Integrating vocabulary into the classroom: a reflection         

                              

A very simple but very reflective assignment. Very often we take for granted that everything we see in a textbook has been designed effectively for students. More often than not, we do not reflect on the activity in mind and how such an activity is perceived by the student. I did do in this assignment and thought about numerous ways of making vocabulary learning both fun and effective and real. Vocabulary is one of the areas that most affects a student’s ability to participate in class and thus other social environments.

I give vocabulary teaching a lot of importance. However, on reflection I spend more time on teaching grammatical aspects than I do vocabulary, and this assignment made me reflect on this aspect. The assignment also made me realise the importance of making the vocabulary as meaningful as possible to the students, whatever the area. Students need to feel the vocabulary and be able to relate it to their world and use it in order to be able to learn it properly. In addition, for students to learn vocabulary, it is not enough just to practice the items just once in the classroom. It is vital that everything is recycled as much as possible. As a teacher I am very guilty of covering vocabulary just the once and expect my students to learn it. I shall think differently now.