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Teaching vocabulary Trabajo Fin de Grado Alumna: Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) Tutora: Vicky Gil Grado: Educación Primaria Mención: Lengua Inglesa Curso: 2013-2014 Universidad de Zaragoza Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 1 Index 1.- Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..3 2.- Methodology…………………………………………………………………………4 2.1.- Description of each book…………………………………………………………...5 A. 90’s books (1999 and 1994)………………………………………………….….5 1. Splash by Longman………………………………………………………….5 a. How the book is presented by the publisher…………………………5 b. Description of Splash…………………………..……………………5 c. Strengths of Splash……………………..……………………………6 d. Weaknesses of Splash……………………………...………………...7 2. Get Set Go by Oxford………………………………………………………..8 a. How the book is presented by the publisher……...………………….8 b. Description of Get Set Go………………………………………..….8 c. Strengths of Get Set Go………………...……………………………9 d. Weaknesses of Get Set Go…………………………………..……..10 B.- More current books (2009 and 2011) ………………………………………….11 1. Bugs World by Macmillan………………………………………….………11 a. How the book is presented by the publisher………………………..11 b. Description of Bugs World……………………………………..…..12 c. Strengths of Bugs World……………………………………………13 d. Weaknesses of Bugs World ………………………………………...14 2. Explorers by Oxford………………………………………………….…….14 a. How the book is presented by the publisher………………………..14 b. Description of Explorers…………………………………..………..15 c. Strengths of Explorers………………………………………..…….16 d. Weaknesses of Explorers………………………………….………..17 2.2.- Comparisons………………………………………………………………………18 A. 90’s books (1999, 1994)………………………………………………………..18 B. More current books (2009 and 2011) ………………………………………….19 3.- Results ………………………………………………………...……………………21 3.1.- My proposal for innovation in vocabulary teaching….…………..………..……..23 A. Previous knowledge…………………………………….………………………23 B. Learning outcomes………………………………………..……………………24 C. Theories and techniques…………………………………..……………………24 D. Learning activities……………………………………………..……………….26 Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 2 1. Presenting vocabulary………………………………………..……………..26 2. Learning vocabulary………………………………………………………..26 a. Meaning focused input………………………………………….…..26 I. Listening activities……………………………...…………..27 II. Reading activities………………………………….………..29 b. Learning focused output……………………………………...…….29 I. Speaking activities…………………………………….…….29 II. Writing activities………………………………………..…..32 c. Deliberate language-focused learning…………………...…………33 d. Fluency development…………………………………………...…..34 3. Grouping and storage of vocabulary ………………………………….……34 4. Reviewing vocabulary…………………………………………..………….35 5. Multi-word units ……………………………………………………...……36 6. Project based learning…………………………………………………..…..36 E. Grouping ……………………………………………………………….………37 4.- Conclusions………………………………………………………………………....38 5.- Appendix……………………………………………………………………………40 6.- Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...87 Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 3 1.- Introduction Since I was a kid I wanted to be a teacher, I like showing kids things they don’t know, I like seeing how they grow as a person thanks to things I taught them and thanks to the values I transmitted them. It is just amazing to see how things you take for granted, things you know how to do or you have known for a lot of years mean the world to those children. Besides that, I also like the feeling you get when a student of yours recognizes you years later and tells you how much they learnt with you and how lovely you are. It is amazing when they recognize you after years because that means you were important to them and they appreciate you and what you did for them. For all these reasons I decided to study this degree and I am happy I did as I do not see myself doing anything else. One of the classes of the subject Resources for EFL that caught my attention the most was the one focused on vocabulary. The teachers showed us some games we could use to teach or review vocabulary words, games and activities that were fun and in which kids could learn in an active way and therefore they would be more motivated. I learnt English words by writing and writing lists of English words and the translation into Spanish, a way that was really boring, always the same and a bit frustrating, because there was no purpose for any of the activities and there was no challenge in just writing words. Now, thanks to those activities they showed us, I see learning and teaching vocabulary from another perspective, a more fun and effective one. All I have been taught during these four years, the class in which we learnt fun and effective ways of teaching vocabulary and my desire to be a good and resourceful teacher made me want to focus my final project of my degree on teaching vocabulary. The project will be carried out by analyzing materials and textbooks to know how vocabulary is and has been taught in the last decade in order to then plan for other more innovative ways of teaching vocabulary. The first part of the project will be evaluating the following four English books from year three:  Book 1: Get Set Go by oxford, Cathy Lawday, year 1999  Book 2: Splash by Longman, Ann Samuel, year 1994  Book 3: Bugs World by Macmillan, Elisenda Papiol and Maria Toth, year 2009  Book 4: Explorers by Oxford, Nina Lauder, year 2011 Then, the books will be described to get a general idea of how they are and after that, the first and second books will be compared together as they are from the last decade and the third and fourth books will also be compared together as they are both books which are currently being used. The objective of this is to see what their strengths and weaknesses are, to see the differences between old books and current books and compare them in terms of how they present and teach vocabulary to determine whether the methods and materials have evolved in time. Besides, there will also be a Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 4 comparison between what books are said to be by the publishers and what they really are according to the methodology they follow. Taking into consideration everything I have