blogs re: MA language and literacy program-how to teach reading and writing
Thursday, November 4, 2010
teaching vocabulary
I'm getting TESL certified at the New School and I have to do a reading lesson plan for this Saturday. I had planned to teach the vocbulary in context but then I thought of myself and how that doesn't always work for me. Let's see what other ways are there to teach vocabulary? When I've taught before, I have allowed students to use the dictionary, but the teacher doesn't want us as prospective teachers to encourage the students to use dictionaries. I don't understand why-- I think there's a lot a student can learn from the dictionary. My own vocabulary has increased from looking up words in the dictionary. A good dictionary shows spelling, pronunciation, number, and what part of speech a word is. Perhaps, the teacher is against dictionary usage because looking up words take too much class time. Anyway, if anybody has any ideas, I'd appreciate it. Activating their schema to see how much they already know might be a place to start. Ideas are welcomed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePlaying vocabulary games certainly helps. Dictionary.com has a great matching game.
ReplyDeleteBut ultimately students will learn vocabulary through context. There will allows be new words that a students stumbles upon. By teaching them how to make use of context clues they will learn how to handle a word upon first exposure. They can adjust their understanding of a word as they expose themselves more to its uses in context. Ultimately if the assumptions that they make about how it is being used make what comes after not make sense, then they do realize they need to consult an alternative resource and that would be either you or the dictionary. The dictionary is certainly the better resource as it teaches self-propelled inquiry.
I agree with you. When I started to learn English two years ago, I always looked up vocabulary. But know, I am trying to understand everything through content. To memorize vocabulary is a messy learning way. Therefore, I try to teach vocabulary through content. Trough a topic you can teach vocabulary. For example when you have the White House, you can teach vocabulary like, govern, government, president, legislative, vote, election, law, democracy, and so on.
ReplyDelete