As a foreign language teacher vocabulary intake is a very large part of teacher instruction. In the first two to three years of Spanish students are required to learn and reproduce hundreds of new vocabulary words related to all different topics. It is important for instructors to find efficient and effective strategies for students to master vocab sets in a very short time period.
Janet Allen, author of Words Words Words, offers teachers a new strategies to vocabulary building as opposed to the traditional memorization methods. Allen believes it to be important for students to make connections with the words to better help understand them. In Spanish these connections can be made through the examination of the root of certain words. The Spanish language is full of cognates, words that look and sound like their English counterparts. For instance, the words importante, inteligente, computadora, and examinar are all words that students can deduce meaning from without having to ever look up the words. I have been trained throughout my own education by the traditional “memorize model” but would like to try out some of Allens strategies in my own FL classroom.
I know what you mean! I love the title words, words, words. Sometimes I feel lost in a sea of words. Imagine how our students feel! That is why this chapter was so amazing for me, it really gives me a lot of ways to help students manage the shear volume of words that they are bombarded with, particularly in the early levels. I really like the idea that students construct their own meaning of the words and that there are ways to guide them to it without giving them the answer, which is what a dictionary does. It is difficult for those of us who did successfully use the memorize model to move away from that with our students. I often find my self thinking that if I learned it that way surely my students should be able to. But I must keep in mind that not all students think like I do and if I want to be a good teacher and meet the needs of my my students I have to do what works for them. This chapter gave me some concrete tools to use to do just that.
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