Vocabulary

Principles

Wean learners off direct translation Build networks of associations Learn new words in context Use pre, during, and post work to enhance knowledge Focus on pronunciation (stress) Conduct a variety of tasks to appeal to different learning styles Need multiple exposures to words Retrieve words from memory repeatedly Use words to express personally relevant meanings

Techniques Read and learn words in context (context clues) Word or topic webs – mind maps/clustering (e.g.

travel) Associations (e.g. big) Categories (e.g. food) Rank and sequence (e.g. small > medium > large) Flashcards (www.eslflashcards.com) Games (e.g. Scattergories) Illustrations, pictures, realia (e.g. durian) Collocations/Chunks (e.g. take a look) Grammatical classifications – parts of speech (i.e.

nouns, verbs . . .) Prefixes, root words suffixes (e.g. anti-bio-tic) Synonyms and antonyms (e.g. beautiful/pretty;

beautiful/ugly) Personal connection (i.e. how the word relates to

your life) Use the word in a sentence (i.e. use in a personally

meaningful way) Draw a picture Journal (e.g. Luminous Vocabulary) Mnemonic devices (e.g. egregious > egg-reach-us) Use a dictionary and/or thesaurus

(www.dictionary.com)

Lexical games

Memory Madness Scattergories Categories Taboo Word Hunt Mad Libs