Seminar on methodology : “How to teach vocabulary effectively”
Acknowledgement
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thank to all the leaders of Phuc
Yen Education and Training Department for organizing this seminar and for
giving me the precious chance to do it.
Secondly, I am very grateful to all the teachers of English in Cao Minh
school for offering me useful advice in realizing my ideas.
Lastly,thank you very much for your presence and observation. Your
comments and advice would be highly appreciated.
Thank you very much.
A.aims:
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Seminar on methodology : “How to teach vocabulary effectively”
Vocabulary words are simple enough to begin learning on the first day of a
class and they are powerful enough to encourage communication from the very
beginning .Words are small pieces of language which carry bits of
meaning.Knowing many words does not guarantee a person will be able to speak
a language ,but not knowing words can prevent a person from effectively
speaking or understanding a language.That’s why vocabulary must be taught
from the very start.
In the new text book series (Tieng Anh 6 – Tieng Anh 9 ),
vocabulary is enlarged so much to provide four main skills : Listening ,
Speaking , Reading and Writing. Therefore , teachers must have the most
effective metthod of teaching vocabulary to present vocabulary effectively.A
good method of teaching vocabulary will get more students’ attentions.
This seminar aims at two main points :
First : To show teachers several principles for teaching vocabulary .
Second : To show teachers a range of steps for teaching vocabulary
It is hoped to bring about all of you here some good hints.
B.content:

E.g : The word “ study”
Grammatical context : “Children go to school to study”
( students can guess “study” is a verb and an action happening
at school)
2. Do not present too much new words at once .Teach a few words and
allow students to practise and use them a lot . This will help them
remember new words easily.
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Seminar on methodology : “How to teach vocabulary effectively”
3. Practising new words in context is more important than memorizing
isolated words .Students may be required to learn the meanings of
words but they must also be given the opportunity to use them
productively in speaking and writing.
4. Teach your students skills for guessing new words , especially when
reading .The meaning of words can be inferred from the different types
of contexts and from looking at affixes (parts) of the word.
E.g: My mother teaches at Cao Minh school
What is a teacher ?
( Students can guess from the suffix “-er” that “a teacher is a person
who teaches students” )
happy>< unhappy
.……
5. Avoid translation as much as possible. If the students are always having
words translated, they are really only communicating in their own
language , not in Eglish. Also, students do not usually remember
vocabulary that has been translated.Only use translation as a last resort ,
when it would otherwise take too long to communicate in English.
6. Avoid using the dictionary a much as possible .When reading or
listening ,students should first try guessing or ignoring new words so

E.g:  -> happy
 -> sad
c3.Realia and objects : When we teach abut nouns in semantic fields , We
can bring a series of real object to class.
c4. Flash cards or charts: We can use flash cards or charts on which we
have a picture on one side and words on the other side
E.g : Flash cards with animals on them
Cards with vehicles on them
A chart with body parts marked
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Seminar on methodology : “How to teach vocabulary effectively”
c5. Mime: We can act out to demonstrate its meaning ( ofcourse,without
saying )
E.g : Verbs – sit down, stand up , smile , .…
c6. Pictures : We can use pictures to communicate about many types of
words.
E.g : Photographs from magarines
Personal photographs of family members
c7. Opposites : When students know a word we can give them the antonym
E.g : happy > < sad
big > < small
c8. Semantic field : To show words in relation to other words , we can
present words in semantic fields.
E.g : School – classroom,black board, teacher ,student , .…
c9. Guessing from context : Have students guess the meanings by reading
the whole sentence.
c10. Guessing from stems and affixes : Meaning of some words can be
understood through affixes .
E.g : disconnect = dis + connect

There are many ways of checking vocabulary,They are considered as
games such as : noughts and crosses , slap the board , wordsquare , networks ,
hang man , shark attack , jumbled words , rubout and remember , what and
where, matching , teachers should use some of those games to check…
vocabulary .With new text book series, If teachers use games to check vocabulary
as well as other skills , they will not onlyget the best feedbacks from their
students but also make classroom climate always merry.
c. conclusion
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Seminar on methodology : “How to teach vocabulary effectively”
To sum up , there are many methodologies of teaching vocabulary , each
teacher has her/his own methodology of teaching vocabulary but the
characteristics of presenting vocabulary are the same in any language . The final
perpose of every teacher are to enlarge students’ vocabulary to help them tobe
good listeners, speakers, readers , and writters in any language.
I think those I have mentioned above are the most effective methodology .
If we are to help students tobe good learners of English , it is necessary to obey
priciples and steps for teaching vocabulary above.
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