5 Presenting vocabulary

ri1 Warm-upChoose one type of book to take to a country where you don't speak the language.

a a dictionary b a phrase book c a grammar reference book

Compare ideas with a partner. Explain your choice.

2 Work in groups ofthree. Readthe quotation. Doyou agree with Wilkins? Why?/Why not?

'The fact is that while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabularynothing can be conveyed.'

rn Form, meaning and useReadthese entries from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. What information is given about:

a the form of each wordb the meaning of each wordc the use of each word?

euphemism l'ju:.f:l.ml.z'mJ noun Ie or U] a word orphrase used to avoid saying an unpleasant or offensiveword: 'Senior citizen' is a euphemism for 'old person'.o The article made so much use of euphemism that oftenits meaning was unclear. euphemistic l,ju:.f:l'mIs.tlkladj ~up~emisticalJy l,ju:.f:l'mls.tI.k[il adv

eyeball l'al.b:>:l1 @ l-bo:11 verb [T) TNFORMAL to lookclosely at someone: He eyeballed me across the bar. "

heady I'hed.il adj having a powerful effect, making youfeel slightly drunk or excited: a heady wine/perfumeo In the heady days of their youth, they thought anythingwas possible.

2 Discusswhat it means to 'knowaword'.Forexample,what doyou need to knowinorder to use awordproductively(inspeaking orwriting)?

3 Whatare the implicationsofthe above for the teaching ofvocabulary?

Learning about form and meaningDictionaries are an effective way of learning vocabulary, particularly when learners are workingoutside the class, but there are many other ways that teachers can teach words and phrases.

1 Readthese lesson transcripts and complete the table below.a Beginners' class (1)

[Teacher holds up a picture of a doctor.]T: Listen: doctor - doctor. Say it.Class: Doctor[Teacher holds up a picture of a nurse.]T: Listen: nurse - nurse. Now you. Say it for me.Class: Nurse.[Teacher writes doctor and nurse on the board.]

b Beginners' class (2)T: [Teacher points to the door] Look - the door is open - open. [Teacher closes the door.]

Now the door is shut - shut. [Teacher opens the door.] Open. [Teacher closes thedoor.] Shut. Now you. Say it.

Sl: Open.T: No -look. Shut.Sl: Shut.T: Good - everyone.Class: Shut.[Teacher opens the door.]T: Now.Class: Open.[Teacher writes open and shut on the board.]

c False beginners' class[Teacher holds up a picture of a pilot.]T: Do you know what job this is? What does this person do?51: In a plane.T: Yeah, good, he flies a plane, but what is the word for his job?52: Driver.T: That's good - we can say that for a car or a train, but for a plane?2: Pilot.

Good - that's right - he's a pilot.[Teacher writes pilot on the board.]Elementary classS1: What means fruit /fri:t/?T: Pronunciation - /fru:t/ -like boot - can you say it?51: Fruit /fru:t/.T: Good - apples, oranges, bananas are types of fruit.1: Oh, yeah, OK - thank you.

e Intermediate classS1: Sorry,what does enormous mean?T: Does anyone know that word - enormous?S2: Big.T: Yeah, OK,just big? Or very big?S3: Verybig.T: That's right - very big.[Teacherwrites enormous on the board]

f Advanced classS1: It saysflattery here. What's that?T: It's when you say nice things to someone - usually because you want something from

them.

How is the meaning Is the spoken form How is the writtenconveyed? practised? form made clear?

a Beginners' class (1) by using pictures yes The teacher writes iton the board.

b Beginners' class (2)

c False beginners'class

d Elementary class

e Intermediate class

f Advanced class

2 Answerthe questions.

1 Aswell as pictures, what other ways of illustrating the meaning of a word could a teacheruse?

2 In the intermediate class (e), a learner asks a question but the teacher doesn't answer itimmediately. Why not, do you think?

3 work together. How would you teach these groups of words? You can use more than one method pergroup.

Group 1:a pet to put down (a pet) to vaccinate (intermediate class)Group 2: to dig to paint to saw (pre-intermediate class)Group 3: grape cherry strawberry (elementary class)Group 4: slap smack punch (upper-intermediate class)

f.!] Eliciting vocabulary1 work in pairs. Describe the different ways the teacher teaches the words doctor, nurse and pilot in section

C1 (a and c). Explain why the teacher uses different strategies.

2 Readthis advice for eliciting vocabulary. Which points are helpful?

a Tryto trick the learners or they will find it too easy.b Plan how you will elicit things before the lesson.

c Keep eliciting as simple and quick as possible.d Make sure you elicit everything; never give in and just tell the learners.e If the learners don't get the word quickly, try giving them the first sound of the word.

Compare ideas with a partner.

3 Suggest ways to elicit the following words:

a watch (noun) b game show c toflatter

Checking understanding1 Work in pairs. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques for checking that learners have

understood new words.

a The teacher asks a learner to translate the word (or phrase) into their own language.b The teacher asks Doyou understand?c The teacher asks the students to use the word in a sentence.d The teacher asks short, easy-to-answer questions. For example: If you are head over heels in

love, are you in love a lot, or a little bit?

Work in pairs. Read the lesson transcript.

a What is the purpose of the teacher's questions?b Complete the students' answers (1-6).c What do you notice about the answers?

The teacher has just taught the word shoplift, and given the example sentence The kids wereught shoplifting sweets.

Didthe kids pay for the sweets?s: 1

Isthis a crime?2

T: Can you shoplift a washing machine?3Can you shoplift a watch?4So, is shoplifting used about very bigthings?5Can it be used about very valuable things?6

_ --- t ese questions for checking the understanding.of handbag. Cross out the ones that aren't useful.

_ - ';hat colour is this handbag?;;)0 you put big things or small things in a handbag?

- ~ men and women use them, generally?~ you like this handbag?. uld a handbag be used every day, or just when you are travelling?

4 Readthe sentences and write questions to check understanding of the bold words and phrases.

a She picked up her briefcase and left.(The teacher is worried that 'briefcase' will be confused with 'suitcase'.)

b Could you give me a hand with the housework?(The teacher is worried that the learners will not realise that 'give me a hand' is informal.)

c The car was a write-off after the accident.d Houses are often more expensive near the coast.e What have you done? Why are you limping?

o Practising vocabularyWork in groups. Discuss the differences between the three practice activities (a-c) below.

1 What level is each activity suitable for?2 Which activities could be set for homework?3 How long would each activity take to do?4 Which skills (reading, writing, listening or speaking) does each activity practise?a The learners discuss transport problems and developments in their own countries.b Learners work in small groups. The teacher gives each group a set of cards with one of the

target words written on each card. One learner must take a card and can use mime,drawings, definitions, relationships with other words, or any other means to elicit the wordfrom the other members of her group.

c The teacher prepares a gap-fill exercise and the learners have to complete the sentences withthe target words and phrases. For example: An accident on a motorway often leads to long

............... (answer: traffic jams).

[!1 Classroom application: microteachingWork in groups. Your trainer will give you a set of words to teach to the class.

How will you convey the meaning of the words? How will you make both the written and spoken forms clear? How will you check that the words have been understood?

When you have prepared what you want to do, teach the words to the class.

Im1i!IiiItDrWork in groups. Think about the lesson you helped to prepare. Discuss the questions.

a Did the mini lesson proce~d as you imagined? '"r ..... .......: .... .:_ b Was there anything about the plan that you could have improved?c How do you think it would have been different with 'real' language learners?d. Did you learn anything from the way in which thepther groups approached the task?