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Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips & Techniques
Handout from a presentation at TESOL 1995 (Chicago)
Joseph Pettigrew
Center for English Language & Orientation Programs
Boston University
890 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02215
jpettigr@bu.edu
http://people.bu.edu
http://joepettigrew.pbwiki.com
Permission is freely given for personal use by any teacher. Permission for use on an institutional level is also given
provided that the author’s name and university affiliation remain with the materials.
I. Oldies but goodies
1. Matching synonyms
2. Matching opposites
3. Fill in the blank sentences
II. Variations on the above
1. Choose
all
the possible answers
We ate lunch in the _____.
cafeteria
restaurant
snack
snack bar
salad bar
diner
2.
Where
would you find . . . ?
an MD _____
a Ph.D. _____
an MP _____
in. _____
hp _____
3. Compete the phrases
to achieve ____
to reveal ____
to grasp ____
4. Correct the mistakes
He felt exhausted after a long nap.
E.g.,
refreshed
for
exhausted
or
running to school
for
a long nap
5. Label a picture
monitor keyboard mouse screen
a) a secret
b) an idea
c) a goal
a) in the British or Canadian Parliament
b) on a ruler
c) on a engine
d) in a hospital
e) in a university
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Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips & Techniques
© 1995 J. Pettigrew
6. Draw a picture
(Works for a limited number of words)
Draw a
target.
Draw a
bow and arrow
and label each one.
7. Cross out the word that doesn’t belong with the others in the group.
uncle
EST
father
pm
aunt
brother
BC
yard
field
Ph.D.
river
meadow
8. Categories
-
You give the example; students give the category. Or vice versa.
Examples: gun, knife, club:
weapon
Category: weapon:
gun, knife, club
9. Complete the sentences
I was exhausted after ___________________________________
III. Distinguishing shades of meaning & near synonyms
1. Analogies
-
Good even at low levels
This exercise allows those with limited English to do something on a more sophisticated level
than they are usually able to do.
easy : hard :: cold : hot
skyscraper : city :: tree : forest
warp : wood :: peel : paint
shatter : glass :: crumble : stone
2. Choose the
two
possible answers that can complete each sentence.
Semantic:
She
longed for
. . .
(a) her freedom.
(b) her lover who was far away.
(c) some ketchup for her French fries.
(only a joke; not serous enough)
Grammatical:
He pondered
. . .
(a) his future.
(b) that he didn’t know what to do.
(only followed by a noun, not a clause)
(c) the meaning of life.
Good source for incorrect answers: student errors
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Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips & Techniques
© 1995 J. Pettigrew
3. Semantic categories
- e.g., break, damage
He
dented
the . . .
car’s bumper
/ tree branch / glass of water
She
splintered
the . . . can /
board
/ mirror
He
shattered
the . . .
mirror
/ water / curtains
She
shredded
the . . . can / tree branch /
curtains
4. Arrange the words on a scale
(most to least, largest to smallest, etc.)
hot > warm > lukewarm > cool > cold
despise > hate > dislike
This is nice to do when possible, but it’s not possible all that often. New words are usually presented and
defined with one or two known words. Focus on how the new word differs from the one they already know.
For example:
5. Which word in each pair is
stronger, more forceful,
or
more intense?
___ to surprise
___ to astound
___ to boil
___ to simmer
___ to toss
___ to throw
___ to hurl
___ to throw
6. Which word in each pair is
slang?
_____ a kid
_____ a child
_____ disgusting
_____ gross
_____ to fail
_____ to flunk
7. Which word would be
more polite
when talking about a person?
or
Which word has a more
positive connotation?
_____ thin
_____ skinny
_____ fat
_____ overweight
_____ frugal
_____ miserly
8. Complete the definitions -
How
are these actions performed?
thrust = to push ____________________
(forcefully, hard)
shatter = to break ____________________
(into many pieces)
tap = to hit _____________________
(lightly, softly)
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Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips & Techniques
© 1995 J. Pettigrew
IV. Things to do with the vocabulary in a reading passage
1. Guessing word meaning from context
- See suggestions in Section V.
But
make sure it is really possible to guess the meaning from context. A lot of textbooks give students
context exercises using unclear or ambiguous examples. This just convinces them that it’s not really
possible to do.
If you have a reading with a lot of vocabulary words whose meanings you cannot reasonably expect
students to get from context, try some of these techniques.
2. Give students the definitions; let them find the words.
e.g., find a word in paragraph 5 that means
angry.
A good way to deal with a difficult article without simply giving students the vocabulary.
This also teaches them to focus on context and can be a good complement to work on guessing
meaning (section V below).
3. Teach students when
not
to look up a word.
o
o
o
o
Can you get a general sense of the word? e.g., a person? a feeling? a job? something
good/bad?
Find all the words on a page that refer to
movement
(or
speaking).
Do you really need to know exactly what each word means to understand the action of the
story? How much can you understand
before
you use a dictionary?
Take a magic marker and block out all the words you don’t know. Can you still tell what the
passage is about?
Follow-up/reinforcement
4. Parts of speech
With a corpus of words you’ve already studied, give sentences that require a different part of
speech. (Dictionary use)
5. Different meanings of familiar vocabulary
e.g.,
toll
[while driving on the highway] There’s a
toll
bridge ahead. Do you have any quarters?
The highway death
toll
has declined sharply since police began to enforce the drunk driving laws
more aggressively.
The bell in the old church tower
tolled
four o’clock.
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Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips & Techniques
© 1995 J. Pettigrew
V. Teaching students how to guess word meaning from context
Types of context clues:
1. Cause & effect
-
Label the sentence C & E; then make a guess.
Because we
lingered
too long at the restaurant, we missed the beginning of the movie.
The door was
ajar,
so the dog got out of the house.
2. Opposite/contrast
-
Underline the two words or phrases in contrast to one another, then make a
guess.
Even though I studied for hours, I
flunked
the test.
My last apartment was really small, but my new place is quite
spacious.
3. General sense
- Focus on SVO, actor & recipient of action. What type of word is it?
If it is a
noun:
a person, place, thing, abstract idea
If it is a
verb:
an action (e.g., movement?), or feeling/emotion, etc.
If it is an
adjective:
what is it describing? good or bad? size? color? shape? emotion?
Each summer thousands of tourists
flock
to the beaches of Cape Cod.
The father
tossed
the ball to his little boy.
4. Synonyms or paraphrases
-
Found elsewhere in the sentence or paragraph
Samuel was
deaf,
but he didn’t let his handicap get in the way of his success.
Sally’s flower garden included dozens of
marigolds,
which she tended with great care.
5. Examples
- if you know the example, you can often figure out the category; if you know the category,
you can get a general idea of what the example is.
The
baboon,
like other apes, is a very social animal.
6. Recognizing definitions
-
Common in college textbooks, newspaper & magazine articles
Many children of normal intelligence have great difficulty learning how to read, write, or
work with numbers. Often thought of as “underachievers,” such children are said to have
a
learning disability,
a disorder that interferes in some way with school achievement.
[from
Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills]
Page 5 of 8
Teaching Vocabulary: Two Dozen Tips & Techniques
© 1995 J. Pettigrew

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