Vocabulary Building

Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners: Part-1

Teaching the First Words 

Hello friends!

Welcome back after a break of a week. Hope you have read my first blog post (https://ujjwalkarawande.blogspot.com/2020/04/first-blog.html) published on 27^th April 2020. Those who missed it can hit the link above and visit my first blog post. Thanks for an overwhelming response to my first blog post. It shows your enthusiasm and zeal to learn new things. Many of you congratulated and boosted my confidence to share with you some ELT practices. Some of you expected me to reflect on the ELT practices. I’m eager to know about your ELT practices. Please post your innovative ELT practices through your comments to every blog post.

This week, I’m going to bring to you some ELT practices related to teaching vocabulary to young learners that are experimented over the globe. ‘Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners’ is a vast horizon. This week I’m going to reflect on some international ELT practices in ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). They include some scholarly articles, some experimental practices and some repository of vocabulary games and activities. I owe the success of this post to those scholarly articles. I’m indebted to them. They aren’t presented here in the full form. I’ve edited those articles to make them concise. Though I’m discussing on these ELT practices, it doesn’t mean that I strongly recommend these ELT practices. I just want to focus on some techniques being implemented by the ELT practitioners and experts over the globe. This is not a comprehensive study; but an effort to understand those techniques and principles. We’ll try to be eclectic in our approach to ‘Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners’. After all, the methodology that suits best the needs of your learners is the best method for you. As I’ve already mentioned in my first blog post, you are the experts in ELT practices. Anything that is successful at the grass-root level should be discussed and commented on through this platform. That’s the motto of this platform. So feel free to share your ELT practices related to teaching vocabulary to young learners.

If you struggle to understand what I want to say, you can translate the post in your browser by using the feature ‘Translate’ into any language of your choice. As the feature ‘Translate’ translates word for word, please refer the original post in ‘English’ in case of any doubts. (माझी ब्लॉग पोस्ट समजण्यात काही अडचणी येत असल्यास ब्राउजर मधील ‘Translate’ या फिचर चा वापर करून तुम्ही तुमच्या पसंतीच्या कोणत्याही भाषेत ती भाषांतरित करू शकता. काही शंका असल्यास मूळ इंग्रजी पोस्ट चा वापर करावा, कारण ‘Translate’ हे फिचर शब्दश: भाषांतर करते.)

• Here are the extracts of ten popular website articles related to teaching of vocabulary to young learners:

1] Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners through Brain-Based Teaching Strategies by Setenay Çelik (Turkey)

Presented in the ELT Ireland Conference

The principles presented in the conference by Setenay are as follows:

1.       First impression: I want to learn it……,

2.       Repetition: Repeat quickly in other contexts, in other places, other time….,

3.       Personalization: To put something from heart to the thing learnt………

To know more about this technique watch following video:

https://youtu.be/pzIv02E9vU8

My Reflection: The presenter, in this article, talks about important three principles involved in teaching vocabulary. Before you present new vocabulary to the young learners the teacher should catch the attention of the learners. If the learner thinks that something that the teacher is going to present is of his interest and need then the learner will pay rapt attention to the teacher. The teacher can use body language (be kinesthetic) to catch attention of the learner or say something catchy to the learners. Though repetition is a tedious activity for the learners, the teacher should repeat the targeted vocabulary to the learners innovatively at different times, places and in different contexts. If the teacher gets successful in making the learners put something from their heart (some innovative clues to remember words) to the words learnt, they are retained for a long time. Do watch the video to understand it fully. https://youtu.be/pzIv02E9vU8

2] Effective strategies for teaching vocabulary to young learners by Trish Burrow

(Pearson: pearson.com)

Source: https://www.english.com/blog/teaching-vocabulary-to-young-learners/

     According to an article published in ‘The Economist’, the average size of vocabulary of human beings is given. The scores tested through the website (TestYourVocab.com) were as follows:

Most adults score between 20K to 35K words (K=Thousand)

Four year old children score 5K against non-native children of four score 4.5K words

      The Global Scale of English (GSE) Vocabulary Inventory has a vocabulary graded at different levels of proficiency. There are 37K word meanings, 20K lemmas (the basic form of an inflected word), 80K collocations and 7K phrases in the GSE Vocabulary Inventory.

