Secondary English
Unit 11:
Vocabulary in use
Teacher Education
through School-based
Support in India
www.TESS-India.edu.in
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The TESS-India project (Teacher Education through School-based Support) aims to improve
the classroom practices of elementary and secondary teachers in India through studentcentred and activity-based approaches. This has been realised through 105 teacher
development units (TDUs) available online and downloaded in printed form.
Teachers are encouraged to read the whole TDU and try out the activities in their classroom
in order to maximise their learning and enhance their practice. The TDUs are written in a
supportive manner, with a narrative that helps to establish the context and principles that
underpin the activities. The activities are written for the teacher rather than the student,
acting as a companion to textbooks.
TESS-India TDUs were co-written by Indian authors and UK subject leads to address Indian
curriculum and pedagogic targets and contexts. Originally written in English, the TDUs have
then been localised to ensure that they have relevance and resonance in each participating
Indian state’s context.
TESS-India is led by The Open University and funded by UKAID from the Department for
International Development.
Version 1.0
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made available under a
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Contents
Introduction
1
Learning outcomes
2
1
What is vocabulary?
3
2
Learning new words
5
3
Recording and remembering words
12
4
Independent learning
16
5
Summary
19
6
Resources
20
Resource
Resource
Resource
Resource
Resource
7
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
Example of a student’s vocabulary log
Dictionaries
More vocabulary activities
Develop your own English
Further reading
Related units
20
21
21
26
26
27
References
28
Acknowledgements
29
Introduction
Introduction
Learning vocabulary is the key to language learning. It is important to
develop vocabulary because it helps in understanding and producing spoken
as well as written texts.
In this unit you will learn that teaching vocabulary is not simply about
making your students learn word lists by heart. There are many more
effective ways in which teachers can help students to develop their
vocabulary.
In short, by doing this unit you can prepare for your lessons better, and can
help your students to learn and remember vocabulary better.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
Learning outcomes
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
2
.
use different techniques to help your students learn and remember new
words
.
use vocabulary logs as part of project and assessment work
.
use dictionaries effectively in the English classroom.
1 What is vocabulary?
1 What is vocabulary?
Vocabulary refers to a set of words that one knows in any language. It
usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental
tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Vocabulary is one of the
most important components of language development. Having a wide
vocabulary helps students:
.
with reading comprehension
.
with writing activities
.
perform better in exams
.
relate to reading materials they may find in the world around them (print
media, technology and so on).
However, many students have problems learning and remembering English
vocabulary. Typically, they may come across many new English words in
passages in the textbook. They may never understand what the words mean,
and they may not be able to use them. They may have problems
remembering the new vocabulary.
Pause for thought
.
How did you learn words in your home language when you were a
child?
.
How did you learn words in other languages that you use?
.
How did you learn words in English when you were at school?
.
How do you learn words in your home and other languages now?
Vocabulary development in the home language happens quite naturally
because the child is surrounded with innumerable words at home. The child
comes across the same words again and again, and sees and hears them
being used in many different contexts. It is not necessarily the same when
we learn additional languages, and when students learn English, in most
cases they do not have exposure to lots of English in different contexts.
Their encounters with English may only be in the classroom or the textbook,
so they don’t get the chance to see and hear words again and again in many
different contexts. It is not surprising that it is hard for students to learn and
remember new words!
When students come across new words in their textbooks or in real life, they
find it difficult to understand them. This is because new words are like
strangers and unless they are properly introduced, the learner may feel
hesitant. Thus, we must introduce vocabulary through contexts that will
enable them to remember both the word and the way it is used.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
In this unit you learn about some simple activities that you can do in your
English classes to help students learn and remember new words. If you use
these techniques in your classroom, your students will develop skills and
strategies that help them to become independent language learners – able to
understand, record and learn new words by themselves.
4
2 Learning new words
2 Learning new words
In most English language classes, new words are introduced in isolation as
an activity – ‘words and meanings’. In some cases, meanings are given in
their home language. Students are supposed to memorise these words by rote
– or learn them by heart – along with their translations. They learn what a
word means, but they don’t learn any other information about the word (for
example, how it is pronounced, or how the word is used).
If words are presented as isolated elements, they are quickly forgotten.
Isolated words do not present a linguistic reality, as the meaning of the word
in most cases is partly defined by the context. Teaching students to use and
improve their use of English is to improve their range of words, the
flexibility and appropriateness with which they use them. It helps them to
use context.
