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With so many words in the English language, teaching vocabulary can seem like a very daunting prospect. Many non-English language learners have a limited vocabulary bank, so many of them can greatly benefit from the strategies we use in the classroom. First, a teacher must think what a student may need to know about an item and below are a few examples: • What it means and make sure they understand it completely before you move on. Don’t just assume they know, ask them to explain by eliciting the answer from them. • The form Students need to know if it is a verb / a noun / an adjective • How it is pronounced This can be problematic for learners. It is very important to use the phonemic script in such cases and also to drill words that will cause pronunciation problems. Pronunciation is as important in learning English language as grammar or vocabulary. • How a word is spelled. How a word is spelled and written in English language is different. This can cause difficulties for many students. • How the word is related to others For example, synonyms, antonyms, lexical sets. There are many ways to teach vocabulary to your students and many resources online. The use of authentic materials will come in handy in this. Some examples are the following: • Posters. The use of posters is an important resource to teach your students new vocabulary. Using colorful labeled posters will make the students learn faster by associating the images with words. • Speak to your students with rich vocabulary. • Pre-teach key vocabulary. Teach them the words they don't know ahead of time. Allow your students some time to assess their current knowledge of key vocabulary. Once you've targeted the words your students don’t know, focus on teaching them! • Use text with rich vocabulary and images. • Have a designated, regular time to read aloud to your students in class. Reading to your students is an excellent way to not only teach new words, but to model their correct pronunciation • Attractive images in text are powerful in communicating the meanings of words. • Use many visuals • Play vocabulary games. Allow students many opportunities to practice new vocabulary through games and classroom activities. Remember that for many of the learners this is the only opportunity to use and practice the target language. • Sing songs. Using songs to teach vocabulary is always a winner for English language learners of all ages. You can pre-teach key vocabulary from the song before you introduce the song lyrics to your students. • For study phase, prepare worksheets and ask your students to match words to definitions. • Use illustration • 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. Attaching context to the vocabulary you present to your students will connect them with those new words in a more meaningful way. • Build all four skills- reading writing, speaking, listening • Use magazines, flashcards, games • Role plays Limited vocabulary makes many English language learners from using the target language. But with effective strategies, students can leave our classroom with an enriched vocabulary bank every day.
