TEACHING VOCABULARY

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Handout 1
Read the following text about vocabulary
Vocabulary: what needs to be taught?
1) Form: Pronunciation and Spelling
The leaner has to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what it looks like (its
spelling). These are fairly obvious characteristics, and one or the other will be perceived by the
learner when encountering the item for the first time. In leaching, we need to make sure that both
these aspects are accurately presented and learned.

2) Grammar
The grammar of a new item may need to be taught if this is not obviously covered by general
grammatical rules an item may have an unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical
contexts or may have some idiosyncratic way of connecting with other words in sentences, it is
important to provide learners with this information at the same time as we teach the base form.
When teaching a new verb, for example, we might give also its past form, if this is irregular (think,
thought), and we might note if it is transitive or intransitive. Similarly, when teaching a noun, we
may wish to present its plural form, if irregular (mouse, mice), or draw leaners’ attention to the
face that it has no plural at all (advice, information) we may present verbs such as want and enjoy
together with the verb form that follows them (want to enjoy-ing), or adjectives or verb together
with their following preposition (responsible for, remind someone of).

3) Collocation
The collocations typical of particular items are factor that makes a particular combination sound
“right” or “wrong” in a given context. So this is another piece of information about a new item
which it may be worth teaching. When introducing words like decision and conclusion, for
example, we may note that you take or make the one, but usually come too the other; similarly,
you throw a ball but a coin; you may talk about someone being dead tired but it sounds odd to say
dead fatigued.
Collocations are also often noted in dictionaries, either by providing the whole collocation under
one of the head-words, or by a note in parenthesis.

4) Aspects of meaning (1): denotation, connotation, appropriateness/ formality

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its denotation; this is often
the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary. For example, dog denotes “a kind of animal”;
more specifically, “a common, domestic carnivorous mammal”; and both dank and moist mean
“slightly wet”.

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A less obvious component of the meaning of an item is its connotations: the associations, or
positive or negative feelings it evokes, which may not be indicated in a dictionary definition. The
word dog, for example, as understood by most British people, has positive connotation of
friendship and loyalty; whereas the equivalent in Arabic, as understood by most people in Arab
countries has negative associations of dirt and inferiority. Within the English language, moist has
favourable connotations while dank has unfavourable; so that you could describe something as
“pleasantly moist” where “pleasantly dank” would sound absurd.

A more subtle aspect of meaning that often needs to be taught is whether a particular item is the
appropriate one to use in a certain context or not. Thus it is useful for a learner to know that a
certain word is very common, or relatively rare, or “taboo” in polite conversation, or tends to be
used in writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for formal than informal discourse or belongs
to a certain dialect. For example, you may know that weeps is virtually synonymous in denotation
with cry, but it is more formal, tends to be used in writing more than in speech, and is in general
much less common.

5) Aspects of meaning (2): meaning relationships

How the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others. It is also useful to teach. There are
various such relationships: here are some of the main ones.
- Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the same; for example, bright, clever,
smart may serve as synonyms of intelligent.
- Antonym: items that mean the opposite; rich is antonym of poor.
- Hyponyms: items that serve as specific examples of a general concept; dog, lion, mouse
are brown are co-ordinates.
- Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates: other that are the “same kind of thing; red, blue, green and
brown are co-ordinates.
- Superordinates: general concepts that “cover” specific items; animal is the superordinate
of dog. Lion, mouse.
- Translation: words or expressions in the learners’ mother tongue that are (more or less)
equivalent in meaning to the item being taught.

Besides these, there are other, perhaps looser, ways of associating meaning that are useful in
teaching. You can, for instance, relate parts to a whole (the relationship between arm and body);
or associate items that are part of the same real-world context (tractor, farmer, milking and
irrigate are all associated with agriculture).
All these can be exploited in teaching to clarify the meaning of a new item, or for practice or test
materials.