Pause for thought
Here is a word that you may not know in English: ‘captious’.
Imagine that you need to learn this word. What do you need to know?
Do you need to know the same things for using the word in speaking
and in writing?
Write down some things you need to know. To get you started, here are
are some examples:
.
How is the word pronounced?
.
How is the word spelled?
Discussion
Compare your list with the one below.
.
How is the word pronounced?
.
How is the word spelled?
.
What does it mean?
.
Is it a noun, a verb or an adjective?
.
Can we change the form of the word? Is there a past form? Can we
add a suffix or a prefix?
.
What other words can the word be used with? (For example, we can
say that something is ‘very good’, but we can’t say that something is
‘very excellent’.)
.
Is it a formal word? Is it colloquial? Can I use it in any situation?
.
How is it different to other similar words? (For example, consider
‘house’, ‘home’, ‘dwelling’ and ‘residence’.)
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
Try to answer the questions in the discussion above about the word
‘captious’. How many of the questions can you answer?
Now read the following text, quoted from The Sunday Times newspaper,
containing the word ‘captious’. Can you answer any more of the
questions from the box?
In a book that is both rich in material, and riveting to read (as well
as being suitably long), it would be captious to ask for more.’
The word ‘captious’ means ‘apt to make trivial criticisms; fault-finding;
carping’ (Collins Dictionary, 2013).
When we see or hear a new word being used in a context, it helps us to
learn more about the word. We are then able to use the word better in
speech and in writing, and we can remember the word better. Students need
to know more about words than the meaning in their home language.
Seeing a word in context will help students learn – and use – a word, and so
will give explanations about a word’s use and meaning. We remember words
for all sorts of different reasons: sometimes because it sounds like another
word in a different language, or because we remember a picture that was
next to it. Sometimes we just like the sound of a word. Many times we
remember a word because somebody we look up to has used it, or because it
is stylish. It can help students if you use different ways to explain what a
word means.
In this part of the unit you explore how a teacher can help students to learn
words by introducing them in context. You will read a case study about a
teacher who tries a simple activity in the classroom to teach vocabulary in
context. After the case study there is an activity that you can try in the
classroom with your students.
6
2 Learning new words
Case Study 1: Rajrani introduces her students to
new words in context
I teach Class X. Recently my students read the story ‘Torch Bearers’; I
asked my students to copy a list of words from the story and learn them
by heart.
So my students knew the meanings of these words in their home
language, but they couldn’t use them. They didn’t use the words when
they spoke or wrote in English.
I discussed my concerns with my senior colleagues during the lunch
break. Sunita informed me that she had an opportunity to attend an inservice teacher training programme where one of the sessions was
about teaching vocabulary in context.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
Sunita If words are presented as isolated items in lists to
memorise, students can translate the words, but they don’t
know how to use them. And because they don’t use the
words, they are quickly forgotten.
Rajrani I think that’s something I hadn’t considered earlier. Could
you tell me more about this?
Sunita Of course! Another thing is that some of the words in the
lists are not the most useful words to learn – especially for
speaking. They are not very common, and don’t relate to
the students’ lives or interests. Focus on the words that the
students will be using in their daily lives. Keep their age,
interests and background in mind.
Rajrani So you mean that I should ask students to do more than
memorise lists – I should select some of the more common
and useful words, and use other ways to introduce new
words. Can you share some examples?
Sunita Yes, there are a number of ways to introduce new
vocabulary. You can use a picture to show what a word
means – even a real object! You can use acting or mime,
or use other words to explain – for example, similar words
or opposites. Alternatively, you could give students more
information about a word, such as whether it is formal or
not. Or you could write some example sentences on the
board showing how the word is used in a sentence, and
what words it can go with, and how it is used
grammatically. Remember to make sure that students know
how to spell and pronounce the new words! Oh, and you
don’t have to use all of these techniques with each word –
just use whatever works best.
So last week I decided to try a different approach to teaching new
vocabulary. I was teaching the poem ‘A February Surprise’ by Ralph
Marcellino from the Class VIII textbook Honeydew.
‘A February Surprise’
The trees are still asleep today
And do not seem to know
A storm came by last night and heaped
Their branches full of snow
See how they start up with surprise
As one by one they wake
‘Why, gracious me!’, they seem to say.
And give themselves a shake.
