USING SOME TECHNIQUES TO TEACH VOCABULARY EFFE CTIVELY TO GRADE 12 STUDENTS AT LE VIET TAO HIGH SCHOOL

Paraphrase and define: We can explain a word by using a different word, words or a definition Example: When teaching the word “goalie” in Unit 12 – Reading English 12 – Education Publish

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT

LE VIET TAO HIGH SCHOOL

SEMINAR ON METHODOLOGY

USING SOME TECHNIQUES TO TEACH VOCABULARY

EFFECTIVELY TO GRADE 12 STUDENTS

AT LE VIET TAO HIGH SCHOOL

Teacher: Lê Thị Tuyến Subject: English

THANH HOA, 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……… 1

I INTRODUCTION……… 2

I.1 Reasons for choosing the topic……… 2

I.2 Objectives of the study……… 2

I.3 Subjects of the study……… 2

I.4 Methods of the study……… 2

II CONTENTS OF THE STUDY……… 3

II.1 Rationale……… 3

II.1.1 What vocabulary to teach ? 3

II.1.2 Principles for teaching vocabulary ……… 3

II.2 Situation before applying the study……… 4

II.3 Solutions to problems……… 5

II.3.1 Presenting vocabulary……… 5

II.3.2 Checking vocabulary……… 7

II.3.2.1 What to check? 7

II.3.2.2 When to check? 7

II.3.2.3 How to check? 7

II.4 The effectiveness of the study on teaching and learning………… 9

III CONCLUSION AND REQUEST……… 10

BIBLIOGRAPHY……… 11

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the leaders of Thanh Hoa Education and Training Department for organizing this seminar and for giving me the precious chance to do it

Secondly, I am very grateful to all the teachers of English at Le Viet Tao high school for offering me useful advice in realizing my ideas

Lastly, thank you very much for your presence and observation Your comments and advice would be highly appreciated

I INTRODUCTION I.1 Reasons for choosing the topic

Vocabularies are simple enough to begin learning on the first day of a class and they are powerful enough to encourage communication from the very beginning Words are small pieces of language which carry bits of meaning Knowing many words does not ensure that a person will be able to speak a language, but not knowing words can prevent a person from effectively speaking

or understanding a language That’s the reason why vocabulary must be taught from the very start

There are numerous vocabularies in English subject in high school Therefore, teachers must have the most effective method of teaching vocabulary

to present vocabulary effectively A good method of teaching vocabulary will get more students’ attentions Inspired by this idea, I decided to choose the topic

“ using some techniques to teach vocabulary effectively to grade 12 students” to study.

I.2 Objectives of the study

When carrying out this study, I would like to show teachers of English several principles for teaching vocabulary and to provide them with a range of steps for teaching vocabulary as well

I.3 Subjects of the study

During the study, I observe the way of learning of the 12th grade students and how teachers of English teach vocabulary at Le Viet Tao high school

I.4 Methods of the study

In this study, I have used the following methods:

- Consolidating experiences

- Observing

- Consulting

- Interviewing

- Reading documents

- Conducting some surveys

- Studying students’products

II CONTENTS OF THE STUDY II.1 Rationale

II.1.1 What vocabulary to teach ?

As we know, there are two types of vocabulary They are: Passive vocabulary and active vocabulary

 Passive vocabulary are words which a student can recognize but not necessarily use in speaking or writing If a student sees a word in their passive vocabulary, he/she will understand what it means Passive vocabulary words are especially useful for receptive skills of reading and listening

 Active vocabulary are words which students can both understand and use in communication .Active vocabulary words are especially useful for the productive skills of speaking and writing

The process of vocabulary expansion looks something like this:

Unknown - > Passive vocabulary -> Active vocabulary

A teacher should expect his/her students to understand words in reading and listening before they can use those same words in speaking and writing When teaching, it is best to first train students to recognize words Later the teacher will find the students can actively use those same words in communication

II.1.2 Principles for teaching vocabulary :