Young learners learn effectively when language is presented in chunks,

To ‘know’ a word involves the following facets of a word:

1) Its cognate or semantic referent, i.e. its meaning.

2) The letters that make up the word, i.e. spelling and the visual ‘look’ of the word.

3) The sounds that make up the word, i.e. its pronunciation.

     Under GSE vocabulary inventory you’ll find words related to a particular topic within a specific range of scores ranging from 10 to 90, aligned to Common European Framework of Reference.

You’ll get free access to Teacher Toolkit here: https://www.pearson.com/english/about/gse/teacher-toolkit.html

My Reflection: In today’s era of international standards, the GSE presents the vocabulary at par level over the globe. It’s tuned with the Common European Framework of Reference (popularly known as CEFR) which is the international standard of English learning scale. As the vocabulary is graded, it’ll help us to keep abreast the international standards. Our learners can be judged using the GSE scale ranging from 10 to 90. There’s free access to Teacher Toolkit which will enable us to enrich our learners in vocabulary and compete at the international level.

3] Kids and Vocabulary by Carolyne Ardron (for the British Council):

Source: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-vocabulary

     In this article, Carolyne recommends following measures for teaching vocabulary to kids.

1)Get students to keep a record of vocabulary at the back of notebooks during class.

2)Check they know how to pronounce each word and have them underline the main stress.

3)Ask them to write a translation, or draw a picture of the word. (Optional)

4)Higher levels can include an example of the word in a sentence to give it context.

     The author recommends introducing and practicing vocabulary through interesting games and activities. She has recommended over 100 vocabulary games which can be accessed by hitting following link.

You’d find word games on following website of British Council

www.learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/word-games

Some activities to introduce and practice vocabulary:

      Introduce each vocabulary item with the flashcards. Ask your learners to respond non-verbally to the flashcards through actions. For example, can they move like tigers or elephants?

·         Place the flashcards around the room, on the wall, door, window, chairs or floor. Ask your learners to point to the correct flashcard when they hear it. Depending on the size of the class, learners could run to the correct part of the room or stand next to the correct card.

·         Give each of your learners a set of flashcards and ask them to show you the correct card when they hear the item, for example, you could say, 'Show me the giraffe!', 'Hands up if you've got the jellyfish!', or 'Point to the yak!' This activity works very well in teams – give each team an equal number of flashcards, and the first team to show you the correct item scores one point!

·         Choral drill the vocabulary on the flashcards, as a whole class, teams or small groups in turn. This can be great fun when drilled in different ways: say the words slowly, happily, angrily, loudly, quietly or like an orang-utan, for example!

·         Place five or six flashcards in a line on the board. Drill each item and remove the last card. Drill again, up to and including the missing item. Remove another card. Continue until all the flashcards have been removed and your learners can remember all the missing items!

·         To keep your learners on their toes you could 'flash' the flashcards fast, upside down or back-to-front (just so they can see the outline of the picture or word through the paper) and ask them to identify the item. Alternatively, you could cover the flashcard with another piece of paper and slowly reveal the picture or the letters of the word.

·         Colour code or number your flashcards. Once you have shown your learners both the picture and its corresponding colour or number, place the cards face up on the board or a table. Now ask, 'What colour/number is the aardvark?' Next, place the cards face down and ask, 'What's red/blue/green?' or 'What's number 1/2/3?'

·         Ask your learners if they like the items on the flashcards. Your learners can respond by putting up their left hand for yes, their right for no, or other culturally appropriate gestures. Alternatively, they could shout 'Hurray!' or 'Boo!', then finally 'Yes, I do!' and 'No, I don't!'

·         Make dialogues using new vocabulary items. Pairs or small groups choose a new word that they think is useful and want to remember. With lower levels you could do this as a class and build up a dialogue to illustrate the meaning of the word on the board. Higher levels learners can use dictionaries and work in pairs to write their dialogues and then act them out. If your class like making videos you could also film learners performing their dialogues and then show the films to the class to revise vocabulary in future lessons.

Recycling vocabulary: Here are a variety of games your learners will enjoy playing whilst practising their language skills and recycling target vocabulary.

