Why do our students need to build strong vocabulary foundations? It’s pretty difficult to speak any language if you don’t know the words of that language. Long before a person can string sentences together, they need to know words, what they mean, and how to form them. There is a need to build a base of vocabulary before words can take on meaning. Language can’t come to life until those words are used in context and take on new meanings.
Vocabulary needs to be used over and over again in order to retain it. Mundane, passive tasks like writing it over and over again, or in our case signing it over and over again doesn’t work. Language is alive and students need to interact with it in order to learn, understand and develop communication skills. Rebecca Alber writing for Edutopia writes about six steps to teach vocabulary:
Building Strong Vocabulary
- One: The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its definition (tap into student’s prior knowledge, use imagery).
- Two: Students restate or explain the new word in their own words (verbally and/or in writing).
- Three: Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the word (a picture, or symbolic representation).
- Four: Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the new word (compare words, classify terms, write their own analogies and metaphors).
- Five: Students discuss the new word (pair-share, elbow partners).
- Six: Students periodically play games to review new vocabulary (Pyramid, Jeopardy, Telephone).
I often wonder if I spend enough time on base vocabulary or if I move too quickly into the communication portion of language education. Vocabulary is social and learning words are best accomplished when students have a lot of opportunities to interact, practice and connect with them. Those connections lead to understanding.
Contextual Vocabulary
The learning process can be effective in isolation but it is best when done in a team. After all, language does not happen without others around us. In order to get students learning vocabulary, they need to use the words in a lot of different ways:
- Games
- Visual representations
- Videos
- Using synonyms and antonyms
- Discussions
- Analyzing
- Acting it out
There are a ton of resources to show you how to teach vocabulary but what I try to do it make it fun, make it repetitive and make it memorable. Once the words are there, language can come to life and connections can be made. Play Jeopardy, Pictionary, or Taboo. Read articles online and see what ESL and other language teachers are doing.
I have even used a cootie catcher to review vocabulary. Who knew there were so many things to do with a cootie catcher/fortune teller/vocabulary catcher. Make your own or save yourself time by using one of these ideas in the vocabulary review book I have created to practice and play with vocabulary. Now go create some great vocabulary practice activities!
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