Pre-teach new vocabs

This article looks at what needs to be taught when teaching vocabulary and ways to present and teach vocabulary.
• Introduction
• What a student may need to know about an item
• Ways to present vocabulary
• Alternative ways of teaching vocabulary
• Other things to consider

Introduction
With hundreds of thousands of words in the English language, teaching vocabulary can seem like a very daunting prospect. Remember though that the average native speaker uses around only five thousand words in everyday speech. Moreover, your students won’t need to produce every word they learn, some they will just need to recognize. Selecting what to teach, based on frequency and usefulness to the needs of your particular students is therefore essential. Once you have chosen what to teach, the next important steps are to consider what students need to know about the items, and how you can teach them.
What a student may need to know about an item
• What it means
It is vital to get across the meaning of the item clearly and to ensure that your students have understood correctly with checking questions.
• The form
Studens need to know if it is a verb/a noun/an adjective etc to be able to use it effectively.
• How it is pronounced
This can be particularly problematic for learners of English because there is often no clear relation between how a word is written and how it is pronounced. It is very important to use the phonemic script in such cases so the sts have a clear written record of the pronunciation. Don’t forget also to drill words that you think will cause pronunciation problems for your students and highlight the word stresses.
• How it is spelt
This is always difficult in English for the reason mentioned above. Remember to clarify the pronunciation before showing the written form.
• If it follows any unpredictable grammatical patterns
For example, man-men / information (uncountable) and if the word is followed by a particular preposition (e.g. depend on )
• The connotations that the item may have
Bachelor is a neutral/positive word whereas spinster conjures a more negative image.
• The situations when the word is or is not used
Is it formal/neutral/informal?For example, spectacles/glasses/specs. Is it used mainly in speech or in writing? To sum up is usually written whereas mind you is spoken. Is it outdated? Wireless instead of radio.
• How the word is related to others
For example, synonyms, antonyms, lexical sets
• Collocation or the way that words occur together
You describe things ‘in great detail’ not ‘in big detail’ and to ask a question you ‘raise your hand’ you don’t ‘lift your hand’. It is important to highlight this to students to prevent mistakes in usage later.
• What the affixes (the prefixes and suffixes) may indicate about the meaning
For example, substandard sub meaning under. This is particularly useful at a higher level.
Which of these areas you choose to highlight will depend on the item you are teaching and the level of your students. Now it’s time to think about how we can get the meaning across.

Ways to present vocabulary
There are lots of ways of getting across the meaning of a lexical item.
• Illustration
This is very useful for more concrete words (dog, rain, tall) and for visual learners. It has its limits though, not all items can be drawn.
• Mime
This lends itself particularly well to action verbs and it can be fun and memorable.
• Synonyms/Antonyms/Gradable items
Using the words a students already knows can be effective for getting meaning across.
• Definition
Make sure that it is clear (maybe check in a learner dictionary before the lesson if you are not confident). Remember to ask questions to check they have understood properly.
• Translation
If you know the students’ L1, then it is fast and efficient. Remember that not every word has a direct translation..
• Context
Think of a clear context when the word is used and either describe it to the students or give them example sentences to clarify meaning further.
Again which you choose will depend on the item you are presenting. Some are more suitable for particular words. Often a combination of techniques can be both helpful and memorable
Alternative ways of teaching vocabulary
• Give your students a few items of vocabulary and tell them to find the meaning, pronunciation and write an example sentenced with the word in. They can then teach each other in groups.
• Prepare worksheets and ask your students to match words to definitions.
• Ask students to classify a group of words into different categories. For example, a list of transport words into air/sea/land.
• Ask students to find new vocabulary from reading homework and teach the other students in the class.