I had already prepared my students for the poem (I learned about that in
TDU 4, Reading for understanding!), and we had just read the poem
together. I knew that there were unknown words in the poem. I asked
my students to copy the following table in their books and then I asked
for some examples and wrote them in the table:
8
2 Learning new words
Words you don’t know and you
can guess
Words you don’t know and you
can’t guess
branch
gracious
I gave my students a few minutes to read through the poem and to add
words to the table. When they were ready, I asked them to read out
words from the first column, ‘Words you don’t know and you can guess’.
I asked them to say what they thought the meanings of the words were.
I was pleased to see that they could guess many of the words from the
context: the events and other words of the poem give many clues.
After that, I asked my students to read out the list of words in the
second column, ‘Words you don’t know and you can’t guess’. I used
some of the techniques that Sunita talked about to teach the new words;
for example, I explained that ‘Gracious me!’ is a phrase you can use to
express surprise. I also explained that it is a polite expression and
perhaps a little old-fashioned these days. I remembered Sunita’s advice
about pronunciation too, and asked my students to practise the
pronunciation of the new words by repeating them after me.
At the end of the class, I asked my students to choose five new words
to learn from the lesson. I told them to choose the words that they
thought were the most useful to learn.
Activity 1: Try in the classroom: Using context to
learn new words
In Case Study 1, the teacher uses a poem to help students learn new
words. She asks them to use the context to guess meanings, and she
asks them to learn fewer, more useful words. You can try the technique
from the case study in your classroom. Follow the steps below:
1 Find a passage or a poem from the textbook. You can use any
textbook, for any level. If it is a passage, just choose a few
paragraphs. Make sure that the passage or poem contains words
that your students don’t know.
2 Ask your students to read the passage or poem. This can be done
silently or aloud (see TDU 4).
3 Tell them to copy this table into their notebooks:
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
Words you don’t know and you
can guess
Words you don’t know and you
can’t guess
4 Tell them to note down words in the relevant columns (ask for an
example first). Students could do this activity alone or in pairs.
5 Give them some time to work on the activity. It can be a good idea
to set a time limit or give a maximum number of words, for
example ten.
6 Ask them to read out the words from the first column, and help
them to understand the words that they don’t know.
7 Ask them to read out words from the second column, and help
them to understand the words that they don’t know. Use any of
the techniques listed in the case study.
8 Make sure you practise the pronunciation of the new words.
9 Tell your students to choose ten words that they think are the
most useful (as a group or individually) and to learn them. You
may want to add some words to their lists. You can write these on
the board for students to add.
This technique:
10
.
helps students to develop their reading skills by guessing the
meanings of new words (see TDUs 4 and 5)
.
encourages them to find ways – or develop strategies – for dealing
with new vocabulary when they read texts
.
helps them understand that words are more than lists and
translations
.
teaches them to decide which words they should spend more time
actively learning
.
promotes the learning and understanding of new words.
2 Learning new words
Pause for thought
After trying this activity with your students, think about the following
questions:
.
Were your students able to guess many of the words?
.
Was it easy to explain the meanings of the unknown words? Which
techniques did you try? Which techniques worked best?
.
Which words did your students choose to learn? Do you agree that
they are useful?
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
3 Recording and remembering
words
So far in this unit you have learned that ‘knowing’ a word is much more
important than knowing its translation. You have learned how teachers can
help students understand new words, and how they are used. But once
students have learned new words, how can they remember them?
Typically, students memorise lists of words. This can be a useful strategy,
but it doesn’t suit all students, and it is good for students to know about
other strategies for recording and remembering words.
Pause for thought
Think again about how you have learned words in English and any other
language. How have you learned words? If you can, discuss with a
colleague, and write notes about your ideas.
Now compare your ideas with what some teachers below do to help
their students remember new vocabulary. You may have other ideas. If
you do, why not add them to the list?
Now read what Rajrani has decided to do to help her students record and
remember new words. The case study is followed by an activity that you can
try in your classroom.
12
3 Recording and remembering words
Case Study 2: Rajrani teaches her students how to
record and remember new words
My students became used to learning new words in context, and they
became better at guessing the meanings of words, and choosing which
words to learn. But I began to wonder how I could help my students to
remember the words. I decided to discuss this during the next faculty
meeting with my peers – one of them told me:
‘I develop my vocabulary using a self-made “vocabulary notebook”.
