Vocabulary
Learning New Words
Students adding English to the languages they know must expand their vocabulary at twice or three times the rate of their English-speaking peers. In order to achieve this, an effective vocabulary program should include the following three components:
Extensive reading of student-selected material;
Explicit instruction focusing on vocabulary that arises within the context of the lesson (e.g. word wall, cloze activities, vocabulary notebooks);
Demonstrating and modelling of vocabulary acquisition skills (e.g. expanding word knowledge by studying common roots and affixes.
-Coelho, E. (2016). Adding English: A guide to teaching in multilingual classrooms (p. 106). University of Toronto Press.
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This presentation offers some key strategies for developing vocabulary, such as Frayer Model, word sorts, and more. Be sure to click on the hyperlinks embedded in the presentation for more details.
Learning Guide 6 - Why is academic vocabulary development important and what does effective vocabulary instruction look like .pdfLearning Guide 7 - What does effective vocabulary instruction look like.pdfChoosing Words to Teach
Teaching vocabulary is complex. What words are important for a child to know and in what context? In this excerpt from Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, the authors consider what principles might be used for selecting which words to explicitly teach.
"This resource was developed to help provide clarification, context and support for teaching the verbs in Alberta Education’s K-3 Math Curriculum (2022). When educators explicitly teach and model the student actions within the Learning Outcomes and Skills and Procedures, they provide the foundation for learners to develop competence. As students practice these skills and engage in multiple learning experiences, both within and across subject areas, they will retain and be able to apply understanding from year to year" (p.2).
MATH K-3_COMPLETE PACKAGE.pdf
Granite School District in South Salt Lake City Utah have compiled math vocabulary cards for Kindergarten through 8th Grade and Secondary 1 Mathematics. These cards can also be found in Spanish, Chinese, and French under the Dual Immersion menu. The link to their website can be accessed using this link or by clicking on the neighbouring image.
"Educators serving English learners and economically disadvantaged youths with vocabulary voids need to simultaneously shore up their receptive vocabulary and build their productive vocabulary toolkit. It is not essential or realistic for students to develop a proficient command of every word that appears within a unit of study. Many topic-focused and technical terms must be understood adequately to grapple with focal-lesson concepts and processes. However, in the grand scheme of linguistic priorities, the fact that a ten-year-old struggling to acquire academic English cannot effectively pronounce or write biome and habitat is less worrisome than the student’s inability to discuss similarities and differences between two species or their environments. Being able to compare and utilize correct sentence structure and vocabulary for this critical academic competency will be required across subject areas and grade levels, not just within this particular unit of study."
- Kinsella, K. (2017, March 17). Helping academic English learners develop productive word knowledge. Language Magazine.
Interactive Word Walls
Interactive-Word-Walls-Science-and-Children.pdfWord Roots and Affixes
Common_roots_prefixes_and_suffixes.pdfSuffixes and Prefixes - Most Common.pdfNot only does understanding roots and affixes help to develop vocabulary, but it can also help some students make cross-linguistic connections because of similar cognates. False cognates, however, can lead to misunderstandings. For example, "globo" in Spanish means "balloon", but sounds similar to "globe" in English.
Knowledge of how different suffixes can change the class of a word is also beneficial in determining how it can be used in a sentence. Many languages do not use suffixes like they are used in English, so students may not be aware that "globe", "global", "globally" and "globalization" are related in meaning; or know that the suffix "-ist" is used for a person specializing in something (e.g. artist, activist, archaeologist, etc.)
