How can we help our ESL students remember words?

Tracy zhou · Post by **Tracy zhou** » Wed May 14, 2008 3:57 am

It is usually difficult for els students to remmember the words. What we teachers can do for them?

Tina8717 · Post by **Tina8717** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:14 am

Well, I think remembering words is a difficult task for esl students. Have you heart the game "12 Questions"? I think this game is very interesting. And you can try this game when you teach new words. For example: in the new lesson, you teach the words about fruits and vegetables. Suppose you want them guess the word "broccoli". You can invite students to ask you questions, like “what color is it?" “is it a round one?"" when do we eat it?" and so on. I hope it will help you.

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:07 pm

We talked a little bit about this at:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewt ... vocabulary

Mdream · Post by **Mdream** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:55 pm

I recommend using songs to help students remember words. Have you ever heard a song once, but you remember the words? It happens to me a lot.

I have a bunch of free song downloads you can try, they are mainly for kids, but adults are learning from the songs too:

http://www.dreamenglish.com/freedownload

I hope this helps a bit!

jasminedong · Post by **jasminedong** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:21 pm

I am an English teacher in a high school in China. My students still have the difficulty in remembering the English words, so i try my best to help them to remember words. here are the ways.
1. when i teach a new word, i will give the students a picture which is related to the word. as we all know, picture is very impressive. and at the same time, i will make a sentence using the new word to help the students know how to use the new word.
2. to check if the students remember the new words, i will use different methods. for example, every day, i will use five minutes to give them some different forms of exercises to practice the new words, such as dictation, matching, trachslation, multiple-choice and so on.
3. cooperation and competition are very important. i make the whole class into 8 groups. each group has a leader who is good at learning english. he or she will help others to recite the words. there are competitions among groups, which can arouse the students' motivation to recite the words and win the competition.

helen_cat · Post by **helen_cat** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:04 pm

Nowadays we focus on making passages comprehensible. Students start to build concept pods by giving a tentative meaning to the new word based on the context. As the item is encountered on subsequent occasions in other contexts the concept pod grows, bulging out here, shrinking there, until the item takes on meaning quite independant of any native language equivalants. The more often the item is encountered, the more it becomes embedded in the forming target langugage part of the brain. Do not ask your students to translate passages. You'll know if they understand if they respond correctly in the target language.

Karenne · Post by **Karenne** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:42 am

Hi ya,

I produce something called a "conversation control" sheet, this is a really useful way to record vocabulary, phrases as well as structural weaknesses. There's one for students and for teachers.

You can download, they're free and licensed under creative commons, here:

http://www.kalinago-english.com/cms/ind ... rolTM.html

There's also a video that explains what to do, what to pay attention to.

Take care, don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

Karenne

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:53 am

A very plain but seemingly very popular and effective game is to hold up a long series of flashcards and give the card to the person/team who first puts up a hand and identifies the (hidden) words on the card correctly.

Syl · Post by **Syl** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:29 pm

According to the multiple intelligences theory, students will learn through different learning styles. For example, some are "visual" learners, so they need to see visual representations of the words, like pictures, flashcards, etc. Others are "auditory" learners, and they learn better if listening to the sound of the words, while they see them written or in pictures.
According to Gardner's theory, there are 9 different intelligences and in heterogeneous classes it's worthwhile to read about it.

Anyway, the most important thing is repetition, as much as possible. Applying the different methods for the different intelligences is an opportunity for making the students repeat and learn.

Syl
Learn English and Have Fun - Syl's English Corner
http://ginnegar.0catch.com

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:52 pm

Don't forget all the recent work on Emotional Intelligence.

Pavlov · Post by **Pavlov** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:23 pm

I find that the students need to make the new words THEIRS...and the only way to do that is to let them use it in a way that impacts their lives, their experiences, their friends, etc.
If they are nouns, give each student a name of a noun:
Jorge is Broccoli
Meilong is Carrot
etc.

Also check out

www.phrazzleme.com

Students have to remember if they want to win.

ayqz13 · Post by **ayqz13** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:23 pm

I really think a combination of the different kinds of models for memory will help these students, and also a creative video and audio presentation...

surrealia · Post by **surrealia** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:57 pm

You might find this article interesting:

http://www.hltmag.co.uk/nov03/sart3.htm

cavez33 · Post by **cavez33** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:58 pm

Hello,
I think the best way for the students to remember new words is to associate them with images, funny stories, anecdotes or moves. The word has to be associated by the learner with something very particular and special for him or her. It has to attract the student's interest and attention to be easy to remember!

minda_spK · Post by **minda_spK** » Sat May 23, 2009 12:23 pm

A bit of learning theory and research:

While it's possibly the most commonly used and ever-ready fallback of teaching vocab, rote memory is one of the worst teaching methods in terms of results. So while students may appear to be learning endless flashcards, test them a week later and their 'knowledge' will have deteriorated rapidly, rote memory very seldom translates to long term memory.

Helen's pod idea is the best in terms of memory. The more connections someone has to a word, the better chances of remembering it. So teach it a different way, in a different context, frequently (This will also have different learning styles covered). So one day use pictures, the next have students 'act out' the words (the actions don't have to make perfect sense as long as each word has a different movement), the next have them talk about their likes/dislikes with the words, then use mnemonics etc.

Don't mean to preach, but I do occasionally meet instructors who rely on an endless pile of flashcards with a word on the front and definition on the back, and it annoys me.

By the way, I learned most of the Hiragana (basic japanese alphabet) in one day because I made flashcards with the symbol on one side, and the symbol made into a picture using the sound on the back. So, for instance, the symbol for "sa" can, with only a few extra lines, turn into a picture of a guy drinking sake. Ever since I drew the pic, I think of it every time I see the symbol, and I remember the sound. Same for the other 45. Not every kind of vocab lends itself to this, but anytime a picture (stick figures are fine) can show the meaning of the word, and relate to its sound (and if it's a little silly) your students will never forget it.

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