SKKN Some of experience on how to teach vocabulary effectively English 6

1. INTRODUCTION:

* Reason for choosing the topic:

In the time of rapid developement of technology and industry, foreign languages have really become “a golden key” for the exchange and cooperation between countries all over the world. In Vietnam nowadays, the demand of foreign languages, expecially English increases higher and higher. English has become a compulsory subject at school as well as universities. But it seems that teaching and learning English at many secondary school in Vietnam is not very effective. One of the most important reasons is unsuitable methods in teaching and learning. The teachers of English often meet difficulties in approaching new methods of teaching foreign languages communicatively. 

   However, Foreign language is a new subject for students who live in the countryside, so they have wrong understanding. Some students think that this subject is an addition, so they don’t need to study, others are afraid of it .Most of them think that foreign language is difficult to learn .

       For students’ parents they also have diffirent ideas. Most of them don’t realize that foreign language plays an important role in a morden society .

       From the truth mentioned above, it caused for the teachers many  difficulties .The important thing is that they have to overcome from those wrong thoughts to take over this noble task . The teachers step by step explain so that the students can understand that this is a basic subject .It’s the key of the outside knowledge .

       Besides that the teachers have to find out the best teaching methods which help students to expose not only active but also thoughtful ability . Realizing have both basic and flexible steps in teaching methods .

      Vocabulary words 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 guarantee 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 why vocabulary must be taught from the very start.

In the new text book series (English 6 – English 9 ), vocabulary is enlarged so much to provide four main skills : Listening , Speaking , Reading and Writing . Therefore, teachers must have the most effective metthod of teaching vocabulary to present vocabulary effectively. A good method of teaching vocabulary will get more students’ attentions . I’ve chosen this topic in the hope of finding out some useful measures and I also get good rusults .

1. PROBLEM SOLVING:
2. Theoretical background:

More importantly, the new English curriculum has combined all the skills of words from the beginning and been developed systematically during the program from grade 6 to grade 9. Whether in the form of individual and group activities or at all levels from grade 6 to grade 9, all the exercises in the units have combined all the skills if necessary, depending on the content characteristics of each lesson. 

1. Real states of problem : 
2. To students:  

Teaching according to renewed methods at present emphasizes on activeness, creativity of students. Students spend most of the time of communication in thinking and actively practicing their English. To have a good lesson, the students have to prepare thoroughly at home. It can be said that mostly the quality of teaching and learning is not high, has not attracted the passion of student’s learning. It is evident, because they are lazy to learn new words, grammatical structures, have no preparation before going to class. 

2. To teachers:

Besides the fact of the students, the teacher’s role can not stop mentioning. The quality of teaching has improved, but slowly. In the program, reading skills is integrated with the listening, speaking and writing ones. Some teachers reading classes still apply the old teaching method. 

3.Result of prior reseach situation :

Words  in the topic : “ food  and drink ”.

apple (n) ;  orange(n) ;  banana(n) ;   vegetables(n) ;  rice (n) ; water  ……

Student results showed that students’ reading skill is limited.

III. Solutions and implementation:

1. What vocabulary to teach ?

As you 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.

2 . Principles for teaching vocabulary :

There are many different ways of teaching vocabulary , but some ways are more effective than others.

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

   2.2. 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.

1. 1. 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.
   2.   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 English. 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.