Vocabulary is Fun!

1. Vocabulary is Fun! Meaningful ways to practice vocabulary and to finally get it to stick! Tabitha Kidwell, M.A., Foreign and Second Language Education

2. Survey: Your backgrounds? • Beginner, intermediate, or advanced students • Novice (5 or fewer years), mid-career (5-20 years), or highly experienced (20+ years) • SMA, SMK, Madrasa, Pesantren, University, etc? • Your beliefs about vocabulary teaching: implicit or explicit?

3. Session Objectives • Participants will gain awareness of factors influencing vocabulary teaching (i.e. brain-friendly methods, implicit vs. explicit teaching). • Participants will become familiar with vocabulary learning strategies to share with their students. • Participants will observe and participate in several vocabulary learning strategies and games. • Participants will receive a booklet of vocabulary learning games to use in the future.

4. Historical Perspective on Vocabulary Teaching • Grammar Translation Method (until about 1950s): Ability to translate words is central • Audiolingual Method (around 1940s, 50s, 60s): only as necessary to practice pattern drills, then you can re-insert new vocabulary. • Communicative Language Teaching (1970s): Vocabulary is more important because it supports meaningful communication, but still only a support for functional use. • Current Climate: Increasing research, including computer-based research on how words are actually used, and studies of how to develop more effective vocabulary teaching and learning strategies.

5. How vocabulary is learned • We can communicate more effectively from the beginning with vocabulary than with grammar • Learning vocabulary must be based on attaching meaning to the word, rather than just remembering it’s form. • Meaning can be brought to the word through translation, but it is better if students experience the word by using them for purposes that matter to them.

6. Explicit vs. Implicit Learning • Benefits of Explicit Learning: • What you teach is what students learn! • Vocabulary often comes in groups • Repeated exposure increases retention • Benefits of Implicit Learning: • Vocabulary can be acquired naturally • It can be more meaningful to infer meaning from context rather than translate • Exposure to natural language leads to ability to use natural language • Surprise! BOTH are necessary and important

7. Explicit Learning • For beginners, an initial vocabulary of about 2,000 words is necessary (these 2,000 words account for about 80% of daily interactions!) • For learners with specific areas of study, specific vocabulary is necessary • Word families should be taught together – this is how the brain works! • To really learn a word, students MUST encounter it in a meaningful context (a list of vocabulary is NOT a meaningful context!) many times (once is NOT many!)

8. Implicit Learning • Incidental vocabulary learning happens when students aren’t thinking about vocabulary • This is where most of the words beyond the initial 2,000 will be learned • Extensive reading and listening is the best way to accomplish this – encourage students to read and listen as much as possible! (English movies and TV shows are excellent sources of comprehensible input!)

9. Learning Strategies Students are more likely to use learning strategies if they are taught and modeled; use them in your teaching, and remind students to use them as well!

10. Learning Strategies: Guessing meaning from context • Encourage your students to be WORD DETECTIVES! • Determine part of speech - noun, verb, adjective, adverb? • Examine the context of the clause – if it is a noun, what adjectives describe it? If it is a verb, what noun does it go with? • Look for the relationship between this clause and the rest of the text – keywords like but, because, if, when, however, as a result • Make a guess as to the meaning of the word, and see if it makes sense in the context. • Consult a dictionary if you’re still not sure

11. Mnemonic Devices • 1: The learner chooses an L1 or L2 key word, preferably a concrete entity, that looks or sounds like the new word. • 2: A strong connection between the two words is made, so that students think of the keyword when they hear the new word. • 3: a visual image is constructed to combine both words, preferably an odd or bizarre image to make it more memorable!

12. Vocabulary Notebooks • Students who keep vocabulary notebooks learn more vocabulary – it helps them become independent learners! • Students are in charge – if they know a word, they shouldn’t write it down! • Encourage students to: • Write down word pairs • Write down groups of vocabulary • Write down word families (suffixes, prefixes, etc.) • Write down example sentences

13. Other Learning Strategies • Cognates • Connect words to personal experiences • Say words aloud when studying • Use verbal and written repetition • Learn collocations (words that often go together, like “forever and ever”)

14. Teaching Strategies Classroom activities to encourage vocabulary learning and acquisition

15. Using texts to teach Vocabulary • Read a text together, highlighting no more than 10 words • Sort the 10 words into semantic categories • Incorporate practice activities (like vocabulary games discussed below) • Support students in the use of their new words

16. Word Webbing • Write a word on the board inside of a circle, and help students think of words that relate to it (synonyms, collocations, antonyms, similar words, etc.) Write them on the board in circles connected to the main word. • This activity helps students to associate vocabulary with lexically similar vocabulary.