found out about each of the four books through their analyses, and the theoretical ideas from Krashen’s, Long’s, Vygotsky’s, Nunan’s, Harmer’s, Brown’s articles, the intention is to propose an improved way of teaching vocabulary. This proposal will be based on the books’ strengths and weaknesses seen through their analysis with the intention of using their positive points and trying to improve their negative ones. Furthermore, it will be based on second language acquisition theories such as i+1 input, interaction or negotiation of meaning. As a final proposal a set of activities will be described which may help students to learn new words, practice them through listening, reading, speaking and writing activities, in order to store them and review them to consolidate learning. Ultimately, the research questions posed to focused this Project on its topic were:  Do books really address students’ needs when teaching vocabulary?  Are vocabulary words taught in a way which is meaningful to acquire those words and not just memorize them?  How could textbooks be improved in order to attend to the needs of learners regarding the acquisition of vocabulary? 2.- Methodology Four books, two from the nineties and two other books which are currently in use, will be analyzed to see how vocabulary is presented and learnt by the students as well as put in practice through different texts, listening, writing and oral activities. In these analyses the strengths and weaknesses will be identified to see what the positive points of each book are and what drawbacks they may have. Once these analyses have been carried out, the books will be compared in order to see the different ways vocabulary has been taught and how this may have changed throughout the years. After comparing the books some conclusions will be drawn regarding which book is considered to be more effective to achieve the objectives set out Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 5 2.1.- Description of each book A.- 90’s books (1999 and 1994) 1.- Splash by Longman (Content analysis and unit topics are in the appendix 1) a.- how the book is presented by the publisher  Combines learning English with cross-curricular topics  Pupil-centered activities include games, rhymes, drama and songs  Realistic syllabus, with plenty of recycling to develop language and educational skills b.- description of Splash stemming from analysis In this book we can see that each unit focuses on a topic, units are very short and they only contain 4 pages but they don’t have a fixed structure. However, in each one students work on the four main skills, there are texts, listening activities, writing activities and vocabulary words, all related to the topic of the unit. Vocabulary words are only shown in context. There is a comic at the beginning of each unit that tells a story throughout the whole book, this is a good idea because students can see how words collocate and how they are used. The negative side of this is that if students’ attention is not drawn to them they may not notice them and there for they will not acquire the words and how they are used, this idea comes from learning grammar but it can also be applied to vocabulary. (Nation, 2001) These texts and comics in which vocabulary words are shown in context, also helps students to practice their reading skills. These vocabulary words are also practiced in oral activities, in this book most of speaking activities are partially scripted, in which the structure of the question is always the same but they have to change parts of the question in order to revise the words they have learnt. Another big part of the book are listening activities, these are practiced by pointing to the right person or picture or matching. In some listening activities students have the script of the tape written so they can follow the listening while reading and this helps them to connect written words with spoken words. In some activities they also have to say what they read and listen to in order to practice the pronunciation of the new words they are learning. There are also several songs which are a good way to learn Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 6 vocabulary as the lyrics are very catchy and easy to remember especially if they are acted out with gestures or flashcards. However, there is a lack of opportunities to practice vocabulary through writing; in the book we can see one activity in which students have to fill the gaps of the sentences. There are also small texts they have to write such as making ID cards or they have to imagine their holidays and list what they would need. Furthermore, in this book some structures, do + sport, play + sport, comparatives or superlatives are presented to students but some other aspects of the words like idioms, phrasal verbs are not. c.- Strengths of Splash The activities are classified according to what students have to do in each of them, there are different pictures or icons next to the heading of the activities. This is a good idea because it helps students to know what the activity is about: Listening Speaking “Your turn” Another positive fact about the book is that there is a little square called “remember” next to different activities, which develops the capability of learning to learn. In this square students are reminded of vocabulary words, grammar structures, or types of questions they will need in order to do a certain activity. For example, in page 32 they recycle what solid, liquid and gas are because they need it to classify the names in the activity; also, in page 59 they are reminded of prepositions: inside, outside, under, over, up, down. [Appendix 2] Regarding oral activities there are a lot of free activities and partially scripted activities but not so much of totally scripted. This is a really important fact because free activities let students be creative and use what they know and there is more interaction because students can help each other to create the questions correctly or to remember vocabulary. The same happens with partially scripted activities; the good thing about them is that an example is given so students have a type of question that they can ask. In this way, students who are not that good at creating or talking can use those examples for that type of activity. However, students are free to ask different questions if they want to practice other grammar structures and want to be more creative. For example, in page 40 students are given a list of what Tina saw, which animals and how many of them she saw. There is an example given “how many badgers did Tina see?”