Introduction by Marisa Constantinides

This piece is an essay by one of my early Delta candidate which I have been planning to post on this blog for years. The reason is my fascination with the notion of massive vocabulary acquisition as reported in a paper by Paul Meara – lost to me and to  him as well!!! – in which the claim is that at the peak of  a good language learner’s best performance (young adulthood) they can acquire up to 60 words a DAY!  Paul Meara himself could not recall the specific article but was very generous in sharing his site, Logognostics, where he collects all research related to vocabulary acquisition. 

Dora Koutoukis, my Delta trainee at the time, was inspired by the idea of using adaptations of suggestopaedic techniques to attempt this goal and she wrote this essay, the accompanying lesson (which I observed and which succeeded in its objectives) for an earlier version of the Cambridge Delta Diploma. For this reason, it is not being posted as a sample or model essay. In many ways, it would have best served as an Experimental Practice assignment (a comment made to her at the time) 

As a centre we subsequently designed our own lessons for various courses – business English, EAP and more, with great success. Perhaps some people might want to try out the idea with their own adaptations. 

Massive Vocabulary Acquisition – an Essay and a Lesson 

 

Written by Dora Koutoukis in 2008 and reposted here with her permission

1. INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary acquisition is an area many applied linguists have been interested in over the years. Findings in this field have created controversy but at the same time, provided us with new insights.

Having this in mind, I was driven to research ways in which learners acquire vocabulary massively and store it in their long term memory for immediate or future use, either as recognition or production.

In this assignment, therefore, I will look at ways in which learners of English acquire vocabulary in greater amounts than is expected in a contemporary language classroom, I will discuss issues raised about vocabulary teaching in the literature and then I will look at problems learners face and possible ways of overcoming them.

2. ACQUIRING VOCABULARY IN L2

There is a   great amount written on vocabulary acquisition in L2 but not as much on the quantity of vocabulary L2 learners can acquire. According to the Lexical approach (M.Lewis, 1983), vocabulary acquisition is not a random task; educators are to incorporate it wisely into their syllabuses and lessons in order for learners to become linguistically proficient. The materials we use in the language classroom should involve vocabulary which can be immediately useful and reflects real life needs, starting from beginner-level courses.

Lewis (1983) measures the importance of words on “spectra”. There is the “Spectrum of Generative Power”, which defines words that range from semantically strong, to words with low signification, like demonstratives and prepositions. The “Spectrum of Generalisability” defines how easy it is to generalise patterns of words and how some other groups of words are completely ungeneralisable. The “Spectrum of Communicative Power” defines how useful words are in conveying meaning. For example, there are words that are of high frequency and cover a wider range of meanings, and words that are less frequent or small in range and sometimes even obsolete.

Vocabulary teaching so far, has been strictly graded by both teachers and syllabus designers, i.e., there is specific vocabulary for beginners, elementary, intermediate and advanced learners. This restricts the beginner adult student to infantile vocabulary and the advanced learner to obscure language. The Lexical Approach suggests that we can improve competence and communicative power by “extending the students” repertoire of lexical phrases, collocational power, and increasing mastery of the most basic words and structure of the language.

Krashen (1989), on the other hand, argues that vocabulary is acquired by extensive reading of material that students find interest in and large quantities of light, low-risk material that learners are not tested on. His Input Hypothesis postulates that in order to have successful language learning you need to expose your students to comprehensible input. (cited in J.Coady 1997)

In addition there is substantial evidence that extensive reading and “Free Voluntary Reading” improve vocabulary acquisition, spelling, grammar and the learners’ ability to acquire words with more than one meaning. (S.Krashen, 2004)

Gairns and Redman (1986) empasise the importance of classroom activities which can accompany a given text or materials used. The methodology behind these activities is basically to practise, recycle, revisit and semantically group vocabulary, so literally it can be applied in most-if not all- lessons. They also suggest that for a sixty-minute lesson, the number of vocabulary items to be covered is between eight and twelve, eight for an elementary student and twelve for an advanced learner; this is the suggested amount which students can acquire and use productively.

The above argument clashes with “the key-word method”, (Ellis 1995).  This method suggests that “it is possible for adults to learn very large numbers of words in a relatively short space of time- fifty words in an hour is not uncommon.” (cited in P.Meara , 1995)

So far, experts in the field of L2 acquisition advocate that vocabulary should be acquired through context, which personally I am in favour of, and not by memorising long lists of decontextualized words, a practice of the past. Rich contexts can enable learners to acquire new words through guess work, inferring meaning and other pedagogical activities.

However, P. Meara (1995) suggests that learning vocabulary from lists is not such a bad thing. He believes that word lists play an important role in L2 acquisition and especially at the beginning stages. He supports his view by arguing that if we teach learners great amounts of vocabulary from the beginning, they will be linguistically competent enough to understand 80% of what they read or hear in English. The amount of words P. Meara is referring to is 2000 as opposed to 500 which is acquired in a beginner’s course.

 In addition, he mentions the psychological reason of his theory, which is taking advantage of the learners’ expectations to have to learn new vocabulary, as it is a language course they are embarking on, and most learners will automatically assume that “learning lots of new words” is the norm.

Meara (ibid) argues that most methodologies do not really focus on the amount of words learners acquire and tend to set very low targets for vocabulary acquisition. This, he believes, is both linguistically and psychologically unsound. He therefore suggests, focusing on vocabulary acquisition from the very early stages and deliberately teaching all basic vocabulary fairly quickly. One of the reasons in support of his view is that acquisition of L2 is said to resemble that of L1. Thus, P. Meara argues that a single word stage is important for L2 learners even if the syntax of these words is not accurate, because eventually L2 learners will put these words into phrases and sentences at some point. Another reason is that large vocabularies enable you to communicate in various, unpredictable situations producing imperfect sentences most times, but the outcome is that language learners are using L2 to communicate, and through this communication L2 speakers learn how to use words properly, through the feedback they are instantly given from their co-communicator.

 

3. PROBLEMS IN VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

Vocabulary is an area most learners and especially adults feel intimidated by.  Knowing a word means one knows what we call its componential analysis as follows:

• The denotation of a word. By denotation, we mean how a word relates to phenomena in the real world or fictional or possible world.
• The connotation of a word which involves the additional meanings it has beyond its central meaning (denotation). These meanings show people’s emotions and attitudes towards what the word refers to.
• The pronunciation of a word, usually an issue due to the fact that English is a phonemic language, so pronunciation of individual words depends very much on the phonetic symbols.
• The spelling of a word which in most cases differs from the way the word is generally pronounced.
• The tenor or social appropriacy, central in the learning of vocabulary. Knowing the formality or informality of a word is an aspect learners should be aware of in order to communicate effectively in both predictable and unpredictable situations. Paul Meara (date unknown) mentions in his article “A learner’s nightmare”, that English speakers are very sensitive to “mixed messages” and that “it is very easy to give the wrong impression by using a word in an inappropriate context.” (www.pearsonlongman.com/dictionaries/teachers/articles)
• The morphology of a word. By morphology, we mean the different forms a word can have by adding an affix and changing it according to the rules of grammar (inflection), or by adding other morphemes to create new words (word formation).
• The word field / semantic field a word belongs to, i.e. the organization of related lexical items that cover an area of meaning.

Adult learners tend to prefer word to word translation and recording words in isolation, which results in having difficulty retaining vocabulary and destroying any possibility of understanding new vocabulary through context. This isolation of words also creates problems with choosing the right form of a word. 