Whenever I learn a new word, or if I learn something new about a
word, I make an entry like a log book.
In my log book, I note down information about the word and add
anything to help me remember it! For example, I might copy or
paste a picture; sometimes I add grammatical information, and write
some examples. If I come across a new word in a text, I copy the
sentence [Figure 1]. And I often refer to the log book.’
Figure 1 An example of a page from a log book with the words ‘captious’
and ‘pinnacle’.
I replied:
‘This is a great idea. We can ask the students to prepare a log
sheet for every new lesson. This could be included in their project
work. We can also use this as part of assessment for learning. We’ll
get a fair idea of how our students are progressing and learning
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
new words. We also need to ask students to work on projects as
part of CCE. The vocabulary log book will serve more than one
aim!’
Activity 2: Vocabulary logs
In the case study, Rajrani was happy to hear about vocabulary logs –
but another teacher wasn’t so pleased:
Can you think of any tips that you could give this teacher? Discuss with
a colleague if you can, and write down some tips.
Discussion
Now compare your tips to the following:
.
Do it little and often!
.
Do not ask the students to make records every day – perhaps you
could set aside thirty minutes a week. Students could work together
in groups as they complete their logs.
.
Don’t worry too much about students making mistakes. They may
make some mistakes in their logs, but overall they will learn new
words.
.
Take in some logs from time to time to check on the work – you
don’t need to check every log each week!
.
Ask students to share their logs. Perhaps once a week they could
test each other on new words. This is not wasting time – it’s helping
students to learn words
.
Perhaps you could set a monthly or termly competition for the best
log book (with a small prize), or for the maximum number of words
learned in a week. Students will then be motivated to keep the logs.
Try using vocabulary logs with one group of your students for a month.
See Resource 1 for an example of a student’s vocabulary log.
Vocabulary logs are useful because they:
14
.
provide an opportunity for students to revisit passages and poems
.
help students to remember new words
.
help students to see their own progress (‘I’ve learned 100 words this
month!’)
.
can be done with any class and with any level
3 Recording and remembering words
.
can be used as part of assessment for learning (see TDU 13)
.
can be used as project work.
Vocabulary logs can become a very powerful resource for learning inside
and outside the classroom. Once students are used to them, they can use
them in different ways. You can encourage students to refer to them when
preparing for speaking or writing activities; and you can get them to think
about different ways they can make entries (for example, noting down
formality, or related words). Apart from helping students to learn new words,
you are helping them to become independent learners – for example, by
encouraging them to choose their own words and contexts. By asking
students to revisit their logs, or look at each other’s logs to see how much
they remember, you are helping them to reflect on their own learning. It
helps them to see the progress that they are making. Vocabulary logs help
students to think about their learning.
Buy a notebook and keep a vocabulary log yourself for a period of time, for
example, a month. Think about the following questions:
.
How easy or difficult was it for you to keep the log?
.
What could you do to make it easier?
.
What kind of information was it useful to note down?
.
Has it helped you to improve your vocabulary?
.
How can you use vocabulary logs with your students?
Try using vocabulary logs with one group of your students for a month.
Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE)
Vocabulary log books are not only useful for recording and remembering
vocabulary. They can also be a project that students can carry out over
a term, or even a school year. The books could be evaluated and form
part of the overall assessment of each student.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
4 Independent learning
So far in this unit you have learned about different techniques you can use
to help students to learn vocabulary, such as:
.
a technique you can use to help students to guess the meanings of words
.
how you can help students to select words that they would like to learn
.
vocabulary logs, which students can use outside the classroom to record
and remember vocabulary.
All of these techniques help students to become independent learners. It is
important for students to gain confidence in learning without a teacher. This
is one of the skills that they will need when they leave school for the world
of work, study or research.
Dictionaries are a useful resource in helping students to become independent
learners. In fact, the use of a dictionary has been recommended in the new
syllabus developed as a follow-up to the National Curriculum
Framework 2005.
In this part of the unit, you explore how teachers can use dictionaries
effectively in the English classroom. In the case study, you learn about
different activities you can do in the classroom to help students use
dictionaries, and then you do an activity related to using dictionaries.
Case Study 3: Rajrani attends an in-service training
session about using dictionaries
I wanted to encourage my students to become more independent in
their development of vocabulary. When my school management decided
to organise an in-service training session, I shared my observation with
other teachers and we all requested the resource person to talk in
greater detail about the teaching of vocabulary.
