None of my professors EVER told us to stop pre-teaching all the vocabulary (they were huge fans of that method), but I’m telling you to do just that.
Here’s why.
While I was getting my master’s in TESL in the early 2010s, the strategy of pre-teaching vocabulary words was all the rage. Perhaps it still is? This wasn’t something I had done much of in all my previous years of teaching ESL, but I didn’t want to be an “old dog.” So, eager to practice what I learned, I began pre-teaching vocabulary.
My students’ interest, engagement, and vocabulary retention dropped from the first day.
I remember standing at the board, carefully writing out vocabulary words and their definitions before we even opened the text. My intermediate students, usually chatty and engaged, sat there like I was reading them the phone book. Salma kept checking her phone. Jianhong literally put his head down on his desk. When I finally said, “Okay, now let’s read the article,” half the class had already mentally checked out.
That highly approved strategy turned me into the dreaded Sage on the Stage!
Now, in my not-so-fresh-faced eagerness, I probably dove into it too deeply when I KNOW that there just isn’t ONE method that does the job all the time for everyone. I’m not saying that you should never pre-teach vocabulary. Sometimes that is the best method, and it can undoubtedly be the fastest strategy. However, it’s not the be-all and end-all.
This is what I do instead of pre-teaching vocabulary
I write the theme on the board and invite my class to make guesses about what it means.
Once they are at least in the ballpark for the meaning, I have them pair up or get into small groups to brainstorm words connected to that theme.
Then they share their words with another group or pair.
Finally, they have a few minutes to just talk about any connection they have to that topic.
Now their brains are awake, and the neurons are in a networking frenzy.
Is this the point where I allow them to use their dictionaries?
NO! That is the last resort!
Next, I have them make lists of the words they don’t understand in a text. They do so in four columns: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and OTHER. They determine this by examining each word’s placement in the sentence as well as any suffixes. They also don’t do this alone—I am BIG on teamwork.
Now each group joins another group to share what they have and talk it through. I still haven’t “taught” anything yet. I’m walking around, listening, taking notes, and sometimes giving a little nudge in another direction.
Once they’ve exhausted their own resources (their brains), I show them images connected to the words. I pull up photos on my laptop and project them. Sometimes it’s a picture of someone looking “bewildered” or “ecstatic.” Sometimes it’s an image of a “cluttered” room versus an “organized” one. During this time, they blurt out whatever pops into their mind and continue talking to each other. If they haven’t reached a definition yet, I start telling little stories and giving examples. It’s only at the end of this that I will allow them to use a dictionary.
But this takes so much more time than pre-teaching vocabulary!
I hear you! It most certainly does, and that can drive you nuts if you keep thinking about how much you need to get done with them.
It gets better! The more often you have them follow steps like mine, the better and faster they become. As their skills increase, they depend upon you less, freeing you up to do other things with them. Plus, you’re teaching them life skills!
Don’t give them a sandwich!
This process teaches students how to use their BEST resource—their brain. It also teaches them how to use another vital resource…each other. The more they can rely on themselves and each other, the less they will depend on you. They are learning HOW TO learn (while learning vocabulary). You’ve just taught them how to learn without a teacher holding their hand, which is a skill far more useful than making a sandwich.
Sure, sometimes you’ll choose to pre-teach the vocabulary because it IS faster in the short run. Just, don’t do it all the time, all right?
-Me
You may not always have time to follow the same steps I do, and that’s okay! It’d be tiring to do that all the time, but changing things up keeps the cobwebs out of the brain. Sure, sometimes you’ll choose to pre-teach the vocabulary because it IS faster in the short run. Just, don’t do it all the time, all right? Doing that makes a very noticeable difference. I often got the same students I used to have in lower levels back in my classes later on when I got switched to higher level classes, and I always saw a HUGE difference in the students I had taught this way and their classmates who had had a different teacher that believed in always pre-teaching vocabulary.
Hasma, who I’d had in Level 2, came into my Level 4 class alongside students from another teacher’s Level 2. When we encountered a reading with unfamiliar words, Hasma immediately started examining the context, looking at word placement, checking for prefixes and suffixes. Her classmate Nasser just sat there, waiting for me to tell him what the words meant. When I didn’t, he looked genuinely confused. “Teacher, when do you teach the vocabulary?” My former students were more resourceful and learned faster.
Pre-teaching vocabulary simply doesn’t activate their brain as much as structured discoveries.
The Bottom Line
I have had more than one student complain about having to think in my class. Yeah, you heard that right…the complaint was having to think.
Once, three weeks into the term, Javier raised his hand and said, “Why you make us do all this? Why you don’t just tell us the definitions?” He looked genuinely annoyed. I smiled and told him he was building skills he’d need later when he was at university. He rolled his eyes, but having that why helped.
Fast forward to about a year later. Javier dropped by our language school to say hi to all his former teachers. When he saw me, he said, “Teacher, I need to tell you something. My professor in my university class gives us reading with words I don’t know. But I know what to do! I look at the sentence, I think about the prefix, I use the context. I don’t need a dictionary all the time now.” Then he grinned. “I still think you made us think too much… but thank you.”
That’s it from me. See you in the next post!
Read more about vocabulary in adult ESL!
Stop Selling Academic Vocabulary. Start Selling This Instead.
How to Teach Academic Vocabulary with Videos and Not Just Kill Time
2 Vocabulary Games That’ll Get Even Your Skeptical Adult ESL Students Excited
