Penny Ur

2021
Various issues: Let’s start thinking.
• How many times does a learner need to
review a new item?
• American English? British English?
• Pre-teaching vocabulary?
• Guessing from context?
• Reviewing in context / out of context?
• Word games?
• Using L1 to explain new words?

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Mostly to add to, rather than replace, what
you are doing already
with occasional focus on online teaching

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 Because:
1. Sheer amount the students need to learn
2. They don’t usually just ‘pick it up’

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Research:
You need to know about 3000 words at
intermediate (B1) level
5000 words at advanced (B2)
At least 8000 for academic studies

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Teaching a lot of vocabulary in lessons…

… and reviewing it

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Learning new vocabulary from extensive
reading is slow
How much do your students read?
In their own language? In English?

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Research indicates we need to encounter a
word 6-16 times in order to remember it…
… So recycle as many times as you can

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Remind students at the end of the lesson of
vocabulary they learned earlier. (Display
on the screen)
Start the next lesson by asking them to recall.
(Challenge to write into the chat box)

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 ‘Phrases’
‘Lexical phrases’
‘Chunks’
‘Lexical chunks’
‘Expressions’
… etc.

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Most could not be guessed by knowing the
single words

of course look after

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angry + with; afraid + of
tall + person but high + mountain
fast + food, runner, quick + review, visit,
question
sleep soundly, work hard
dead right but not *dead correct

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The distinction between British and American
doesn’t matter so much…
What matters is:
Will this word/expression be understood by
other people using English as an international
language?

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 fortnight / two weeks

billfold / wallet

fall / autumn

program / programme

she just finished / she has just finished

Do you have..? / Have you got..?

It’s here, isn’t it? / It’s here, no? / It’s here, right?
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[Link] 15
 findings for billfold

findings for wallet

Have you got

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Only a few key items
In a previous lesson
Leave time to review them before reading.

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Meaningful context
Immediately contribute to text
comprehension

+ review later

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In most cases – they get it wrong.
frustration
failure
no learning
time-wasting

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 Recycling clothes
While most clothes with care will last many years, changing fashions mean
their lifespan is artificially shortened by consumers changing tastes.
(1)………. figures suggest modern clothing will have a lifespan of between
2-10 years – with underwear and t-shirts lasting just one to two years, while
suits and coats last for around four to six years.
Would (2)………… our clothes help to reduce the toll our fashion addiction
has on the environment?
Currently just 13.6% of clothes and shoes thrown away in the US end up
being recycled – while the average American throws away 37 kg. of clothes
every year. (3)………… just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up
being recycled. Compare that to paper, class and plastic PET bottles – which
have recycling rates of 66%, 27% and 29% (4).............. in the US – and it is
clear clothing lags behind.
Indeed, most of the recycled polyester being used now by leading fashion
brands in fact comes from (5)…………….. rather than old clothing.
© Cambridge University Press
 Recycling clothes
While most clothes with care will last many years, changing fashions mean
their lifespan is artificially shortened by consumers changing tastes. Industry
figures suggest modern clothing will have a lifespan of between 2-10 years –
with underwear and t-shirts lasting just one to two years, while suits and coats
last for around four to six years.
Would recycling our clothes help to reduce the toll our fashion addiction has
on the environment?
Currently just 13.6% of clothes and shoes thrown away in the US end up
being recycled – while the average American throws away 37 kg. of clothes
every year. Globally just 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being
recycled. Compare that to paper, class and plastic PET bottles – which have
recycling rates of 66%, 27% and 29% respectively in the US – and it is clear
clothing lags behind.
Indeed, most of the recycled polyester being used now by leading fashion
brands in fact comes from bottles rather than old clothing.
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Guessing from context is not usually very
useful.
Ask students to guess only if you are fairly
sure they can do so successfully.
Otherwise: just tell them what the words
mean!
Use your cursor or highlight to direct their
attention to the word you are explaining
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Prioritize the common vocabulary from your
text.
How do you know which are most common?
1. Your own professional judgement
2. Vocabulary profilers

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Lextutor
[Link]
By thousand words in a frequency list (K1 etc.)
Text Inspector
[Link]
CEFR (A1, A2 etc.)
Wordandphrase
[Link]
By thousand words in a frequency list (K1 etc.)

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You don’t always have to contextualize in full
sentences.
Single-word review is also useful.
Or brief phrases

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 Recalling (chat box)
Translations (pencil and paper)
Dictation (pencil and paper)
Odd one out (pencil and paper)
‘Yes/no’ (annotating or poll)

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What adjectives could you apply to the word
question? (chat box)
How many phrases can you think of using the
word under? (chat box)

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There are simple strategies which can make
vocabulary exercises more interesting.
For example….