The resource person, Indumati, acknowledged that the activities being
conducted by myself and the others were very important and could be
made more effective by focusing more on learner independence. She
suggested that if a good monolingual dictionary is kept as a classroom
resource, the teacher can ask a student to look up an unknown word
once the other strategies have been tried. She said that the dictionary is
an important classroom and personal resource: besides learning about
meanings, students can learn more about the word such as how it is
used, and even its pronunciation.
Indumati explained that some students may find it difficult to use
dictionaries, and that it is a good idea to do different activities in the
classroom to familiarise them with this task. She then showed us an
activity in the Class VII textbook Honeysuckle. Here is the activity:
Given below is a page from a dictionary. Look at it carefully and:
(i)
16
find a word which means the same as ghastly. Write down the
word and its two meanings.
4 Independent learning
(ii)
find a word meaning a part of the school year.
(iii)
find a word that means examination.
Now make lists of:
(i)
all the words on the page (plus any more that you can think of)
that begin with ‘terr–’
(ii)
five words that may follow ‘that’, the last word on the page.
(iii)
write down your own meaning of the word ‘thank’. Then write down
the meaning given in the dictionary.
Indumati asked us to do the activity in pairs – she set it as a kind of
competition, to see which pair would complete the task first (my
colleague and I came second!). Then she asked us to write some
similar questions based on a different page of the dictionary. Here are
some of the questions my colleague and I wrote:
.
Give an example of a word that can be used as both a noun and
verb.
.
Find another word that means ‘happy’ on the page.
.
How many words can you make from the head word ‘photograph’?
Now check on the page.
We enjoyed writing the questions, and I decided to try it out with my
students. I don’t have enough dictionaries for everyone to have a copy,
but I adapted the activity. What I did was to write a quiz in which I ask
my students questions about words, for example:
.
Write the opposite of ‘comfortable’.
.
Write five words that begin with the prefix ‘im–’.
.
Write as many words as possible that have the same meaning as
‘happy’.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
.
Write five words that begin with ‘ph’.
.
Write down a meaning of the word ‘enchanting’.
My students do the quiz in pairs (I set a time limit!), and they enjoy it.
They are always asking me if they can do a word quiz next class! The
quiz has helped my students to enjoy learning, and also to think about
words, their meanings, and how they are formed.
Activity 3: Try in the classroom: dictionary activities
Dictionaries are useful resources that help students to:
.
learn about words
.
learn how words are used
.
get involved in their own learning.
You can find links to online dictionaries and recommendations in
Resource 2.
You could use word quizzes with any class or level. Follow these steps
and try them in your classroom:
1 Write some questions about three or four words for your students.
If possible, try to use words that students have recently seen or
heard in lessons. The questions should be similar to the ones
above.
2 Tell your students to get into pairs and write the questions on the
board, or read them out. They don’t need to write the questions,
they can just write the answers.
3 If there are enough dictionaries, the students can check the
answers. If not, you or a student should read the answer out.
Pause for thought
After trying this activity with your students, think about the following
questions:
18
.
Was it easy to think of questions to write?
.
How would you do it differently next time?
.
What did your students think about the activity?
5 Summary
5 Summary
In this unit, you have learned about the importance of vocabulary in use.
You have tried different techniques and activities to help students learn and
remember new words, including teaching words in context and using
vocabulary logs. You have discovered how these logs can be used as a
project for assessment purposes. You have also learned about using
dictionaries and designing word quizzes. All of these strategies and activities
encourage your students to become independent learners.
Now reflect and make some notes on the following:
.
What new things have you learned in this unit? Write three key things
that you have learned.
.
In this unit you learned to try out some new techniques for teaching
vocabulary. Which techniques worked well with your students?
.
What difficulties did you face in using these new techniques? What
changes would you make to use these more effectively?
.
How did your students respond to the new ways of learning?
.
Which strategies will you continue to use?
.
Can you think of any more techniques that will help you to improve your
students’ vocabulary?
What next?
.
If you would like to find more vocabulary activities for the classroom, go
to Resource 3.
.
If you would like to develop your own vocabulary, read the tips and
follow the links in Resource 4.
.
If you would like to read more about teaching and learning vocabulary,
follow the links in Resource 5.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
6 Resources
Resource 1: Example of a student’s
vocabulary log
Figure R1.1 Example of a student’s vocabulary log.