Memory failure is a major problem students face. Retrieving and recalling words from memory is not a clear cut situation. Information needs to be activated regularly in order to be able to retrieve it otherwise it gradually fades away and eventually disappears. According to R. Gairns and S. Redman (1986) this is called the decay theory. Accessing words when needed for free production is a difficulty most learners experience. This could be the result of the way vocabulary was recorded, which is either alphabetically or in random order as they arise in each lesson. Therefore, sense relations of words or semantic fields (lexical sets), are essential when grouping vocabulary as there is “evidence that semantically related items are stored together.” (Gairns & Redman, 1986). Also, the number of encounters with new vocabulary is fundamental, because the more one sees it and uses it, the easier the transition from short-term memory to long-term memory. The Lexical Approach suggests 5-6 encounters before new items are stored into long-term memory. (M. Lewis 1983)

4. HELPING LEARNERS OVERCOME PROBLEMS.

The strategies I will discuss are ways of helping my learners acquire vocabulary in greater numbers than traditionally accepted, minimizing as much as possible the above problems and training learners to be autonomous.

Massive vocabulary acquisition, which is what I am attempting to explore in this assignment, requires the adoption of a complex of methods and approaches. The strategies that we are now going to look at are ways I believe will help my students acquire a large number of vocabulary (30 words per lesson), sustain it and develop it through their course of study.

1. Suggestopedia (by G. Lozanov-cited in D.Larsen-Freeman 1986) is an approach that advocates massive vocabulary acquisition by using long texts as the linguistic input in which vocabulary is the main focus and grammar is minimal. There are certain principles in Suggestopedia that are essential for the method to be effective. An attractive classroom setting, soft music playing and in general a state that “desuggests” any inhibitions or limitations learners may bring to the language classroom. The teacher plays an important role as she is the one who increases students’ confidence and gains their trust.

The pedagogical implications of Suggestopedia in my lesson will involve most of the principles mentioned above, but slightly modified to suit the classroom restrictions. The chairs will be arranged in a horseshoe shape, soft music will be played to lower anxiety and the input (text) will be comprehensible, i.e. a familiar situation. New vocabulary will be annotated to enhance understanding. Phase one (receptive stage) will be reading the text to the learners by matching my voice to the music. In phase two the learners will put the text aside, close their eyes and visualize the new material while they are being read to. Then, in groups the learners will read the text in a particular manner to familiarize themselves with the new material.

2. “Peripheral learning” is a way to assist acquisition without formally directing attention to specific language. In Suggestopedia it is believed that students can learn from what is present in the environment. Therefore, posters can be hung in the classroom containing information on the input used. 
3. Various vocabulary activities and games are essential for activating vocabulary and enabling learners to use it productively. In addition they lower the Affective filter (S.Krashen, 1982) which is believed to block language acquisition.

• “Intruder” (M. Wallace, 1982) is a game that focuses on semantic fields. The teacher puts groups of words on the board or on cards and learners need to spot which one does not belong. Again this could be organized as a competitive game to create motivation and interest.
• Matching parts of strong collocations and then using them to create a story or to write the captions of a picture composition. This is a way to get learners to, first identify the missing part of the collocation and then use it productively
• “Jumbled letters” (M. Wallace, 1982) is a card game that can be used to help with spelling difficulties. Teams are given letter-cards of a target word. Players have to rearrange letters in the correct order. The first team to do so wins. The exact game can be used with collocations, fixed expressions or polywords. Then, this game can be exploited to get learners to work out rules of pronunciation and train them with certain irregularities in the way words sound. For example ‘ph’ is pronounced /f/, ‘psy’ is pronounced /sŒö /
• Songs could be used to present or revise collocations, by deleting the verb or noun/adjective or noun part and having learners filling in the gap. This would also help with intonation and pronunciation.

4. Presenting vocabulary through context and not isolated is a way to draw attention to the form and meaning of words. Discovery learning and guess work is essential in order to activate learner’s reasoning and guessing skills. Working out derivatives by making generalizations of what is a positive or negative prefix and suffix, is a way to enrich vocabulary by focusing on selected words in the context used and train learners to do the same either as a class activity or as homework.
5. Recording vocabulary and organising words is an important aspect of learning, expanding and remembering words. Memory needs constant triggering and stimulating in order to embed and consolidate vocabulary.

