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Technique |
How... |
| 1 |
For concrete nouns, finding the right photo can be a quick, easy way o explain the meaning of a word. For verbs and actions, a video or a live demonstration might help.
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Book or online encyclopedias and dictionaries can help here. |
| 2 |
Dictionaries can help you teach not only definitions, but skills to help the student approach new words, such as synonyms, antonyms, and derived word forms.
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Book Dictionaries and thesauruses (thesauri?) are good resources. There are also several online alternatives. |
| 3 |
Bilingual dictionaries can be very useful for students who know the concept in their native language but need to learn the word in English.
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There are some book versions as well as online versions of bilingual dictionaries. |
| 4 |
It is rather well documented that people don't learn new words on one reading of a definition. Experience with the word used in many different contexts, especially those of interest to the learner and in which most of the context is understood is the way most words are learned.
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Some dictionaries give examples, you can also use a search engine to find examples of the word in various contexts. |
| 5 |
Learning is further reinforced as the learner starts to use the new words.
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Ask the child to make up sentences using the words. This often reveals some missing components in the understanding of the word that can be discussed. |
| 6 |
Teaching someone else reinforces the learning still further, and really helps increase the leverage of our program.
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Especially for words of real interest to the child , ask him/her to teach the new word to interested friends. |
| 7 |
One of the very first steps in comprehension is realizing what you don't understand! Periodically ask about the meanings of words.
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Make it a game by explaining that you will occasionally ask. If the child doesn't understand something, it is 'free' to ask. But if they haven't asked and can't answer your question correctly, they pay a point. |
See the chapter on Dictionaries.