·         Bingo

·         Hangman or Shark

·         Noughts and crosses

·         Telephone

·         Categorise

·         Guess what it is

·         Backs to the board

·         Board rush

·         Snap

·         Odd one out

·         Pelmanism

·         Kim's game

You can find the details of these games on the following website:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-vocabulary

My Reflection: In this article the author Carolyne Ardrone has underlined the importance of interesting activities and games to teach vocabulary to young learners. She has suggested some activities and games for teaching and practicing vocabulary. She calls it as recycling vocabulary. Though the author has marked the third measure as optional, I think that in our scenario, translating a new word can help learners understand the word better. This would help learners as they have already learnt the new word in their L1. This knowledge in L1 helps in acquiring new vocabulary quickly. Even Jim Cummins, in his article based on multilingualism, advocates the use of L1 for learning L2. Drawing pictures can give a better understanding of new words to young learners. Hence, I’m of the opinion that children should be asked to write a translation of the new vocabulary or draw picture of the word (especially, young learners). In the immersion technique, the average and below average learners tend to develop a dislike for L2 (ESL/EFL). They’re not able to cope up with immersion and tend to drown as they’re not allowed the use of their mother tongue. Immersion requires a very skillful, talkative and hardworking (resourceful) teacher. The students who are able to cope up with immersion pay rich dividends.

4] How to Teach Vocabulary to Young Learners? Slideshare: Anonymous presentation

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/triskadayu/how-to-teach-vocabulary-to-young-learners

Techniques of teaching vocabulary

1.       Pointing

2.       Substitution (Synonyms Vs Antonyms)

3.       Naming

4.       Miming and TPR (Total Physical Response)

5.       Realia

My Reflection: Though there is no trace of the author of this presentation, there’s reference of a quote of Mr.Prashant Subhash Mothe, Aadarsh Senior College, Omerga, Dist.-Osmanabad. The quote is: “Vocabulary of a language is just like bricks of a tall building. Despite quite small pieces, they are vital to the great structure.” I was very happy to see a presentation quoting a Maharashtra person, topping the list in Google search. The techniques presented in the slides are the ones used quite often in our scenario. I’ve seen some good results of these techniques. Visual vocabulary is easy to understand. Use of substitution, though seems to be redundant, can be useful if the substitutes are from the sphere of experience of the learners. Naming is a kind of definition of the targeted word. Miming and TPR can help specially to understand action words and emotions. Realia are the best option to learn naming words.

5] Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners - EmmaInIndia

Source: https://owlcation.com/academia/Teaching-Vocabulary-to-Young-Learners

The Not-so-secret Secrets to Good Vocabulary Teaching

1.       Make it interesting: Use some fun activities to make the lesson engaging

2.       Keep it relevant: Avoid teaching those words which your students cannot or will not use

3.     Set achievable goals: a) The words you’re targeting, b) The amount of time you give to learn the words, c) The number of word you set

4.      Teach words in context: Ask students to use the words in a sentence they made on their own.

6] What techniques work for young learners in learning vocabulary?

Desthia Amalia, English Literature, Faculty of Letters, Gunadarma University, Indonesia

A Research Study from Indonesia:

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332186677_EFFECTIVE_TECHNIQUES_IN_TEACHING_VOCABULARY_TO_YOUNG_LEARNERS

a.      Language

Teacher and young learners use language in communicating. In this context, they use Indonesian and English.  Indonesian  as  their  source  language  and English  as  their  target  language. The teacher uses Indonesian in giving explanation to young learners, then they produce those words in English.

b. Pictures

The  use  of  pictures  can  help  young  learners  to  imagine  the  words  through images. It  gives them  more space to  imagine. Pictures had good visualization that can make the young learners visualize the new word in English. 

c. Command

The use of command can make the young learners feel easier in learning English vocabulary. Obeying command is not  new thing for them. Young learners have obeyed  command  start  from  their  early  age.  If the  teacher  says “  Touch  your hair”. It means “Sentuh rambutmu” in  Indonesian,  then  the  young  learners can understand the meaning of the word “touch” and “hair”.

