Teaching Vocabulary What is vocabulary ?• Vocabulary can be defined as the words we teach

in the foreign language.• Vocabulary is the glue that holds stories, ideas, and

content together making comprehension accessible What needs to be taught?• Meaning. Form: pronunciation and spelling.• Grammar .• Collocation.• Aspects of meaning (1): denotation,

connotation, appropriateness

• Aspects of meaning (2): meaning relationships.

-Synonyms

-Antonyms

-Hyponyms

-Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates

-Super-ordinates

-Translation

• Word formation

• Presenting new vocabulary• Ways of presenting the meaning of new items-concise definition ( as in a dictionary; often a super-ordinate

with qualifications: for example, a cat is an animal, which…)

-detailed description (of appearance, qualities)-examples (hyponyms)-illustration (pictures, objects)-demonstration (acting, miming)-context (story or sentence in which the item occurs)-synonyms-opposites (antonyms)-translation-associated ideas, collocations

Practicing and testing techniques

• Identifying words we know

• Multiple choice

• Matching

• Odd one out

• Writing sentences

• Dictation-translation

• Gap-filling

• Gap-filling with a pool of answers

How to teach vocabulary to

make it interesting

keep it relevant

set achievable goals