Rose Said:

Do you go out of your way to teach your children new vocabulary words?

We Answered:

yeah, the words of this week are brouhaha, soporific, sophomoric, hullabaloo, catastrophic.
And i had to throw in phospholipid bi-layer when my daughter was cast in an in-class play about cells.
Even though she was just the Golgi Apparatus.
But still, it's the principle of the thing, pdooma.

Timothy Said:

For High School English Teachers: Do you have an interesting way to teach Grammar/ and or Vocabulary?

We Answered:

There is this series called Grammar with a Giggle. I know there are several books in the series and probably one for more intermediate students like the ones you have.
It is a book that has stories in it and it's one long continuous story. Students daily or every other day work the continuation of the story while fixing errors.

Timothy Said:

Does anyone have some fun ways to teach vocabulary to ESL students? ?

We Answered:

Depending all the grade level you could play around the world. Where you ask them to translate the word into the language that your teaching them one student gets up and moves to the next student in their row and the person that answers first gets to move on and so on. The person that wins could a reward.

Angel Said:

Does anyone have any great ideas to teach vocabulary to second graders?

We Answered:

At that age, children like to play more than they like to learn, o it is important to make learning fun. A vocabulary game I used with my elementary age kids was called "Transformation, Mutation." The goal was for children to understand that a single word could be transformed into a different part of speech, for example, the verb "transport" could be made into "Transportation" or the word "Concentration" could be made into the verb "concentrate." To make sure that the kids understood the word, they were asked to use the word in a sentence. Depending on the class dynamics, this game can be played individually or in teams. Another alternative is to "sing the words in rhythm." The students would tap their lap on one beat, then clap their hands on the next beat, and be required to come up with a word on one of the beats. Then it would go to the next person in the circle. There are lots of variations on this game.
Charades is also fun to teach vocabulary (especially if it is verbs that you are teaching.)

Another fun game that I used was "the fishing game." This game is played in 2 teams. I put the vocab words on flashcards, eachone attached to a paper clip. Then I called out a definition of the word or a synonym and the two "fishers" on each team had to try to retrieve the word first. Whicever team correctly got the word got a point. Every student had a chance to be a fisher, because they waited in a line. The students really liked this game and often had no idea that they were learning vocabulary.

The most important thing is to make it fun.

Frank Said:

How can I quickly and easily teach vocabulary?

We Answered:

Use the words. Assign your students to use at least 15 of their vocab words in every one of your classes. This will force the kids to truly understand the words and it will be fun seeing what kind of sentences they come up with. Play matching games with the terms and their meanings. Put the terms on your students back. Then the students can only give each other the definitions to help them figure out which term they have on their back. Play hot potato where you toss a big bean bag around. When someone catches the bag you yell out a term or a definition. The student has to quickly answer or he has to keep playing (it pays to be the smart one because then you can get out of the spotlight, and the ones who need more practice keep playing).

Frances Said:

What is the best way to teach grammar to students who are very poor in vocabulary.?

We Answered:

In my opinion grammar and vocabulary are two seperate concepts- while vocabulary is interlinked with grammar- they essentially are two seperate skills. Vocabulary is a part of comprehension- being able to understand what you are reading or hearing. However, they are interlinked. I am not sure what age students you are referring to, so I appologize ahead of time if I don't address your question directly.

First, I feel exposure is key. It is important to be a good example. Use proper grammar, and expose them to new vocabulary words in your speech. If a word might be over their head, explain. For example, if you were talking to your class about a difficult problem solving activity, you might say: "Hey guys, I know this problem is tricky- the important thing is to perservere, the more strategies we try, the closer we are to understanding....what do I mean by persevere? When I say persevere I mean to keep at it, and keep trying- even when you feel like quitting... so we need to persevere til' we can come to a solution"

As far as their grammar, you can teach them specific rules, through writing exercises; however, you can also teach them in context. When someone uses improper grammar, don't point it out directly, rephrase what they are saying. For example, a student says "they be playing in the hallway", you say, "who", they say "joe shmoe and suzy q", you say "oooh ok so you are telling me that Joe shmoe and suzy q are playing in the hallway?"

if your students come from homes where proper grammar is not used, and they feel that the way they talk is appropriate, you may want to explain that there are two ways they need to be able to speak: 1. The casual way at home and with friends 2. the professional way- using proper grammar at school and in the work place. Both are fine to use, as long as when they are at school and at work, they use proper professional grammar.

Read aloud to them, and make sure they are reading often as well. The more they are exposed to proper grammar, it becomes natural. This also opens up room for vocabulary lessons- helping them understand words in the context of a book. Sometimes I just explain things like, "despair" is just a fancy way of saying "sadness". Then I may make it a point to use the word as often as I can- I may say jokingly, and dramatically, "I was soooo full of despair yesterday- (a fake cry), when you weren't here yesterday"

Make vocabulary fun! If in conversation they use words like, "trippin'", "wack", "stupid", make them come up with a definition and synonyms- and make a poster. Explain, from now on, while you are in this classroom, istead of saying those slang words, they will use professional speech- (explain the importance- communication with jobs, going on an interview, being able to get your message across so that people understand)and use the words they came up with in their definition. I just thought of this, but you could make a synonym board: pick one word out of each of their pieces of writing, and put it on a bulletin board.... One side of the board could be labeled "YOU SAY...","....BUT WE SAY..." (we as in our class) so if a 5th grader is still using the word big, have them come up with another word for big like "gigantic", on one notecard they write "big", on another notecard they write "gigantic" then they place each card on the appropriate side of the board. Having them buy into this "we" is important part of hte process too- starting that classroom community from the get go is key- We are a supportive classroom- We are going to make it through the year- We are going to be better for it- We are going to make a difference- We are smart- We are the best...thats why they put you in my class- the office and teachers hand picked you to be in here because they knew that this is the best class to be in....so they picked the best students to be assigned to this classroom- we have to hold up our reputation of hard working individuals, and sucessful people. We have to be on top of our game- We have to use the very best words to get our ideas across to other people, because everyone in here has SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY- we need to make sure other people take it seriously- that's why you're in here.

Some skills just have to be taught specificially- nouns, pronouns, adjectives, ect. There are some good books, they are in my classroom so i cant remember them specifically but it was something like.. Punctuation Takes a Vacation, and Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs Go on Vacation. They are great books to use to illustrate the importance of each part of grammar.

One last activity- Come up with a list of nouns, subjects, predicates, verbs, times, and adjectives. Type them up, part of speech a different color. Put each type in a seperate cup. Students can pull one strip from each cup, and make silly sentences- while the sentences may not make sense, they will have each part that makes it a complete sentence. The kids really love it, and love illustrating their sentences. Sometimes it is hard to make the cards flow.... but set them ups so the kids plug the cards in order. Depending on what colors you choose to make each sentence part- You would just let them know... first is purple, then black, blue, yellow, green, and then orange. They will get the flow of it. Have a diagram and example- let them practice. There is a book with a good list of each type of sentence part, and funny parts that really entertain the kids- i Just cant remember what it is called. Even if you teach highschool- this would be a great activity to jumpstart the year- they would love it- sometimes even highschool kids need simple activities like this- and they will buy in to the whole process.

I dont' know if any of that is helpful, but good luck. Remember teach the specific skills, but make it fun! They will buy in to it! Integrate it into casual conversations with the kids- guide them, and be a good example!