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6) Word formation
Vocabulary items, whether one-word or multi -word, can often be broken down into their
component “Bits”. Exactly how these bits are put together is another piece of useful information –
perhaps mainly for more advance learners.
You may wish to teach the common prefixes and suffixes: for example, if learners know the
meaning of sub-, un- and -able, this will help them guess the meanings of words like substandard,
ungrateful and untranslatable. They should, however, be warned that in many common words the
affixes no longer have any obvious connection with their root meaning (for example, subject,
comfortable).
New combinations using prefixes are not unusual, and the reader or hearer would be expected to
gather their meaning from an understanding of their components (ultra-modern, super-hero).
Another way vocabulary items are built is by combining two words (two nouns, or a gerund and a
noun, or a noun and a verb) to make one item: a single compound word, or two separate,
sometimes hyphenated words (bookcase, follow-up, swimming pool). Again, new coinages using
this kind of combination are very common.

(Source: from Ur, P 1996 A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
CUP)

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Handout 2

1. Match the aspects of vocabulary with the examples

Aspects of vocabulary Examples

1. Spelling: what a word look likes a. red, blue, green, brown = the
2. Pronunciation: what a word sounds like same kind of things (colours)
3. Inflection: the creation of new forms of a word, e.g. b. sinkable unsinkable
plurals c. come to an end
4. Collocation: words which go together, often verbs d. vegetables lettuce, carrot ...
and nouns e. dog, lion, mouse animals
5. Denotation: the meaning of a word is primarily what f. rich ≠ poor
it refers to in the real word g. bright, clever = intelligent
6. Connotation: the associations, or positive or h. hi, hello – good morning
negative feelings it evokes, which may or may not be i. dog: friendship, loyalty
indicated in a dictionary meaning j. dog: a kind of animal
7. Formality: a particular item is the appropriate one to k. leaf leaves
use in certain context or not. l. underwater
8. Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the m. car – c-a-r
same n. elephant / /
9. Antonyms: items that mean the opposite o. think thought
10. Hyponyms: items that serve as specific examples p. education educational
of a general concept
11. Co-hyponyms: other items that are the same kind
of things
12. Super-ordinates: general concepts that “cover”
specific items
13. Derivation: the process of creating new words
using prefixes and suffixes.
14. Compound words: a new word made by combining
two others

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2. Discuss the following questions

1. How important is knowing the word form (its pronunciation and spelling)?
2. Consider these collocations in English make a speech, lay the table, lose one’s
temper. Can the collocations be predicted from the meaning of individual words? If
not, what kinds of learning problems might this lead to? In teaching vocabulary,
what might you do about it?
3. Can you think of some examples of vocabulary items in English for which you
mention the connotations or their appropriate contexts when you teach them? Do
you think connotations cause any problems in vocabulary teaching?

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Handout 3

Procedure for teaching a new word

Read the following demonstration and “label: each step. The first one is done for you.

Trainer’s example Trainer’s step

T: (pointing to the window) Look – this is a Explain the meaning of the new word,
window using relia
T: Listen. A window…a window…a window
T: Everybody repeat.
Ss: a window
T: again
Ss: a window
T: Lan
Lan: a window
T: Nam
Nam: a window
T: say it again. No listen to me. A window…a
window.
S: A window
T: Copy this. Who knows the word in
Vietnamese? Come and write it.
T: Which is strong? Do I say window or
window? Copy this
T: How many windows are there in our
classroom?
Ss: Four windows
T: Good.

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Handout 4

1. Read the following techniques for presenting the meaning of new words
1. Showing real objects (relia) Things in the classroom, furniture, clothes, part of the
body, objects that can be bought into the classroom: hats, ties, food, small objects from
the home.

2. Showing a picture (board drawing, wall pictures and charts, flashcards, magazine
pictures): body parts such as nose, elbow, and leg. A map of the world or parts of the
world, animals such as dog, horse…., certain actions such as hitting, kissing…,
prepositions of location such as under, beside, on…

3. Miming, using actions and facial expressions: most verbs of actions such as sit,
stand, open…; some adjectives expressing feelings happy, worried…

4. Giving examples: Using the word in context

The teacher gives example in which the new words are used. Through the examples,
students can guess the meaning of new words. For example, maybe students don’t know
what “slither” means, but it is not difficult for them to deduce its meaning from the sentence
below
E.g. The snake slithered through the grass.
A good example should clearly show the meaning of the word who does not know it clearly
Examples are especially useful for showing the meaning of abstract words.

