How-to-Teach-English-Vocabulary.doc

How to Teach English Vocabulary Teachers should choose proper ways to instruct words. Many teachers often write new wordsthey want to teach on the blackboard, then explain them one by one. The way is easy for teachersto teach, while it isnt interesting for students to learnIt makes students feel bored. The followingways are better on teaching English words.Part One Teaching English words by using word-formation1.Using roots of English words to teach new words. A root is the basic form of a word which can not be further analyzed without total loss of identity. Generally it carries the main component of meaning in a word. After students learn the word use, teachers can say that useful comes from use. It means of use. Teachers also can say that the word useless comes from the word use. It means of no use or not useful.2.Using prefixes to teach new words. The majority of prefixes are characterized by their non-class - changing nature. Their chief function is to change meanings of roots. Prefixes can be classified into some groups on a semantic basis.（1）Negative prefixes：dis-, non- un-. For instance, disobey means not obey; non-smoker means not a smoker; unfair means not fair ;(2) Prefixes of degree or size：micro-, over-, under-. For example, microcomputer means very small computer; overweight means weighing more than normal; under-developed means less developed; (3)Prefixes of time and order: foretell means tell before happening; reconsider means consider again.3.Using suffixes to teach new words. Unlike prefixes which primarily change the meaning of roots, suffixesprimary function is to change the grammatical function of roots. Therefore, suffixes can be grouped into noun，verb，adverb and adjective suffixes.（1）Noun suffixes：-er,- hood, -ese, -ist, -tion. For example,“worker means a person who works; childhood means condition of being a child; Chinese means a person from China; pianist means a person who plays the piano with skill; collection means the act of collecting; (2) Verb suffixes: -fy, -ize, -en. For instance, beautify means to make beautiful”,apologize means to make an apology. darken means to make dark; (3)Adverb suffixes：-ly, -wards. For example, badly means to a serious degree; forwards means towards the front. (4)Adjective suffixes：-able, -al, -ful, -y. For example, acceptable means that can be allowed, national means of a nation, careful means showing attention to details, rainy means having a lot of rain.4.Using compounding words to teach English words. Compounding, also known as composition,is the formation of new words by joining two or more roots. Words formed in this way are calledcompounds. So a compound is a lexical unit consisting of more than one root but functioning both grammatically and semantically as a single word. There are three major classes of compounds.(1)Noun compounds：blackboard-blackboard, bedroom-bedroom classroom-classroom, newspaper-newspaper. (2) Adjective compounds：manmake-man-made, blueeye-blue-eyed, radioactive-radioactive. (3）Verb compounds：overthrow-overthrow,broadcast-broadcast, maybe-maybe.5.Using conversion to teach new words. Conversion is the formation of new words by convertingwords of one class to another. This is a method of turning words from one part of speech to adifferent part. These words are new only in a grammatically sense. Since the words do not changein morphological structure but in function, this process is also known as functional shift. Payattention to the word round in the following sentences：（1）He was knocked out in the secondround; (2) Round the number off to the nearest tenth;(3)The women gathered round our room;(4)The sun was bright and round; (5) People over there came from all the country round. In eachsentence round is used as a different part of speech：noun, verb, preposition, adjective andadverb. As we all know word-formation plays an important role in the expansion of vocabulary inmodern English. If students can master the ways mentioned above, their vocabulary can be enlarged. Thus, when students read English books, they can reduce the times of using dictionary.Part Two Teaching English words by using their synonyms and antonyms1.Synonyms are words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. There are two kinds of synonyms. (1)Absolute synonyms：composition-compounding, word-formation-word-building. (2)Relative synonyms：different-various, large-huge, wish-desire, answer-reply, wood-forest, ask- request, little-small, often- always, and so on.2.Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning. There are a variety of oppositeness. They can be classified into three major groups.（1）Contradictory terms：dead- alive, true-false, boy- girl, same- different, present -absent;(2)Contrary terms：rich-poor, old-young, big-small, hot-cold, open-close;(3)Relative terms：wife-husband, parent-child, sell-buy, and so on. The way is commonly used in teaching. By this means students can learn many English words which are relevant in meanings and memorize them quickly.Part Three Teaching new words by offering homonyms Homonyms are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical in sound and spelling or alike only in sound or spelling. Homonyms can be divided into three classes： perfect homonyms, homographs and homophones1.Perfect homonyms are words identical both in sound and spelling, but different in meaning. For example, over prep. directly above, over adv. downwards from an upright position, over adj. ended; excuse v. to forgive somebody for a small fault, excuse n. a reason.2.Homographs are words alike only in spelling but different in sound and meaning. For instance,sow sau n. female adult pig; sow su v. to scatter seeds;bow bun. a weapon for shootingarrows, bow bau v. to bend the upper part of the body forward, showing respect.3.Homophones are words alike only in sound but different in spelling and meaning. For example, hear hiv. to receive sounds with ears; here hi adv. in this place; meatmi:tn. the flesh of four- footed animals and birds used for food; meetmi:tv. to come together. Of the three kinds, homo- phones have the largest number and are most common.Part Four Teaching English words by offering words which have the same semantic field offunction For example, when instructing feel, teachers can offer sound, taste, smell and look because they all can be used as link verbs. When explaining cost, teachers also teach“have, last, hold, fit, belong to, agree with because they all cannot be used in the passive voice.Part Five Teaching new words by offering different parts of speech Words can be classified into many parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective, adverb and so on. For example, care (n.)care (v.)一careful (adj)carefully (adv.); wonder (n.)一wonder (v.) wonderful (adj)wonderfully(adv.); agree (v.)agreement (n.); govern (v.)一government (n.); develop (v.) development(n.) During the time teachers instruct words, if students can master a words different parts of speech, they can use it freely in future.Part Six Teaching English words by making sentences For instance, Monday comes after Sunday; Wednesday comes after Tuesday; Friday is between Thursday and Saturday. When students use these sentences, they can easily remember the seven words from Sunday to Saturday. It also helps students write compositions in future.Part Seven Teaching new words by asking students to read additional English articles Teachers first hand out some English articles and ask students to finish them in time. Then check up by asking students some questions on new words occurring in the articles. Last, remind students not to look up new words in dictionaries and should try their best to guess the meanings of the new words by the contextsPart Eight Teaching new words by learning texts in English textbooks All the articles are composed of sentences and all the sentences are made up of words. New words teaching should be connected with texts of English. Teachers cannot teach new words separately. When new words are taught in texts, students can memorize them easily by reciting texts and feel interested in them. Thus new words can be learned quickly.Part Nine Teaching new words by listening to the tapes for English textbooks Tapes of English usually have standard pronunciation. When teaching new words, teachers can use English tapes. Tapes can make teachers feel relaxed and make students like listening to them. English tapes also make classes lively and interesting. Thus students can remember new words quickly. With the help of tapes, students also can imitate pronunciation of tapes. Of course, English tapes also help students to memorize texts of English and to learn singing English songs.Part Ten Teaching English words by stick drawings, models, slides, films, videotapes, radios and TVs For example, when two prepositions into and onto are taught, teachers can use two stick drawings to show that into means so as to be in and onto means to a position on. Teachers can also give two sentences with the two stick drawings一He jumped into the water; He jumped onto the desk. Thus students can easily learn the two prepositions. In short, vocab