I always introduce vocabulary out of context. And then I have the kids try to put it into context by filling the words into sentences. After working on the list a few times, we then read the passage from which the words were taken. That's when all the vocabulary is contextualized in the reading passage. Here's a recent story: In my last class of grade 8 bet pupils, one of the weakest pupils actively particpated when we worked on the reading text. She usually just sits there like we're learning Chinese. After class I complimented her on her participation and comprehension. Her response: "Well, I worked really hard on the words you gave. I even worked on them with my father. That's why I understood the story!" Well ... DUH. My response: "That's great. I hope you'll continue learning words now that you realize how important learning vocabulary is." (In case any of you are wondering, we conversed in Hebrew.) Michele On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 8:21 PM, <Leo.Selivan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Just posted my conclusions to Teaching vocabulary out of context: is it worth > the time? > You can read it by following this link: > http://leoxicon.blogspot.com/2012/01/teaching-vocabulary-out-of-context.html > <http://leoxicon.blogspot.com/2012/01/teaching-vocabulary-out-of-context.html> > . > It has a link to the earlier post describing my mini experiment if you > haven't read it. > Feel free to comment with your thoughts and ideas. > LEO > The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for > educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are a registered > charity; 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland). We create > international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and > build trust between them worldwide. We call this cultural relations. > > This message is for the use of the intended recipient(s) only. If you have > received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete it. The > British Council accepts no liability for loss or damage caused by software > viruses and you are advised to carry out a virus check on any attachments > contained in this message. >