Notebooks should be seen as a tool to enable learners to progress and develop vocabulary outside the classroom. Easy retrieval of what is recorded is also necessary if a notebook is to be effective.          

In Implementing the Lexical Approach (1997), Lewis suggests efficient recording by applying a set of principles. For example he mentions topic organisation, situations in which certain lexical items occur, collocations, recording keywords – particularly de-lexicalised verbs and many more. 

I, personally, encourage my students to keep a notebook of the certain type mentioned above. Recording starts in the classroom and usually towards the end of the lesson and not during, and learners are assigned as part of their homework to expand their notes by adding an example, derivatives in form spidergrams, collocates, pronunciation and word stress and meaning preferably in L2.  This is accomplished with the help of dictionaries, a skill which I integrate from early on in a course

5. CONCLUSION

In the techniques and activities mentioned above learners are given the chance to enhance deep processing of the language through enjoyable and fun activities which are believed to lower the affective filter (Krashen 1982). In addition, according to Krashen (ibid), Suggestopedia is one of the methods that focuses on lowering the affective filter, thus learners obtain more input.

 

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coady, J and Huckin, T. 1997. Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition.                                                    Cambridge Applied Linguistics, CUP.

Gairn, R and Redman,S.1986. Working with words. Cambridge Publications.

Krashen, S. 1982. Principles and practice in Second language acquisition.                                                   Pergamon Press.

Krashen, S. 2004.  The Power of Reading

Larsen-Freeman, D.,  1986. Techniques and Principles in language teaching,                                               OUP

Lewis, M., 1983. The Lexical Approach. LTP

Lewis, M., 1997. Implementing The Lexical Approach. LTP

Meara, P,  1995. “The Importance of an Early Emphasis on L2                                                                   Vocabulary.”Article on The Language Teacher Online.    

                              http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/95/feb/meara.html

Meara, P.  Date unknown. “A learner’s nightmare”  –   Article.                                                     www.pearsonlongman.com/dictionaries/teachers/articles

Wallace, M. 1982. Teaching vocabulary. Heinemann Educational Books.

 

Lesson Plan 

Class Profile 

Age: Adults ranging from 23 to 40

No. of students: 6-8

Setting: CELT Athens

Constraints: Second time teaching this group.

Level: Pre-Intermediate

Length of lesson : 1 hr

This is the second time I am teaching this group.  The class is multi-cultural and consists of 3 Greek students, 2 Iranis, 2 Afghanis, a Congolese and a Russian student. They are a mixed ability class, who are reasonably strong in grammar but rather poor in vocabulary.

They do need some remedial work in vocabulary so as to make progress from their current level of English.

As a group they interact fairly well, with the weaker students being rather quiet.

They are motivated and like being involved in activities that generate discussion and require them to give their opinion.

The Greek learners tend to speak among themselves mostly to confirm instructions given by the teacher

 

Lesson Aims/ Objectives for students

Acquisition of 15-20 lexical items.

Primary Aim(s)

• To lower affective filter so as Ss will be open to new input.
• By the end of the lesson, students will have acquired semantically related vocabulary about crime and deception that is related with love affairs.
• Students will acquire vocabulary in
• greater amounts than usual.
• They will be able to guess meanings of words from surrounding context.

Secondary Aim(s)

• Pronunciation practice of any difficulties encountered during lesson
• Comprehension of crucial points and events in story.

Comments

Suggestopedia and music should bring the learners to a relaxed and receptive state..

• Activity containing vocabulary from text to match with meanings.
• Fun game where learners are required to produce target vocabulary to win .
• The text used discusses a topic which most adults are familiar with and will be interested in. interesting reading input is believed to increase vocabulary acquisition.
• Matching words/phrases with theirmeanings.
• T’s feedback on  errors noticed during mini role-play.
• True/False activity to ensure comprehension of story. 

