Visuals and Personal Dictionaries

Vocabulary Tip – Visuals and Personal Dictionaries

 

One reason EAL students may struggle in class is related to their understanding of the vocabulary being used. Often, the words used in subject areas (protagonist, mole, velocity, quadrilateral, equator, etc.) are much more difficult than the more common, ‘conversational’ words that students use each day.

Here are two ways to help students understand key vocabulary in your classroom:

1. Visuals – A picture really is worth 1000 words and you don’t have to be an artist to use more visuals! Google Images is a quick and easy way to find visuals to help clarify what a word means. Now that nearly every classroom in our school has a projector, it is easier than before to incorporate visuals into lessons. You could try to find visuals each day for 3-5 key words or concepts and show them at the beginning of the lesson as an activating strategy.

2. Personal Dictionaries – Encourage or require students to create a personal dictionary. Below is a template that you could use (similar to 3 point approach in SFAL), or you can create one that works for you. Students can: draw a picture, write a simple definition (you might need to help with this part, or use an EAL dictionary), use the word in a sentence, translate the word into another language, give an example, etc.

Keep in mind – a reasonable expectation for most students is learning 5-7 new words per day (not necessarily per subject) and new words need to be reviewed often to be retained.

We have some dictionaries for EAL learners in our EAL office, and there are copies in some classrooms in the school. The definitions in the EAL dictionary are much simpler than those found in a regular dictionary. 

An online version of an EAL dictionary may be found at www.learnersdictionary.com.

**If you don’t currently have an EAL dictionary in your classroom and you would like one, please let me know. I will be placing an order shortly for more of them. **