1333. Enhancing our students' vocabulary



Teacher B said to teacher A, “Once a teacher set as homework to find and write fifteen or twenty words about the topic of the unit they were going to start next. 

The students would copy them from their course book and activity book. If they learned them, they would gain a positive grade. 

It’s a way to enhance vocabulary. And get to know the contents of the next unit: they would find their course book as something meaningful and interesting.” / Photo from: thinkonline smarttutor com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

708. Communication unites us

Image
One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “one of my current students yesterday told me she had met an American small gang this summer, in their vacations. Her level is advanced. They made friends with one another. She had fun at communicating in English with people her age. She told me they met up together some days to have a drink in one of the bars of the town, at dusk. When she wanted to say a word she didn’t remember, she did something very interesting: she explained the idea, the concept of the ‘missing’ word, by approximating the meaning, paraphrasing the meaning, using examples, explainig the use for the thing, using mime. This strategy is presented by Rebecca Oxford (1990) Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know . Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers. It was fun, she said. She did achieve to set a natural communication with those girls and guys.” / Photo from: welive2care com. girl talking on phone
Read more

3675. What I Do to Plan Lessons I Wish They Be Efficient?

  Lesson planning, you asked? You, like I do, may think that that is essential to teach efficient lessons. You may also be a second or foreign language teacher.  Today I’m telling you something of what I do, just in case it helps you out.  When I sit to plan a lesson, first I think about my dear students and what they do need, and perhaps also what they may be expecting. And then I specify a couple of aims and write them down at the beginning of the lesson plan, at the top.  Even sometimes I let my students – and I teach adults but the same may be applied to teenagers I guess – know what those two goals are – also for them to become more aware and more involved in the class. The more I get them involved in their own learning English, the more they will learn, sure thing!  So I first think how things are going on my lessons and try to solve those possible problems.  And the body of the lesson plan includes stuff where I have my students speak a lot, a lot, a lot. They have and need to p
Read more

3674. Can Your Students Follow You in Class or They Are on the Moon?

  You may be a second or foreign language teacher, like me. I would like to tell you today about clear messages in class so your dear students may understand you.  It’s well-known that you may speak to them in a bit above their level of the target language, for example English in my case. In that way they will understand much of the messages and will likely learn new vocab and new grammar – a drop above their English level, as I said.  On these new school year first lessons I’m teaching I can observe whether my students can follow me or otherwise not, and I try and speak a little above their level – well, sometimes quite much. The intake language thus must be finely tuned in at more or less certain level.  Also as I said I have to convey clear messages, for example clear instructions to carry out such and such activities in class. Otherwise the class becomes a pandemonium – a mess, in other words.  Clear messages I said. As well a temptation I have to fight against is to talk to them i
Read more

3676. To Improve Our Lessons: The Importance of Lesson Planning

  On the last post I told you some practical things on lesson planning which hopefully might help you out, my dear colleague teacher, or you may be a prospective one, or a novice or rookie one. There may be several different situations and circumstances.  As well right here and now I join in some way all the victims of recent floods here in our dear Spain – it has been so terrible, as you may have learned from the news. Poor people, and I pray for them as well. It’s been the worst natural catastrophe of the century in Spain. A lot of volunteers are helping out there.  Let’s carry on with our usual work.  Lesson planning is so paramount so as to have better and efficient lessons in class. And the teacher may pass on so much – if he or she is well prepared and mature. The students have to hear good English in class: a lot from their teacher – better if they are native speakers, otherwise we have to set an example and learn more and more, plus they can listen to class audios and watch cla
Read more

2430. How Babies Acquire a Foreign Language

Image
Babies start to speak about one year and half, but since week number eighteen, the baby in mom’s belly can produce sounds.  After birth babies listen the same to their parents and adults in general a zillion times, and these adults repeat the same word or phrase, and the infant starts to repeat and pronounce those words, or short phrases, not full sentences.  You, father or mother, can take advantage of this phenomenon to make your children speak in English.  In general terms, infants and young kids have their brain forming itself, and at that point of time is when those children can acquire a language – adults also can acquire a language though; you can see the label or tag about acquisition and adult learners. / Photo from: mom-and-baby francesiacussi com
Read more