20
6 Resources
Figure R1.2 Example of a student’s vocabulary log (continued).
Resource 2: Dictionaries
Here are some online dictionaries. Some online dictionaries have audio files
for pronunciation:
.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online
.
Oxford Dictionaries
.
Merriam-Webster
Here are some recommended dictionaries/thesaurus;
.
Oxford English Dictionary
.
Thesaurus.com
Resource 3: More vocabulary activities
Here are some additional activities that you can use to help your students
improve their vocabulary.
Crossword puzzle
Clues from a context can help students apply their knowledge of words in an
engaging manner. This activity can be conducted in pairs as well as groups
of four to five.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
Collocation
A grouping of words in a sentence is known as ‘collocation’. It refers to a
group of words that usually occur together and make a new meaning, for
example bus stand, car park, community service, etc. The activity given
below is based on the same concept.
Which adjectives in Box A can you combine with nouns in Box B?
22
6 Resources
Now complete the sentence with the adjectives from the boxes given above.
She is a ____________ sleeper.
He is a _____________ worker.
Mohan has (will have) a ____________ salary.
________ doesn’t think they have a __________ foreign accent when they
speak English.
Sudha has had a __________ illness in their life.
Salim has recently had a ___________ disappointment.
Dinesh has a _______________ friend of a different nationality.
Strategies for vocabulary learning
The following is a list of some more strategies that can be used to learn
vocabulary:
.
using words in sentences
.
filling these words in blanks
.
identifying their correct meaning in context
.
using these in conversation
.
making sentences using these words with the help of a substitution table
.
practising word sets
.
replacing these with synonyms in sentences
.
using vocabulary games
.
using word categories
.
word association.
Let us see how this can be accomplished. Given below are a few examples.
1 Make sentences using the following words: ‘surge’, ‘emotion’ and
‘tinge’.
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TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
2 Circle the meaning of the bold word.
Instead of feeling jubilant, there was a tinge of sadness.
(trace / scale / some)
3 Fill in the blank with the appropriate word.
As I stood atop the _______ of Everest, I was awed by the beauty that I
saw all around me
(summit / peaks / mound)
4 Complete the following dialogue. (Note that the dialogue can be used for
a role play later.)
Major
Ahluwalia:
I was overjoyed at the sight of snow. It had been a tough
climb, but reaching the _______ was exhilarating
Friend:
You must have been overjoyed
Major
Ahluwalia:
Oh! I was. However, that was not all! There was a _______ of
_____ too as there was nothing higher left!
5 Think of suitable synonyms to replace the bold words.
Standing at the summit, I looked over the panorama beneath us.
6 Make as many sentences as you can with the help of the given table. The
word ‘tinge’ can be used with colour or emotion
7 Look at the bold phrase and its meaning given in brackets. Now fill in
the blanks based on the meaning given in brackets.
Mountains are nature at its best. (Nature’s best form and appearance.)
Your life is __________. (In danger, you run the risk or losing your life.)
He was ___________/worst in the last meeting. (It was his best/worst
performance.)
8 Here is a list of four definitions of words:
◦
◦
◦
◦
arose suddenly and intensely
view of a wide area
very happy because of success
trace/shade.
Find the words that match these definitions in the excerpt below from the
NCERT Class VIII textbook Honeycomb.
24
6 Resources
Word network
You can select a word from the text and ask the students to develop a word
network by listing all the words that come to their mind when they see/read
the word listed. For example, you may choose the words ‘tree’ from the
poem in Case Study 1. This activity can be conducted in pairs or even
groups of four.
Word formation
1 See how the prefix ‘un–’ has been used below with a word from the
poem: ‘gracious’, ‘ungracious’.
25
TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
You can now go beyond the text and ask the students to use the prefix
‘un–’ with other words such as: ‘convinced’, ‘aware’, ‘burden’, ‘earth’
and ‘fold’.
Some other prefixes are: ‘ante–’, ‘auto–’, ‘inter–’, ‘miss–’, ‘per–’, ‘pre–’,
‘re–’, ‘sub–’, etc.
2 See how the suffix ‘–ness’ is used to form a new word: ‘still’, ‘stillness’.
You can now go beyond the text and ask the students to use the suffix ‘–
ness’ with other words such as: ‘careless’, ‘sad’, ‘cheerful’ and ‘close’.
