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In this essay, I am going to discuss how to teach vocabulary. Although grammar is usually integrated with the teaching of vocabulary, we still consider it necessary to introduce ways to present and consolidate vocabulary. I will mainly talk about the following. First, we should know what to teach. In other words , what do students need to know about a vocabulary item. There are meaning, use, word grammar, interaction, spelling and pronunciation. Of course, there are another thought by reason. That is meaning, form and use. It is short for MFU. After we know this, we can focus on how to teach. So the second is that the ways of teaching vocabulary. There are some techniques. One is ESA for “engage, study and activity”. Another is PPP for “presentation, practice and production”. Let’s introduce one by one. As for ESA, each part has some activities. For example, we can use realia, mime and action, pictures and so on to interest and engage. And then, set up some activities for study, such as gap fill exercises, crosswords, matching exercises. Last, still do some activities (open class, role-play, story building......) Now there is a sample lesson for ESA. Take the fruit as an example. Engage: teacher shows a hand puppet and tell students this is my friend, then shows a picture of garden and tell students this is my friend secret garden. This part teacher can create a secret expression to engage. Study: this part starts to do some exercises with what we need to teach. Don’t forget to check. Checks pronunciation, spelling, meaning, etc with some of the study activities mentioned above. Activity: this part can let students draw their dream garden. And have a discussion here. As for PPP, there are also some activities. There is the sample lesson. Take timetable as an example. Presentation: teacher can set in a context, elicit the words using visual or audio aids. For example, we can show a picture of school here. And tell students today we’re going to go to school. Then we meet a teacher, this is an English teacher. By that ways, we present the words. Of course, do not forget to check meaning! Practice: there are some activities for meaning, form and use. For meaning, we can do read and match. Let students match the pictures with the words. And then say some sentences with our key words. Production: this part let students use words in different ways. Teacher can show a timetable for sample. And then let students do their timetables. Last encourage them to talk out. In this essay, I started from what to teach, leading to how to teach. Last focus on the activities. Many students devote large amounts of time and energy to the learning of vocabulary, but often end up with dissatisfaction with the learning results as they still fail to achieve the expected level of comprehension or they complain that they cannot help forgetting. So it is very important to make students aware how to learn vocabulary effectively and how to use some vocabulary learning strategies to help them learn. Although much of the work of vocabulary learning is the job of the students, teacher’s guidance and help are invaluable. If teachers present new words effectively, it saves a lot of time and energy for consolidation. So it is very important to use the appropriate ways for teaching.
