How to build Vocabulary Skills?

1. How to build Vocabulary Skills?

2. Introduction • Vocabulary is the foundation of any language. • More words will help to become fluent in that language. • Vocabulary is the key to communicate with other people. • Words are the currency of communication. • Robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication- listening ,speaking ,reading and writing. • To have mastery over vocabulary is very important because people judge you by the words you are using . • A good vocabulary bank really improves your ability to think. • The National Reading Panel (NRP) stated that vocabulary plays an important role both in learning to read and in comprehending text: readers cannot understand text without knowing what most of the words mean. w

3. Vocabulary Development Kinds of vocabulary • A. Active vocabulary:-The active vocabulary of a person consists of those words that he can use correctly in his own speech &writing. He fully understand the meaning of those words. • B. Passive vocabulary:-The passive vocabulary of a person consists of those words which he recognizes when he encounters them in print or in speech of others .He can make out the meaning of those words while reading newspaper. He finds number of unfamiliar words but he has no mastery over those words .He is able to judge the meaning through context.

4. Types of words • Content Words • Structural Words • Content Words are those that stand for Things(food, clothes,paper)ideas (love, courage ,help) and entities(employee, school, system). They are called Nouns. • Actions-They are called verbs(read,play,write) • Qualities-They are called adjectives (beautiful,brave,strong) and adverbs(quickly, gladly,happily)

5. Structural words • Structural words are those which have little or no meaning but they bind together other words to make phrases, clauses and sentences. • The following is the list of structural words. • All the pronouns-I you, he ,they etc. • All the preposition-on ,under ,at etc • All the auxiliary verbs-did shall etc. • All the conjunction- and,but,or etc. • All the relatives-which, whose etc. • Some structural adjectives-that, any etc.

6. Strategies to improve vocabulary • There are many ways to improve your vocabulary .You must cultivate a habit of reading regularly. • Expansion through reading. • Expansion through repetition • Expansion through words in context • Expansion through vocabulary tree • Expansion through word walls • Expansion through prefixes &suffixces • Expansion through visual dictionary • Expansion through word games • Expansion through word formation chart

7. Vocabulary Tree

8. How to meet the strategies • Encourage students to focus on new vocabulary. It doesn’t mean sitting down for hours If you can get students to commit to just 15 minutes a day of focused vocabulary practice they will soon have a solid vocabulary base. • Short online activities are also great for this .It’s not difficult to integrate learning into their daily routine. Encourage students to be more systematic about studying. Provide them the materials they need for this purpose. • Motivate students to use a good dictionary such as Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary. Students will come to know the pronunciation of the vocabulary. They can also learn the synonyms & antonyms. • Encourage students to read regularly rather than large texts more they read they will be reviewing vocabulary and that increased exposure will help the vocabulary get stored into the students long term memory. This in turn will enable better spoken and written production. • Not only reading ,listening news & music also helps to enrich vocabulary. The more the language is seen in different contexts. the more students will be extrinsically motivated.

9. Fun Ways to Teach Vocabulary • Drawing-Colouring pictures or a piece of art help students visualize the words. By encouraging students to make images ,you can increase the chance of visual leaning devices. • Online Videos-This is another visual way to teach vocabulary is to find videos that showcase the words used in videos related for people learning English can also be helpful. • Brainstorm-One method of associating vocabulary with familiar words is to brainstorm with students. You can write the word on the board and tell them to associate with new vocabulary .like- Mare to horse.. • Act it Out-Very interesting method to learn vocabulary. students can take turns acting out one of the vocabulary words while other students can guess the word • Story weaving—By seeing picture the students can weave story using the new vocabulary .Thus it will be helpful to remember the vocabulary for long term.

10. Importance of Learning Vocabulary • It gives your child the ability to say what he or she means. By having several words at their disposal for describing an event or emotion, they can be explicit when sharing their ideas and opinions. • It helps your child understand what other people are saying and what she/he is reading. Vocabulary is the foundation for comprehension. Unfamiliar words become holes in the text, preventing your child from completely understanding what he or she has just read. • It bolsters their ability to grasp ideas and think more logically. The greater number of words your child has, the more he or she can interpret ideas from others, and express their own ideas. • It boosts your child’s power of persuasion. Having a rich vocabulary will help your child communicate in a more engaging way. Relying on one or two words to describe an idea will be repetitive and not as persuasive, as relying on a vocabulary of 10-15 similarly descriptive terms. • It helps your child make a good impression on others. How articulate your child is constitutes a big part of the impression she or he makes on others.

11. Word Hunt- • Provide a text (newspaper, book, magazine, etc.) and have students find/highlight all words with a certain characteristic. • Example: -Find all words ending in –ate or –ation • Other characteristics might be: • Words describing people, Republicans, Democrats etc. • Words related to geography • Words setting mood or tone • Words that contain certain prefixes or suffixes • Words that mean add or subtract (math) • List the words and discuss/write a brief definition / synonym for each. • Discuss other words with those characteristics.

12. Role of a Librarian For Vocabulary Development • There are many programme a librarian can introduce with the help of teachers and motivate students to read. • Story Hour’ is always a welcome treat, especially when it is supplemented with charts slides or a video film. • Preparation of ‘wall magazines’, ‘wall newspaper’ or ‘class magazines’ containing students writings in prose and poetry, • A programme which can be very stimulating for the older students is a ‘book seminar’, when the students select and read a chosen book and then have a Round Table Discussion on it. • Preparing projects on different authors and poets is another method of encouraging the students to read.

13. Role of a Librarian For Vocabulary Development(cont) • ‘Meet the Author’ sessions can also be enjoyable when contemporary writers are invited for discussion with the students about their books. • Science symposia, when students choose current topic interest and make their presentations before the class or science clubs, are another way of attracting students to pore through the latest books in science and technology to find out about the new inventions and discoveries. • Since the material collected by students for their projects is gleaned from books, this can be a good time to arrange a ‘Book Fair’ in the school. The Book Fairs encourage students to spend their pocket money on buying books for themselves or as gifts for their friends.

14. Want a Bigger Vocabulary? Try These 7 Mobile apps • . Vocabulary.com.  • PowerVocab • Magoosh Vocabulary Builder •  A Word A Day Widget • 7 Little Words • Word to Word •  Words with Friends • Penny Dell Crosswords

15. Name of Few Competitive Exams Vocabulary skill needed. • SAT-(Scholastic Assessment Tests) • IBPS-(Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) • CGL-(Combined Graduate Level) • CAT-(Common Admission Test) • TOEFL-(Test of English as a Foreign Language) • IELTS –(International English Language Training System) • G-MAT-(Graduate Management Admission Test) • GRE-(Graduate Record Examination)

16. Thank You • Now Let us play a game…………… Presented by-Dolly Das (Librarian,ZIET,Bhubaneswar)