1. From Boring Vocab to Fun Vocab
Emily Wong, M.A.
International Programs

2. Turn-and-Talk
1. How did your teachers teach vocabulary? Did you find it effective? 2. What are some problems with teaching vocabulary?
Give a list All pure memorization
forget immediately after a test, boring

3. Overview of the Workshop
1. Introduce 6 interactive activities 2. Discuss the advantages and possible limitations of each activity 3. Participate in the activities 4. Web resources 5. Q&A

4. Teachers’ typical methods
Definitional Approach (Nagy, 1988)
What is it?
What is the problem with using this method?
Students look up words in the dictionary and just memorize
Students might choose the wrong definition, students don’t know how to use the word
Example: Bold
Most popular way
personality -
not afraid of taking risks
colors -
very bright or sharp, easily noticeable
thinking -
imaginative

5. Teachers’ typical methods
Contextual Approach (Nagy, 1988)
What is it?
What is the problem with using this method?
Students look at the words surrounding the vocab word and try to guess the meaning
Context clues might also be vocabulary words, real reading passages don’t have context clues
Example:
The insurers devised the categories as a way of forcing property owners to bear more of the risk of catastrophic storms, without raising overall premiums to unaffordable levels.
Teachers try this all the time, but seems ineffective even though it’s necessary esp for ppl taking toefl, toeic, ielts

6. Solution: Find interactive ways to learn and review vocab
When students have fun, they remember things better (within 15 minutes)

7. Type of activities
2 Reading Activities 2 Vocabulary Warm-up Activities 2 Big Vocabulary Review Activities

8. *Knowledge Rating Chart*
reading activity #1
*Knowledge Rating Chart*
Preview a reading passage and select a group of vocabulary words to put on the chart.
Have students rate their level of understanding of the word
Put students in groups of 2-3 to compare charts
Page 2

9. Your turn!
After trying it, what did you feel were some advantages? Are there any potential problems?

10. *Knowledge Rating Chart* Advantages
1) Students can acknowledge what they know and don’t know 2) When students work in groups, they can teach each other
Sometimes, a group might not know any words and this activity would be useless. It’s best to have groups of stronger and weaker students

11. *Knowledge Rating Chart* Extensions
Provide the sentence that includes the vocabulary word. Students can look at the word in context and recognize the part of speech.
2. When students finish group discussion, provide a sheet of correct definitions.
15 minutes
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12. Page 4/5 reading activity #2 *Stop! Vocab*
Preview a reading passage and highlight potential vocabulary words.
Replace vocabulary words with simpler synonyms or phrases
Read the altered passage with the students. Tell them to yell “Stop!” every time they see something different
Give students an opportunity to try in pairs
Review definitions
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13. Your turn!
After trying it, what did you feel were some advantages? Are there any potential problems?

14. *Stop! Vocab* Advantages
1) Very student centered activity. All students are participating with either reading the passage or listening to the partner 2) Students learn new vocabulary without the teacher prompting the answers

15. Page 6 Warm-up Activity #1 *Find your partner*
Write a vocab word on one sheet and the definition on another sheet
Pass one sheet (vocab or definition) to each student
Students stand up and find their partner
Review definitions all together
Page 6

16. Your turn!
After trying it, what did you feel were some advantages? Are there any potential problems?

17. *Find your partner* Advantages
1) Encourages movement around the classroom 2) Very short activity (no more than 10 minutes)

18. *Find your partner* Extensions
When students find their partners, they have to make a sentence together using the word.
Instead of using the definition, use a fill-in-the-blank sentence.
Page 6

19. Page 7 Warm-up Activity #2 *Line Talking*
Make interesting questions using the vocabulary words
Each student gets one question
Students form two lines facing each other
Students get 2-3 minutes to ask and answer the questions
One line moves and question/sharing repeats
Page 7

20. Your turn!
After trying it, what did you feel were some advantages? Are there any potential problems?

21. *Line Talking* Advantages
1) Very student centered activity. All students talk at once. 2) Depending on the question, students can learn a lot of new things about their classmates
Disadvantage: some students finish quicker than others

22. *Line Talking* Extensions
Give students the opportunity to make the questions

23. Big Vocab Review Activity #1
*Taboo Bag*
Write vocab words on small sheets of paper. Put them all in a small bag.
Put students in groups of 4-5. The game has 3 rounds
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Student takes one word from the bag and tries to explain the word for classmates to guess. Rotate bag around.
Put all the words back in the bag. Student takes one word and tries to explain it using ONE WORD. Rotate the bag around.
Put all the words back in the bag. Student takes one word and tries to explain the word using ACTIONS or appropriate sounds.
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24. Your turn!
After trying it, what did you feel were some advantages? Are there any potential problems?

25. *Taboo Bag* Advantages
1) Students have 3 chances to review the definitions of a word 2) Students learn to be creative in their ways of explaining a word instead of just using the definition 3) Some students learn/remember better with movement
Disadvantage: some students finish quicker than others

26. Big Vocab Review Activity #1
*Vocab Board Game*
1. Go to Rachel’s website
to print a board sheet
2. Fill in the squares with 3
categories:
Def – definition
TF – true/false
FB – fill-in-the-blank
MC – multiple choice
WF – word form
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27. Materials

28. Def MC TF *Vocab Board Game* Front: Question Back: Answer
3. For each category, make
12-16 questions
4. When you print:
Def MC TF
Front: Question
Back: Answer

29. *Vocab Board Game* 5. Put questions in their respective envelopes
6. Teach students how to make game pieces out of post-it notes
7. Enjoy watching students have fun!

30. Your turn!
After trying it, what did you feel were some advantages? Are there any potential problems?

31. *Vocab Board Game* Advantages
1) It is very personal to your class and lessons 2) All students learn at once. The one playing has to guess. At the same time, the other students can review by looking at the answer 3) Students almost always have fun 4) This kind of board game works on more than just vocab (reading and grammar too!) and you can save it to reuse over and over again!
Disadvantage: REALLY time consuming to make: show short cut with printing answers, but once it is made, can be reused over and over again

32. Page 11 Resources - Emily’s website - Rachel’s website
Page 11

33. Q & A