Literaure 5

Keep Those Words Alive

Judy Stephenson, judystep@midsouth.rr.com

At the beginning of each 90-minute class for my third to fifth graders, I write a question and two or three vocabulary words on the board. The question focuses on what I want them to learn that day. The vocabulary words may be new or simply presented in a new context during this lesson. I save the last 15 minutes of each class for journal writing. Students use the question and vocabulary words to write a short paragraph entitled “What I Learned Today.” Before they leave the classroom, I check their paragraphs and they correct the mistakes. This strategy has been successful because students
o know exactly what I expect them to learn each day;
o learn new vocabulary and uses within the context of the lesson;
o practice writing sentences organizing their writing; and
o have a visual reminder of the important points to study for tests.
This process has served me well as a teacher. Even better, it keeps the students focused on what skills and content I address each day. Checking their journal entries tells me very quickly and clearly what needs to be retaught.

Jail Time

While students write in class, I seem to be constantly repeating, “No, that word can't be spelled by the rules. It's a rule-breaker.” To help the students visualize this idea, I asked a first-grade student to make a “jail” on a poster board. Every time we run into a word that can't be spelled phonetically, we glue it in the jail. In addition, whenever students are writing and need to spell a word that is a rule-breaker, they can use the jail as a resource. Now we have so many words the students have alphabetized them—another skill they learned through this exercise. Although this began as a first-grade project, I now use the jail for all my classes.

Judy Stephenson is an ESL teacher at Oak Forest Elementary, Memphis City Schools, Memphis, Tennessee.

Reference:EEIS News September 1, 2005 Volume 27 Number 2: Table of Contents

Annotation

I think the author provides a good activity to teach vocabulary in “ Keeps Those Words Alive” because he can make sure what the students really learn form each new lesson as well as know what exactly the problems might be for the students in the class by checking each students’ assignments and helping them to improve. Besides, I think to write a question and two or three vocabulary words on the board as the author did on his class is a good way to call student’s attention and can indeed help them to learn. Since the question focuses on what the teacher wants them to learn that day, the students can consistently see it on the board and keep asking themselves about the answers. It provides a goal for learners to focus, challenge, and pursue. In addition, since the vocabulary words may be new or simply presented in a new context during this lesson, the students can either learn something new and interesting or just know more ways to use a word that they already learn about with one usage but unable to know another usage about it. I think this is a good way for students to learn by building new knowledge based on their existing experience. Furthermore, the author also did a good job on saving the last 15 minutes of each class for journal writing. In this way, students use the question and vocabulary words to write a short paragraph entitled “What I Learned Today” before leaving the classroom, and give the teacher a chance to check what they learn from the lesson taught and give them corrections or feedback. I think that is really a successful strategy because students know exactly what they are expected to learn each day and thus have a target each lesson without feeling lost. When I was making the first meeting with my tutoring students, three of them just told me that “I didn’t understand what exactly the goals of each lesson. I just easily got lost.” One of them told me that “I know that every lesson might all contain four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, but after each lesson I just cannot really get a clear picture of what I learned today.” Because I cannot know what the exact lesson is, I just told them that “maybe making a preview before the class can help you to get into the lesson more easily.”
Besides, using the strategy the author can help the students to learn new vocabulary and uses within the context of the lesson, practice writing sentences organizing their writing, and have a visual reminder of the important points to study for tests. I think it’s a good way to learn within a context because the students can get a whole picture of how to use a vocabulary appropriately. And I think it’s also beneficial for the students to practice to use the new vocabulary each lesson since it’s a good way to check if they can successfully convert their input into correct output after the lesson. This process also keeps the students focused on what skills and content the teacher want to address each day without giving students senses of lost and insecurity. And I think checking their journal entries serves a practical advantage to help the teacher know very quickly and clearly what needs to be retaught as well.