17. Word Web Example

18. Word Walls • A word wall is almost like a vocabulary book for the class. • If students see words over and over and know that they are supposed to know them, they will be more likely to pay attention when they hear them and see them in print. • For each new vocabulary word, have one student make a small poster with: • The word • A definition • An example • A picture • Post in the classroom.

19. Vocabulary Games Classroom activities to encourage vocabulary learning and acquisition

20. Circomlocutions (Taboo) • Explain the word without actually saying it, and ask students to guess the word. For example, given the description “the father of your mother”, students must provide the word “Grandfather.” • Can be done as a spoken or written exercise. • For more advanced students, do in reverse.

21. Bingo • Have students make a 5 x 5 board and write a different vocabulary word in each square. • Show pictures or read circumlocutions of vocabulary words. • If students have the word, they cross it out on their board (or put a mark in one corner – then, you can re-use the same board) • The first student to have 5 words in a row wins!

22. Blackboard Bingo (simplified Bingo) • Students choose 7-10 words out of a list on the bord and simply write them in a list. • Show pictures or read circumlocutions of vocabulary words. • The first to have all of their words called wins.

23. Guessing Games • Divide students into two teams, and alternate having students come up and performing (Charades)/drawing (Pictionary) one word from a list or stack of flash cards • If their team can guess in 10 seconds or less, they get a point. • If not, the other team can steal. • The team with the most points at the ends wins. • Variation to involve more students: once students are familiar with the format of the game, divide them into smaller groups, give each group a set of cards, and have several games going on at the same time. You can keep score by having each team keep the cards they guess correctly.

24. Concentration / Memory • For each vocabulary word, write the word on one card and draw a picture on another card. Do this for at least 10 words • Place the cards face down on a table or taped to the board. Divide students into two teams, they take turns trying to find pairs. The team to get the most pairs wins. • Variation to get more students involved: prepare several sets of cards and have multiple games going on at once.

25. Categories • Teams compete to see who can think of the most words in a category such as “Parts of a bicycle” or “family members.” • Can be done with each team making a list and then seeing who has the most, or as a class with each team writing one term on the board at a time, and the first team to repeat or not be able to think of a new term loses.

26. 20 Questions • Tell students you are thinking of one of the vocabulary words. • They must ask questions to determine which word. • Variation: I spy… Choose an object that is in the room.

27. Odd one out • Read three words or put groups of 3-5 words on the board, one of which does not belong. Ex. Cat, Pencil, Dog • Ask students to say which word is “out” and why they think so. • Ask if other students agree – sometimes, they will choose a different word for a different reason! • Try to put a few funny ones in there to increase attention: ex. Spoon, fork, elephant • Ask students to write and share their own sets of words.

28. Martian / Extra Terrestrial • In necessary, explain the English words martian / Extra Terrestrial is. • Then, ask students to explain vocabulary words and pretend to not understand. • This forces students to practice their circumlocution skills in a fun way.

29. Surprise! • Find 10-15 small objects (most of which the students know the names of) and put each in a box or bag. • In pairs, one student reaches into the bag and feels the object, but does not look at it. • He or she explains the object to his partner. • When partners think they have guessed the object, they may look in the bag. • Students should pass their object on the the next group after looking at it.

30. Listen Carefully! • Drop an object from behind a barrier and encourage learners to guess what it is. (ex. A pencil or a coin) • Repeat with different objects • Move to pair work. Provide students with objects or ask them to use their own school supplies. A book propped up on a deskworks well as a barrier.

31. Stories in 10 Words • Ask students to guess the names of a familiar story by listing key words and phrases for them. • Example: girl, mother, grandmother, basket, forest, wolf • Ask students to repeat this activity in pairs.

32. Works Consulted • DeCarrice, Jeanette S. 2001. Vocabulary Learning and Teaching. In Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 3rd. ed., edited by Marianne Celce-Murcia. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. • Wright, A., et. al. 2006. Games for Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.