vocabulary revision strategies
TRANSCRIPT
Vocabulary Revision StrategiesBy Nick Michelioudakis
Incongruity
• R: What is a ‘half-cake’?• R: How to quote the price…• Moral: Incongruity ‘wakes us up’ and forces us to
notice things.
Which is the safest place to hide information? The CIA archives or a
student’s vocabulary notebook?
…Well, the former will be opened eventually…
A question…
How do our students record vocabulary?•…They make lists….•…like this: cast = ρίχνω
How do our students revise vocabulary?•…they read the words….•…they test themselves by covering the translation…
Another two questions…
To look at some easy strategies which can... …help raise students’ awareness of what they need to
know about lexical items. …help students record vocabulary better. …help students revise more effectively.
SESSION AIMS
‘Words are like books’ (H. Puchta)
• Look at the 50 words in the list.• With a partner try to divide them into 5 categories. • Try to find a suitable name for each category. (E.g. ‘table’ –
‘chair’ – ‘desk’ : category: ‘furniture’)
Grouping
Grouping
oil field exam cool crude dairy
bright refine responsible illness pipes
mineral sunshine carbs attention test
heat honest notes indoors traditional
mixture homework underground huge liquid
class well essay overweight healthy
desert protein shade popular variety
barrels progress brave sweat drill
balanced diet air con mark thick
sunglasses producer school fuel contain
Grouping
Grouping
oil field exam cool crude dairy
bright refine responsible illness pipes
mineral sunshine carbs attention test
heat honest notes indoors traditional
mixture homework underground huge liquid
class well essay overweight healthy
desert protein shade popular variety
barrels progress brave sweat drill
balanced diet air con mark thick
sunglasses producer school fuel contain
Grouping
• Words do not occur in isolation!• Look at the category ‘ADJECTIVES’ and try to find a
‘partner’ for each word (e.g. ‘sharp’ – a sharp knife)• NB: Try to think of a ‘partner’ which helps you understand
the meaning of the adjective (e.g – a cunning man [?] / a cunning fox [√])
Pairing
ADJECTIVES
popular
bright
thick
honest healthy
huge
traditionalbrave
balanced
responsible
Pairing
ADJECTIVES
popular
bright
thick
honest healthy
huge
traditionalbrave
balanced
responsible
Pairing
soldier
TV series
ceremony
debt
carpet
student
parent
diet
lifestyleemployee
• Look at the words in the category ‘FOOD’, and try to think of others belonging to the same group (e.g. FOOD: salad / breakfast / …).
• Write these new words all around the original group – do not make a list!
Brainstorming
FOOD
illness
mineral
carbohydrates
proteindiet
variety
overweight
dairy
contain
mixture
Brainstorming
FOOD
illness
mineral
carbohydrates
proteindiet
variety
overweightdairy
contain
mixture
breakfast
salad sweets
calories
mealvegetables
fast food
snack
burn
fat
tasty
kitchen
restaurant
Brainstorming
‘Words are like boats’ (H. Puchta)
• In the same category, try to ‘link’ two or more words by finding some feature they have in common or some other way in which they are linked semantically (e.g. ‘diet’ and ‘vegetables’ – because a good diet contains lots of vegetables).
• NB 1: It is best to do so by drawing a line connecting one word with the other.
• NB 2: You need to say in what way the words are linked.
Linking
FOOD
illness
mineralcarbohydrates
protein
dietvariety
overweight
dairy
contain
mixture
breakfast
salad sweets
calories
meal
vegetables
fast food
snack
burn
fat
tasty
kitchen
restaurant
Linking
• Our students tend to focus equally on all lexical items, but this is wrong as not all words are equally useful or hard to remember.
• Look at the words in the category ‘HEAT’, and highlight the ones which you feel would be more important or harder to recall or use.
Focusing
HEAT
desert
cool
liquid
shadeheat
sunshine
air con sunglasses
sweat
indoors
Focusing
HEAT
desert
cool
liquid
shadeheat
sunshine
air con sunglasses
sweat
indoors
Focusing
OIL
crude
drill
underground
oil fieldfuel
refine
pipes well
producer
barrels
Recalling
• OK – now try to write down all 10 words without looking at them.
• Now compare the two lists – have you left any of the words out? If so, highlight it.
• NB: We are going to do the same thing again – later!
Recalling
• Look at the category ‘HEAT’ again and then try to associate each word in it with the notions ‘Good’ [√] or ‘Bad’ [x] – but you need to say why!
• (e.g. ‘sunglasses’ = Good – ‘because they protect your eyes from the sun’).
Associating
HEAT
desert
cool
liquid
shadeheat
sunshine
air con sunglasses
sweat
indoors
Associating
HEAT
desert
cool
liquid
heat
sunshine
air con sunglasses
sweat
indoors
shadex
x
x
x
√ √
√
√
√
√
Associating
• Some words are particularly hard. To remember these, we may need to ‘anchor’ them in our brains. To do this, we may need to create a mini network.
• Work with a partner. Choose one of the following words: crude – mineral – indoors – refine.
• Now try to create a mini-network, linking the word to as many other words / notions as you can think of.
• [Here is an example…]
Anchoring
Carbohydrates
fatprotein
carbohydrates
pastabreadrice
diet
easy to digest
fattening
energy
exercise
sources of carbohydrates
Anchoring
• Look at the category ‘OIL’ . The words are all clearly related to each other and it is easy to imagine them being used together in the same context.
• With a partner, try to write a short paragraph (about 4 – 5 lines long), linking as many of these words together as possible (min 5!).
Using
OIL
crude
drill
underground
oil fieldfuel
refine
pipes well
producer
barrels
Using
• Oil can be found in special places underground. To get it, people often need to drill deep wells. The oil is then pumped up and transferred through pipes to large factories, where crude oil is refined to make other products like gasoline and other kinds of fuel. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer in the world. It produces 10.3 millions of barrels every day.
Using
• There are good students and there are better students. The former do what the teacher tells them; the latter go ‘one step beyond’!
• Look at the ‘SCHOOL’ group. Are there any words in this field you know in Arabic but not in English? With your partner, try to find at least 8.
• [Don’t forget to look them up when you go home! ]
Expanding
SCHOOL
essay
exam
homework
progressnotes
attention
classtest
mark
school
Expanding
SCHOOL
essay
exam
homework
progressnotes
attention
classtest
mark
school
Expanding
επανάληψη
τιμωρία
έπαινος
παρών
εκδρομή
αποβάλλω
επιμελής
συμμαθητής
αναβάλλω
αυστηρός
SCHOOL
essay
exam
homework
progressnotes
attention
classtest
mark
school
Expanding
επανάληψη (revision)
τιμωρία (punishment)
έπαινος (praise)
παρών (present)
εκδρομή (excursion)
αποβάλλω (expel)
επιμελής (diligent)
συμμαθητής (classmate)
αναβάλλω (put off)
αυστηρός (strict)
• Write down as many of the strategies as you can remember.• Which one is the most effective in your opinion? Why?• Which do you think your students are going to find easy to
use?
Remember: While pronunciation and grammar are both important, ultimately it is vocabulary that gets the message across. If our vocabulary is poor, then communication can be seriously problematic…
…just watch this…
Time to Reflect
Hope you found this session useful.
NB: All the video clips you have watched today can be found on YouTube NB: All the video clips you have watched today can be found on YouTube under ‘Comedy for ELT’ or ‘Psychology and ELT’. If you have any comments under ‘Comedy for ELT’ or ‘Psychology and ELT’. If you have any comments
feel free to contact me at feel free to contact me at [email protected]