THE 5 TH VTTN CONFERENCE CHALLENGES and CHANGE in ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Hanoi – Saturday, January 17 th 2009

HOW TO MAKE VOCABULARY LEARNING FUN FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS A WORKSHOP By NGUYEN NGOC MINH TRANG JANUARY 2009

Problems Students need lots of vocabulary, especially in the early stages of learning English, to increase their ability and confidence in communicating in English. However, learning vocabulary is never easy for learners. Teachers who motivate the students learning English need to make learning vocabulary a fun, involving and active process.

OBJECTIVES The workshop aims to: Provide participants with the process of young learners acquiring vocabulary. Provide participants with motivating techniques and practical classroom ideas for practicing and reviewing vocabulary.

Outline 1.What young learners learn vocabulary 2.Techniques and practical classroom ideas for practicing and reviewing vocabulary

What young learners learn

Learning vocabulary vocabulary Meaning of the word (what it means) Form of the word (how it is pronounced) Contextualizing of the word (When it is used) Expanding the word (vocabulary development) recycling the word

Techniques and classroom ideas for practicing and reviewing vocabulary Games Activities

Games and Activities Card passing Concentration Bingo Finding places Word games Story Scramble Spelling check Listening and writing

Ice breaker games And we walk to the left And we walk to the right And we walk(2 times) And we walk all night With the heel and the toe And the half turn around With the heel and the toe And the good friend found.

1. Card passing Before class: prepare some teachers cards In class: Revise the words Have sts read and pass the cards Extension: The game can be changed into competition one

2. Concentration Before class: make a set of picture cards and word cards for each group In class: Sts are in groups of six Ts give two sets of picture cards to each group and place them facedown in random order on the desk Sts turn over two cards and find two identical cards( st read the word whenever st turn over the card)

3. Bingo Before class: Prepare some picture cards In class: Have sts make three rows of three sts each Give the card to each st The volunteer in each group call the number and say the word The first sts to cover three squares across, down, or diagonally wins the game

4. Finding places Before class: - Prepare the dices with picture of places on each side of the dice. - Prepare 6 bowls of beads In class: Divide the class into group of six, have each group stand under the name of the group(at the bus stop, at the bakery,…) Each group throws the dice and moves to another place. In each place, sts need to pick up some beads( Sts repeat the words while moving)

Where are you? At the bus stop : green At the train station : yellow At the airport : white At the bakery :pink At the bookstore :blue At the factory :purple

5.Word games FoodPlacesSportsActivities

6. Story It was Sunday. Emily didnt go to school. She called her friend, Jenny but Jenny wasnt at home. She was ____. She watched TV. The film was boring. Then she took a long nap. When she woke up, she had a cough…hm…hm and a run nose. She was _____ and ____. There was a bell ring at the door. Matt, Jenny came. Emily met her friends. She was ______.

How do you feel? Sad Tired Sick Bored Tired

7. Scramble Before class: prepare some word cards In class: Work in the whole class Revise the words of weekend activities Have sts make a big circle in which there is one st (the caller) in the center The caller calls out two or three words of weekend activities at random Sts stand and exchange seats, they have to race with the st in the center to get a seat

Weekend activities Play basketball Walk the dog Go fishing Listen to music Go out to eat Make a cake Draw pictures Plant flowers Go swimming Read a book Play soccer Make dinner Go shopping Vacuum the carpet Watch TV eat out

8. Spelling check Before class: Prepare the paper of word cards In class: Work in groups of 6 One st will be a caller. He/ She calls a word and the others will point. The next caller is the person who catches the word first

9. Listening and writing Before class: Paper A4, wordcards In class: Work in groups of 6 Listen to music and pass the paper around the group. When teacher stops music, Sts stop passing, hear the word from the teacher and then write down.

Thank you Games for teachers AEFHILMNOPSTUWY

PLEASEAL W AYSSMILEWITH LIFESOIT w ILLSMILE W I THYOU W ISHYOUHAPPINESS

References The TKT course book Lets go teacher book Primary English Language Teaching Training course Teach English - Trainers handbook, Adrian Doff Maths & science workshop in HCM city for games for teachers Teachers from Nanyang University, Singapore for ice-breaker song.