What Would We Do Without Words-Lessons In Vocabulary Development
Lessons that build vocabulary are essential for students to learn how to communicate effectively, and connect to the world around them.
By Debra Karr
Everywhere you look there are words. There are words on billboards, on the web, in books, in newspapers, on TV, in magazines, on signs, and in stores. Words are everywhere. What would we do without them? This is why vocabulary development is so important. Words are the way we understand our world, communicate what we mean, and discover who we are. Without them we are lost.
A nice way to get students interested in the day's lessons is to have a "word" of the day. List this word on the board, and have a discussion about it. The word can be affiliated with the day's lesson, or it can pertain to something relevant to a current event. Ask your students to use it in a sentence. Pronounce the word. Make the word a part of your students' vocabulary.
Knowing how to use a word effectively is not only empowering, but it expands the mind, promotes ideas, and ultimately creates the way for more opportunities. By implementing these lesson plans you'll be improving your students vocabularies, while giving them the necessary tools to do so.
Vocabulary Builders Built Into These Lessons:
After reading an article that emphasizes the history and meanings of certain phrases and idioms, students pick out other informal phrases and idioms from other readings, they list those phrases, and then they research the meaning and history of those selected phrases. As a final step in this lesson, students create posters that illustrate selected phrases. This lesson is great for ESL and ELL and SDAIE instruction because it includes illustration, and exposes second language learners to the non-literal, connotative aspects of the English Language.
This lesson plan allows students the opportunity to learn about various kinds of phrases and vocabulary words as they read about Internet laws and gambling. This packet includes an article, new vocabulary, phrases, essay prompts, true and false questions, and fill-in the blank questions. I think this lesson is beneficial because it applies the vocabulary in a real-world kind of way, giving practical meaning, and exposing students to current events. It also invites them to tap into their higher-level thinking skills via the questions posed towards the end of the lesson. I would also have students draw and design the cover for their work using the king, queen, diamonds, spades, hearts, and clubs motif since the lesson investigates the topic of gambling.
World Events, Political Systems and Vocabulary
Students gain understanding of major political figures and systems like Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, apartheid, and crime in South Africa after reading an article, and discussing vocabulary that pertains to these issues. Students answer questions, formulate opinions, and then give an oral presentation to a small group upon completion of this lesson. This lesson ties in world events with vocabulary development. It is an excellent way to reinforce new concepts and meanings for ELL or ESL students. Additionally, I would incorporate video footage or information from the Internethave so students can see a visual representation of what the article seeks to explain.
As students enter the classroom in this lesson, they are put into groups, with each group getting an envelope filled with vocabulary words listed on strips of paper. The class reads an article, and then the students are asked to categorize the vocabulary words into groups. They are then asked to create a movie poster using some of these words. Finally, they are asked to compare and contrast their a movie poster they created to one that has already been designed. This lesson utilizes creativity, sorting, and interpersonal skills to improve and develop vocabulary which I think is necessary not only for academic reasons, but for social development as well. To conserve on resources, I might have students put words into categories on the white board, instead of having the words written on slips of paper. Additionally, instead of looking at movie posters, I might have students critique movie advertisements in the movie section of the newspaper.
