Danielle Colenbrander
danielle.colenbrander@mq.edu.au
Teaching word meanings
Example: ADMONISH
INSTRUCTIONAL STEP
1) Hearing and saying the word
Say the word and ask children to repeat it
2) Seeing and writing the word
Write the word on the board and instruct
children to write it into their workbooks
3) Hearing the definition
Provide a simple, child-friendly definition
for the word, using concepts children
already understand.
EXAMPLE
“Now we will be learning the word admonish. What is
the word?”
“That’s right. Write the word into your notebook.”
PURPOSE
This helps children remember the
way the word sounds.
This helps children to recognize the
word in written text.
“Now I’m going to tell you what admonish means.
Listen carefully. If you admonish someone, you tell
them off or scold them. Admonishing means telling
someone off.”
4) Hearing the word in context
Give children at least 3 examples of the
word in meaningful contexts. Ask
questions about the examples so that you
can be sure the children understand them.
“Now let’s talk about how we use the word
admonish. You could say: “The coach admonished
the players for their lack of effort and enthusiasm.”
So if the coach is admonishing his team, what do
you think he is doing? [Answer: He told them off or
got angry with them.] And why did he admonish the
team? [Answer: Because he was upset that they
didn’t really try – maybe he thought that if they had
tried harder they could have won.]
Explaining word meanings using
simple language and familiar
concepts helps children link new
word meanings with existing
knowledge. Using the same word in
different forms (e.g. “admonish”,
“admonishing”) helps children to
recognize that the different forms of
the word are linked in meaning.
The more times a child sees a word
in a meaningful context, the more
likely they are to develop a rich
concept of the word’s meaning.
However, it is not enough for
children to simply be exposed to the
context – they need to actively think
about it and discuss what the word
means in context.
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Danielle Colenbrander
danielle.colenbrander@mq.edu.au
5) Example/non-example game
Read aloud a series of sentences one by
one, where some sentences are examples
of the target word’s meaning, and others
are not. Children can indicate whether or
not a sentence is an example of the word
by saying the word aloud, standing up,
raising their hands, etc. After children
have given their responses, ask them to
explain why they thought the sentence
was (or was not) a good example of the
word.
6) Have you ever?
Ask children to relate the word to their
own experience.
“Now we are going to play a game. I am going to say
some sentences. If you think that the sentence
describes a situation where someone might
admonish someone else, I want you say “admonish”.
If not, don’t say anything. You ready? Here comes
the first one!
a) Tom was playing catch inside the house and
broke mum’s favourite vase. She was furious.
b) Mum was very proud because Sarah got a
high distinction in the maths competition.
c) The man was very angry with the waiter for
spilling food all over him.
Has anyone ever admonished you, or have you ever
admonished someone? What happened?
This game is another opportunity to
expose children to the meanings of
words in different contexts. Ask
children why they think the example
is a good one so that they are
actively processing meaning in
context.
This helps children to link the word’s
meaning to their existing knowledge
of the world.
Other activities
1) Word association
Children have flashcards with the day’s words on them (eg. admonish). The teacher says other related words aloud one at a time (eg. scold, happy,
angry). Children hold up the flashcard for the word that “goes with” the word the teacher says aloud (eg. admonish goes with scold and angry, so
children should hold up the admonish flashcard when they hear those words). They then have to explain why the words go together. This helps
children make links between word meanings.
2) Silly sentences
Children hear sentences in which one of the words they have learnt is used incorrectly (eg. “the mother admonished the child for coming first in the
cross country”). They have to explain why the sentence is incorrect. This is a challenging task that requires good knowledge of a word’s meaning.
3) Word to definition
Children have flashcards with the words on them. The teacher says word definitions aloud one by one. Children then hold up the flashcard that
corresponds to the definition they have heard. This is a good revision task and is also a good way of helping children learn to retrieve the appropriate
word quickly from memory.
References and further resources
 Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
 Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2008). Creating Robust Vocabulary: Frequently Asked Questions and Extended Examples. Guilford Press.
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