How to Teach Contextual Language in the Classroom

Language learning can be difficult for teachers and students. Even when students think they know a language inside and out because they've been speaking it their whole lives, most would be surprised to find out how many words they really don't know or understand. Teachers often try to instruct their students using long lists of vocabulary words, which students memorize and then are tested on. The downfall of this method is that students remember these words for the test and then forget about them. A much more effective way of teaching language that will help students retain the meanings of words is to teach the material contextually.

Things You'll Need

• Newspaper
• Dictionary

Instructions

1. Give students a newspaper at the beginning of class and instruct them to read an article of their choice. While reading, students should circle words they are unfamiliar with or have never seen before.

2. Discuss using context clues to find the meanings of words with your students. Give them an example using a word they don't know, and walk them through the process. For example, give your students a sentence such as, "I pilfered some candy from the coffee table dish," and ask students to try and define the word "pilfered" based on how it is used in the sentence. It may help to write the sentence on the board.

3. Go around the room and ask students to define the example, and then ask them how they came to the conclusion. Then, define the word from the dictionary to show students how close their answer came to the formal definition of the word.

4. Allow students some time to go through their article and to do the same with their words. When they are finished, go around the room and have students present their words and their meanings.

5. Have students look up their words in the dictionary after the discussion and write down the definitions to compare to their contextual interpretation. This should help students remember these words.

6. Give students daily examples, either through the newspaper or through a book they are reading for your class, and have them discuss the word. After you've given the day's example, go around the room and allow students the chance to use the word. For instance, on the day you discuss the meaning of pilfered, use the exercises above to help students define it and then go around the room and have students give an example of something they have pilfered in order to get them familiar with using the new word.

References

• Visual Thesaurus: Teaching Words in Context
• Learn NC: Learn New Words Using Context