Nowadays a lot of English teachers work with “New Millennium English” at schools. This textbook is really a textbook of new millennium, because it contains material about our real modern life. Students like working with this coursebook. But I think that number of vocabulary exercises presented almost in every lesson are only enough for strong students (for students with good linguistic abilities). These students can use words freely in speech, they don’t forget words. However week students (students with bad linguistic abilities) don’t remember many words from different units usually. Week students can’t communicate with strong students freely because of words limit.
I observed my teaching and learning processes focussed on using by students different words in speech.
Having done it I saw such situation: I gave listening, reading, speaking, writing tasks but only strong students coped with them. I think it happened because vocabulary of week students was not rich enough. Sometimes students forgot words, which they studied in previous units. That is why they often could not express their opinions freely. However, all students liked doing listening, reading tasks. Students liked topics for speaking and writing tasks. Nevertheless, only half of students (strong students) could use all lexical material presented in “New Millennium English – 8”.
I started thinking about why another half of students (week students) forgot words, which they have studied at lesons earlier. I asked myself: “What to do?” I decided to use a student’s questionnaire. After analyzing student’s questionnaire I understood that week students want the teacher to add more vocabulary exercises, sometimes to implement whole lessons focussed on vocabulary.
After that I evaluated “New Millennium English – 8” in terms of lexical tasks and made such a conclusion: 3 vocabulary exercises are enough only for strong students. After doing these exercises strong students will be ableto communicate very well with each other.But for week students doing only 3 lexical exercises is not enough.
I started thinking how I can improve this situation.
First, I read a book “700 classroom activities” by D. Seymour and M.Popover, a book “Working with words: a guide to teaching and learning vocabulary” by Regains and S.Redman, a book “Vocabulary” by J. Morgan and M.Involucres, a book “Assessing vocabulary” by J. Read. Authors wrote about techniques for teaching new words. For example: using real things, matching, guessing from the context, demonstrating, synonyms, translating, dictionaries, using of new word in speech, lexical games and others.
Having read this literature, I got great support for my idea.
I would like to reduce teacher’s difficulties in teaching vocabulary. I would like to suggest teachers different ways of introducing and practicing words because all English teachers want their students to speak English freely.
Demonstrative Sample (NME 8th grade Unit 1 Lesson 1)
Teacher can divide this lesson into 2 parts. The first part is devoted to vocabulary lesson. Because I want students to memorize words more freely before writing exercise at the end of this lesson.
The first part:
Students of 8th grade know some words of the theme “Holiday time”. And teacher before working with a coursebook can suggest to students doing crossword (words from a coursebook 6th grade). Teacher divides class into 2 teams. Teacher asks students to guess words (Which team can guess the words quicker?). Teacher gives out the students handouts with words and students fill in them (it looks like a game “FIELD of WONDERNESS”).
Плавать _____________________________________________ key – swimmimg
Делать песочные замки_________________________________ key – make
sandcastles
Читать книги_________________________________________ _ key – read books
Кушать мороженое_____________________________________ key – eat an ice
cream
Путешествовать ________________________________________ key – travel
Навещать бабулю_______________________________________ key – visit granny
Взбираться ____________________________________________ key – go climbing
Кататься на велосипеде_________________________________ key – ride a
bicycle
Загорать ______________________________________________ key – sunbathe
Играть в футбол ________________________________________ key – play
football
Then teacher asks students about how they and their families spent free time on summer (T – St: How did you and your families spend free time on summer?). Students answer the teacher: “My brother and I played football every morning” etc. Then teacher tells the students: “By the end of the lesson you’ll have enlarged your vocabulary about theme “Holiday time”. Let’s do exercise 1a on page 4. It is matching exercise with help of pictures. This exercise is enough only for strong students. But for weak students I would like to add matching exercise again.
Match words:
Go roller skating_________________________________ решать
кроссворды
Do jigsaw puzzles ________________________________ ехать на роликах
Watch a show at a water
park___________________ ехать
на мотоцикле
Go on a activity holiday___________________________ ходить в поход
Sunbathe _____________________________________ смотреть шоу в водном
парке
Go on roller coasters______________________________ заниматься
подводным плаванием
Go scuba diving______________________________
ходить на деятельный
праздник
Go camping____________________________________ ходить на американские
горки
Demostrative Sample NME 8th grade Unit 1 Lesson (continued from previous page)
After that students work with a workbook (exercise 1 on page 3). Students find odd word. (I scooter bike sunbathing) etc. Then students are divided into 4 teams and do next crossword “Find a word”:
| Scubavbnjghfgjigsawpuzzledfghjkkuytfrdfghgo
campingetyioyuthdksunbathinggocampingdffhgjghfgfdivingfgfhfjgj Sdfsgdkfhfgfewhghjkscootergfhgkgkhrollerskatingerfjglhhfhgswimmingfggjgkgutfcoastersfgfgkjghwaterghgkghjgk Watchashowatawaterparkdgfkglhjghfggoonaactivityholidayvm bb,bmvn etc |
Then students answer teachwe’s questions about what kind of holiday activities their family like (T – St: What kind of holiday activities does your like?). Students answer about their family’s preferences. For example: My father does jigsaw puzzles in the evening.,etc.
