Episode Forty-six

5 Ways to Present New Vocabulary

Show Notes

Looking for some ways to make your vocabulary lessons more effective and fun? In this episode, I'll walk you through engaging, student-centered ideas for presenting new vocabulary words in your lessons.

---

In this Episode

#1: Use a picture or realia

• this works best for concrete, literal items

• realia = the actual, physical object (i.e. holding up a literal apple to teach the word "apple” instead of showing a picture of an apple)

• elicit the words from the students by asking, “What is this?” when you hold up the picture or item

• make this into a student-centered activity by having students label a set of vocabulary items in the same picture

#2: Create a matching task

• students can match words to definitions

• students can match words to their synonyms

• students can match words to their antonyms

• students can match words to individual pictures

• students can match words or phrases to examples

• allow students to do the matching activity on their own first, then check answers in pairs

#3: Let students label items on a cline

• a cline is similar to a timeline, but shows gradation/ degrees instead of time

• example: students could label temperatures (freezing, cold, cool, neutral, warm, hot, boiling) from coldest to hottest on a cline

• works best with gradable adjectives and adverbs

• helpful because meaning can be conveyed clearly without using much other language

#4: Ask students to fill in the blanks in a dialogue or text

• this gives students a larger context as opposed to just definitions

• providing a word bank will make this more manageable

#5: Present the vocabulary in a text

• have the words highlighted or underlined in the text

• let students read the text for gist / general understanding first before asking them to focus on the individual vocabulary words

• teach the students some strategies for finding the meaning of the words

• allow the students to do this in pairs/ small groups

• this helps the students become more autonomous learners

---

Did you try any of these strategies? Comment below and let me know how it went!

Episode Nineteen

How to Deal with Vocabulary in a Reading Lesson

Show Notes

We're continuing on in our series of how to teach reading, and this week we're talking through a common issue: how do you deal with vocabulary in a reading lesson? Yes, we know the main aim of any reading lesson should be reading comprehension, but what if students start to ask questions about the vocabulary in the text? Should you offer to define unknown words for the students as you go along? How much vocab do the students really need to know in order to comprehend what they’re reading? We’ve got the answers for you in this episode.

---

In this Episode

Why you SHOULDN’T ask the question, “Were there any words in the text you didn’t understand?”

“[Instead of trying to teach both reading and vocabulary in the same lesson], just do a really good reading lesson one day, and a really good vocab lesson the next day. THAT’S actually useful. It’s more manageable for you, it’s more beneficial to the students, and everything just feels more streamlined. It just makes you a better teacher.”

• Why this question sends the message that students need to know all the vocabulary in the text- when actually they don’t!

• Why thinking that you have to understand every word in a text slows students down when reading

• How this question encourages teacher dependence- and how to encourage independent learning strategies instead

• How asking this question hinders students’ reading skills outside the classroom

• How this can really mess up your timing

• The pressure you’re putting on yourself to be a human dictionary when you ask this question

• How to keep your main aim in mind when teaching a reading lesson

• What to do if a students asks you a vocabulary question you aren’t prepared to answer

• How to validate students’ vocabulary questions

Better ways to deal with vocabulary in a reading lesson

• What “blocking” words are and how to identify them

• How to plan in advance to deal with vocabulary - why you should answer the reading comprehension questions yourself first

• The maximum number of words you should choose to focus on

• How to know when you DON’T need to define a word from the text

• Why you shouldn’t just put vocabulary words on the board and start going through them

• The benefits of creating a student-centered matching task to help students understand “blocking” vocabulary

• Why you don’t need to go over the words before students do the vocabulary matching task

• How to follow up the vocabulary matching task by asking clarifying questions (concept checking questions) and focusing briefly on form and pronunciation

• Why you want to leave the vocabulary information on the board while students are reading

• Why it’s important to manage time and keep this stage efficient

• Why you need to have your vocabulary focus stage thoroughly planned

• Why you often don’t even need a vocabulary pre-teach stage

• Whether it’s appropriate to deal with vocabulary after the reading activities (a “post-teach”)

• Why the “pre-teach” needs to occur before the main reading task

• What to do if there are vocabulary words you want to focus on or think would be useful (separate from the blocking words) - and why this needs to be its own separate lesson or section of a longer lesson

• How focusing on a lot about a little rather than a little about a lot makes your lessons more streamlined and effective

• The fact that, the majority of the time, students won’t even make vocabulary an issue… as long as you don’t!

And a huge thank you for following, listening, and supporting us- our Apple Podcast rating list is growing, and we’re excited about it!

---

Want teaching tips and lesson ideas delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday? Sign up for our newsletter to join the Horizons community.