. If students follow that pattern, changing badgers for every animal Tina saw, this will be a partially scripted activity in which students practice animal names and the structure “how many”. However, this activity can also be free for those who want to Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 7 practice different things. Students can ask other types of questions such as “did Tina see rabbits?” or “which animal did Tina see more?” Besides, in each page there is at least one activity of listening and an oral activity and a part called “your turn” that consists in sharing and making something personal. These three types of activity are based on a text or song at the beginning of the page. This is a good idea because all the vocabulary and information we want them to learn and understand is in the texts, comics and songs, and then they do listening, oral and writing activities to practice all those words and information. d.- Weaknesses of Splash Something that I have seen throughout the whole book is that vocabulary words are shown, students hear them and instantly they are asked to use them in oral activities. For example in page 24, students learn about directions, they listen to a tape in which there is an example given and the script is on the page so students can read at the same time they are listening. In the next activity students are asked to work in pairs and give directions to get to four places (the cinema, school, post office and hospital). It could seem as if students are asked to take a big step, so it would be better if there were at least one more activity in which they can practice that again and not go from just listening to speaking, students are meant to learn something quite complicated with just one activity. There should be more activities that will help students to learn what they have to learn, scaffolding tools, and after all those activities then they can be asked to produce because they will feel secure and comfortable doing it. Another negative point of this book is that I feel it doesn’t change, the level of the book is pretty much the same in unit one and in unit fifteen. I see this as a drawback because students start the year with a level and they gradually progress and learn more things, however because the book doesn’t change and there is not an i+1 input, kids start with a low level and they can find this book difficult so they will get demotivated and frustrated because they can’t achieve what they are asked to, on the other hand at the end of the year, their level could have grown and the book can became too easy for them so they can also get demotivated because the book doesn’t bring them any challenges. (Krashen, 1982 ) Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 8 2.- Get Set Go by Oxford (Content analysis and unit topics are in the appendix 3) a.- How the book is presented by the publisher  It has a carefully graded, structural syllabus which provides steady progression in all four skills.  The emphasis on grammar and vocabulary acquisition is combined with many opportunities for lively communicative tasks.  New language is presented in context through picture stories and a variety of entertaining characters. Practice and reinforcement is provided by child-centered activities such as songs, rhymes, and games. b.- Description of Get Set Go stemming from analysis In this book each unit focuses on a topic and everything in that unit, texts, listening activities, writing activities and vocabulary words are related to it. Besides, every unit tends to have the same structure:  A comic in which vocabulary words are seen in context  An activity in which vocabulary words are shown isolated, usually a listen, read and say activity  Pointing or matching activities  Listening activities that are used as a context for the following activities  Oral activity, pair work  Individual work, usually writing production  Group activity or game to practice the vocabulary learnt Vocabulary words are shown first in context and then isolated with a picture to clarify the meaning of the words. Apart from those texts and comics which help students develop their reading abilities there are also more activities related with reading to check comprehension and revise vocabulary, for example matching, pointing to pictures and true or false activities specially in the first half of the book. Listening activities are practiced by pointing to the right person or picture and matching. In some listening activities students have the script of the tape written so they can follow the listening while reading and this helps them to connect written words with spoken words. In some activities they also have to say what they read and listen to in order to practice the pronunciation of the new words they are learning. There are also several songs which are a good way to learn vocabulary as they are very catchy and easy to remember especially if they are acted out with gestures or flashcards Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 15 b.