Some other suffixes are: ‘–ed’, ‘–ful’, ‘–al’, ‘–less’, ‘–ity’, ‘–age’, ‘–er’,
‘–ee’, ‘–or’, etc.
Resource 4: Develop your own English
Here are some tips for developing your own vocabulary in English:
.
Read as much as you can in English (newspapers, magazines, books).
.
Try to use strategies you have learned about in this unit, such as guessing
words from the context and deciding which words are useful to learn.
.
If possible, find out how new words are pronounced and learn how they
are used.
.
Keep a vocabulary log – note down new words and revisit it often.
.
Keep a dictionary near you so that you can consult it whenever you need
to.
.
Play word games in English, such as crossword puzzles.
Here are some links to sites that are useful for developing vocabulary:
.
‘Grammar, vocabulary & pronunciation’ (BBC Learning English,
undated)
.
‘Vocabulary games’ (British Council, undated)
Resource 5: Further reading
Some articles about teaching vocabulary:
.
‘Vocabulary teaching: effective methodologies’ (Mehta, 2009)
.
‘Articles on vocabulary’ (TeachingEnglish, undated)
Some vocabulary activities:
.
26
‘Vocabulary activities’ (TeachingEnglish, undated)
7 Related units
7 Related units
.
TDU 4, Reading for understanding: You can learn more about strategies
for reading and understanding texts in this unit.
.
TDU 5, Reading different texts: You can learn more about strategies for
reading and understanding texts in this unit.
.
TDU 13, Assessment for learning: Vocabulary logs are useful to use as a
project or as assessment for learning. You can learn more about
assessment for learning in this unit.
27
TDU 11
Vocabulary in use
References
BBC Learning English (undated) ‘Grammar, vocabulary & pronunciation’
(online). Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/
learningenglish/language/ (accessed 2 August 2013).
Bond, D. (2013) ‘Test cricket: does the oldest form of the game have a future?’
(online), BBC, 29 July. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/
cricket/23494008 (accessed 1 August 2013).
British Council (undated) ‘Vocabulary games’ (online). Available from: http://
learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/vocabulary-games (accessed 2
August 2013).
Cambridge Dictionaries Online, http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ (accessed 2
August 2013).
Collins Dictionary (2013) ‘captious’ (online). Available from: http://www.
collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/captious (accessed 1 August 2013).
Gupta, S.P. (ed.) (2013) ‘Torch Bearers’, in English Class X, revised by
Upadhyay, K.D. Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar, UP: Banwari Lal Kaka & Sons
(Publishers).
Mehta, N.K. (2009) ‘Vocabulary teaching: effective methodologies’ (online), The
Internet TESL Journal, vol. XV, no. 3, March. Available from: http://iteslj.
org/Techniques/Mehta-Vocabulary.html (accessed 2 August 2013).
Merriam-Webster, http://www.merriam-webster.com/ (accessed 2
August 2013).
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2006a) Honeydew:
Textbook in English for Class VIII, National Council of Educational Research
and Training. Available from: http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/
textbook.htm (accessed 31 July 2013).
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2006b) Honeysuckle:
Textbook in English for Class VI, National Council of Educational Research and
Training. Available from: http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/
textbook.htm (accessed 31 July 2013).
Oxford Dictionaries, http://oxforddictionaries.com/ (accessed 2
August 2013).
Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.oed.com/ (accessed 2 August 2013).
TeachingEnglish, http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ (accessed 31
July 2013).
Thesaurus.com, http://thesaurus.com/ (accessed 2 August 2013).
28
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
The content of this teacher development unit was developed collaboratively
and incrementally by the following educators and academics from India and
The Open University (UK) who discussed various drafts, including the
feedback from Indian and UK critical readers: Kim Ashmore and Kirti
Kapur.
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made
available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ .
The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not
subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made
to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:
Case Study 1: dictionary extract adapted from Torch Bearers (Gupta, S.P.
(ed.), revised by Upadhyay, K.D. (2013), Noida: Gautam Buddha Nagar).
Poem: (A February Surprise’): from Honeydew: Textbook in English for
Class VIII (National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
(2008), New Delhi: India).
Case Study 2/Figure 1: clip art used with permission from Microsoft.
CCE logo: http://www.cbse.nic.in/.
Case Study 3: dictionary extract from Honeysuckle: Textbook in English for
Class VI, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT),
New Delhi: India.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the
necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
29