 d. Real Object

The use of real object is easier than picture. Using picture needs young learners’ imagination through  images. Meanwhile,  the  young  learners can  see  the  real things when the teacher uses real object in teaching vocabulary. Young learners can learn  new  words  from  the real  object.  For  instance:  “This is  window”  the teacher points at the real window, at that moment young learners will know the word “window” and its form.

 e. Text book

The use of text  book can help young learners in learning English vocabulary. The teacher can provide the list of new words through text book. The teacher can categorize some words based on their theme. It can make the young learners easier to know those new words.

 f. Memorization

Memorization can be used by young learners in learning new words in English. Teacher  may  give them  new  words  in  English  and  the  young  learners  may  memorize them.  Young learners  can memorize  the words  in English and  the meaning in their mother tongue. 

 g. Translation

Translation can be applied to young learners in learning vocabulary. Translation assumes that there is language, a close match between the target word and its L1 equivalent.  It  can  help  the learners  to  know  new  words in  English  and  the meaning in L1. For instance the young learners at Alphabet Club use Indonesian as  source  language  and  English  as  target  language.  If  the  teacher  applies translation they will provide a word in English and its definition in Indonesian e.g window = jendela, door = pintu, flower = bunga.  

Conclusion 

Based on the data analysis and discussion the following conclusions are drawn:

a. Young learners’ achievement

The data were classified  based on  their age.  It was  divided into  two groups: young learners aged 5 years old  and young learners aged 6 up to 7 years old. After collecting and grouping the data then the writer summed up those scores and  divided  with  the  total  of  young  learners.  The  results  show  that  young learners aged 5 years old got 86.30 and young learners aged 6 up to 7 years old got 89.60 as their average scores. Those scores categorized as very good in score indicator. 

 b. Techniques in teaching vocabulary for young learners

The writer conducted class observation to find out teaching techniques that can be employed in teaching vocabulary to young learners. The result has shown that the teacher employed different techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners aged 5 years old and young learners aged 6 up to 7 years old. The techniques  employed  to young learners  aged 5  years  old namely: the  use of pictures,  command  and  real  object.  Meanwhile,  techniques  in  teaching vocabulary to young learners aged 6 up to 7 years old namely: the use of text book, memorization and translation. 

c. Techniques that worked for young learners in learning vocabulary

The  writer  found  out  some  techniques  in  teaching  vocabulary  that worked to young learners. In this case, the writer  figured out three techniques that could help young learners in learning vocabulary. First, using mother tongue could work for young learners. Since English is not their source language, the young learners need their  mother tongue to make them  understand about  new words in English. Second, playing while learning worked to young learners aged 5 years old. The teacher provided some media for these techniques i.e. pictures, command  and  real  object.  Meanwhile,  using  translation  and  memorization worked for young learners aged 6 up to 7 years old. There are some elements in pattern  such  as  pictures,  command,  real  object,  text  book,  translation,  and memorization.

7] Teaching vocabulary to young learners using songs and games. An Overview

by Katalin Nagy, Școala Gimnazială „Mihai Eminescu” Zalău

Katalin Nagy has been teaching English for 16 years, to very young learners, primary school students and lower-secondary school students. She has attended courses, seminars, webinars and workshops for teachers as a way to improve her teaching skills and help her students in their process of learning.

Source: https://rate.org.ro/blog2.php/1/teaching-vocabulary-to-young-learners

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show that if songs and games are used properly, with well-defined aims, they can be an amazing tool in the language teachers’ hands. Games are popular with all ages and can motivate children in the process of learning eliminating the stress factor from classrooms. Singing is seen by most young learners as an enjoyable activity. What is really great about using songs as a teaching aid is that very often the students learn without realising it.

The purpose of this paper is to show that if songs and games are used properly, with well-defined aims, they can be an amazing tool in the language teachers’ hands. Games are popular with all ages and they can motivate children in the process of learning and they can even eliminate the stress factor from the classrooms. Singing is seen by most of young learners as an enjoyable activity. What is really great about using songs as a teaching aid is that very often the students learn without realising it! They take the songs home, sing them and they even teach them to their parents, sisters or brothers. 

It is important to know the characteristics of the age group we teach. That helps us understand their behaviour and the way their little brains function. We will achieve satisfying results only if we know their abilities and needs well. 

Characteristics of the young learners: 

Young children learn differently from older children, adolescents and adults in the following ways:

•they respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words

•they frequently learn indirectly rather than directly – that is they take in information from all sides, learning from everything around them rather than only focusing on the precise topic they are being taught

•their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also from what they see, hear and have a chance to touch and interact with

•they generally show an enthusiasm for learning and curiosity about the world that surrounds them

•they take great pleasure in finding and creating fun in what they do

•they have a ready imagination (Hallivell, 1992)

•their need for individual attention and approval from the teacher is great

•they like to talk about themselves and enjoy learning that uses themselves and their own lives as main topic in the classroom

•their attention is limited; if the activities are not extremely engaging they can easily get bored and lose interest after 10 minutes or so.

•young children have fewer inhibitions about learning a foreign language and they have a positive attitude towards foreign language study

Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners

With young students vocabulary learning is relatively easy as the words they need are concrete – things they can see, touch, taste, play with etc.; so it easy for the meaning of the words to be made apparent without resorting to translation or complicated explanations. How better to teach the word ‘apple’ than to show the children an apple or a picture of an apple or teaching some basic emotion words, like happy, angry, sad, etc., by making faces? They really like it and tend to keep in mind easier the words this way, rather than hearing the translation in their mother tongue. This is natural of course, because the learning process is helped if we involve different skills. 

The sooner students are able to communicate ideas in English; the more motivated they will be, so giving them a bank of vocabulary to draw on is necessary – starting with nouns and adjectives.

Although children seem to learn new words very quickly, they will also forget quickly, so it is very important to give them lots of practice of vocabulary to help them remember. Since mere practicing can be extremely boring and tiring to young learners, teachers should be creative, they should wrap practicing in games, role plays and in singing songs, activities that seem to be just fun and play but in fact involve real learning.

The importance and the role of songs in language learning

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche said that ‘Without music life would be a mistake’.  Let me rephrase this sentence: without music English class may not be a mistake, but it would be less entertaining, fun and memorable. Songs have long been recognised as fun and child-friendly tools in both first and second language acquirement. According to Murphy (1992), one of the important characteristics of music and songs for language learning is the fact that it seems to be easier to sing language than to speak it (Murphy, 1992, p.7). He also claims that nowadays, it is almost impossible to escape music and songs. Music can be found everywhere, in operating theatres, in shopping malls, in restaurants and cafés, at sport events, in our cars, and literally everywhere for those who discovered the world of CD players, MP3 players, and mobile phones with high capacity memory. Another important characteristic, ‘The song stuck in our head’ phenomenon, as Murphy (1990) calls the echoing in our minds of the last song we heard after leaving our car, a restaurant, etc., and which can be both enjoyable and sometimes upsetting, suggests that songs work on our short-term and long term memory. One of the great advantage of using songs as a teaching aid is that very often the students learn without realising it! Singing is usually seen by them as an enjoyable extra activity and perhaps a break from ‘real’ work. This attitude can teach us two important things. First, it would be a pity not to exploit this wonderful opportunity to teach vocabulary in a way we know will be effective and fun at the same time. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, if the effectiveness of the songs from the learning point of view is proportional to the children’s enjoyment in singing them, we must always be careful not kill the enjoyment by overusing the songs. Ideally the children will go home with the songs in their head and sing them to their parents. They will be doing extra homework without being asked! More than that: I met parents who learnt the songs we sang at our English classes. Children became their parents’ teachers! 

Here are some of the reasons that may justify an increased and systematic use of songs and chants. 

•Songs help learn vocabulary, grammar and syntax

•They can use meaningful language in context

•Songs can be catchy and re-usable 

•Songs improve listening skills

•They improve speaking fluency with the natural rhythms of language

•Integrating music and actions makes the lesson appeal to wider learning styles

•Songs are fun and motivate pupils

•Songs can be confidence building

•Songs are memory aids 

•Songs help with classroom management

Songs – especially action songs – can also help students to ‘get rid’ of extra energy, they become calmer and ready to start their work.

As a closing paragraph to all who are new to using songs and may think, why songs? Songs are great for many reasons. The melodies help the words stick into children’s heads. The rhythm of the songs helps the children speak in a natural flow. Simply put, they are great practice! Also, many English Second Language (ESL) and English Foreign Language (EFL) songs nowadays have built in actions and activities. So when we sing “This is the way I wash my face”, then we can do the action while we sing. This combination of singing and doing actions really helps stimulate the memory of the child. Oh, and it is fun!