Source Aids/Handouts

• Story “The perfect crime”. Source: New Headway Pre-Intermediate. OUP.
• Cd of classical music
• Posters with pictures of story and vocabulary that appears in text.
• A handout with a reading comprehension task. (my own)
• A handout with matching words/phrases with their meanings. (my own)
• A4 vocabulary card, so learners can record topic-related vocabulary.
• Realia to make story more fun.
• A whiteboard
• Whiteboard markers
• Flyswatters ( to be used in game)

Download materials used for this vocabulary lesson    Materials for vocab lesson download

Linguistic assumptions Learners should be familiar with the topic of the story, and have formed related schemata in their L1. They should have already met some vocabulary on love or crime, through their current or past coursebooks. Learners should have knowledge of the grammar of lexis, what a collocation, a phrase/expression and a phrasal verb is. Target Vocabulary Collocations                                                              Comfort sb Take a sip                                                             A murder weapon                                                  Search a house                                                     Expressions Adore your husband                                             didn’t believe her ears A wedding anniversary                                        Look forward to the evening Phrasal Verbs Turn up the heating Look forward to Get away with murder Put on make up Pick smth up Prepositions Be in love with Walk into the living room Break into bits

 

Anticipated Language Difficulties Some of the vocabulary that appears in the story might obstruct learners understanding, especially if they are used to word to word translation. Shadow-reading in the “suggestopedia” stage is a technique new to them, so learners might have difficulty in applying it. My timing may not be very accurate, as I cannot estimate exactly how long activities will take.

Solutions/Remedies In the first stages of my lesson I conduct a variety of activities to elicit, brainstorm and preteach vocabulary so as to build Ls confidence in dealing with text. I will demonstrate once or twice and learners will try it out with me too before we begin the activity. If I run out of time, I will just play the game with one or two pairs. If it were my class, I would use the game as a warm up in our next lesson.

 

Timetable Fit    This class has just been introduced to guessing meaning through context, which is something they will need to do so as to match the words/phrases we will be working on, with their meanings. Vocabulary lessons are the ones they are struggling with, so this will be a good opportunity to enrich their vocabulary, practise and expand their guessing skills.

 

Board Plan(s)  Elicited vocabulary will be written around the theme cards, which will be mounted in the middle of the whiteboard. Any vocabulary brainstorming will be added to these. Posters and pictures will be placed right and left of w/b.

 

Commentary  In my experience, as a teacher, I have noticed that vocabulary is treated differently from grammar. For example, learners do remedial grammar classes and coursebook designers produce very rich grammar books for students but the same does not apply for vocabulary. Vocabulary lessons are most often restricted to the input of the coursebook and sometimes this is not enough to enrich and expand learners’ vocabulary resources. I will attempt to challenge this by giving learners a two-page story and achieve acquisition of target vocabulary through the activities designed. In the first part of the lesson I will be doing a lot of eliciting and brainstorming so as to get as much vocabulary as I can from the learners.   Then, I will be doing some preteaching of vocabulary that will appear in the story so as to support their understanding.  Pronunciation practice will be carried out in the suggestopedia stage, where the learners will shadow-read the story accompanied by baroque music. Reading comprehension will be explored through a T/F task on the main events in the story. Learners will then have the opportunity to do vocabulary tasks which will promote the concept of learning vocabulary in chunks and linking them thematically. The lesson will end with a competitive game, where the learners have to produce the word they are being described. This will cause great excitement and motivation in the lesson and at the same time vocabulary will become more memorable.   If the lesson runs faster than estimated I will deal with recording vocabulary thematically. Recording new vocabulary in topics is an activity learners will be encouraged to do and hopefully continue it even after this lesson.

