Increasing Student Vocabulary

Get to know how to improve your student’s vocabulary. Read ten proven strategies which will be very useful for tutoring.
Increasing Student Vocabulary

increasing_student_vocabulary5. Try to integrate vocabulary into each lesson, regardless of the content area that you teach. It will be better to make vocabulary a natural part of each lesson, and discuss the vocabulary surrounding the concepts that you teach, regardless of if it is math, art or music.

6. In order your students can continue to develop their vocabulary independently, without having it explicitly taught, teach them to use reference materials. Teach students how to use a lot of online dictionaries and thesauruses that are out there, if students have reliable access to computers. Many even have pronunciation guides that can be clicked on. In the classroom, there are a variety of games that you can play with the dictionary to increase your students’ comfort level with this resource.

7. Offer multiple exposures to new words. Students must use their new vocabulary in order for it to stick, just as when someone must practice new words repeatedly when learning a new language.

8. You must help your students develop connections between their lives and the vocabulary words. You can do it through whole class semantic mapping, as each student has an opportunity to add his or her idea about a word to the discussion.

increasing_student_vocabulary9. Give tasks that give students a reason to use the vocabulary outside of class. For instance, you may want to ask them to go home and bring back pictures that relate to the vocabulary words. For full development of vocabulary, it must also be used outside of the school walls.

10. To teach vocabulary, try playing physical games. For instance, take words such as stomp, saunter, and crouch that can be physically acted out and play a guessing game. Incorporate other vocabulary games as well. The vocabulary is more likely to be remembered later, if students are relaxed and having fun. Games also help you cater to different learning styles in a very easy manner.



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