language acquisition

How to Make Vocabulary Instruction FUN!

February 13, 2014 Anne Yale Leave a Comment

As teachers, we are often exhorted to liven up instruction and “make it fun.” However, I’ve read very few articles in serious professional journals about just how, exactly, we are supposed to do that. But let’s not let that stop us. Making vocabulary instruction fun is often simply a matter of finding the right material. “What’s ‘fun’ about learning new words?” you ask. Well, for starters, words are the basis for humor: jokes, puns, wordplay, banter, and witty repartee all rely heavily on the use (and sometimes, misuse) of language. Not only that, but jokes and other forms of verbal humor go a long way toward helping students grasp the concepts (meanings, denotations, and connotations) behind complex vocabulary words, because they serve to illustrate them in a memorable fashion. Here are three quick ideas that can easily be incorporated into routine vocabulary instruction:

Have you heard the one about – the teacher who collects jokes to elucidate vocabulary words? Say, for example, the vocabulary word under review is indolent. A sampling of “indolent” jokes might sound like the opening monologue on a late-night television show, and go something like this: “Have you heard the one about the guy who was so indolent that he hates emptying the trash in the recycle bin on his computer? Man, it’s bad. How bad? He’s so indolent, he throws his kisses. That’s how bad it is. He’s so indolent, he came in last place in a snail marathon! You get the picture?” Bah-dump-bump! Jokes like these are easily found all over the internet, and can be adapted fairly quickly for instructional use. I searched for jokes about “laziness” and got a million of ’em. Replace “lazy” with “indolent” and voila! A comedy routine to fit the occasion is born.

Worth a thousand words – another teacher I know collects illustrative cartoons. I, myself, am partial to this method. I read the comics pages of the newspaper (in print!) every day, scouring them for the presentation of relevant vocabulary words. One of my favorites is Bizarro, by Dan Piraro, because of the frequency with which he uses words that come up in vocabulary instruction. For instance, the prefix pseudo– recently came up in my classroom, as in: pseudonym, pseudoscience, or pseudoclassic. By a stroke of pure luck, I had just seen a Bizarro cartoon with a man on a subway explaining to the woman next to him that he was “hooked on Pseudoku — sort of like Sudoku, but not exactly.” I clipped the cartoon and shared it with my students. They got the meaning of pseudo- right away, and a good laugh!

Word play – if the teacher is having way too much fun with words, the students will have no choice but to join in the festivities, and who doesn’t enjoy a good pun? One of the most fun things about the English language, puns require a nuanced understanding of meaning, and the skilled application of that nuanced understanding of meaning for effect, and because of that, they up the ante from other forms of humor. Puns such as this one, “A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal,” could be mobilized in a discussion of the vocabulary word recidivist, for example.

In any case, making vocabulary instruction fun for students is not solely a matter of finding material they can connect with. It’s also a matter of letting them in on the act. Ask students to join you in a BOLO (“Be On the Look-Out”) for jokes, puns, and cartoons that help illustrate the vocabulary words that the class is studying. An even more ambitious project might include inviting students to write their own jokes or puns, or draw their own cartoons. In the final evaluation, a little word play only makes vocabulary instruction that more effective, because the rate at which students retain complex vocabulary words goes up when it can be said that “a good time was had by all.”

Creating A Language-Rich Environment

November 3, 2013 Anne Yale Leave a Comment

“Words, words, WORDS! My English teacher’s classroom is plastered with words!” one particularly enthusiastic student wrote in a final evaluation essay. But getting this type of response from a young adult is unusual because while there is a plethora of material on transforming the elementary school classroom into a language-rich environment, I’ve found scant articles with ideas for making the high school language-arts classroom a word-rich environment that is interesting, fun, and still age and grade appropriate. Therefore, I’d like to offer some of the ideas I’ve thought up, gleaned from my colleagues, or collected through my travels for creating a word-centered environment that teenagers will find challenging and intriguing. So, if you’ve encountered any ideas along these lines, please be sure to share them with us in the “Comment” section of the “Leave a Reply” form that follows at the bottom of this post. So, here goes:

Establish a well-stocked classroom library – first and foremost, a language-rich environment must include a wide selection of reading materials that students will find interesting – which can (and should) include everything from comics to the classics.
Use your wall space to set good examples – put up banners, posters, and exemplary student work that feature bits of poetry, famous literary quotes and/or quotes about reading and writing, literary trivia, and stellar sentences (i.e. see “golden lines” below).
Extract “golden lines” – take the very best sentences from students’ compositions and highlight them by posting the quoted lines, along with the student authors’ name(s) on posters or large pieces of paper that you’ve put up on the wall. Consider allowing students to nominate their peers’ best sentences for this feature during any peer review done as part of the writing process. You could go so far as to have students review all the entries at the end of a grading period or semester, and vote for the best one(s). You might even award the winner(s) a prize!
Post previous students’ best work – as examples, including any especially artistic or witty vocabulary flashcards prior students have created.
Stick word magnets on any surface they’ll adhere to – invest in a few Magnetic Poetry kits, or make your own, and stick them on the sides of file cabinets, magnetic white boards, the classroom door (if it’s made of metal) and voila! Watch the magic happen!
Have students start a “word collection” of their own – part of cultivating “word awareness” is having students keep track of any “found” bits of language that fascinates them. Therefore, if students are required to keep a “language journal” and hunt for and write down any particularly interesting words, phrases, sentences, or short paragraphs they stumble upon in their reading or daily routines, they will be more aware of how language is used and the particular patterns that attract them.
Read poetry aloud often!
Engage in word-play whenever possible – if you’re having fun with language, then students will. Fun is catchy.
Use word games as “sponge” activities – it’s five minutes before the bell, and the lesson you planned is all wrapped up. What now? Give “free time”? NO! Play word games like “Hangman” or “Dictionary”!! Keep ready-made materials or a list of word games always at your disposal – they’ll come in handy in times like these.
Hang up a Giant Crossword puzzle – everyone loves to solve puzzles! Giant Crossword puzzles on the wall or door provide a fun group activity. Consider giving out prizes (small trinkets like pencils, etc.) to students who solve a word (or words) correctly.
Institute the Word of the Day – while we’re on the subject of word games, consider borrowing Groucho Marx’ shtick from the television show, You Bet Your Life, and institute the practice of a daily “magic” word. (Read more…)
Add word-centric board games to your classroom library collection – games like Scrabble, Boggle, Balderdash, and Apples to Apples stress having fun with words, and are appealing even to teenagers!

If there are any other ideas that you have, or that you’ve come across in your travels for creating a language-rich, word-centered environment that young adults would enjoy, please leave a reply to this post and share it with us!

Vocabulary Flash Cards w/ High School Students

October 24, 2013 Anne Yale 1 Comment

Listening to Ron Koertge read his delightful poem, “Coloring,” I was reminded of just how much joy even high school students still take from participating in “art projects.” One of the projects my students (even seniors!) always seem to enjoy is creating their own flash cards for reviewing and studying new vocabulary words. Since it’s difficult to give up a lot of precious class time when there’s always so much to teach and only so many minutes to teach it in, what I’ve found works best for me is to dedicate 20 minutes or so at the beginning of each week to explaining the process and allowing students to work on their miniature masterpieces during class at the start of the school year, but to gradually taper off on the amount of in-class time given to this activity as the weeks pass, and encouraging students to keep up the practice on their own (out-of-class) time. Nonetheless, the practice of making vocabulary flash cards also makes a good “sponge” activity – a nice way to wrap up the last 5–10 minutes of class in a productive, fun, and word-centered pastime.

Making vocabulary flash cards is pretty straightforward and requires only a few materials, but there are a few tricks and tips for assisting with language acquisition that I’ve learned through the years which students have found rather helpful. For example:

Instead of copying the dictionary definition onto the card for rote memorization, it’s important for students (especially English-language learners) to actually practice working with the language, so translating the dictionary definition into their own words is preferable:
It’s also important for students to allow the mind to translate the word into an associative picture. Since many of the vocabulary words at this level are abstract, a literal representation may be quite out of the question. Therefore, an associative one is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged. For example, for the word ameliorate, one student thought right away of hot tea and chicken soup (i.e. comfort foods):
Because students are trying to incorporate the new vocabulary words into everyday speech situations, it’s also important to let them experiment with generating sentences that use (or attempt to use) the new words correctly in context. However, the key word here is practice. Students’ initial attempts may require monitoring. Some student-generated sentences may be a bit “rough around the edges” and in need of gentle editorial suggestions for revision. Moreover, inspecting students’ flash cards periodically at the outset may prove to be a natural tool for assessment, so that you can quickly gauge the level or difficulty/ease of their language acquisition:
Finally, it’s important to allow students the opportunity to creatively and playfully engage with language, so that the mind is allowed to do what it does best (i.e. work associatively) and each student’s learning is owned. This does take some time, but the payoff is well worth the investment:
All you need to get started is a stack of 3 x 5″ index cards, highlighters in four different colors, and crayons, markers, or colored pencils. Alternately, students may want to cut-and-paste pictures or computer-generated clipart onto their vocabulary flash cards. Instruct the students to:

Write the vocabulary word and its part of speech (i.e. noun, verb, adj., or adv.) on the front of the flash card, centered in the middle.
Also write out the vocabulary word’s part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, or adverb) in the upper right-hand corner on the front of the card.
Using a different color highlighter for each part of speech (i.e. all nouns one color, all verbs a second color, etc.) highlight the part of speech in the upper right-hand corner. For example, you could make all nouns yellow, all verbs pink, all adjectives green, and so on.
On the back of the card, draw (or cut-and-paste) a picture that expresses the meaning of this word for you. It may be associative, or even abstract; it doesn’t have to be a literal representation. You may also choose to include more than one picture, if you’d like.
Underneath the picture(s), write the word, the part of speech, and a definition in your own words (as opposed to copying down the dictionary definition).
Complete your vocabulary flash card by thinking up an original sentence that uses the word correctly in context. Write your sentence on the back of the card beneath your definition.