- description of Explorers stemming from analysis In this book we can see that each unit is focused on a topic and everything in that unit, texts, listening activities, writing activities and vocabulary words are related to it. Besides, every unit tends to have the same structure: 1. Isolated words 2. Listen & repeat 3. Game 4. Little comic 5. Game 6. Comic 7. Song 8. Game 9. Listening 10. Reading 11. Phonics 12. Text 13. Let’s explore 14. Comic Having this fixed structure helps students because by just seeing the icons of the activity or where and in which page it is, students know what they are asked to do in each one of the activities. This contributes to developing the learning to learn competence since they know what they are doing and what is expected of them. In this book vocabulary words are shown first isolated with a picture and then in context more than once, first with a small comic and then with two longer comics. Also, in this book there are always two texts which are related with the topic of the unit and in which vocabulary words are revised but also new words are shown, in context and isolated. There are comics and texts to practice reading in which students can see the vocabulary words in context. The activities related with readings are specially to check comprehension, for example matching, pointing to pictures and true or false activities. The good thing about this book is that every single activity has a listening, it doesn’t matter if it is a comic, a text, a speaking activity or a proper listening activity. Texts, comics and song are also listened to so students can follow the reading while listening to it and this helps them to connect written words with spoken words. There are also several songs which help students learn vocabulary words as they are very catchy and easy to remember specially if they are acted out with gestures or flashcards Vocabulary is also practiced through oral activities, writings and readings. The majority of the oral activities are partially scripted. Students have to repeat a model changing the vocabulary words they have learnt. The only type of activity which is totally scripted are the comics which are acted out by the students, besides, the only oral activities which could be considered more free are the ones in which students have different pictures and they can change them as they want and the other one has to guess it [Appendix 21] However, there is a lack of writing activities, the only two activities in which students have to write are in the Halloween and Christmas specials, in these activities students have to describe a bat and a stocking but there is a model and they have to copy it. However, there is an activity book in which students can practice the words they have Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 16 learnt through writing activities in many different ways such as writing the name of different pictures, crosswords or completing the missing words in texts. c.- Strengths of Explorers In this book we can see that a lot of vocabulary words are shown during the units in three steps. First, some words are shown isolated and then in context with a comic; after that there is a song with more vocabulary words in context and isolated; and the last step is the text, at the end of each unit there is a text related with the topic and more words in both ways too, isolated and in context. After all the words are shown and learnt by the students, there is a text at the end of each unit in which the majority of the words learnt in that unit appear for the students to revise them, and then, there is a comic strip which continues every unit and the good thing about this comic is that they feature words from the unit but also words from other units are recycled. The good thing about this is that vocabulary is learnt by steps so it makes it easier to remember and also all of the words are shown in context and revised. Regarding oral activities this book is full of them, there is one speaking activity in each page and the good thing is that they increase in difficulty. The first two are done with the whole class together, in the first one, students have to say a sentence and make a gesture which is connected with the vocabulary word said. Then, the second one is also a guessing game, a student goes to the front of the class and says a sentence and makes a gesture and the student who gets it right goes to the front of the class and starts again. After that there is an activity in which students have the same picture and stickers, one student sticks the objects and the other students has to ask questions to guess where the stickers have been stuck. It is a cooperative learning activity and the motivation is high as there is an information gap that needs to be solved to achieve the objective of the activity which is to make the same picture after having asked all the questions needed We can see that at the beginning of the units the oral activities are done as a whole class together and this helps students to really learn the words and the structures they need to use by hearing them continuously. Then there is a more free oral activity carried out in pairs in which students can be more creative and it’s more communicative as they don’t know what the other classmates have. However, the last activity, although it is also done in pairs, it is very closed and totally scripted and maybe it should be done before the free one to really have a process in increasing difficulty. We can see that difficulty increases in the overall units. Lessons 1, 2, 3 and 4 are done in pairs or the whole group together, this helps students to interact and learn from the others, and then the activities in the last 3 lessons are done individually because students are supposed to have learnt all the vocabulary they need and now it’s their turn to show it. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 17 Another good thing about this book are the role plays. Students have to act out all the comics which appear in every unit, which helps them to improve their oral skills, pronunciation and also to use the language in context and with a purpose. Another positive aspect of this book is that nothing is just based on reading, as the 90’s books. In this book every activity is listened to first, readings are also listened to so students can listen to the audio at the same time they are reading and match the written word with its pronunciation. In the oral activities there is an example of what students need to say and do but that example is also listened to first. The good thing about these audios at the beginning of each activity is that they are very helpful for those students with reading problems; this way even if they don’t understand all they read they have other ways to understand it. Besides, in the texts students are asked to guess, there are one or two questions students have to answer before reading the text and then they read it and