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tree apartment bicycle ice cream
1. Mary likes eating __________
2. The boy is riding a ___________
3. The family lives in this _______________
4. There is an apple on the _______________

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tree apartment bicycle ice cream
1. Mary likes eating __________
2. The boy is riding a ___________
3. The family lives in this _______________
4. There is an apple on the _______________

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1. Mary likes eating __________
2. The boy is riding a ___________
3. The family lives in this _______________
4. There is an apple on the _______________

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tree apartment bicycle ice cream
1. Mary likes eating ice cream
2. The boy is riding a bicycle
3. The family lives in this apartment
4. There is an apple on the tree

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1. Mary _______________ ice cream
2. The boy _______________ a bicycle
3. The family _______________ apartment
4. There is _______________ the tree

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tree apartment bicycle ice cream
1. I… Mary likes eating ... ice cream
2. I… The boy is riding … a bicycle
3. I… The family lives in this … apartment
4. I… There is an apple on … the tree

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1. I___________________ ice cream
2. I ___________________ a bicycle
3. I ___________________ apartment
4. I ___________________ the tree

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tree apartment bicycle ice cream
1. Mary likes eating ice cream when ….
2. The boy is riding a bicycle because …
3. The family lives in this apartment but …
4. There is an apple on the tree and…

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Open-ended responses
• Creativity, humour
• Unpredictability

Higher-order thinking
Personalization

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They’re mainly a waste of time for vocabulary
learning.
More time spent searching or wrong guesses
than finding:
(Useful as time-fillers)

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When introducing the meaning of a new
vocabulary item

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 Picture?
Realia?
Mime?
Synonym?
Explanation?
Examples?
Context?
Translation?

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 Impact
BUT
may be ambiguous
not all items can be depicted

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Happy

Happy = ‫ מאושר‬,‫שמח‬

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 Probably more impact than a picture
BUT
May be ambiguous
Not all items can be presented by realia or
mime

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 Quick
BUT
Only at higher levels
May be inaccurate or rough

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 For higher levels
Added exposure to English.
BUT:
time? clarity?
e.g.
Disappointed: If you are disappointed you are sad
because something has not happened or because
something is not as good as you had hoped.

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 Can explain some general terms
E.g. sweet: apples, sugar, honey …
sports: football, tennis, basketball, swimming
BUT
Not everything is easily explained by examples

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 Adds knowledge of sentence-context
More exposure to English
BUT
Often does not clarify the meaning
exact:
1. They knew the ______ answer.
2. Please be more ________!
3. I need to know the _______ price.

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Usually accurate
Quick
Natural

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 Use pictures, explanation etc…

… with a quick translation as backup.

(And DON’T feel guilty about it!)

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e.g. colors, parts of the body, prepositions,
action verbs
Some evidence that they aren’t learnt very
well.
Interference theory

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NOT blue + red,yellow, green
BUT RATHER: blue + sky
NOT: mother, father, daughter, son, uncle,
aunt, cousin …
BUT RATHER: mother, father, home, together,
love, take care of, family, baby …

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If they’ve done a vocabulary exercise at
home…
… Don’t (usually) go through the entire
exercise again in class
(and certainly not online!)

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Provide the answers on the screen, they self-
check.
Or:
(In break-out rooms) Check each other in pairs
or threes.
Call to ask you if they aren’t sure (‘ask for
help’, then ‘invite host’)

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 (if you have time)
Take in notebooks and check at home.
(They send you homework by email or school
website, you check digitally and send back)

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 ‘Word of the day’
‘Phrase of the day’
(But make sure you have a reserve …)
(students share screen)

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If you want to test all the vocabulary we’ve learnt over
the last month (term? six weeks?...)
Get students to design questions (in pairs in class? For
homework? Both?)
Take them in, correct if necessary and design the test
based on them.
Send it to them by email attachment, they do it at
home and send back to you

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The test preparation is itself review
Lowers test anxiety
The students ‘own’ the test

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In general: face to face is better!
If online: make interactive
Microphones and cameras
Chat box
‘Breakout rooms’
Polls

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Give homework assignments to …
• Read (easy books they enjoy)
• Search for new vocabulary in the
‘landscape’
• You-tube
• Finding out things online

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Students need to know how to use a
dictionary when they are on their own.
So: good to teach dictionary skills.
But in class…
You are the best dictionary for them
Fast, accurate, user-friendly.

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Tips are ideas that can often help, but there
may be situations where they don’t!
So use selectively, or adapt.

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pennyur@[Link]

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