5. Using synonyms/antonyms: if the students don’t know a new word but they know its
synonyms/antonyms, we can give them the opposites
E.g. Size words such as tall, thin, and wide (short, fat, narrow)
Time words: morning, dawn or sunrise (evening, dusk, sunset)
Family relationships: brother, mother or aunt (sister, father or uncle)

6. Semantic field: to show words in relation to other words

E.g. School….classroom, blackboard, teacher, student
Animal….dog, cat, horse, cow
Water….ocean, sea, lake, river, stream

7. Guessing from stems and affixes

E.g. undeniable un deni able
not deny ability

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review re view
not look at
8. Using the student’s own language (translation)

9. Definition: the teacher defines the word in simple English

E.g. cat: a small, furry animal kept as a pet and useful for catching mice

10. Familiar or famous words: using well-known songs, titles, books or people
When introducing new words, the teacher reminds learners of famous or familiar places
where they might have come across the words before, for example in film titles or songs or
pop groups
E.g. rolling The Rolling Stones

2. Discuss following questions:

1. Which four techniques do you personally prefer? Why?
2. Which one technique would make the words “stick” (i.e. make it easy for students to
understand and remember) best? Why?
3. Which one technique do you consider the least effective? Why?
4. What other techniques do you know for presenting new vocabulary?

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Handout 5

When you are teaching vocabulary, you need to ensure that your learners have
understood the words you are teaching. You can do this by concept checking. This means
you ask simple questions using the new word.
Example: Bakery
Can you buy shoes in a bakery? What can you buy in a bakery?
Can you buy cakes in a bakery? Tell me where to find a bakery near here?

Imagine you have just presented the following new words. Write down 2-3 questions
that you could use to check understanding. Then try out the questions on each
other and comment on their effectiveness.

kangaroo glasses picnic fashionable

wonderful (to) vote lunch team

historical medicine memorize handbag

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Handout 6
Activities for Vocabulary Practice
A. JUMBLED WORDS
Teaching aim: to get students to practise spelling new words
1. The teacher writes 5 or 6 words with jumbled letters on the board and tells the students
what the topic is.
2. Students write the words correctly in their books.
3. Students come to the board to write the correct words there to see if everyone agrees.
Example: topic CLOTHES
REESD= dress LDAANSS= RIHTS= ETUOSRSR=
B. ORDERING
Teaching aim: To get students to recognise the pronunciation of the new words and give
them listening practice
1. Teach the new words and write them on the board in the wrong order.
2. Get the students to copy the words in their books.
3. Read or tell a story with the new words in it. Get students to put the words in the
correct order by numbering them.
Example:
(to) get up
(to) go to bed
(to) feed
(to) work 1
(to) plant 2
(to) grow

Long works on a farm. He plants the rice. He feeds the animals. He grows vegetables. He
gets up early and goes to bed late.
C. SLAP THE BOARD
Teaching aim: To get students to recognise new vocabulary through listening.
To check students understand the meaning of new vocabulary

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1. Ask three or four students to be observers and ask them to follow your steps and say
why it is a useful technique.
2. Put the new words all over the board – not in a list.
3. If you want to check understanding, put the Vietnamese translation of the new words or
pictures on the board.
4. Call 2 students or call 2 teams of trainees to the front of the class.
5. Ask them to stand at equal distance from the blackboard.
6. Call out one of the new words in a loud voice.
7. The two students must run forward and slap the word on the blackboard.
8. The one who slaps the correct word first is the winner.
9. If you are playing in teams, the winning team gets a mark.
10. Then ask two more students to come forward etc.
D. NOUGHTS AND CROSSES
Teaching aim: To get students to put new vocabulary into a sentence.
1. The teacher puts a grid on the board with nine new words in it.
2. The students work in pairs. One of the students copies the gird in his/her book.
3. One student is “noughts” (“O”) and the other is “crosses” (“X”).
4. One students starts. S/he chooses a word and makes a sentence with it. If the
sentence is correct, s/he puts her mark (“O” or “X”) in that square.
5. The first student to get three-in-a-row (across, down, or diagonally) wins.
Example:
Coffee Rice Coconuts
Mangoes Coal Rubber
Silk Tea Sugar

S1: “coal”. Coal is found in Quang Ninh.

