Joanna Budden from the Interactive author team offers some suggestions on helping teens to learn vocabulary.
Vocabulary is king!
I imagine that most of you will have heard the famous quote by linguist David Wilkins that says, “While without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” (Wilkins, 1972) It’s one of those great quotes that we’ve probably all used in exams at some point during our teacher training. But, how often do you talk to your students about the importance of learning vocabulary? Do you have systems and strategies in place to ensure your students learn as much vocabulary as possible? How high up on your list of priorities is vocabulary when you’re planning your lessons? I totally agree with Wilkins. For me, vocabulary has always been king of the classroom!
Vocabulary means survival
I believe that talking to teenagers about the importance of vocabulary is a great starting point to getting them to take on some of the responsibility for learning vocabulary. Do they think that ‘vocabulary is king?’ Talking to your learners about the importance of learning and retaining new words is really useful. You could tell them a few stories from your own experiences, when knowing a few words in a foreign language (or in English if you’re a non-native teacher) has helped to get you out of a tricky situation. Just thinking back to time spent teaching in Hong Kong and Egypt gives me plenty of examples where knowing just a handful of useful words and phrases really saved the day. I had (and still have, unfortunately!) no idea at all of the grammar of Cantonese or Arabic, but just knowing that handful of words that I had got from a phrase book and from colleagues in the first few days, meant that I could communicate with pedestrians and taxi drivers and find my way home.
Setting up a system and sticking to it
Whatever your teaching context is, setting up a routine for recording and recycling vocabulary is the key to success. Think about what will work best for you and your learners. Whether it’s each student having a vocabulary notebook, recording class vocabulary on a flip-chart or a word document or using a word bag, this should be decided at the beginning of the course and stuck to during the year. It’s very easy to start the new term with good intentions but you have to be consistent to see results. Regular activities for recycling new vocabulary and progress checks, whether in the form of vocab tests or team competitions throughout the term will keep new vocabulary fresh in students’ minds. For more information about how to use word bags and for ideas of games to recycle vocabulary, check out these short video tips.
Tap into your students’ existing vocabulary ‘banks’
Your students probably know a lot of vocabulary in English that never appears in their coursebook or school exams. Music lovers will have a range of words and phrases that they’ve picked up by listening to songs. Keen gamers will know all the lingo needed to play their favourite games etc. Let your students know that the vocabulary they pick up naturally is just as important as the vocabulary that is presented in the classroom. Make sure you create opportunities to talk to your students about their interests and hobbies and include the emergent new language in your vocabulary recording system. Don’t limit your students to learning only the language that you present in the class, their contribution to the word bag or class vocab list is vital.
Learning vocabulary on the move with the mobile generation
If you are teaching in an environment where most of your learners have smartphones, there are some really good apps for learning vocabulary. MyWordBook 2 was created by the British Council in collaboration with Cambridge University Press. I like the fact that you can personalise the world lists by adding your own words. You can upload images and audio to the words and you can also put the translation of the word on the back of each word card. Most teenagers are never far from their phone, so their vocabulary lists will always be with them. So, while they’re waiting for a bus or have a few minutes to spare when they’re being driven to football practice they can check out their word books. There are hundreds of other vocabulary apps too. I have checked out a few more and there are lots of interesting ones out there. If your students are very phone-savvy, get them to have a look around and find a couple of vocab apps each (stick to the free ones) then report their findings back to the class. They can also use an online dictionary.
I hope these tips will prove useful. Do let us know in the comments below if you have more suggestions of how to get your teenage learners to get to grips with learning vocabulary.