For middle and high school students to learn how to use words precisely,
their teachers must learn how to teach vocabulary those students
require for authentic nonfiction reading and writing situations.
Such teaching requires different activities for teaching vocabulary
than the vocabulary exercises exercises typically used in preparing
students for standardized tests.
Most vocabulary exercises employ lower
level cognitive tasks. When a teacher presents a word and its
definition and asks students to recognize the correct definition,
for example, she is asking students to remember. Remembering
is the most basic cognitive task. When the teacher presents a word
and its definition and asks students to use the word in a sentence,
she is asking for the next higher cognitive task, comprehension.
Learn vocabulary exercises
to use in teaching vocabulary at the remembering and comprehension
levels.
Students must remember and comprehend English vocabulary before
they can make it part of their everyday lives; however, those mental
tasks are only a first step.
English language arts teachers can employ various vocabulary activities
to get students to develop a deeper understanding.
Sentence & paragraph cloze activities
If you give students a 10-word vocabulary list and 10 sentences,
each containing a blank to be completed with one of the words, you
have a cloze activity. If you write the sentences so that
there is only one possible choice for each blank, the activity assesses
basic knowledge and comprehension.
You can make modify this basic cloze format to teach at a higher
level
If one or two of the words could fit in more than one of the
sentences, students have to look for the most appropriate fit.
The activity gets even harder if you make the cloze activity
a paragraph written in such a way that students may have to
use various forms of their vocabulary words to fill in the
blanks.
For example, if the vocabulary word were analyze, the blanks
could require the students to use analyzes, analyzed,
analyzing, or even analysis.
What I've just described goes a bit beyond a basic comprehension
activity. But you can easily rachet it up yet another notch.
Instead of having students complete the paragraph as seatwork or
homework, give it as a team activity. Students will be forced
to use the new vocabulary words in speaking to discuss the
reasons they think the word in the third blank should be analysis
rather than hypothesis.
When you give cloze activities, make sure you have dictionaries
handy (in print and online), so students can consult sources for
help. Looking things up helps reinforce students' understanding
of the vocabulary. It also encourages students to take responsibility
for their own learning.
Two more vocabulary activities suited to teams are:
