elifselli

Teacher : (in the feedback part ) Which words have we learnt today ? Let’s review ..

A student : Chair                                                                                                    

Another student : Desk…

…….

Teacher : Yes, you’re all great….Let’s come to the homework..you will write each of these words five times on your notebook..

Would you give a homework to your students like this ? What are your methods for vocabulary learning ? What do you suggest?

All of us teach our students new words in a way; some of them learn quickly and easily whereas for others it takes for a while to learn new words , this depends on the activitites and methods we use .

Here is a short  list of things you can do while vocabulary teaching:

- Show  authentic materials such as flashcards, slides, videos while giving equivalent of the word ; if possible it’s better to point out real object while teaching them. For example if you are teaching ‘door’, You should go near the door and repeat the word while indicating it.

- Make students use new words as much as possible. They can make  sentences with the word. If they are young learners, make them prepare flashcard , slide or poster for the word  ( If they have prepared flashcards , hang them on the classroom board ; this will provide them to see their own product ,the new word many times and this is very useful for vocabulary learning )  ;shortly provide them to learn language themselves.

- You can play or can make students play charades. Choose a volunteer student from class , tell him/her the word  s/he would tell and watch how it can be enjoyable for both you and students.

- You can organize competitions; they are really helpful, enjoyable and beneficial; here is the one I use usually in my classrooms.

Divide the class into two parts (make sure groups  be heterogenous , each group should include both hardworking and lazy students)

Write randomly  the new words  they have learnt on the board .

Choose a timekeeper from both  groups.

Give a short time to them to study

Let’s come to the aim of the competition : you will tell  the students synonyms or  antonyms or Turkish(other)  meanings  of the words (this depends on the  content you’ve taught )  and they have to tell you English meanings but this will be one by one , teacher will ask the first student, then the second student, then the third….this is like a chain drill….  They have only two minutes, students should answer immediately and correctly,   each correct answer is a point for the group. If a student can’t say a word , the chain breaks  and  all the answers, all the points  the group have gained till then vanish. This is the crucial part of the competition. The aim is to make a long chain.

The group which has higher score wins.

In fact it is a simple game but really beneficial to practice new words; because  the words are  repeated frequent times in a few minutes. Also students and you have a lot of fun.   Sometimes we play even  3 or 4 times in a lesson. In addition to these, this competition provide  team cooperation, students help each other to study and learn the words since each correct answer means a point .

These are  a few of the  activities, tasks that can be used in the classroom  but the most important point is ‘Repetition, Repetition,Repetition‘ ; if you don’t practice new learning in other leessons , all the words will be forgotten . Make students repeat the words.

If you have other interesting ideas , please share with me. Sharings help us to improve ourselves.

Take care…

Greetings from Bursa,Turkey to everyone….

I’m Elif Selli, an English teacher at a primary school in Bursa.  I have been teaching for three years. I feel myself lucky since I’ve made the right desicion about my life by choosing the job ‘teaching’ especially ‘English Teaching’

I  remember my friends asking me about the English unknown words when we were at 6th grade as  they knew I would answer their questions. This was one of the many examples how I like to deal with the English and Englis Teaching.

Now I try to make my students  learn English not friends and I am trying to do my best. I am reading, searching , writing, etc. I’ve been looking for the beneficial ideas , methods and materials for my students.

About two years ago while I was reading weekly Newspaper of British Council, I came across a name : Özge Karaoğlu(an inspiring teacher), I read the post about her and looked at her sites. Then I examined the sites and I became aware of the fact that  there  were so many things I didn’t know and I would learn.From then on I’ve  looked at lots of blogs , read many posts, searched various sites about ELT; but I’ve always had a question on my mind.: ^When and what should I write?^

Now I am writing this post  . Maybe this is not interesting for you but but this is exciting for me . Why ? Because this is my first post. I am  going on searching and trying to write more beneficial maybe fantastic posts.

Elif Selli