Avoid these 5 Mistakes in Your Vocabulary Lessons
Show Notes
In this episode, let's talk about what NOT to do when teaching a vocabulary lesson. I'll go through five of the most common mistakes I see teachers make when planning and teaching vocabulary lessons. We'll talk about why these aren't effective techniques... and what you can do instead.
In this Episode
Mistake #1: Not presenting the vocabulary in a way that is contextualized and student-centered
why saying, “Today we’re going to learn these vocabulary words…” isn't an effective start to the lesson
why a lack of context can bore or intimidate students
why this mistake tends to lead to higher TTT
why it’s better to start with a student-centered lead-in instead
Mistake #2: Going from word to meaning, not meaning to word
why asking students to define words is a problem
why this creates a disconnect in students’ minds and how to create a connection instead
how to elicit words by conveying meaning and create student-centered vocabulary exercises
Mistake #3: Not clarifying meaning first
why you should always start with meaning as opposed to form or pronunciation
how to check students’ understanding of meaning before you move on
Mistake #4: Teaching all the different meanings of each word
why this isn’t a good thing… even though it seems like it would be!
when other meanings can be addressed
Mistake #5: Not providing enough practice or review
why this often happens
how to manage timing to ensure practice doesn’t get skipped at the end
other mistakes teachers make during practice stages
why review is so important and ideas for making sure this happens