Doing It Effectively: 3 Tips For Teaching Vocabulary to Kids
Children need to learn words but only words that are common, useful and interesting for them.
Children usually feel interested in understanding the meaning of words that come in a story or a dialogue.
If you, as a teacher or a parent, insist on teaching all the new words, you will spend a lot of time, students will have no time to practice using them, and they will miss the enjoyment of reading or listening.
Active vs passive vocabulary
You must distinguish between active (key) vocabulary that students should know and use, and passive vocabulary that students should understand but are not required to use.
You should focus more on active vocabulary and use various ways to show their meanings.
1. How to show the meaning of active vocabulary
You can start with visual ways such as:
- Real objects
- Pictures
- Drawings on the board
You can also use actions such as:
- Gestures
- Miming
- Body language
- Facial expressions
With abstract vocabulary, you can use:
- Situations
- Examples
- Real-life context
- Translation
2. When you should resort to translation to explain the meaning of new vocabulary
Translation is a quick way to tell the meanings of new vocabulary but if you only translate new words, the lesson will be boring for children and they will remember these words only for a short time.
Using translation can be useful when you explain:
- Passive vocabulary
- Abstract words
- Difficult terms
In this case, you should define the word in English first, then ask students for the translation of the word in their mother tongue.
Using different ways to show meaning helps different children not only learn them but also remember them long-term.
3. How to help children remember new vocabulary long-term
- Grouping words into categories
- Encouraging students to keep their vocabulary notebooks
- Recycling words through games, dialogues, posters on the classroom wall, classroom instructions, and short stories
- Asking students to put each word in a sentence of their own
- Asking students to draw a relevant picture beside each word
You can also ask children who know a word to come to the front and explain it in English to their classmates using various ways until the meaning becomes clear to the whole class.
This may take a little time, but add interest and enjoyment to the lesson and the presentation of the new vocabulary.
This is the rule: the more enjoyment and excitement students realize while learning new vocabulary, the more likely this vocabulary will stick in their minds