S2: “rice”. Rice is grown all over Vietnam.
S1: “tea”. Tea is grown in Thai Binh.
S2: “silk”. Silk is made in Ha Dong.

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E. BINGO
Teaching aim: To get students to practise listening to new words and to match sounds with
spelling.
1. The teacher gets the class to brainstorm a list of ten or fifteen new words and puts
them on the board.
2. The students choose any five and copy them into their books.
3. The teacher reads out the word in any order.
4. Each time the student has one of the words that the teacher reads, s/he puts a tick next
to that word.
5. The first student to tick all five words shouts “Bingo!”
F. RUB OUT AND REMEMBER
Teaching aim: to help students memorise new vocabulary
1. Present or elicit the new vocabulary and build up a list on the blackboard.
2. After each word put the Vietnamese translation.
3. Get the students to copy into their books and then ask them to close their books.
4. Rub out the new words one at a time.
5. Each time you rub out a word in English, point to the Vietnamese and ask, “What’s this
in English?”
6. When all the English words are rubbed out, go through the Vietnamese list and get the
trainees to call out the English word.
G. HOT SEAT.
Teaching aim: to help students memorise new vocabulary or revise vocabulary
1. Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 students.
2. Choose two students from each team, one sits on a chair with his/her back to the
board, the other looks at the board.
3. The teacher writes a list of words on the board. They could be the words that the
teacher wants to revise.
4. The student must explain what the word is so that the “hot seat” teammate can guess
the word. He must not spell the word, translate the word or use hand gestures. In 30
seconds, the team that guesses the most words will win the game.
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H. NETWORK.
Teaching aim: To get students to revise lexical sets.
To put words from different lessons into one context so students remember
them better.
1. Write the network like in the example on the board and put some more words below it.
2. Do not use just concrete nouns – remember to include some verbs.
3. Get the students to put the given words in the appropriate circles.
4. Students fill in the remaining empty circles with their own words.

Living room bathroom

HOUSE

bedroom

kitchen

(to) eat a sofa (to) cook (to) get dressed a knife a bed
(t) sleep rice a shower

I. WORDSQUARE
Teaching aim: To get students to recognize the spelling of new words
1. The teacher writes the word square on the board or makes a poster of it.
2. The teacher tells the students what the topic is and how many hidden words there
are. The students come to the board and circle any words they can use.
Example: FARMING

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Answers: Job - Buy - Plough - Plant - Sell - Insect - Green - Seed - Rice - Rain -

S S F N M I R G E E S S F N M I R G E E
R P P Y E N L R Y L R P P Y E N L R Y L
A L L V G S E E D B A L L V G S E E D B
J O B A A E G E L A J O B A A E G E L A
B U Y J N C M N Z T B U Y J N C M N Z T
O G D E L T W M N E O G D E L T W M N E
H H F L R T D I U G H H F L R T D I U G
Q T E S S F A R X E Q T E S S F A R X E
C S B Q C R I C E V C S B Q C R I C E V
S A B I R T I O E D S A B I R T I O E D

J. WORDSTORM
Teaching aim: to get students to put new vocabulary into a sentence
1. Get students to work in pairs and brainstorm all the words they know on a topic, e.g.
“vegetables”.
2. Student A thinks of a word and tells student B.
3. Both students write down the word. Student B thinks of another word, tells student
A and theyboth write it down.
4. When they have thought of all the words they can, put two pairs together to share
their lists.
5. One pair reads to the other pair who ticks off the same words or adds any new
words. The group with the most word is the winner.

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Handout 7

1. Below are 16 words. Imagine you are going to present each one for the first time
to students at high schools. Which of the techniques would you use for each word.
Example: a watch
Technique: relia - Bring a real watch to class and show it to students.

(to) count enormous submarine studio

satellite (to) vote ocean empty

historical festival helpless disappear

excursion handbag memorize modern

2. Work in groups. Role-play a few of your presentations to each other and discuss
their effectiveness

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