Then students work with their books. They do exercise 1b on page4. Then teacher suggests students to work in groups. Teacher can divide students into 4 groups. Each group gets 2 cards with secret words. Before lesson teacher prepares 9 cards with secret sentences. After reading sentences students must guess the meaning of word – combinations.
- Card 1 (sunbathe): You go to the beach every summer. And there you put a big towel on the sand. You put off your clothes and then you lie under the sun. can you guess the word?
- Card 2 (ride a scooter): If you want to feel a large speed, you can sit on a motorcucle and ride, ride and ride… Motorcycle is a synonym of this word.
- Card 3 (go roller skating): It looks like figure skating
- Card 4 (do jigsaw puzzle): If you like doing it, you buy a box with many pieces of different pictures. You sit at the table with your friend or alone and gather these pieces into a big picture.
- Card 5 (watch a show at a water park): We often watch TV show at home. Where else can we watch a show? What can we watch at a water park?
- Card 6 (go on a activity holiday): On what kind of holiday do you go if you take care about your healthy style of life?
- Card 7 (go scuba diving): If you want to do it, you put on diving – suit and dive into the water.
- Card 8 (go on rollercoasters): If you likeextreme life, you go to the attraction, may be in the park…
- Card 9 (go camping): If you like healthy style of life, you go to countryside on weekend. You go there by foot. There you can have an active weekend.
After that teacher asks students to play the last game “Word clap”. Students must clap their hands and tell words of this lesson. Then teacher tells students to create crossword with new words of this lesson at home.
The second part of this lesson: Teacher starts this part with listening task. It is an exercise 3c on page 5. After doing this exercise teacher asks students some questions:
- Sasha, did you sunbathe in summer? If a bou agrees, teacher can ask him:
- How did you sunbathe in summer? (Sasha can answer: “I sunbathed lazily”), etc.
I think after this vocabulary lesson all students (strong and weak) can write a letter about “How I spent summer holidays” using new words without difficulties.
Demonstrative Sample (NME 8th grade Unit 1 lesson 2)
This lesson develops spiking skills. There are 2 parts in this lesson: reading + speaking. Before each part there are vocabulary exercises. Look at vocabulary exercises before reading tasks: students can’t do its, because they do not know words, which mean the names of fingers.
I suggest to add next exercises before doing exercises in the coursebook: Teacher shows to students his fingers – (T – St: the index finger, the thumb… etc). Students show their index fingers, the thumbs… etc. Then students do exercise 1a on page 7. After that teacher does brainstorming – (T – St: “Tell me verbs which we can show with help of fingers” ). Students remember verbs: show, push, clean, wash, open, close, etc. Then they show these actions and tell what fingers they use. Then students do exercise 1b on page 7.
After that students do reading tasks. They do exercise 2a and 2b on pages 7 – 8. Then students do exercise 5 on page 4 in a workbook. After they do exercises 2c on page 8, 3a and 3b on page 9 in a cousebook. I would like to add next exercise for using these words in speech, in practice by students:
Teacher asks students:
- Do you like to truant from school?
- Do you truant from home?
- Why do teens truant from somebody who looks after them (parents, grandparents…etc)?
- Are you a player? What player are you?
- Are you a computer game player?
- Are you an addicted player?
- Do you know teens addicted to playing computer games?
- Why do teens play on computer games for more than 30 hours a week?
These questions prepare students to speaking tasks about advantages and disadvantages of playing video or computer games.
Demonstrated Sample (NME 8th grade Unit 1 Lesson 3)
I think after exercise 1a on page 10 teacher should suggest to students to do exercise
2a and 2b on page 11 and then to do exercise 1b on page 10. Because exercises 2a and 2b
help students to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words in the text (exercise 1b on
page 10). But I want to add some vocabulary exercises for strong and weak students for
practical use of these words in real speech by students.
Exercises for weak students:
1) Find a meaning of the word in the dictionary
2) Match the words:
Reasoning – поведение
Judgement – мышление
Develop – связь
Connection – развивать
Behaviour – суждение
3) Create word – combinations with these words (own)
Exercises for strong students:
- Guess the meaning of words through the context
Connection – Mobile connection
Behaviour – Some students disorder the lesson, because of their bad behaviour
Develop – People should exercise their brains, they should develop their brains
- Guess the meaning of these words through synonims – for example: reasoning or a thinking process (teacher shows on her head), judgement or opinion or a view
- Do exercise 2b on page 11
- Create own sentences with these words
All students play a game “Who knows words better?”
