduction, if not, the teacher explains that we are going to meet a Christmas character not many people know: the Grinch. She explains that the Grinch is a bitter, grouchy and pessimist elf who wants to end Christmas once and for all. She explains that he hates the happiness around Christmas and how everyone is busy preparing the holidays.

At first, some questions can be asked regarding his personality, if the students think he should live like that, if it’s okay to be angry all the time, what his problem could be… the final question can be whether it’s okay that he wants to ruin everyone’s Christmas just because he hates it. To prevent this from happening, we will write some letters to him explaining the good things Christmas has.

• If any kid in class doesn’t celebrate Christmas, we can ask them for help the same, for the people who do celebrate/like Christmas

1) To write the letter, first we need to know what we want to say. We will do a brainstorm of target vocabulary and the teacher will write on the blackboard. We need Christmas words or actions, but also reasons, expressions to write the letter, etc.

2) To make the vocabulary more accesible and impactful, we will create a mural with all the content we just thought of. Some volunteers draw pictures of the objects/actions, others will write those words and their descriptions (ex. REINDEER - animal, fluffy, crown) to match the drawings, and others will make a section for writing words. In a long paper, we stick the words and pictures.

3) Next, we write the letter. Because they are too young for completely free writing, it will be a guided activity. The students have some previous knowledge about fill-in tasks because in past lessons they learned about the letter structure this way. They fill in the gaps by choosing vocabulary from the word wall.

The teacher will provide them with some examples:

• “There are many fun things you can only do during Christmas holidays, like drink hot chocolate, eat marzipan,…”
• “Gingerbread biscuits, which are sweet and delicious”

By choosing the vocabulary, they are actively remembering what the expressions and words mean and selecting them based on their likes and dislikes. Furthermore, by explaining the objects they choose, they expand their knowledge of the word and the vocabulary related to it.

The teacher will put the letters in envelops and promise to send them, hoping that the Grinch changes his mind. Lastly, she tells the students they can actually read the Grinch’s story if they want, and introduces Dr. Seuss’s “How the Grinch stole Christmas”.

REFLECTION

The way I have learnt vocabulary my whole life was through word lists. I now realise it would have been a much better idea, or at least a more clarifying one, to accompany the words with images. But what I really liked about the content of this unit are the suggestions of descriptive vocabulary. Both in English and Spanish, I have realised that students often struggle to find words beyond the basics to describe an object, event or feeling. For example, they stick with describing something as "difficult" and do not add challenging, demanding, hard,... This is alarming, because when writing texts, it is necessary to have the ability to use synonyms in order not to repat a word many times. 

ALl in all, I believe vocabulary is one of the cornerstones of every language, and the more vocabulary a person knows, the more their mind, speech and world are widened. I will try to implement tasks that demand expanding the vocabulary related to a topic when I teach, and create tools such as word walls and colour codes so students can enrich their spoken and written vocabulary.