TEACHING VOCABULARY

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY:

1. Students need to be exposed to a word at least six times in context before they can use it.
2. One of the best ways to learn a new word is to associate a mental image or symbolic
representation with it.
3. Without grammar, little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.

II. WHAT IS VOCABULARY?

A new vocabulary item may be more than a single word: for example, post office and mother-in-law,
which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea.

III. WHAT TO TEACH

1. Identify lexical items:

Concrete vocabulary & abstract vocabulary

Passive vocabulary: words a speaker .................but does not ...............
Active vocabulary: words which Ss will need to ................... and also ................

Form: what a word sounds like (pronunciation) and what it looks like (spelling)
Grammar: e.g: past form, transitive, intransitive, singular, plural, verb form that follows them
(enjoy +Ving) or preposition (responsible for).
Collocation: the way words are used together
e.g: take/made a decision but come to a conclusion
Aspect of meaning:
 Denotation: the meaning the word refers to in real life:
e.g: dog → a kind of animal
 Connotation: the positive or negative feelings it evokes which may not be indicated in the
dictionary, e.g: dog: positive connotation: friendship and loyalty, negative connotation: dirt,
inferiority.
 Appropriateness: polite/taboo, formal/informal, e.g: bastard – love child
 Synonyms:
 Antonyms:
 Hyponyms: specific example of a general concept, e.g: dog, lion, mouse are hyponyms of
animal.
 Co-ordinates: items that are the same kind of things.
e.g: red, blue, green and brown are coordinates.
 Translation
 Word formation: prefixes and suffixes
 Task 1: Read the text. Imagine that you want to present these new words from the text. Which ones
would you present as active vocabulary, and which would you present as passive vocabulary? Write
them in two lists.

weather - varied - average - temperature - cloud -

snow - ice - season - spring - sunny - countryside

In Britain, the weather is very varied; people will never know what it will be like the next day. The
summer is warmer than the winter, but even in summer the average temperature is only 16 0. Sometimes
the sun shines, but at other times the sky is covered in cloud, and it often rains. In winter it is sometimes
very cold, especially in the north of the country. The temperature may fall below 0 0, and then there is
often snow and ice. The best season of the year is probably in late spring. At this time of year the weather
is often sunny and warm; the countryside looks very green, and there are wild flowers everywhere.

IV. HOW TO TEACH:

1. Discovered by the Ss: words are rather ............. than taught.

2. Presented by the teacher: words have to be presented to the ss, so that they can learn them.

Some points to bear in mind:

1. Presented the words in ........................ first, otherwise your students will try to pronounce the words
as they are written.
2. Passive vocabulary: present them ................., with a simple ..................... or leave students to ...................
them.
3. Active vocabulary: spend time giving ................. and asking ................. Put them into ................... and get
students to ................. them.

 TECHNIQUES OF PRESENTING MEANING

1. Showing meaning visually: realia, pictures, miming, actions, facial expressions, gestures
2. Ask questions to elicit the meaning of the words
3. Giving examples/contexts/situations + translating
4. Other techniques:
a. Synonyms, antonyms
b. Word formation (affixes)
c. Word net, hyponyms
d. Dictionaries
5. Show scales or grade ( hot-warm-cool-cold)
6. Combination of different techniques

Procedure:

 Select a new word

 Choose appropriate technique to show meaning
 Say the word aloud & write it on the board
  Give form (key transcription + stress + word class)
 Write an example, explain the use of the word
 Passive/active items → ask Ss questions so that they can use the word.
 Conduct repetition of word list

Task 2:

Identify the active and passive vocabulary items in the following reading text? Choose 1 item of each kind
from this reading text to teach intermediate learners.

Disco with Dad, why not?

It’s generally understood that most teenagers wouldn’t be seen dead socializing with their parents, so
how come the latest ideas of a fun night out involves whole families going clubbing together? And yes,
actually enjoying themselves and getting on well with each other. So instead of parents dropping their
kids off outside a club, they all go in together. And apart from the fact that there’s no alcohol and no
smoking, these clubs are just the same as any other. And it’s not just the kids who have a good time.
Parents really seem to get a lot out of it and clubs like this are a great opportunity for them to make
friends as well. They can also relax in the knowledge that their evening won’t be ruined by people who
have had too much to drink. Having kids around seems to bring out the best in adult behaviour.