If teachers want students to remember new vocabulary, it needs to be learnt in context, practised, and then revised to prevent students from forgetting Teachers must make sure students have understood the new words, which will

be remembered better if introduced in a "memorable way" (Hubbard et al 1983:50) Bearing all this in mind, teachers have to remember to employ a variety of techniques for new vocabulary teaching

- Provide a context for new words: We will help the students guess the meanings of the new words and remember easilier

- Do not present too much new words at once Teach a few words and allow students to practise and use them a lot This will help them remember new words easily

- Practising new words in context is more important than memorizing isolated words Students may be required to learn the meanings of words but

they must also be given the opportunity to use them productively in speaking and writing

- Teach your students skills for guessing new words, especially when

reading The meaning of words can be inferred from the different types of contexts and from looking at affixes (parts) of the word

- Avoid translation as much as possible If the students are always having words translated, they are really only communicating in their own language , not

in Eglish Also, students do not usually remember vocabulary that has been translated Only use translation as a last resort, when it would otherwise take too long to communicate in English

- Avoid using the dictionary a much as possible When reading or listening ,students should first try guessing or ignoring new words so that they can continue without stopping Also using a dictionary when speaking or listening often slows down communication In writing, using a dictionary can be beneficial It helps students express themselves more clearly

- Practise the new words in context first, practise in chorus, and then individually

- Active words are needed to teach first, ignore the passive words

Those are the principles for teaching vocabulary Have you taught vocabulary follow those principles? In my opinion, if all of us follow those principles strictly, our students won’t find it difficult to remember new vocabulary any more and we will get better feedback from our students

II.2 Situation before applying the study

English is a compulsory subject at school and in the GCSE exam but students, particularly grade 12 students, feel stressful to learn English They find many difficulties in learning grammar, pronouncing, especially in learning vocabulary They don’t have enough words to master reading, speaking, listening and writing skills They also have trouble in doing tests because of the lack of vocabulary Even they can’t find out any suitable methods to follow when they want to concentrate on learning vocabulary Therefore, they ignore reading parts in tests or they complete reading parts without making sure that which answer is correct although reading skill accounts for nearly half of the mark in a test

In addition, many teachers of English at high schools don’t spend enough time on teaching vocabulary They only pay attention to grammar or they still use old methods when teaching news words They get students to understand and remember new words passively

II.3 Solutions to problems

In this part of the study, I would like to focus on techniques used in presenting and checking vocabulary

II.3.1 Presenting vocabulary

When introducing a new word, teachers must give students a chance to know the followings:

II.3.1.1 Present pronunciation: By reading words in context, emphasise it by

putting a stress on it

II.3.1.2 Present dictation: Write new words on the board clearly and then

helps students copy them in their notebooks

II.3.1.3 Present the meanings of new words: There are a variety of

techniques for communicating the meanings of words However, I mainly use the following ones to make students active and creative in learning

1 Paraphrase and define: We can explain a word by using a different word,

words or a definition

Example: When teaching the word “goalie” in Unit 12 – Reading (English

12 – Education Publish House), I convey its meaning by giving students a definition“ A goalie is a person who keeps the goal”

2 Drawing: We can draw a picture of some words on the board that will quickly

convey the meanings

Example: When teaching the word “vertical” in Unit 12 – Reading

(English 12 – Education Publish House), I convey its meaning by drawing a goal

VERTICAL

3 Realia and objects: When we teach abstract nouns in semantic fields, we can

bring a series of real objects to class

Example: When teaching the word “letter of recommendation” in Unit 6 –

Reading (English 12 – Education Publish House), I bring a realia to class

4 Flash cards or charts: We can use flash cards or charts on which we have a

picture on one side and words on the other side

Example: When teaching the words “terrorism”, “labour-saving”,

“space-shuttle” in Unit 8– Reading (English 12 – Education Publish House), I have used flash cards

5 Mime and gestures: We can act out to demonstrate its meaning ( of course,

without saying )