 PROCEDURE

Stage	Teacher Activity	Learner Activity	Aims / Purpose	Materials	Interaction	Time
	Before class T puts up posters depicting parts of the story in random order and a poster containing related vocabulary.		To activate “peripheral learning” and to activate imagination & interest in story.	Posters/pictures.
	Once Ls are seated, the T introduces aims of the lesson (to learn a lot of voc, effortlessly) and emphasizes how easy and fun this could be. T then asks “How do you feel today?” and asks Ls to mime their mood to the person they’re sitting next to.	Ls mime to each other how they feel.	To involve Ls in learning experience and explain what T hopes to achieve in this lesson. Relax Ls and remove any tension that could inhibit progression of lesson.		T-Ss S-S	1-2 min
Warm-up Stage	T gives Ls a set of pictures to put in order, which show parts of the story. T asks Ls to get into pairs to order pic. T asks for feedback and justification for choices Teacher Activity	Ls pair up to order pic. Ls provide feedback.	To set the situation by providing visual input that will activate schematic knowledge. To playfully deal with task by getting into pairs and sharing ideas. To generate discussion on topic; Act as a lead-in for next task.	Sets of pict.	T-Ss pairs Whole cls- T	2 min 2 min
Pre-Reading Prediction	T puts title on the board but covers the last word. The title reads:”The perfect…………” T asks Ls to read title and look at their sets of pictures and predict content of story.	Ls read incomplete title, look at sets of pictures and make attempts at guessing content.	To get Ls interested and prepare them for the story.	Enlarged title PART A and set of pictures	T-ss	1 min
	Then T elicits predictions by prompting T asks: What do you think the story is about? Who is the woman in the picture? Who is the man? What has happened? Why? Can you complete the title…? T accepts all possibilities without revealing story. She only confirms the completion of title, if successful.	Ls respond to T’s qs and share predictions with her. Ls make suggestions.	To share predictions and exchange knowledge on content of story. To create a plot in order to be checked when Ls are presented with text. To create further interest in story.		T-Class Cls T-Ss Ss-T	2-3 min
Stage	Teacher Activity	Learner Activity	Aims/Purpose	Materials	Interaction	Time
Completion of title* (This is done only if title hasn’t been completed)	{ If Ls haven’t completed the title successfully, T prompts Ls in order to complete it. T asks: What do we commit? ( a crime) OR If we commit one, we go to prison.}	{Ls complete title through T’s prompting.}* Only if not completed in previous stage.	To assist Ls in completing title in order to be used in next stage.	Enlarged title PARTS A&B	T-Ss Ss-T	1 min
Vocabulary Brainstorming and pre-teaching	T uses title to get Ls to brainstorm voc. T asks: 1. What kind of crimes do people commit? Why? 2. Can you think of words that will appear in the story? T arranges voc on board by writing round the theme words “crime” and “other words” T prompts Ls to come up with words that will appear in text : weapon, search, didn’t believe her ears , look forward to, adore.	Ls respond to T qs and brainstorm voc. Ls assist T in arranging vocabulary. Ls try and guess word T is describing/eliciting	To trigger Ls memory in order to activate rusty vocab and to recall previously taught lexis. To involve Ls in the process of organizing voc thematically. To elicit or pre-teach target voc	Board and f/cards that read “crime” and “other words”, to be used for spider gram	T-Ss Ss-T T-Ss Ss-T	4 min 4-5 min
Stage	Teacher’s Activity	Learners Activity	Aims / Purpose	Materials	Interaction	Time
While- reading (adaptation of suggestopedia) Prelude	T tells Ls that she will read the story to them and as she reads, she would like them to listen & visualize the scenes. T mentions that soft music will accompany her and encourages Ls to relax and enjoy the narration. T doesn’t give text out yet. T encourages Ls to check their predictions as they listen to story but doesn’t insist. T acts out using realia. T reads up to a point where Ls can confirm predictions. Ls are then asked: Were your predictions correct? So what actually happened?	Ls listen to T narrating, being as relaxed as possible and visualizing the scenes. Ls at this point do not have the text, as this can distract them from relaxing and can raise Affective filter.	To relax Ls and to desuggest any limitations. To present a vast amount of voc and cater for all types of Ls visual, auditory, kinesthetic. To make voc memorable through miming. To check pre-reading predictions, if possible at this stage.	CD Realia	T-Class T-Ss Ss-T	4 min 1 min
