We are all different and learn words in a different way. That is why we need to let our students experiment and find their own style or strategy of learning words. Here the term ‘strategy’ simply means a certain way or approach to enhance learning new words.

It is sometimes argued that new words should be learnt in a sentence/context first and I agree. Still, I believe they should be practiced in isolation as well since there are many things to learn about every word. In the approach I recommend below most of the learning takes place at sentence/utterance level:

The other articles under Vocabulary heading are

• Knowing a word, What does it really mean?
• Identify 22 strategies to learn new words
• Getting students to design vocab tasks, Points 1-10
• Getting students to design vocab tasks, Points 11-22

A summary of my philosophy on learning new words

1. At home: in advance before the new lesson: New words are preferably first encountered in the sentences of new texts/chapters at home (as part of homework).
2. At home: The students automatically try to guess/figure out the meanings of the new words. If they fail, they consult the workbook word lists or a dictionary. An excellent learning situation because a lot of thought is involved in the silent mental process.
3. At home: If the student doubts he/she will not remember the words, I advise them to write the translation on top of the textbook line or in their notebooks. Still, occasionally we learn new words without knowing the exact meaning because the words are constantly repeated in a context.
4. At school the words are repeated after the teacher to learn how they are pronounced and at the same time the meanings of the words are revised.
5. The use of words is practised orally in pairs, preferrably by making sentences or even stories of one’s own using as many of these new words as possible.
6. The chapter is listened to, read aloud and reading comprehension checked in many ways, all of it at sentence level.
7. Invisible differentiation (the students choose freely from options what to do, no stigma attached on tasks) is involved all the time and the final stage for the best students is to produce ideas of their own making use of the new words under the topic in question. Even the weakest students learn new words in a relaxed atmosphere answering questions on the text in pairs.
8. We all learn new words differently depending on our style and personal characteristics. That is why we teachers need to offer our students a set of options / strategies and then they can start using the strategies that appeal to them.

There is so much more we can do to learn new words than doing exercises in the workbook.

22 strategies to learn new words

Which ones have you already been teaching? Which one have you never thought about? Choose the 5 best ways YOU learn new words best!

I hope to be able to add some videos on these strategies later on.

1. Link the new word with a picture or photo.
2. Link the new word to your mother tongue.
3. Write the unknown words of the chapter on a paper and make up a mindmap or a story.
4. Associate the new word with another (funny) word, story or setting. Explain to your pair how the association works for you.
5. Record a word list on your phone ( word in mother tongue – 1 sec pause– English word). Listen to it many times. (The favourite of my wife!)
6. Make word lists (mother tongue – English), cover up the other side and say the words aloud or write them down before checking. (My favourite if followed by oral practice)
7. Make or have a look at a word list (mother tongue – English). Then make an exam for yourself or others.
8. Say or write a sentence where you use the new word.
9. Tell a story in your group where you use the new words. (Humour is the best medicine!)
10. Make two-sided word cards and use them in a game.
11. Learn words in groups (linked with a topic, nouns, adjectives etc.). Write them down in a grid or an excel file.
12. Use word formation technique. One word leads to a family of words.
13. Find synonyms or opposites for the word.
14. Make a gap exercise of the lyrics of a song.
15. Consult a dictionary (online or hard copy).
16. By doing various exercises (crossword puzzles, gap filling, hidden grid odd one out, etc.)
17. Guess the meaning of new words on the basis of the context.
18. Make use of free computer vocab exercises provided by publishers.
19. Give a definition of a word and your pair has to guess which it is (e.g. it is an adjective which means the same as ‘adequate’ – well ‘enough’ or ‘sufficient’)
20. Your say a word and your pair has to give a definition for it or explain it in another way (a vaccination – well, it is a shot given with a needle so that you do not get a disease)
21. Make use of the free vocab learning computer programmes in the internet.
22. When reading extra English materials such as magazines or books, take out your notebook and write down new words and phrases that you find interesting and useful.

N.B. I will give detailed advice what to when you ask your students to make exercises like the ones above. Here are the links Exercise types / Strategies 1 – 10 and Exercise types / Strategies 11 – 22

Let the students do a lot of vocab exercises orally. And – open up the vocab learning strategies, teach them how to write exercises of their own for themselves and others. Use free computer programmes. LEARNING BY DOING – WORKS HERE AS WELL!

Students learning new words by designing exercises

As you can see above many of the exercise types can be done orally and if the students move from word level to making sentences or stories of their own, we are beautifully applying CLT and differentiation principles. Instead of asking your students to do ready-made vocab exercises you can also teach them how to design vocab exercises for others.

As a result you, the teacher, do not have to come up with all the exercises if you notice workbook exercises do not work well. Start by going through the list of strategies little by little in your lessons and let the students then make the written exercises.

I don’t have the time, you say! Yes, you do. Leave out some of the workbook exercises and do these ones instead. The students enjoy these ones more than the workbook exercises. Or ask them to write the exercises at home and exchange them with each other in lessons. If you take copies of these student-produced exercises, you can use them in work stations, for example. Especially if you are rehearsing for an exam. It is simply a matter of organization.

There is no need to check all the tasks made by the students since learning takes place when they are writing the task. If there are problems, others will point them out. You, the teacher, just move about and offer help if needed. If needed, you can always take copies of the tasks or show them on the screen.

Students subconsciously learn the words they are working on while talking or writing vocab exercises. Why? Since they need to think a lot and make reasonable decisions.

Still, even if they never make any exercises themselves, knowledge of the vocab learning strategies will help them a lot.

• The next article deals with what is meant by knowing a word and some other basic ideas on vocab learning
• Then you will have a chance to practise identifying the strategies in real vocab exercises in my 3rd article.
• In the following two articles I will demonstrate what you need to take into account when you make you students write vocabulary tasks themselves. (See the links above)