Building Your ELL/ESL Student's
Vocabulary
Tobey Cho Bassoff
How
do you build the vocabularies of new ESL students in a middle
school setting? This question was recently posed to me by an
ESL teacher in Kentucky. Her question is at the root of a bigger
issue that she is trying to address: How do I get my ESL students
reading in English? She reasons that if she can build their
vocabularies, then she will directly impact their ability to
read more text. My simple answer comes in the form of daily
Word Wall work, what I affectionately call “Wild Words.”
Sylvia Ashton-Warner published a book called Teacher (Simon & Schuster 1963) in which she talks about her experiences
as a teacher of English to children of a native tribe in New
Zealand. She reflects on the power of allowing children to choose
words that had meaning to them. Her students’ vocabularies
grew as they began to see these words, their words, as vehicles
for communication about what they cared. In my fifth grade classroom,
my goal is to have students develop that same sense of ownership
and power about words and communication.
Here’s how I do it:
Everyday, students in my class are given a “Wild Word”
that is printed on a strip paper. As they pull out their dictionaries,
they are preparing themselves to record the word, part of speech,
and definition in their “Wild Word” notebook. Once
that is complete, they draw a picture reminding them of what
the word means. For my ESL students, especially if they are
new to the country, I may have an artist draw a visual interpretation
of the word on the chalkboard. Then, the artist writes a basic
sentence on the board that helps the student see the word in
context. All “Wild Words” are placed on the Word
Wall, a designated bulletin board, with a sticker in the upper
left-hand corner. (The sticker identifies it as a “Wild
Word.”) In the event that a student is absent, he or she
will be able to distinguish a Wild Word from the other wondrous
words that are added to the Word Wall. In a few weeks, students
will begin to see their Word Wall grow with words that hold
meaning for them.
In addition to providing them with words, I also give them
opportunities to use the words and practice remembering their
meanings. Each day, during our Writer’s Workshop Word
Study block, I allow five to ten minutes to play games that
involve the Word Wall. For example, we love to play “Guess
My Word?” It is a game where students are given clues
to a word and they have to identify the secret word. This game
develops vocabulary like “synonyms” and “antonyms.”
For example, I might have the words “livid,” “furious,”
and “incensed” on my Word Wall. So, if I say that
my word is a synonym for angry, hands shoot up in the air because
they have three possible choices. Students can also provide
the clues to hidden words. This empowers them to learn the words,
and it gives them a reason to be well-behaved since only active
participants in Word Wall can lead a game. The idea for “Wild
Words” and the set-up for my Word Wall came from Scholastic
Publications - 15 Minutes a Day to a Colossal Vocabulary by Kathleen Bahr. (ISBN: 0-439-20576-X)
As you can see, I applied Ms. Warner’s theory to my original
Word Wall--which had been peppered with sight words, blends,
and patterned words—and the outcome was a vocabulary Word
Wall.
The results have been astounding. Students are using words
like “melancholy,” and “ecstatic” correctly
in their everyday writing. They are recognizing these words
in shared reading texts, which is typically at a fifth grade
level, and in newspapers and on television. Our reader in Kentucky is finding similar results in her science
and social studies classes. She notes that when previously foreign
words come up, her students feel connected to the concept being
taught.
Try it and let me know what you find.
Good Luck and Happy Word Searching! If
you have any questions, please email
me. |