Teaching Vocabulary
Motivating and effective Ways of
Teaching Vocabulary
Concepts and Activities for learning and
teaching vocabulary with joy
By Marisa Zuazo
Teaching Vocabulary
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Natural aproach
What is a collocation?
Why is it important to teach collocations?
When do I start?
How do I insert collocation in a lesson?
Activities that go well with collocations.
Teaching Vocabulary
What is a collocation?
It refers to the way English words are naturally associated
 Compounds x idioms
phrasal verbs
with eachxother.
Compounds are
two
or more
words
that
together
form etc.
units of meanings.
e.g.:
blond
hair;
heavy
rain;
fast food
They can be written separately, with hyphen or as one word.
And NOT: yellow hair; strong rain; quick food .
Some
are fixed
take a photo,
where
no other
Normally
if you
knowas
theinmeaning
of the two
words
used word
in it you can
than take collocates
photo
with compound.
the same meaning.
guess the with
meaning
of this
Some e.g.:
are open,
other words collocate
postwhere
office,many
narrow-minded,
teapot. well
with the same meaning, as in keep/stick to the rules.
In the other hand, idioms are groups of words in a fixed order that does
Sometimes
pair of
words may
sound unnatural
to native
not allow
to guessatheir
meaning
by knowing
the meanings
of individual
speakers but not totally words.
incorrect. As in the sentence
did many
mistakes”,
will
be understood
but thenouns and
e.g.:
On
theitdouble!
(Hurry!)
Besides“I
being
considered
individual
lexical
items compound
natural collocation
in thiscollocate
case would
beother
to make
phrasal
verbs frequently
with
words.
mistakes.
e.g.: play the stock market (compound);
come up with (phrasal verb) a suggestion.
Teaching Vocabulary
Why is it important to teach collocations?
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The words we chose define the people we are.
You will improve your students style in writing.
They will sound more natural.
They can decide how they want to sound during their speech.
(precise, fluent, eloquent, exotic, etc.?)
It will shorten the communication barrier.
It will increase their range of English vocabulary.
They will understand when a skillful writer departs from normal
patterns of collocation by not choosing an expected collocation to
create an effect.
e.g.: There’s no place like Rome (allusion to there’s no place like
home)
Teaching Vocabulary
When do I start?
As you may have already noticed, you probably have taught
collocations before. The key point is to decide if you made it part of
a lesson, a unit, a class or a course or if it eventually appeared as a
teaching point.
If you want your student to sound more natural, to choose the best
combination of words and to understand authentic materials better,
you have to start preparing your classes including collocation
teaching time asps!
The challenge is to think about interesting ways to teach focusing in
collocation. Choosing appropriate activities suitable to different
levels, teaching topics and skills.
Teaching Vocabulary
How do I insert collocation in a lesson?
There are several points to take into consideration when teaching
collocation.
Motivation
Vocabulary
Relevance
Teacher
Adjectives + Nouns
Time
Students
Nouns + Verbs
Opportunity
Nouns + Nouns
Interest
...
Teaching Vocabulary
How do I insert collocation in a lesson?
Students Level
Elementary
Intermediate
Advanced
Approach
Variety of
activities
Visual component
Teaching Vocabulary
Elementary (Sports)
Teaching Vocabulary
Elementary (Do x Make)
Images 1, 2 and 3 from English Collocations in use - Cambridge
Teaching Vocabulary
Memory game – Look at the phrases below
and memorize them. You have 2 minutes to do so.
*You will easily remember if you associate them to people you know.
Good sense of humor
Loose your temper
Time
is
up!!!
Check
how
good
your
Vivid imagination Selfish streak
memories are. Write
as many
Outgoing
personality
phrases as you can
remember
in a
Razor
sharp mind
Snap decisions
paper
and have a look to see if
Keep your temper
your partner did better than you.
Keep your word
Brutally honest
Let’s try a challenge! A harder memory game for you.
Look at the definitions and match them to the phrases you memorized
from the previous activity.
*Remember: the more you concentrate, the better!
People enjoy being with you
You sometimes act in a selfish way
Stronger than extremely
Trying to deceive or trick you
Honest in a way that may heart
Do what you say you will do
Quick decisions
Resent for a long
time bad things
people did to you
Not get angry
Now read the following text and
talk to your partner. Think of
people you know who were born
in the same month and whose
personality fits to the
descriptions.
Think of those who don`t fit at all
and tell your partner why.
Teaching Vocabulary
Hands on!
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Form groups of 5.
Choose an activity from the handout.
Come up with ideas in order to make it more
communicative, attractive and fun.
Share your ideas.
Which activity would you definitely try with your
groups?
Teaching Vocabulary
References
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LINDSAY, Cora; KNIGHT, Paul.
Learning and Teaching English. OUP. 2006
HARMER, Jeremy.
The practice of English Language. Pearson Longman. 2007
GILLET, Amy.
Speak English Like an American. Language Success Press. 2007
LEWIS, Michael.
Teaching Collocation: further developments in the Lexical Approach. Hove. 2000
LIMA, Denilso. Por que assim e não assado? Campus. 2008
McCARTHY, Michael; O’DELLl, Felicity
English Collocations in Use. Cambridge.2008
McCARTHY, Michael; O’DELLl, Felicity
English Collocations in Use Advanced. Cambridge.2008
SPEARS, Richard A.
NTC’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions. NTC. 2000
UR, Penny; Wright, Andrew.
Five-minute activities
Teaching Vocabulary
Thank you for your wonderful
participation!
marisa.zuazo@gmail.com