1、HOW TO USE VOCAB LISTSMany of us work with text books which contain lists of vocabulary. Vocab learning can be a pretty dull task to do and an uninspiring homework to set. Then you have to deal with the students who do not do their learning or who simply cannot set words to memory very easily. Doing
2、 a “vocab test” of the traditional kind has its uses, of course, but I find them dull to administer and they work best only with the brightest classes.By the way, I used to doubt the whole value of vocab learning, believing that vocab was “acquired” by regular use rather than by rote learning. Witho
3、ut entering a debate on conscious versus unconscious learning in language learning, I now believe that learning by heart can have a place. Put simply, consciously learned vocab can make the crossover into ones “acquired” competence. Needless to say, we need to revise vocab from one lesson to the nex
4、t, otherwise most children will forget words.So what can we do with lists of words apart from telling a class to go away and memorise them?Jan Baker, Ann Pendray, Anne Jackson and Sue Chalmers and kindly sent me their ideas, to which I have added my own.20 Strategies for Active Learning of Vocabular
5、y Jan BakerTO LEARN VOCABULARY EFFECTIVELY YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT 1. Think of it as a challenge not a chore your attitude is MOST important WANT to learn them.2. Read the words in silence several times then try & do a memory test how many can you do without looking?3. Cover the words and t
6、est yourself or get someone to test you.4. Use a word fan make a fan (fold the paper several times) & write the English on one side/French on the other & so on.5. Concentrate on the difficult words & link them to something you know eg. clay keys (the word for key is cl pronounced clay).6. Write the
7、words out over and over English with French and vice versa do more and more from memory each time.7. Make up a rhythm tap out the words as you say them.8. Record the words onto tape.9. Listen to them over & over from the tape.10. Try and spell out the words with the French alphabet.11. Remember what
8、 you teacher tells you about them think about what was said in the lesson read your notes as well.12. Try and make the words rhyme or make up a rap. 13. Read the words out loud fast/slow/loud/quiet. 14. Break up the words mus/ique prof/es/seur.15. Invent a song/poem with the words in. 16. Sort them
9、by gender/groups/patterns - fruit/vegetables/which adjective follows which rule or colour code them. 17. Group them alphabetically.18. Jumble up the letters & try & rearrange them in the correct order & then give the English.19. Draw the words & label. 20. Write out the words with letters missing vo
10、wels? then gap fill.From Ann PendrayDemand written evidence of how the pupils tried to learn e.g. wordsearches, look cover sheets, cards, fans etc. Encourage them to set themselves a test and bring it in. Some pupils may put up lists on back of toilet door etc. Pupils who work really hard may improv
11、e their test marks by using a different method. You can test using mini whiteboards or through team games rather than giving individual marks. You can raise the status of vocab learning by talking about the processes involved with children. Sue Chalmers adds:Could I also suggest list games? For exam
12、ple, first group to list 5/10 fruits/sports/types of house etc. Or you can have a competition where the winner is the first group to guess the same five fruits/sports etc which you have on your own list. Its not particularly fair but can be fun and very competitive.From Anne Jackson:“Running reporte
13、r”: a vocab list is put somewhere far away (e.g. back of class). In teams of two, one student runs to the list and tries to memorise as many and as accurately as they can and then run back to report to the team mate who then writes it down. The runner is not aloud to write! They then swap and the ot
14、her student runs to the list to do the same. First pair to finish list all correct win.From Elsa Carnoy:A nice way to pair test vocabulary is to ask each student to write ten words in english from the list they had to learn (they can use their list so it makes them revise). Past the list to partner
15、and each translate their partners list. Then they check their partners translation with the book again. They enjoy it and can be quite mean at giving difficult words to their partner!My ideas for the classroom Read aloud vocab list to class. Students repeat. It seems obvious, but speaking aloud word
16、s can help fix them in pupils minds. You can make this fun (and improve pupils pronunciation) by whispering, raising the voice, creating a rhythm or even singing. Pull faces, get the class to watch your lips. After an initial run through, pupils can try to quickly memorise as many words as possible.
17、 Most pupils are good at short term memory tasks and see them as a challenge. Use translation both ways. Then get them to cover up the target language words. You then supply the first syllable or sound of a word and they have to complete it with the rest of the word. This can be amusing. Pupils can
18、produce their rsponses orally or in writing. Then do the same, but supplying the last sound or syllable of the word. Maybe save this to the next lesson. For lists of concrete items pupils can use mime or gesture in pairs. One pupil mimes while the other guesses the word. Pupils enjoy this. Give oral
19、 definitions of words. Students write down the answers. This is harder, but provided good listening practice. Play word association. (This can lead off into all sorts of directions, but works well with large fields of similar vocab e.g. food and drink.) Make up anagrams of words. Alternatively, pupi
20、ls make up anagrams to test their partners. Make up a code-breaking task for the class. There are examples on this site. Get students to make up a simple crossword or acrostich. In pairs each person has to give a word from the list. The first person who cannot think of a word loses. Makevoneoenormou
21、scwordafrombtheulistlyouahaveisetrtheeclass. Place added letters between the words. the added letters could spell out another word.So, if a class is not good at learning vocab at home, cut your losses and focus on learning in the classroom.Any good ideas of your own? Mail me at and Ill post them on the site.
