TEFL / TESOL Blog
Vocabulary is critical to an individual’s success in learning the English language as it supports children to contemplate and learn about their surroundings. Indeed, the command is the decisive goal of learning a language but the necessity of vocabulary development cannot be overestimated. Typically, vocabulary development is directly connected with school achievement. Thus, as a skilled ESL teacher with a TEFL course, knowing various activities for teaching vocabulary will help you more.
The matter is simple. The more words a learner knows, the better he or she will understand the text. Additionally, using a variety of helpful ESL teaching methods will upsurge the apprentice's ability to learn new words.
Ways To Improve Vocabulary
Following are some great teaching ideas for developing vocabulary in English learners ---
1. Semantic Charts
This can be done as a whole class or in small groups. In this activity, you will choose a word and display it for your class on a whiteboard or anything like that etc. Your learners will read the word and then they try to think of different words that come to mind when they see that word.
Semantic charts are awesome as these activate prior learning. Then your students will make a list that is formed of all of the words that come to mind, and then those words are categorized. Undergraduates then create a “map” using a graphic organizer and discuss it. As students read through the text, they can add related words to the map.
2. Use Visual Stimuli
Present words with visual stimuli as visual learning has long been an essential of education. Use various flashcards, glue sticks and scissors. You may also incorporate a healthy stack of magazines but remember, the material needs to be suitable to your apprentices’ ages. You can also create a few flashcards yourself. Try to present a few new words to your session by discussing the definition and usage of each word with examples. This teaching English in abroad approach creates a lasting visual memory by improving understanding when prospects for practical use.
3. Sorting Hat
Make your lessons more interesting with everyone’s favorite Harry Potter. Use a Harry Potter theme to have learners sort words into different groups. They can pull them out of a hat. For example, if you give them the groupings, it’s called a “closed sort” and if they come up with their groups, it’s called “open sort.” Try this one, this one is extremely entertaining.
4. Lego Bricks
It is also a brilliant technique to learn, practice or teach synonyms or antonyms, even creating sentences counting new vocabulary. By using a dry-wipe marker, you can rub the words off once your students have used them with one class and then getting ready for a new set of vocabulary. You could also use this activity with stickers on the bricks. An extension for this could be to form a story using vocabulary from X number of the lego brick blocks. Using lego bricks to teach vocabulary is quite collaborative and amusing.
5. Using Lolly Pop Sticks
Do you know you can use lollypop sticks for your classroom activities? Yes…you can use them. You can make super fun spelling actions to support students work on blending, adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes to make new words while having loads of fun. We have found this one –
Students can spell words by blending sounds listening to find out if they make sense to them.
6. Heads Up
In this activity, learners hold a word on a card in front of their foreheads. They don’t know what words they have and ask each other a series of questions to find out the meaning of their words. This helps in teaching various content words and students engage with the words by giving hints and guessing the word.
7. Emoji Stimuli
Emoj is are contemporary and something that your students can relate. If you are teaching a topic for which you can find emoj is, include them. Ask your learners to write down the vocabulary for any words they distinguish first, then add more ideas in pairs and small groups. To conclude, complete the activity as a group. You mays ask students to write about the sports they and their friends/family like or dislike or anything like this.
Here are few more ideas for developing vocabulary in English learners.
8. Word Sneak
This has been developed by Jimmy Fallon, he plays this with guests on the popular Tonight Show. In the game, Jimmy and the visitor each get a stack of cards with words on them that they have to work into the conversation naturally without sounding enforced or stiff. It’s also a fun way to learn different ways to approach a word.
We hope you’ve gathered an admirable collection of ESL vocabulary teaching methods that can increase a variety of language skills. Try not to settle for just any old teaching method. With a TEFL certification online, you will learn a lot of various approaches that are fresh and innovative. Learning vocabulary is an ESL foundation that sets the attitude for the future growth of your students.
