Raise comprehension levels with activities and strategies for teaching vocabulary. Students require direct vocabulary instruction, and here are easy vocabulary teaching ideas that work in any classroom. Absolutely essential for teaching literacy!
Why Should We Teach Vocabulary Directly?
Teaching vocabulary activities are necessary. To develop content-specific vocabulary, teachers need to provide lots of opportunities for students to talk about the words.
Encourage group work, acknowledge multiple responses, build working Word Walls, use a Word of the Day, make word webs...the possibilities for vocabulary teaching ideas are endless.
Measurable gains in student understanding of words
"Rare" words are not likely to become a part of our students' vocabulary without direct instruction
Knowledge of what is read in the text improves
Students who do little independent reading are exposed to significantly less words per year than students who read often
Fosters a "word-conscious" attitude: students begin to think about words, parts of words, and what the meaning is
Essential for ELL students who lack basic vocabulary. To learn more about this go to Teaching ESL/EFL Vocabulary
What Vocabulary Words Ought to be Taught Directly?
Consider what the actual use of the word to be taught is. Words should be grouped into three tiers:
Tier 1 Basic words. These are words that do not need explicit instruction except for severe learning disabled students. Examples of these types of words are girl,water,book, or bread.
Tier 2 Often used words that are necessary for understanding a text. Examples of these types of words are: traditional,related, thinking, or upset.
Tier 3 Infrequently used words that are associated with specific things, such as math or science. Examples of these are: isometric,podiatrist,equilateral, or glandular.
Consider focusing most of your vocabulary instruction on Tier 2 words, and using only Tier 3 when they directly relate to subject-specific content.
Teaching vocabulary can be done in two ways: Explicitly or Indirectly.
Mapping vocabulary words means making a web that supports understanding of the key features of a word or concept. Create a chart that has the targeted vocabulary word in the center, with four boxes around it. Each box has a different activity associated with the word, such as Writing Synonyms, Writing Antonyms, Illustrate the Word, Write the Definition, Use it in a Sentence.
2. Teaching Word Parts
Explicitly teaching parts of words is one of the best activities for teaching vocabulary. When you teach parts of words such as the root (or base), prefixes and suffixes, you are teaching a skill that covers both Tier 2 and Tier 3 words. Students learn to use word parts to recognize unfamiliar, or rare, words and to construct meaning from them.
I teach word parts every day during our morning group time. I do this by introducing the Word of the Day, which is always a word that has either a suffix, a prefix, or both. For example, one word is careful. We discuss the suffix -ful, how it relates the root word, apply it to other root words, then add another suffix on, such as -ly. You can purchase excellent resources to help you with this, such as the ones listed below.
3. Index Card Vocabulary Game
If you are introducing Tier 3 vocabulary, this activity makes teaching vocabulary fun for the students and you.
Label index cards with the words requiring direct teaching - one card for each word. On the front of the card write the word. On the back, put VERY limited and specific information about the vocabulary word (only what the students really need to know). Hand out these cards in class along with a paper that has all the words listed on it.
Tell the students they are each now a special math word, science word, whatever you are studying (the one on their card) and they will need to visit their friends to find out who everyone is and important information about them. As students visit with each other, they write down the essential information each person tells them (from the back of their card) beside the correct name on their paper. For a math lesson, it could look like this:
Angle: two rays that meet at an end point Colinear: in the same line Enneagon: a nine-sided polygon
And so on. What a great way to get that kinesthetic modality involved, have kids working together and making difficult vocabulary accessible! Remember, it is always necessary to have students talking about learning in order to solidify it.
4. Example or Not
Write a vocabulary word on the board, read it with the students and discuss it. Ask them for examples of what the word means.
Then show pictures that represent examples of the word and pictures that show the opposite meaning of the word. For example, if the word was miniature, you can show pictures of tiny dogs, teacups, dolls, etc. For non-examples, show pictures of dinosaurs, elephants, or large boats.
These types of strategies for teaching vocabulary are excellent for ESOL learners.
5. Figures of Speech: Teaching Idioms
These figures of speech are really fun for students to work with as they represent meaning that is opposite of what is said. ESOL learners particularly need direct instruction with idioms. The difference between the actual words and the meaning often gets lost in the translation gap.
Explain that idioms are used to make our writing or speech more colorful, or to help us visualize something in a different way.
Using a pocket chart or Smart Board, show the students a card with an idiom written on it, such as "all thumbs". Discuss with the students what they think it means to be "all thumbs."
On the board, write a sentence that uses context clues to explain the meaning.
Joe was all thumbs with the dishes. When he put them away, he dropped one of them!
Let the students share their own experiences about being "all thumbs." This allows them to internalize the meaning. You can extend the activity by having them illustrate the literal meaning one side of a piece of paper, and draw the inferred meaning on the other side.
