Introducing new vocabulary to young learners

Ritsuko Nakata, co-author of Let's Go, shares a fun and effective way to introduce new vocabulary to young learners.

[RachelB.BookReferences]

I see a lot of hate comments here, but this is similar to how we teach young native speakers English. We point at things and repeat the words a lot! The reality is that it's impossible to recreate a 24/7, native speaking, home environment for our students, and this is a good and effective way to introduce and review vocabulary. She never said this is the only activity she ever uses to teach vocabulary!

This is a traditional way of teaching by repeating words. In recent years, we tend to focus more on making use of the words in real life situations and mentioning as many scenarios in which we use the word to make sure that the student has a broader perspective of it. This way, we are investing in the student's long term knowledge as the brain works by connecting what we know with what we don't know. Not just present and repeat. There's no connection there.

[whgpqls]

I agree with some of the comments that this method is a bit mechanical, but bear in mind that the instructor here is just INTRODUCING the vocab to the students. She can always move onto more complex explanations/activities in later steps, although I personaly think young learners are better off practicing with drill exercises (especially if their English isn’t that good) as presenting them with other scenarios/sentences is likely to be far too advanced for their level.

[relaxjoe]

I have been teaching LET'S GO series for more than 4 years and I have mastered how to teach on my own, it sucked first but now it is much easier for me. I can teach online and offline, doesnt matter, I can recite the structures and lesson objectives even when I sleep.

[ayeletelkayam]

I want to say that I tried this activity in class, and it went so good!! It is a febilios idea to teach vocabulary so thank

[alexanderhuamantomapumalli]

I think it's a traditional form to learn English.

[Jasmine_Namwijit]

Excellent. Thank you so much. I use it to supervise some teachers in my area.

[vincentgordon]

I been to ESL classrooms where everything in the room is labeled. 4x5 index cards taped over every object. desk, door, blackboard, etc.

[paolapando]

Drills are not widely used in ELT. Much better if you present words or concepts in context and invite your students to understand them. They will keep them in mind and it will be easier to use them independently in other contexts. I think this is exactly what we don't want our teachers to do.

[phuongdung]

I noticed that learners in the classroom are very good at English already =)))

[uyennguyen-yidu]

I think it' better to use this way to review the words than to introduce new words. And in some real classes, the students are not good at english enough to do it, in this video just a demo class with good students

[priscilaamazing]

I like it. That's nice. Thanks from a Brazilian teacher.

[kaoruusui]

Thank you very much for sharing the tips!!

[linhtay]

Wowww! How amazing this method is!! I 'll have to try it now.
Thanks for your

[CamiCL]

I don't really think it's a good tip for teaching vocab. I see it as a way in which student has to repeat so many times but problably student is going to forget that in a couple of days. (this is just my opinion)

[IK]

I don't think that this is a fun or effective way to introduce new vocab. The teacher should speak very clearly and articulate very well. There is no point in increasing the speed either. Are we trying to confuse young learners or enlighten them?

[strivestrive]

And what about the verbs? Adverbs? Adjectives?

[megank]

The Let's Go books are the WORST books I have ever had to use while teaching esl. All of the worksheets are completely useless as it required 5 and 6 year olds to be able to read and understand long sentences in English!

[cemalgok]

Koskoca oxford üniversitesinin yüklediği video gülsem mi ağlasam mı? Kxkxxkksdkdk bu ne ya kuran kursu dersleri sanki

[haneensaad]

not very effective, they will not be able to use these words in sentences