Example: When teaching the word “punch” in Unit 12 – Reading (English

12 – Education Publish House), I mime andask students to guess the meaning

6 Photogaphs and Pictures : We can use pictures to communicate about many

types of words

Example: I have used many pictures to convey the meanings of the words

when teaching the words “flood, earthquake, epidemic, famine” in Unit 14 – Reading (English 12 – Education Publish House)

7 Antonyms and synonyms: When students know a word we can give them the

antonyms or the synonyms

Example: When teaching the word “contaminated” in Unit 10 – Reading

(English 12 – Education Publish House), I get students to know the meaning of the word by giving its synonym “polluted” and its antonym “clean”

8 Guessing from context : Have students guess the meanings by reading the

whole sentence

Example: When teaching the word “enact” in Unit 10 – Reading (English

12 – Education Publish House), I help students to understand its meaning

through the context “Governments have enact laws to protect wildlife from

commercial trade and overhunting”

9 Guessing from stems and suffixes or affixes and stems : Meaning of some

words can be understood through affixes or suffixes

Example: When teaching the word “extinction” and “disappear” in Unit

10 – Reading (English 12 – Education Publish House), I analyse it and get students to understand it

Extinct + ion = Extinction or disappear = dis + appear

II.3.1.4 Present the forms / functions / the uses

When teaching a new word, teachers should give the form of the word

This helps students to do well not only questions in reading parts but also questions related to word forms I often make a sentence or a word phrase with the new word, then ask students to give the form of the word or I ask students to recognise the suffix of the word to know the functionof the word

Example: When teaching vocabulary in Unit 3: Ways of socializing –

Reading (English 12 – Education Publish House), I ask students to find out the

form of the words: verbal, attention, appropriate, acceptable, assistance by looking at the ending of the word: al, ion, ate, able, ance.

II.3.2 Checking vocabulary

II.3.2.1 What to check?

After teaching vocabulary, every teachers should check their students on vocabulary of pronunciation, dictation, using and meaning If their students give good feedbacks, it means they are successful in teaching vocabulary

Therefore, vocabulary are needed to check It means pronunciation, dictation , using and meaning are needed to check

II.3.2.2 When to check ?

In my opinion, After teaching vocabulary, we can check our students’ understanding vocabulary, or we can check in the end of the lesson as free stages But some teachers check vocabulary while students are practising language skills In short, we can check vocabulary at any stages of the lesson ,provided that our students can understand and use vocabulary to make sentences and practise language skills

II.3.2.3 How to check ?

There are many ways of checking vocabulary mentioned in other studies They are considered as games: noughts and crosses, slap the board, wordsquare, networks, hang man, shark attack, jumbled words, rub out and remember, what and where, matching, etc

To deal with this part, I would like to provide some new games I have applied while teaching vocabulary to my grade 12 students

Game 1: Car racing

This is an interesting game It is a useful way to revise vocabulary

Procedures: ( Teachers may draw on the board ar prepare an extra board)

- Draw three lines to make two parallel racing roads and devide the racing

road into equal trangles

Example:

Racer I run Tear draw eat generous equip young tear no

Racer II Hit Red Race willing temple say perfect gain ray

- At first, teacher gives two starting words in two racing roads

- Then, tow racers have to write the next word beginning with the last letter

of the word from the racing road of the opponent

- The game ends when there is a racer who can’t write down the word

Note: For the beginners, teachers may get students to play at simple levels And

teachers may have it played at complex levels (words relating the topic, combined words) by advanced learners

Game 2: Word making

This is also a funny game for revising vocabulary and enriching students’vocabulary

Procedures:

- Devide the class into two teams or play the game individually

- Teacher gives a word and asks students to make new words from each letter The winner is the one who makes more words than the others

Example: when checking vocabulary in unit 1 (English 12 – Education

Publish House), I give the word “chores” and ask students to make new words from the letters of the word

Game 3: Sentence making

This game is a bit difficult but very interesting and it helps students to practice not only vocabulary but also grammar

Procedures:

- Devide the class into two teams or groups of 8

- Teacher gives a sentence including some words that teacher want to check and asks students to make new sentences using the words in the given sentence Which team or group makes more sentences will be the winner