listen to it to check and find out whether they were right or wrong. The good thing about these guessing questions is that they create motivation for students and there is a purpose to read the text, to find out the right answers. Another good thing about these texts is that English goes beyond the classes and they learn more vocabulary and things related with culture and other subjects, there are texts about insects, music in other countries and environment, which helps them develop their cultural competence. Phonics activities are also carried out in each unit, there are two sentences in which two difficult sounds are practiced, one in each sentence. This is something which is not usually practiced but it is very useful to improve their pronunciation specially because the sounds practiced are the ones students and Spanish speakers have more difficulties with. This book also uses ICT which helps students to learn more vocabulary and more things about the topics they are studying and also to develop digital competence. In these texts there is a part called “explore the internet with your teacher”, there is always a question related with the text and students need to search the answer on the internet. Nowadays internet and computers are part of students’ daily life and teachers and books need to be up to date with it. This also increases students’ motivation because they do something different and they also practice other key competences they need to develop, such as learning how to search for information in the internet and how to distinguish between useful information and reliable webs from those which are not. Over all, this book is very communicative, and there are also cooperative learning activities and it is less based on reading as activities are also explained with audios, so students don’t need just reading skills but also listening and speaking skills. The vocabulary appears in context as input in the readings and as opportunities for practice in the cooperative learning activities. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 18 d.- Weaknesses of Explorers Apart from one type of oral activity, the rest of the oral activities are partially scripted, they have an example which they have to follow, changing the vocabulary words they are learning but there are no free activities to promote creativity and personal thinking. Regarding vocabulary it is true that a lot of words are shown almost in every two pages but the negative thing is that even though they recycle the vocabulary they learn they just do it through the unit they have learnt those words but just a few words are revised in other units. The drawback of this is that if students don’t revise vocabulary words, if they don’t use them again they will forget them. 2.2.- Comparisons A.-90’s books (1999, 1994) As we can see in the grid [Appendix 6] there are certain similarities, both books have the same type of activities except for one. The only type of activities that one book has, Splash, and the other one has not, Get Set Go, are phrasal verbs, however it was just one activity so that doesn’t make as much of a difference. The amount of activities of each kind tends to be the same, however, there are some activities in which the quantity varies. Get Set Go presents isolated vocabulary words and recycles them, and has more totally scripted oral activities and individual work than the other book. And on the contrary, Splash has more free oral activities and more read + point / listen + point and matching activities than Get Set Go. Regarding how vocabulary is presented in the 90’s book there are differences. In Get Set Go vocabulary is first shown in context, with different comics in each unit related with a certain topic. However, the vocabulary words are also shown isolated, with a picture of the word to make easier the comprehension of them by the students. In Splash words are not shown isolated, they are just shown in context, at the beginning of each unit there is also a comic, the problem with this comic is that it is a story that continues in each unit and at it tends to be related with the topic that is going to be studied in the unit but sometimes it is not, or the vocabulary words that appear in it are just a few. Vocabulary words must be shown in context because language is used in context and students are able to see how these words are used, in which cases and how they are said or written. However, those words should also be shown isolated, like in Get Set Go, or at least highlighted in the text or comic, to draw students’ attention to them. If we know the words or understand the meaning of the whole context we don’t pay attention to the Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 19 words used and if what we want is for the students to learn some concrete vocabulary words we need to draw their attention to them, otherwise some of them won’t notice the words and won’t learn them (Nation, 2001). Using a picture next to the word, as in Get Set Go, helps students to understand the meaning of the words without translating them. Regarding vocabulary review, in Get Set Go words are practiced in the unit, they are presented but also some of them are reviewed in following units as there are some units related to the same topic [Appendix 3]. However, in Splash every unit is related with a different topic [Appendix 1] and vocabulary words are only practiced in the same units in which they are taught but not in other units and this could lead students to forget the words, as if we don’t revise something we tend to forget it. In both books vocabulary words are also practiced through listening, writing, reading and speaking activities. The types of activities of these skills are more or less the same in both books, however there are some differences. For example, regarding oral activities in Get Set Go there are a lot of totally and partially scripted activities but just a few of them were free. The negative thing about this is that free activities are the ones which really provide opportunities for improvisation and creativity, besides, in free activities students are just asked to talk so it doesn’t matter if they don’t know a grammar structure or a vocabulary word because they are not obliged to use them. On the other hand, oral activities are better made in Splash as there are a lot of partially and free activities to help students develop their oral abilities in a free environment with no pressures and give students the chance to practice all the words they know. Besides all those differences there is another important one which is the fact that the difficulty of Get Set Go increases as the units go on, but Splash is more lineal. All units have a structure and each unit focuses on one topic but there is not a noticeable difference in the difficulty of the activities done which can be considered a negative fact. This makes the Get Set Go better for learning as it gets more difficult as students acquire more knowledge. B.