Suggesto-pedia 2nd phase	T tells Ss that she will continue reading story but at normal speed & they should try to listen to her pronunciation and shadow-read. Ls are given the text. T explains techn & demonstrates. T also mentions that the music, this time, will be slightly faster. T reads the remaining part of the story. Ls shadow-read	Ls listen to instructions of technique and try out. Ls listen to T and shadow-read , being as relaxed as possible.	To expose Ls to native-like pronunciation. To familiarize Ls with technique. To relax Ls and subconsciously activate acquisition of target voc.	CD, story	T-Ss Whole class	5-6 min
Pronunci- ation practice	T invites class to act out a mini dialogue she has selected from the story, which is colour-coded on the story page. T encourages Ls to stand up and act it out, as if they are the characters in the story. T listens & discreetly makes a note of pronunciation difficulties and goes over at the end of activity.	Ls choose role they like and act it out adopting the style encouraged by T; dramatic, sad, being hot, etc. Ls repeat correct pronunciation.	To activate material in a playful way and work on pronunciation. To deal with difficulties of specific words or sounds.	Story	T-Class Class T- Class Class repetition	4 min 2 min
Comprehen-sion check	T gives handout with True/False sentences. Ls are asked to say which sentences are true and which are false according to the story. Ls are also asked to correct the false sentences orally. T asks Ls to work in pairs Locating answers in story is encouraged. T checks answers with Ls	Ls work on task, note T/F and locate answer in story. Ls read out answers.	To check comprehension through T/F statements. To check answers and adjust incorrect ones.	Handout 1	T-Ss pairwork Ss-T	4 min 2 min
Vocabulary matching activity Feedback	T gives Ls a handout with words/phrases from the story, and their meanings to match. Ls are encouraged to use context to guess the words. T has highlighted target voc in the story so that Ls won’t waste time trying to find them. T checks answers with class.	Ls read words/phrases and try to match their meanings. Ls use surrounding context to guess meanings of new words/ phrases/collocations. Ls read out answers and adjust where necessary.	To focus directly on target vocabulary. To guess meaning through context. To increase encounters with input (story) so as toaid acquisition of target vocabulary. To check answers and correct.	Handout 2 & story.	T-Ss Ss-T	3-4 min 2 min
Production of target voc (fly- swatter Game)	T tells class that they are going to play a game, in which they will need to remember the meanings of the words, phrases, and collocations they just worked on. The T pairs up Ls and explains game. Players stand by the board and the T appoints a L to call out the meaning of a word. The player, who hits the word first and pronounces it correctly, gets one point. The player who gathers 3 points first is the winner. T supplies Ls with fly-swatters. Flashcards of the words are mounted on the board. T asks Ls if they have any qs before they play the game and clarify any areas of confusion. T gives 1 min so that Ls can look at voc before they play the game. Game is played. T keeps score. Winner is announced at the end. T asks Ls for feedback on lesson and their opinion of the lesson as a whole. T thanks Ls for their time.	Ls listen to T’s description of game. Ls listen to instructions and terms of game. As above As above Ls ask for clarifications. Ls look at words for 1 min and try to memorize as many items as possible.	To produce the target vocabulary through a competitive game. To check acquisition of target vocabulary. To playfully produce target vocabulary To clarify and further explain game. To enhance memorization of target vocabulary.	Handout 2, f/cards of target voc. Fly-swatters	T-Ss Ss-T	2 min 1 min 1 min 5-6 min. Duration of lesson 60 min.

If the lesson runs faster than estimated I will deal with recording vocabulary thematically. Ls will be given a vocabulary organizer to write CRIME voc and OTHER WORDS. Each word/phrase/collocation dealt with in the lesson, will be recorded in alphabetical order. ( mat: A4 voc card)

 

Materials will be added soon in case you are interested