V. REVISION ACTIVITIES
1. Matching/Association:

a. Match the word in column A with the meaning in column B

schedule opposite of polite

rude without words

non-verbal program of work to do

b. From the parallel lists of words given, select pairs which have a natural association

Garden
Students Uniform Resort
Coach Glass
Holiday
Flowers Classrooms
c. Write down as many words as you can think of which have
a natural association with house; sea; fruits

2. Odd man out:

table chair desk picture

see smell feel say
windy sunny tidy cloudy
century decade daytime fortnight
3. Word dominoes

Chair – red- draw – writing – garage – empty- yellow .....

4. Word bingo

5. Classification/grouping

Put the words under the right headings: Family fruits jobs office facilities

son-in-law, pear, receptionist, peach, cook, grandparents, keyboard, clips, cousin, architect, grapes,
highlighter, corrector, kiwi, niece, mouse...

Countries
Countries
Animals
Animals
Jobs
milk typist apples pigs shirts
Germany chicken Japan
shoes oranges peaches wine
cows butcher tea driver
Greece socks Turkey
trousers baker dogs sheep
coffee plums pears
Clothes

Fruits
Drinks

Using word network: toothpaste, TV, alarm clock, stove, video, towel, mirror, sofa, desk, cupboard,
fridge, washbasin, sink, slippers...

Bedroom
Kitchen

HOUSE Sitting room

Bathroom
6. Crosswords

7. Games: word network, slap the board, rub and remember, guessing, jumbled words...

Questions:

a. What is meant by a lexical item?

b. Show clearly how you would teach these lexical items: advice, make up one’s mind
How would you show the meaning of the following lexical items: hungry, forest

VI. LEARNING ABOUT FORM AND MEANING

Dictionaries are an effective way of learning vocabulary, particularly when learners are working outside
the class, but there are many other ways that teachers can teach words and phrases.

Read these lessons transcript and complete the table below

a. Beginners’class (1)
[Teacher holds up a picture of a doctor]
T: Listen: doctor-doctor. Say it.
Class: doctor
[Teacher holds up a picture of a nurse]
T: Listen: nurse – nurse. Now you say it for me.
Class: nurse
[T writes doctor and nurse on the board]
b. Beginners’ class (2)
T: [T points to the door] look- the door is open – open. [T closes the door]. Now the door is shut –
shut. [T opens the door]. Open. [T closes the door]. Shut. Now you say it.
S1: Open
T: No-look. Shut.
S1: Shut
T: Good – everyone
Class: Shut
[T opens the door]
T: Now
Class: Open
[T writes shut and open on the board]
c. Beginners’ class (3)
[T holds up a picture of a pilot]
T: do you know what job this is? What does this person do?
S1: in a plane
T: yeah, good, he flies a plane, but what is the word for his job?
S2: driver
T: We can say that for a car or a train, but for a plane?
S2: pilot
T: Good – that’s right – he’s a pilot
d. Elementary class
 S1: what means fruit /fru:t/
T: pronunciation /fru:t/ - like boot – can you say it?
S1: Fruit /fru:t/
T: Good – apples, oranges, bananas are types of fruit.
S1: Oh, yeah, OK- thank you.
e. Intermediate class
S1: Sorry, what does enormous mean?
T: does anyone know that word – enormous?
S2: Big
T: Yeah. OK. Just big? Or very big?
S3: Very big
T: That’s right – very big
[T writes enormous on the board]
f. Advanced class
S1: It says flattery here. What’s that?
T: It’s when you say nice things to someone, but not in a sincere way, especially in order to obtain
something from them.

How is the meaning Is the spoken form How is the written

conveyed? practised? form made clear?
Beginners’ class (1)

Beginners’ class (2)

False beginners’ class

Elementary class

Intermediate class

Advanced class