- More current books (2009 and 2011) As we can see in the grid [Appendix 7] there are some similarities. In both of them the same amount of words are shown in context, readings activities, listen and read activities and phonics. Also, there are no activities of fill in the gaps or word ordering to form sentences and students don’t practice word families or mind maps in either of them. Between these books there are also some differences. In Explorers we can see that isolated words are more common, they also recycle more vocabulary, and there are more partially and totally scripted oral activities. There are also more “listen and repeat” activities as all the activities have an example which is read, listened to and then Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 20 repeated and there are also more pair and group work and games, as well as one type of activity which is not in the other book based on listening and choosing the right option. However in Bugs World there are more written production, free oral activities, songs, matching and pointing activities and also more individual work. In both books new words are constantly presented to students and in some of the units they learn about two different topics. The difference is that in Explorers the two topics of each unit are related, for example they learn about sports and leisure activities in unit two or clothing items and seasons in unit three but the topics in Bugs World are not so related as they learn about classroom objects and animals in unit one or about the court and London in unit five. There are also differences in how vocabulary words are presented in each book. In Explorers words are presented in two moments but both groups are shown isolated with pictures to help students understand the meaning of the words and in context with comics. The second group of words is also shown in a song, and at the end of each unit there is a comic in which the majority of the two groups’ words are shown in context so students see how they are actually used. In Bugs World words are also shown in three groups. The initial two groups are presented first with a song which may not the best way to do it as they are saying and singing words they don’t understand. The first word group is then shown isolated with pictures and then in a comic to see them in context. However, the second group of words is just presented with the song and the third group is just presented in context, in a text in which the words are highlighted. In the last page of the unit there is a small comic in which some of the words presented in the unit are revised. I don’t think the way of presenting words in this book is the best one as some of them are presented completely, in songs, isolated and in context but then the rest are not. In both cases learning and practicing vocabulary is also done through listening, reading, speaking and writing there are also some differences. The listening and reading activities are more or less the same; however there are differences between the speaking and the writing ones. Regarding speaking activities in Explorers there are a lot of them and carried out in pairs and by the whole class together so there are a lot of opportunities to practice the words learnt in an interactive and cooperative way. However, in Bugs World there are freer activities which help students practice more words and not just the ones they have just learnt and they can be more creative. Besides, the writing activities in Explorers are very closed, students have to write the same as the model given so they are not really practicing any vocabulary words and they cannot be creative. However, in Bugs World although there are also a few writing activities these are more open and students can really use and revise the words they have learnt. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 21 3.- Results After analyzing in detail the four books to see how vocabulary is taught and revised and what the strengths and weaknesses of each one are, as well as compare them to see the differences and how the way of teaching had changed over the years I have come to some conclusions about which book is the best one to practice what. Regarding vocabulary the 90’s books cover a wider variety of topics as they have more units. The Oxford books are the best regarding vocabulary words’ presentation and reviewing as words are presented isolated for students to get their meanings and in context with texts and comics to understand how they are used and then revised with texts, comics and songs although Get set go is the only one which revised more words, in the same units they are learnt and throughout the whole book. Vocabulary through writing is something which is not really practiced in pupils’ books as they have another book full of writing activities, at least the books which are currently being used at schools have. However, looking just at pupils’ books, the best one is Bugs World, as although there are just a few writing production activities, these are open enough to let students be creative and models are given to help students know what they have to do but no to copy them. Furthermore, there are a wide variety of activities in which students can practice vocabulary words like, for example, completing sentences, writing the name of different pictures, crosswords, and searchwords. Regarding oral activities the four of