Developing Academic LanguageTIPS For Teaching Academic Vocabulary
Session – Part 2
November 3, 2014
Maria Chavez- ESL Specialist
Adapted from Rebecca Alber’s Doing it Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary
Presentation Objectives:
• Content Objective:
• I will identify and distinguish effective ways to teach
vocabulary in my classroom.
• Language Objective:
• I will review and discuss strategies to effectively teach
vocabulary in my classroom.
Tell Us When…
• Every Monday, my seventh grade English teacher would have us copy a
list of 25 words she'd written on the board. We'd then look up the
dictionary definitions and copy those down. For homework, we'd rewrite each word seven times.
• Good, now you know it. Test on Friday and never for those 25 words to
be seen again. Poof. Old school, yes. Did it work? I don't remember.
Probably not.
Share personal experiences when you learned new words!
(Think, Write, Share) 3 minute activity
We all know that…
• Copying definitions from the dictionary, we would
probably all agree, is not an effective way to learn
vocabulary.
Passive learning hardly ever is.
So what do we do differently?
• The truth is, and the research shows, students need
multiple and various exposures to a word before they
fully understand that word and can apply it.
• They also need to learn words in context, not stand alone
lists that come and go each week.
The way we learn words in context, or implicitly, is by reading, and
applying the words learned when we speak and write.
Our Goal is …
• Provide students with the opportunity to use new
vocabulary in context, in reading, speaking and
writing.
Ah, so many words, so little time!!!
TASK # 1
• Selecting and Ranking Words-
When choosing which words to
target, we don't have to do it alone.
We will create a list of 10 word to target in our classroom…
• How will be target this task
* First off, rather than waste time compiling a new
lists, we will let the kids skim and select their own words from
our previous academic vocabulary list.
Student Activity 1
• Provide students with list of previously taught words…
• Read all the words aloud- Choral reading, popcorn reading,
reciprocal reading
• Students will ….
• Read through them- silently
• Complete Vocabulary Comprehension Chart
Vocabulary Comprehension Chart
• Students will
• writes down words, and rates each one as "know it," "sort of
know it," or "don't know it at all.”
• on the same paper, they will write a definition or "my guess on
meaning" for the words they know and kind of know (No
dictionaries!)
NOTE: Before they turn in these comprehension charts, be sure to emphasize this
is not about "being right" but that they are providing you with information to guide
next steps in class vocabulary instruction.
TASK 1 Continued….
Selecting and Ranking Words
Use the results as a formative assessment. This data will show you
which words they know, those they have some understanding of,
and those words that are completely foreign to them.
* Using the charts your kids created, pick the"kind of" and
"don't know at all" words.
* You now have a new vocabulary list. –10 words
TASK 1 Due- November 7, 2014
It's time to teach 
Task 2
• Teaching Words- Teach each word to the students using Robert
Marzano’s Six Step Process.
(If you haven't heard of him, I'd like to introduce Robert Marzano.)
This guy is pretty amazing, having spent countless hours observing
students and teachers. An education researcher and teacher, he stresses
that in all content areas, direct vocabulary instruction is essential and
suggests six steps.
Marzano's six steps do something revolutionary to vocabulary learning: They make it fun. Students think about, talk about,
apply, and play with new words.
Marzano’s Six Steps
• Step one: The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its
definition (tap into prior knowledge, use imagery).
• Step two: Students restate or explain the new word in their own words
(verbally and/or in writing).
• Step three: Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the
word (a picture, or symbolic representation).
• Step four: Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the
new word (compare words, classify terms, write their own sentences using
the word).
• Step five: Students discuss the new word (pair-share, elbow partners).
• Step six: Students periodically play games to review new vocabulary
(Guess the word, Jeopardy, Matamosca).
The Rationale
• At this point, you might be thinking that there just
isn't enough time for all this pre-reading word
analysis, direct instruction of vocabulary, and game
playing. (You have your content to teach!)
Let’s work together to improve our students vocabulary…
• Vocabulary is the best single indicator of intellectual ability and an
accurate predictor of success at school. -- W.B. Elley
Keep in mind...
• Once you have your list developed, you will only
target one word a week. (10 weeks)
• You have already exposed your students to these
words.
Also…
• Marzano’s Six Steps can be
spread out throughout the
week. They are not intended to
be done within a day.
* Each step will take only a few minutes; They can be done as a bell ringer or ticket
out.
Let’s take a look at them again…
Monday
Step one: The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its
definition (tap into prior knowledge of students, use imagery).
Tuesday
Step two: Students restate or explain the new word in their own words (verbally
and/or in writing).
Wednesday
Step three: Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the word (a
picture, or symbolic representation).
Thursday
Step four: Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the new
word (compare words, classify terms, write their own sentences).
Friday
After five
weeks…
(5 words)
Step five: Students discuss the new word (pair-share, elbow partners).
Step six: Students periodically play games to review new vocabulary (Pyramid,
Jeopardy, Telephone)
SIOP:C1-F9 Key Vocabulary Emphasized
(e.g. introduced, written, repeated, and highlighted for students to see)
Teaching Ideas & Activities
Word Parts: Roots and Affixes
Personal Dictionaries
Contextualizing Key Vocabulary
Cognates
Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS)
Link Up
Word Wall
Pick Ten Words
4-Corners Vocabulary Charts/Carousel
Team TPR (Total Physical Response)
Concept Definition Map
Team Word Wall
Cloze Sentences
Updating Your Status
Word Generation
Signal Words
Word Study Books
Vocabulary Key Rings
Vocabulary Games
Milling to Music
Self-Assessment
Predict Definitions
Vocabulary Scan
Vocabulary Alive
Four Corner Vocabulary
Additional Resources
(Books to help you focus and fine-tune your vocabulary instruction)
• Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck
• Vocabulary Games for the Classroom by Lindsey Carlton and Robert J. Marzano
• Words, Words, Words by Janet Allen
• Teaching Basic and Advanced Vocabulary: A Framework for Direct Instruction by Robert J. Marzano
• The Literacy Cookbook by Sarah Tantillo
• Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners The SIOP Model by Jana Echeverria, MaryEllen
Vogt, and Deborah J. Short
Completion Dates :
• TASK 1 – November 7, 2014 – List of ten words to
be reviewed by week
• TASK 2 – Review all 10 words by -February 13, 2015
• Next Session – February 16, 2015
Questions?
• Ticket Out- On a post it• What are the our two tasks for building
academic vocabulary?