Students are divided into 2 teams. Student from each team step by step goes ahead and tells a word. If he does not know a word, student from other team tells a word and does a step ahead. After these vocabulary exercises students do reading task (exercise 1b on page 10) quickly. They read sentences with words in bold and translate them into Russian (weak students translate words and strong students check them
Demonstrative Sample (NME 8th grade Unit 1 lesson 4)
In this lesson there are 2 vocabulary exercises: 2a and 2b on page 13. These exercises prepare students to listening tasks. However, it is not enough for weak students for deep understanding of these words. That is why I would like to add some vocabulary evercises for these students.
Look at exercise 2a on page 13.
Weak students choose the right translation for the words in bold and strong students
check them and say in English the other phrases. As an example: word “to pretend” has
2 variants in translatiants in translation (притворяться, хотеть). Weak
students choose a variant «притворяться», and strong students say in English
«хотеть» – “want” (the aim – to revise a word for themselves). Then
weak students do exercise 2b on page 13 and strong students create their own sentences
with these words.
Then strong students try to pantomime these sentences. Teacher can give them a task:
“Pantomime these sentences”:
- When I don’t want to get up at 7 o’clock in the morning, I pretend to sleep. (a student shws a picture “7 o’clock in the morning” another student pantomimes how he pretends to sleep. Weak students guess the meaning of the word)
- Double check, then cut something (A student has a ruller, a pencil in his hands. He draws a line and cuts a paper. But it is wrong. He throws that paper on the floor. And draws a line again)
- You see a crying girl. You touch her hand and tell her: “Don’t get upset…” (A student touches girl’s hand and another student comments: “You see a crying girl. You touch her hand and tell …”. Weak students guess the word.)
Then teacher suggests students to play a game “Which team knows better these words?” (students are divided into 2 teams. 2 students from different teams stand opposite a teacher near the wall. They must go to the teacher step by step and say any word in other version. Rest students tell them words in English or in Russian. If a student translates this word in the right way he makes astep to the teacher. If a student does not know a right translation a student from other team can do it.
After that a teacher can suggets students to guess new expressions. Teacher divides students in some groups and gives groups word cards and students dramatize them using gestures and mimes. Other groups guess new expressions after students’ acting.
Word cards: to avoid, to recognize, to connect with, make sure, to feel happy.
I think these additional vocabulary exercises help students to do other tasks of the lesson quickly.
Demonstrative Sample (NME 8th grade Unit 1 Lesson 5 – 6 )
In this lesson there are 2 vocabulary exercises. These exercises help students to do reading tasks. I suggest teachers to start leson 5 with developing of vocabulary skills then to do reading task: exercise 2a on page 17.
Teacher introduces new words: (to spend on, to be tired of, to judge by, to go out, to be on a diet, to worry about, because of). Teacher gives students an opportunity to understand the meaning of the words guessing from the context, using synonyms and through the dictionary.
To spend on – “Your mother goes to the shop and buy food or clothes. She
buys food in the shop or she spends money on food in the shop.”
To worry about – “Your father does not come home on time. And your mother
starts thinking about why he does not come. She worries about him”
To judge by – Students understand the meaning of the verb with help of noun
“judgement” or through the context: “ People should not judge people by their
clothes”
To be on a diet – the synonym of this word is “not to eat everything”
To go out – Teacher tells students: “Look at me. I am here. I am going
out…”
To be tired of – “A person likes doing nothing. And then he was tired of
being lazy.”
Because of – “Sometimes parents do not understand their children because of
their differences in age”.
Then weak students do exercise 3a on page 18 and strong students create own sentences with these words and one by one (as a chain) tell these sentences to the teacher. After that weak students do matching exercise and strong students check them.
To spend on – беспокоиться о
To be tired of – уставать
To judge by – из-за
Because of – судить по
To go out – выходить
To be on a diet – тратить на
To worry about – быть на диете
Then students play a game “Clap your hands”.
After that teacher asks students some questions for practicing these words in speech:
- On what do you like to spend your money?
- Are you worry about your family’s health?
- Many people say we should not judge people by their clothes. What do you think about this?
- Are you on a diet? Have you ever been on a diet?
- Are you tired of homework?
Then students do reading tasks from the coursebook.
FINAL TASK FOR STUDENTS – CREATING A STORY:
I suggest students to write a story. Teacher divides students into some groups (groups of strong students and grpups of weak students).Groups of strong students create a story using words from unit 1 Lessons 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 . Groups of weak students create a story using words from Unit 1 (any lesson).