Companies Genuine TESOL

Teaching vocabularyAlthough it seems a little easier to teach vocabulary than grammar structures, I wasn’t sure where to start. Thankfully, I found out some tips we can use to teach vocabulary effectively. I am going to discuss about the methods of using visual strategies, letting students look up the words and using context. Using flash cards, photos or mime can be good tools to teach new vocabulary. Students will have better time to understand meanings of the words. For example, when we try to introduce vocabularies of food, we can ask students to tell the words they know and write down on the board. Then we can add some new words on the board to teach them. We can ask students to see if they know the meaning of the new words. If they don’t, we can use photos, mimes or even facial expressions. Through this research, I was impressed seeing a teacher who uses everything to let his students understand the meaning of the new words. The students didn’t know what frying pan is, so he first used mime. But he soon found out that students are still confused. Then he drew a stick figure frying pan on the board with sauce pan and pot for comparison. Visual strategies will be very effective and fun for students. I would like to try letting students look up new words by using a dictionary during the lessons. They will be able to find out the meaning, pronunciation and utility. Since they are involving in the class, they won’t get bored easily and remember the words better. On top of that, teachers can let students be in groups and let them find rhyming or similar looking words, words they like the sound, or find strange looking words. It could be fun to vote on the most difficult to spell. Involving them during the lessons will be benefit for them to learn new vocabulary. One teacher said the most effective way of teaching vocabulary is in context. She has tried mnemonics, word games, flash cards, etc. When students see new words or expressions in context, there are two advantages: Students remember the words better, and they see how the words are used. After finding any kinds of interesting stories, let students read quickly first to get the main idea. Teachers can prepare questions like simple comprehension questions or discussion questions. Most of the questions can be used to encourage students to use vocabulary when speaking. If teachers can use context, students surely will learn the new words and how it is used. I will definitely use the tips to teach vocabulary. Those were using visual strategies, letting students look up the words and using context. I’m sure there are more good effective ways to teach vocabulary. As one of the teachers said, we can learn the best way to teach by gaining experiences. I really look forward to teach english to students. And I’m sure I will be better at this as I have experiences.