teaching vocabulary to children

Teaching vocabulary to children is different from teaching vocabulary to teenager or adult.

Here’s the review of the materials.

Some techniques for teaching new words to children:

1. Say the word clearly and write it on the board. (It is to make the children see the form of the word and learn the sound of the word - how the word is pronounced).

2. Get the class to repeat the word in chorus. (It is to give all the students opportunity to pronounce the words).

3. Translate the word into the students’ own language (It is given for word which does not exist in Bahasa Indonesia).

4. Ask students to translate the word. (It is to give the students opportunity to practice searching for the word in the dictionary they have).

5. Draw a picture to show what the words mean. (It is to give clear meaning of the word, so that translation is not needed).

6. Give an English example to show how the word is used. (It is to show how the word is used in a sentence or sentences, so that they know the position of the word in the sentence).

7. Ask questions using the new word. (It is to give the students practice to use the word in a dialog).

Translating a new word is the simplest and clearest way of showing what a word means, but students cannot see how the word is used in a sentence.

Instead of telling the students what the word means, give examples and ask them to guess the meaning of the word.

There are some techniques to teach vocabulary, as follows:

1. Picture

2.

Scrambled letter

The followings are the name of fruits. Guess what they are by adding the missing letters.

1. B a _ a _ a
2. A _ _ l e
3. _ r a _ _
4. _ a n g _ _
5. O _ a _ _ e

3.

Puzzle

Find the name of the following flower from the box below: jasmine, roses, water lily, orchid, tulips.

d	y	l	i	l	r	e	t	a	w
h	i	n	k	y	a	n	i	m	u
w	s	h	u	b	f	i	a	u	d
d	d	e	c	g	u	m	w	j	f
u	f	t	i	r	o	s	e	s	g
i	g	y	a	h	o	a	r	k	h
l	h	p	d	l	e	j	y	f	a
o	y	o	t	u	l	i	p	s	t

4.

Synonym

Find the synonym of the underlined words from the box:

a. Diana is beautiful.

b. My school is very big.

c. She is happy to see you.

huge pretty glad

5.

Antonym

Find the antonym of the words in box A from the words in box B

A good kind diligent patient rich

B lazy poor bad impatient unkind

6.

Guessing game

a. Guess what bird which cannot fly.

b. Guess what was born in Arab, but cannot speak Arabian language.

c. Guess what fish which deliver her baby.

Answer:

a. Penguin

b. Camel

c. Whale

7.

CoContext

Some people grumble about everything. For example, they grumble about the weather. If it’s sunny, they say, “Oh dear, it’s much too hot today”; if it’s cool, they say, “Oh, it’s too cold” – they are never satisfied.

• What does grumble mean?