How to Teach Vocabulary Effectively in ELT Class?

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How to Teach Vocabulary Effectively in ELT Class?
How to Teach Vocabulary Effectively in ELT Class?
Well, the learning vocabulary is an important part of a student’s development process, but vocabulary instruction can be a challenge for educators-especially when it comes to making it effective and engaging.

Challenges with Teaching Vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary can feel daunting. The struggles associated with vocab practices in the classroom make it challenging for students to learn and teachers to, well, teach. Teachers may have a hard time handpicking the 10-20 words every week that their students will learn. Which words are the most important? What about the students who learn and read at different levels? From a student’s perspective, it becomes difficult (and, for many, uninteresting) to simply memorize words and terms that they have no prior connections to.
Considering the number of new words students have to learn per course, this means us teachers have our work cut out for us. We all know that although it is important for students to use correct grammar and structures, words are the main carriers of meaning. This means that the more words students are able to handle accurately, the better their chances of understanding English and making themselves understood.
To effectively acquire new vocabulary, students must go through four essential stages:
  • First, they notice a new word with help;
  • Secondly, they recognize the word at first with help,
  • Then later on their own;
  • And lastly, they are able to both recognize and produce the word.
It is essential that you, as the teacher, make use of activities that target each of these stages; more often than not, we make the mistake of merely introducing new vocabulary, and we don’t give students the opportunity to put these new words to use.
So, here are some great ways to teach English vocabulary, outlined for each of the stages of vocabulary acquisition:

Stage 1: Noticing and understanding new words:

Introducing nouns, things, objects, animals, etc…
Visual elements work best with concrete nouns, but try to go beyond flashcards and illustrations. Try to use real objects whenever possible, or even sounds, smells, and tastes. Appeal to all of your students’ senses!
Introducing adjectives:
Opposites, like “big” and “small”, “long” and “short”, are usually illustrated with pictures, but here’s another case where realia will help you teach new adjectives; the use of real life objects is wonderful for words like “soft” and “rough”, adjectives that may take precious minutes of class time to explain. For more advanced adjectives, like “stunning”, “gorgeous”, “spectacular”, “huge”, or “immense”, bring in photos of famous sights from around the world like the Louvre, Egyptian pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, etc…then use these new adjectives to describe these places in ways that clearly illustrate their meaning.
Introducing abstracts
There are things you simply cannot teach with a flashcard. What works best in these cases are synonyms, definitions, substitutions, or simply placing students within a given context. Consider this simple example: To teach the difference between “early” and “late”, remind students what time class begins, then state that those who arrive before this time are “early” while those that arrive after this time are “late”.

Stage 2: Recognizing new words

Bingo 
Bingo is one of the most versatile games employed by ESL teachers. For younger learners, make bingo cards with illustrations, and call out each word. For those who can read, do the opposite, make the cards with words, then draw the flashcards from a bag. For teens or adult learners, you can make cards with the definition and call out the words, or vice versa.
Matching 
Another type of exercise with countless possibilities. Students may be required to match opposites, synonyms, or a word with its definition, as well as a picture to a word.
Fill in the blanks (with options) 
Hand out a piece of written text (anything from a description, song, letter, to even a short story) with blank spaces that must be filled in from a list of words. You can adapt this to longer texts, and also have longer word lists.

Stage 3: Producing vocabulary

Descriptions
From a newspaper photo of a recent event to a personal account of a recent trip, there are countless things students can describe while putting new vocabulary to good use. This goes for both oral and written descriptions. You may give them some guidance, like indicating that they have to use at least five adjectives in their description, or five words related to sports, weather, etc…to no guidance at all.
Fill in the blanks (no options)
Supply students with a piece of written text with blank spaces that have to be filled in with any word that fits. You may give them indications for each space, like “noun”, “adjective” or “adverb”, if they’re advanced students. You can then read several out loud to compare the different words used to fill in each blank.
Mind maps or brainstorming
Tell students they need to think of words they can use to describe the weather. Write “weather” at the center of a blackboard or whiteboard and circle it. Write every word supplied by students as “rays” that shoot out this circle. They should reply with previously taught words, like “chilly”, “scorching”, or “mild”. You may even have sub-circles shooting off to the side for winter, summer, etc…words. This works great for vocabulary review lessons.
Guess what I'm thinking 
Students take turns describing something, like a place: “I’m thinking of a place that is so huge it takes visitors hours to see all of it. It has stunning works of art. It is a breathtaking building, very old, but with a modern glass pyramid in the front.” Students choose to be as obvious or as cryptic as they like. Even little ones can do this with simple descriptions: “It's an animal. It has a very long neck and big brown spots.” Or simply state a series of words: “Africa, black and white, stripes”.
It’s better to teach vocabulary in context, in other words, teach highly descriptive adjectives when the lesson is about travel. Or clothes and accessories when you’re talking about shopping. Never teach a list of words just because, or students won’t have a chance to practice this new vocabulary.
On a final note, remember to cater to different learning styles or multiple intelligences.
Use songs and music, real life objects, or puzzles, but the more you mix the better. Remember the difference between recognizing and producing words: to practice recognition the words have to be supplied by YOU; then students use them to fill in blanks or match them. For students to effectively and accurately produce vocabulary, they have to spontaneously recall the words.
CREDIT:
  • BUSYTEACHER.ORG

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