How to Teach VocabularyHow to Teach Vocabulary

Alice ChiuAlice Chiu

English Teacher English Teacher

•Teaching Tips:

– Step One: presenting new words – Step Two: helping students

remember new words – Step Three: making sure

students make the new words their own

Step One: Step One: presenting new wordspresenting new words

Using visual images

Using gestures and actions

Showing lexicial relations

Words in context

Guessing/predicting

Other techniques

using visual imagesusing visual images

• realia

• pictures

• masking

• drawing

• scales

using gestures and actionsusing gestures and actions

• mime

• gesture

• facial expression

• action

showing lexical relationsshowing lexical relations

• synonyms• antonyms• collocation• prefixes and suffixes

words in contextwords in context

• dialogues

• role play

• drama

• stories

• songs

• rhymes & poems

• videos

Other techniquesOther techniques

• Using a dictionary

• Explaining

• Describing

• Defining the context

• Translating

Step Two: Step Two: helping students helping students

remember new wordsremember new words

Using review games

Using memorizing games & activities

Learning with friends

usinge memorizing usinge memorizing games and activitiesgames and activities

• giving directions• picture dictation• labeling words• searching words• sequencing words• guessing words• eliminating words• classifying words• Matching words

Review GamesReview Games• Word search games • picture labeling • Bingo• dominoes • puzzles• charts or survey for their peers• crosswords

Socio-affectively,Socio-affectively, students can students can

• practice words with a classmate or in a group

• teach a word to a member of the family or peer

• make and play word game with friends

• peer test

Step Three: Step Three: making sure students making sure students

make the new words their ownmake the new words their own

Vocabulary record system

Personalizing the new words

Vocabulary record system-1Vocabulary record system-1 • Vocabulary books

– in an alphabetical order– by topic or situation– by grammatical groups– by color sets– by story features

Vocabulary record system -2Vocabulary record system -2• personal dictionary (word

notebooks) – marking word stress– adding pictures– putting an L1 translation– putting the word into context– adding a synonym– mapping a word family

personalize the new wordspersonalize the new words

• Keeping a learning log (blogs)• Keeping a diary (blogs)• Creative writing by using newly-

learned words or phrases• Looking for recently learned words in

storybooks, the Internet, the newspapers, etc., and noticing how they are used.

Meta-cognitively, Meta-cognitively, learners learn how tolearners learn how to

• self-test• look for patterns in words • plan and organize a vocabulary record

keeping system• Learn words in their preferred ways• reflect on learning and reviewing

regularly • monitor vocabulary learning

Online ResourcesOnline Resources• Teaching Vocabulary:

Two Dozen Tips and Techniques• English Vocabulary Word Lists

with Games, Puzzles and Quizzes• LearnEnglishKids

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