Teaching vocabulary

Introduction

Though the language is much more than the words, yet words are important in a language course. With out techniques are brought to work in the classroom, you are sure to enrich the vocabulary of the students.

words one can not give expressionto one’s thoughts. It is rightly said that inadequate vocabulary is one of the causes of failure of our student in school and colleges. Teachers should help their pupils to acquire sufficient vocabulary so that they may express their ideas and thoughts. If these

Choosing vocabulary

The vocabulary you introduce in the class-room, to your students, is conditioned by the book you are using, but sometimes you choose to bring in other areas of vocabulary that you think relevant for your pupils. There is possibility that in the lesson you are teaching on the certain day you may meet many new words for the students. You need not introduce those words on the same day. There is a need to limit the vocabulary that is to be introduced. If too much is introduced, students will be impacted by the need to absorb too many words. This is the misconception that the students should memorize the meanings of all the difficult words in the lesson. Progress of the students does not depend on covering the extensive list of words in a text book. This is just like “trying to imagine a free with no trunk and branches but only leaves. Massive vocabulary without the structure, idiom, and expressiveness to carry it does not bring mastery of a language _just as a mass of leave is not a tree”. The choice of vocabulary can be based on:

(I)                 Common words,

(II)              Need of the students,

(III)            Word building,

(IV)           Topic areas,

(V)              Related structures

(I)                Common words:

It is very important to choose words that are commonly used. If the vocabulary is presented systematically, it will help you a lot. If the vocabulary is not graded, you have to choose the commonly used words.

(II)             Need of the students:

If a students wants to know a special word, it is usually worth teaching it to him because motivation will ensure that be remembers it. It upto you to motivate the class to learn new words and structures. Remember that the essence of teaching depends of the expressionless. If you teach vocabulary which you pupils feel they do not need it, they will be frustrated. It will be more rewarding to choose words connected with the life of the students.

(III)          Word building:

If is often worth choosing a word because a general rule can be formed, e.g., teach-teacher, work-worker, shop-shopkeeper, goal-goalkeeper etc.

(IV)           Topic areas:

It is easier to teach vocabulary which belongs to one area of sequence, as the student will be able to form a pattern of inter related words in his mind. Let us, for example, teach phrases which belong to the same area.

                   

             ‘How are you?’

                                 ‘I am not well’

                                 ‘What is wrong?’

                                 ‘I have got a pain here’

If this way, you may find yourself carried away by the fact that one new word leads naturally to another.

(V)              Related structures:

Many structures ‘demand’ their own vocabulary. If you are teaching ‘have got’ you will tend to choose the names of personal possessions. If you are teaching “going to” you are likely to introduce a vocabulary connected with plans. This is the most natural way to choose vocabulary but you have still got to be careful that you choose common words, and not too many of them.