My Reflection: This is the article most liked by me. It’s self explanatory. I couldn’t restrict myself from sharing with you most part of the article as I found it more relevant and explanatory. The second part of the article was using games for teaching vocabulary. But, I’ve deliberately avoided giving it here because of two reasons. 1) Already a lot has been discussed about the use of games in teaching vocabulary to young learners in this blog post. The post is already becoming very lengthy. 2) I’m going to discuss about the second part from this article, related to games, in detail in my other post. It has been so nicely elaborated and touches almost all aspects of language learning. Hence, it was a tough job for me to curtail any part of it and present here in concise form. So, I decided to cover it fully in another blog post.

8] 10 ESL Vocabulary Activities for Young Learners

Source: https://teacherspitstop.com/10-esl-vocabulary-activities-for-young-learners/

   1)      Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

Level: A1 and higher

   2)      Body Parts Collage

Level: A2 and higher

   3)      Family Feud!

Level: A1 and higher

   4)      Vocab Board Race

Level: A1 and higher

   5)      Action Vocab

Level: A1 and higher

   6)      The Word Triangle

Level: A2 and higher

   7)      I See Someone

Level: A1 and higher

   8)      Words from Word

Level: A1 and above

   9)      Sticky Note All the Things!

Level: A1 and higher

   10)   Baseball Charades

Levels: A1 and higher

My Reflection: I found all these activities really interesting. Due to restriction of length, couldn’t give the preparation, nature, process of the activity here. But do hit the source link to learn more about these activities. (https://teacherspitstop.com/10-esl-vocabulary-activities-for-young-learners/) The levels given below the activity titles are the CEFR levels of learners. You can decide to apply the appropriate activities based on the level of learners from your classroom.

9] 4 Super Easy Tips for Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners – Roxanne L. (ITTT graduate) International TEFL & TESOL Training

Source: https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/4-super-easy-tips-for-teaching-vocabulary-to-young-learners-ittt-tefl-blog/

[A] Using Visuals – Loads of Them!

                When teachers hear ‘vocabulary’, they should pair it with the word ‘visual’. According to Inc.com, 65% of people are visual learners. We should take that into account no matter who we teach, but as teachers of English learners, we should plan to incorporate visual aids in our teaching of vocabulary whenever possible. On top of that, if we are teaching early readers or even pre-readers, visual vocabulary is a must! Thanks to high-speed Internet and sophisticated search engines, a visual representation of every word we’ve ever wanted to teach is at a teacher’s fingertips. So for vocabulary, teachers of young children should definitely have one of two things prepared: either a real-life object to let the children interact with, or at least one slide or flashcard with the new vocabulary word and a picture or clipart illustrating the word. If teachers are using the ESA style of lesson planning, the real-life object is a great way to engage the students and get them talking and thinking in English.

[B] Teaching Vocabulary Using the ESA (Engage-Study-Activate) Methodology

                Engaging students in vocabulary acquisition is easy when teaching nouns; showing a picture or real life object will suffice. Once the students understand that the picture or real life object is a person, place or thing, they can begin using the vocabulary words which are nouns in sentences. The study phase of the lesson could involve a gap-fill or copying exercise. For the activate stage, students could pass the object around the room. The student starting out could hold the object (say for example a cabbage) out to her classmate and say, “This is a cabbage.” When the next child takes the cabbage from her, he can pretend that he didn’t hear, “A what?” She will say, “A cabbage.” The receiver will say, “Oh, I know! It’s a cabbage.” Depending on the students’ ages, the teacher may lead the students in sentence invention or story writing about this new vocabulary word they’ve received.

[C] Acting Out Verbs

                Teaching verbs and adjectives with a picture can be ambiguous. If you show a picture of a girl in a red shirt running, to teach the verb ‘run’, students may get confused and forever associate ‘girl’ with ‘run’ or ‘red’ with ‘run’! Ideally, teachers will act out the vocabulary words which are verbs and/or show several videos of the verb in action. Once the students understand that the teacher is demonstrating an action, the students can practice conjugating the verbs in various sentences during the study phase. The activate phase could include a bag filled with cards with verbs on them. Students could reach into the bag and choose to either draw or mime the verb to his/her classmates as a game of Pictionary or charades.

