Reuse and recycle

Adults need many exposures to new words and new grammar structures, spaced over time (days), to build the neural connections for long-term memory.  For new vocabulary, this means:

• Practicing a new word multiple times when it is first introduced (listen/repeat and use it multiple times)

•  Reviewing the word again in the next few lessons

• Re-visiting the word again periodically moving forward.

Here are some ideas for incorporating the review and repetition that beginning language learners need.

Design lessons using Absorb-Do-Connect

William Horton first described the Absorb-Do-Connect teaching model in his book, E-learning by Design.  Although it was described as a model for online, generally asynchronous lessons, it works well as a model for designing lessons for live lessons (in-person or via videoconferencing) as well.

Absorb:  What information do your learners need, and how will the get it?  In our context, absorb activities can include the teacher providing the information during class, learners watching a video before or during class, learners listening to an audio recording before or during class, and learners reading the information before or during class.

Rather than using class time for all of the absorb activities, I now provide links to videos and other online activities for the learners to view/do before class to introduce new material that we will cover in class.  This gives us more time in class to practice using the information that they have already been exposed to.

Do:  It's best if learners have an opportunity to use new information (vocabulary or grammar structures) immediately or very quickly after an absorb activity.  This turns passive reception of information into active processing of information.

If learners are doing absorb activities before class (such as watching a video), also include an activity that learners can do immediately after the absorb activity, such as a short Flippity or Wordwall activity, or a quick response on a class WhatsApp group or email to you, or other activity that requires the learner to do something with the new information provided in the absorb activity.

When absorb activities are done in-class, intersperse do activities with short absorb activities (absorb-do, absorb-do, absorb-do).

Connect activities link the new information/skill with the learner's real life.  These help solidify the information for the learner and make it more usable.  In my class these are usually freer practice activities that invite the learner to use the new vocabulary or skill to talk about the learner's life, work, family, need, interests, aspirations, or country of origin.

Connect activities can also be practicing a dialog that the learner is likely to need in the near future -- making or changing a medical appointment, reporting a child's school absence, reporting a problem to a landlord, or asking for an interpreter.

Use games for practice

Games are a great way to make drilling more enjoyable.  Quiz games, memory games, spelling games, word and sentence scrambles, and sorting games are all good ways to review vocabulary.  I try to end every class with a game as this ends class on a fun note, gives one more practice of new vocabulary, and reviews previously-introduced vocabulary.  See this page for more information about games.

Recycle the words in multiple contexts

Look for ways to recycle vocabulary in different contexts in future lessons.  For example, if you have practiced days of the week, times of the day, and places around town, incorporate these into later lessons and dialogues about school/classes, shopping, work, chores, and free-time activities.