Techniques for presenting new vocabuly
There are various ways to demonstrate the meaning of new language. Depending on the level of your HostCambio and the vocabulary you are introducing, you will need to select whether a simple translation will be adequate or whether you will need to use pictures, flash cards, drawings, actions, gestures and expressions. Here are some of the ways to present new vocabulary:
Using pictures or visual aids.
This works well for vocabulary used to describe objects, for example clothes, food, animals, furniture.
Using realia or real objects.
For example, demonstrate clothing by pointing to the items of clothing that you and your Host(s) are wearing.
Using mime or actions.
This works well with children, show ‘jump’ by jumping or ‘tired’ by yawning
Using sounds.
For example, ‘to whistle’ by making a whistling sound.
Using matching type activities in which vocabulary items are listed on one side of the paper and meanings are jumbled on the other side. Students then match vocabulary items to their meanings in pairs
Using a text.
For example, you could use a newspaper article about a crime to introduce vocabulary items such as ‘steal’, ‘thief’ and so on. Students look at the words and deduce the meaning from the context.
Using a story or situation.
Introducing words for relationships ‘get to know each other’, ‘fall in love’ by telling the story of a couple meeting and their relationship progressing