[D] Teaching Adjectives Using Opposites

                For adjectives, use of contrast often helps. If a teacher is trying to show an adjective like ‘light’ she will have to contrast it with ‘heavy’ or ‘dark’. This contrast could be represented on slides or flashcards, but it is a good idea to have several versions to clarify what attribute is being illustrated. For example, when teaching an adjective like ‘old’, you may contrast an old car and a new car, placing an ‘X’ over the new car and circling the old one. But to be sure the students don’t think it is to illustrate dirty versus clean or cheap versus expensive, you may have to have a few other contrasting pairs, like an old lady and a young lady or an old paper and a new paper. For the study phase, gap-fill exercises, whether oral or written, would be useful to verify if the students understand they are learning a descriptive word. The activate stage could include pair work where students describe a painting that their classmates have not seen. Each pair would read their descriptions aloud whilst the other pairs try to draw what they hear being described.

My Reflection: 1) The young learners learn their first vocabulary through visuals. Hence, it’s absolutely necessary to have maximum realia, models, pictures, library of digital pictures ready at our disposal to facilitate learners and make their job easy. The teacher has to be very resourceful. A digital classroom is more conducive for learning vocabulary using visuals. 2) The second method of ESA stresses application of learnt vocabulary in the activate phase. When a teacher gives learning experiences through some aids and activities, it is the engage phase of learners. When the learners internalize the meaning of new words, it’s the study phase. 3) Action words can be best taught through actions. 4) If adjectives are taught in opposition, it becomes easy to understand them. e.g. long Vs short, tall Vs short, thick Vs thin, etc.

10] 7 Fun Activities for Teaching Vocabulary in the ESL Classroom

Source: https://www.teflcourse.net/blog/7-fun-activities-for-teaching-vocabulary-in-the-esl-classroom-ittt-tefl-blog/

1.Hot Seat:

     This is a great activity that can be used as a warm-up at the beginning of a class, or as a game at the end of a lesson. It’s suitable for any class size over 4 students and requires minimal preparation. Divide the class into two teams and have two chairs at the front of the class, set up to face away from the board. Have one student from each team come and sit in the chairs and tell them not to turn and look at the board. The premise of the game is for you to write a word or expression from your lesson on the board, and have the students facing away from the board guess what it is. Give each team 10 points to start with and tell them if they break any rules, points will be deducted. The rules must include no miming (you want students to give verbal clues) and no use of their own language. Other students call out clues and whichever of the students at the front guesses correctly first gets the point. Have other students replace them each time. This is a fun game that can get quite noisy. You might want to exert some control by giving each team 15-second chunks to give clues. Develop your rules as you see fit.

2.Beat the Clock:

     This is a similar activity to hot seat, in that students must guess words or expressions from your lesson and/or previous lessons. It’s faster paced so you will need more vocabulary to use, although each expression can be used more than once. Have the words on slips of paper or card in an envelope or box. With this game, you will need to set the class into teams of about 6 maximum, but you may find slight adaptions make it suitable for either smaller or bigger classes. Have one team come to the front and have one student from the team pick out slips from the box and give clues for the rest of the team to guess, or vice-versa. Award points for the number of expressions guessed within the allotted time. Each round should last no longer than 30 seconds so that you even up contributions and involvement of each student. Allow weaker students to put back any expressions they feel unable to give clues for and take out another by saying “pass”.

Also read: 5 Reasons Why Teaching English Abroad Enhances Your Career Prospects

3.Crosswords:

     Crosswords can be used very effectively in the ESL classroom, and there are plenty of free easy to use crossword makers on the internet. Because you can so easily make your own, they are very versatile in terms of both level and length. Print off two copies without answers or clues, and write in all the down answers on one copy and all the across answers on the other. Make copies as needed for the class size, assuming one set per 2-4 students depending on how you choose to conduct the game. The idea is for students to give each other clues for their pairing to complete either the down or across answers. Give one pair of students in each group the copy with the down answers filled in and their opposing pair the copy with the across answers. Make sure they can’t see each other’s sheets! They then ask “What is (number) across/down? The opposing students then create clues for them to guess. Have a wrap-up at the end by asking students to give you clues they’d used for specific words.

4.Board Games:

     The beauty of this idea is that it can be used with just about any board game you might have that involves moving pieces after throwing a dice such as Snakes (Chutes) & Ladders. You will need enough sets so that students can play in groups of around 2-6 players. Have a stack of cards with target language from the lesson on. You can have different colored stacks to match the variety of squares that you might land on when moving around the board. Each stack will have different types of task, such as to speak for 20 seconds about the vocabulary on the card, solve an anagram, make your team-mate guess the word, or create a question using the word. Students move their pieces around the board after throwing a dice and must complete the task on whatever card they pick up depending on what colored square they land on. If they can’t, they go back to the square they came from. You could also adapt this idea to suit the popular “Jenga” game by writing on the wooden blocks with a pencil or erasable ink.

Also read: Online or In-Class - Which TEFL Course Should You Take?

5.Slow Pictionary:

     This is another activity that requires minimal preparation. The fun element is increased by students or teachers who are unable to draw particularly well because this is likely to result in more guesses being made and thus more practice using English. Write words or expressions from the lesson on individual slips of paper. Set up 2 teams and have one student from each team come to the board and take a slip each. Put a dividing line on the board to control where they draw, then have each of the 2 students take a turn drawing one line at a time to build their drawing to help their team guess the vocabulary on their slip. Teams can then make guesses about their drawing. Whichever team guesses first gets 2 points, but can then guess the other teams drawing for 1 bonus point at any stage.

6.Vocabulary Tennis:

     Set up 2 lines of students facing each other. Give a word in a particular category from your lesson, such as things in a house for lower levels, up to personality characteristics for higher levels. Have a student at the front of the line say something from the category, then the person opposite them in the other team must say something else. Work your way up the line back and forth until someone either repeats what has already been said or can’t think of anything new. The opposing team gets awarded a point when you restart the game with a new category from where it left off. This is great for practicing vocabulary from previous lessons too.

Also read: Top Online Lesson Plan Resources for New and Advanced Teachers

7.Pelmanism (Concentration):

     This is a game based on memorizing cards or other objects placed in front of the players that has become a standard activity in the ESL classroom. It is known as “Concentration” in many countries. Create 5-6 pairs of cards with pictures and vocabulary on. For example, a picture of a fish for lower levels with the word “fish” on the matching vocabulary card. Lay them face down and either mark all the backs of the pictures with “1” and the vocabulary with “2” or have pictures and vocabulary on different colored cards. Set students up in groups of 2-4, with a set of cards each. They put all the cards face down and take turns picking up a picture card, saying what it is and then pick up a vocabulary card. If they are a match they keep the pair, if not they replace the cards face down and the next student continues.

Make sure students say what the vocabulary is before picking up the second card to maximize student talk time. The student with the most cards at the end wins. Can repeat as time allows. You can increase the challenge by having students create sentences before keeping the cards or have them play ‘tic-tac-toe’/‘noughts and crosses’ as a side game if they get a match. ‘Kim’s Game’ can be a follow-up game or wrap-up using the same material.

Thank you dear friends for going through my blog post related to ‘Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners’. On special demand from some of you, I’ve reflected on the ELT practices studied by me. There are many more ELT practices experimented throughout the world. But there are some common principles around which these ELT experiments are done (Applied research) or some studies indicate those common principles. I’ve tried to focus on those principles in this post. Hope you’d like them and try one in your classroom.

Please don’t forget to share your ELT practices related to teaching vocabulary to young learners. You can share your practices in the comments below this post. You’d find some new practices our friends are implementing in their classroom to reap their benefits. Please do share your practices along with the success rate (The percentage of students who developed their vocabulary using your innovative ELT practice. Other teachers would be benefitted by your practices.

In the next post I’m going to discuss on the established theories and approaches and their recommended practices of teaching vocabulary to young learners.

You can visit my first blog post by hitting the following link

(https://ujjwalkarawande.blogspot.com/2020/04/first-blog.html)

Thank you.

Yours,

Ujjwal