Other things to consider
• Review the vocabulary you teach through a game or activity and encourage your students to do the same at home
• Encourage autonomy in your learners. Tell them to read, watch films, listen to songs etc and note the useful words
• Have a section of your board for vocabulary items that come up as you are teaching. Use different colours for the word / the phonemics / the prepositions / the part of speech
• It is a good idea to teach/learn words with associated meanings together
• Encourage your students to purchase a good dictionary and use class time to highlight the benefits of one
• Teach your students the grammatical names for the parts of speech and the phonemic script
• Always keep a good dictionary by your side in case a student asks about a word you don’t know
• If you don’t and have never heard of the word, tell the student you will check and get back to them. Do get back to them
• Give extra examples sentences to the students if they are unsure and encourage them to write the word in an example sentence (maybe for homework)

Photos

Lesson plan

Lesson plan is one of those essential skills of the competent teacher. This article looks at some general lesson planning questions:
• What should go into an English language lesson?
• What is a lesson plan?
• Why is planning important?
• Do you need to plan if you have a course book?
• What are the principles of planning?

What should go into an English language lesson?
Every lesson and class is different. The content depends on what the teacher wants to achieve in the lesson. However it is possible to make some generalizations. Students who are interested in, involved in and enjoy what they are studying tend to make better progress and learn faster.
This means getting the students interested in the class. Engaging students is important for the learning process.
Every lesson usually needs to have some kind of language focus. The study element of a lesson could be a focus on any aspect of the language, such as grammar or vocabulary and pronunciation. A study stage could also cover revision and extension of previously taught material.
Telling students about the language is not really enough to help them learn it. For students to develop their use of English they need to have a chance to produce it. In an activate stage the students are given tasks which require them to use not only the language they are studying that day, but also other language that they have learnt.

What is a lesson plan?
A lesson plan is a framework for a lesson. If you imagine a lesson is like a journey, then the lesson plan is the map. It shows you where you start, where you finish and the route to take to get there.
Essentially the lesson plan sets out what the teacher hopes to achieve over the course of the lesson and how he or she hopes to achieve it. Usually they are in written form but they don’t have to be. New or inexperienced teachers may want to or be required to produce very detailed plans – showing clearly what is happening at any particular time in the lesson. However in a realistic teaching environment it is perhaps impractical to consider this detail in planning on a daily basis. As teachers gain experience and confidence planning is just as important but teachers develop the ability to plan more quickly and very experienced teachers may be able to go into class with just a short list of notes or even with the plan in their heads.
Whatever the level of experience, it is important that all teachers take time to think through their lessons before they enter the classroom.

Why is planning important?
One of the most important reasons to plan is that the teacher needs to identify his or her aims for the lesson. Teachers need to know what it is they want their students to be able to do at the end of the lesson that they couldn’t do before. Here are some more reasons planning is important:-
• gives the teacher the opportunity to predict possible problems and therefore consider solutions
• makes sure that lesson is balanced and appropriate for class
• gives teacher confidence
• planning is generally good practice and a sign of professionalism
Do you need to plan if you have a course book?
Many teachers will find themselves having to use a course book. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a course book – but although they do provide a ready made structure for teaching material, it is very unlikely the material was written for the teachers’ particular students. Each class is different and teachers need to be able to adapt material from whatever source so that is suitable for their students. A course book can certainly help planning, but it cannot replace the teacher’s own ideas for what he or she wants to achieve in a class.

What are the principles of planning?
• Aims – considering realistic goals for the lesson, not too easy but not too difficult. You may find the following checklist useful:
o What do the students know already?
o What do the students need to know?
o What did you do with the students in the previous class?
o How well do the class work together?
o How motivated are the students?
• Variety – an important way of getting and keeping the students engaged and interested.
• Flexibility – expect the unexpected! Things don’t always go to plan in most lessons. Experienced teachers have the ability to cope when things go wrong. It’s useful when planning to build in some extra and alternative tasks and exercises. Also teachers need to be aware of what is happening in the classroom. Students may raise an interesting point and discussions could provide unexpected opportunities for language work and practice. In these cases it can be appropriate to branch away from the plan.
Effective lesson planning is the basis of effective teaching. A plan is a guide for the teacher as to where to go and how to get there. However – don’t let the plan dominate – be flexible in your planning so that when the opportunities arise you can go with the flow.