them have plenty of them in which students practice the vocabulary words they have learnt but there is not a best one as some of them have more of one type but less of another and there is not a balance in any of them. The same happens with listening activities, as all of them are more or less the same, listen and read, listen and point, listen and match… to practice the words they have learnt. Besides, the more current books have something different which is phonics, students have the opportunity to practice some of the phonics Spanish speakers have more problems with. Apart from all of this, regarding difficulty Get Set Go is the only one that changes, activities and texts get a bit more difficult as units go on which is good to keep up with the students’ level, to continue providing them i+1 input and challenges to keep their motivation (Krashen, 1982 ).Furthermore, the more current books are better than the 90’s ones in the way activities are explained and examples are given as they are based, both, on reading and listening activities which give more opportunities for students who have difficulties with one of them, as they have another chance to understand what they are asked to do. Besides the activities of each book I also paid attention to how the publishers presented each of the books and after analyzing it is possible to see some similarities but also some differences between what they say the book is and does and the reality of it. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 22 According to its publishers Splash presents varied and cross-curricular topics such as environment or history topics and there are songs, comics and games. It is also said that the activities are pupil-centred and that there is plenty of recycling, however, there is any sign which leads you to see that students’ likes and desires are taken into consideration and vocabulary is not recycled apart from a few words through the entire book. Get Set Go is the only book which is presented by publishers as it really is, the three characteristics of the book are true. The book has songs, comics and games to make students participate although there is no sing which shows that they are asked about the topics or the activities they want to see and do. Vocabulary is presented with pictures and in context through stories and there are a lot of oral activities in which students put in practice what they have learnt. Besides, the syllabus is carefully graded and this is the only book I have analyzed which does that. Regarding what publishers say about Bugs World, it is true that there are a lot of comics and texts which could be attractive for kids and there are extra resources as flashcards and mini books of the units’ comic which can capture students’ attention and help to revise vocabulary and retell the stories. There are a variety of activities to practice the four main skills and although writing is not really practiced in the book students have another book full of writing activities. It is also true that they have reviews every unit but just some of the vocabulary learnt in a unit is recycled in the same unit, plus vocabulary is not revised in the following units, so there is not “Plenty of review and recycling to consolidate language” as is claimed by the publishers. Besides, the level of the book does not change throughout it, it is pretty much the same during the whole book. As Explorers publishers say, students learn through stories, songs and comics, there are around six of them in every unit and it is also true that the book has content from across the curriculum such as biology, history and music Besides, the four main skills are practiced and although writing is not really practiced in the book students have another book full of writing activities. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 23 3.1.- My proposal for innovation in vocabulary teaching Taking into account all the theories I have learnt and articles I have read during my degree, specially this last year, and the way I was taught English, as well as all the conclusions I have got from analyzing the four books I have a proposal to make in order to achieve more effective vocabulary teaching. To teach vocabulary in a successful way the teacher has to establish four key elements: A. The knowledge students have about the topic (previous knowledge) B. What the teacher wants students to learn (learning outcomes) C. How the teacher is going to teach them those things (theories and techniques) D. What activities are they going to do to help students acquire the knowledge we want them to (learning activities) It’s very necessary to know out students’ previous knowledge of the topic we are going to study. This way we will teach them what some of them don’t know and others do, and the ones who know that will revise it, and we also solve any doubts they have. This way every student starts in the same level and they are ready to learn more new things about the topic of the unit. To know the knowledge students have about certain topic we could do many activities such as: .- Brainstorming: students brainstorm ideas and words that come to their minds related with the topic (Kagan, 1994) .- Round table: students are in teams ad they have a piece of paper and a pen that rotates around the team, in turns each students write a word related with the topic (Kagan, 1994) .- Turn toss: a way to practice short and predictable vocabulary words. Each team has a paper ball and they have to pass it following two rules, no send backs and everybody has to participate. With this activity students know what they have to say but no when they have to say it (Kagan, 1994). We can use this activity to revise ordinal or cardinal numbers, days of the week, month of the year, alphabet, counting by 2, 5… to practice maths, words which start with a certain letter, things they know, or to know what they know about topics they are going to see in the next units such as animals, parts of the body, sports… .- Micro-listening: students watch a video or listen to a tape in which a lot of words related with a topic appear. The teacher tells students the topic in advanced so students know what they have to pay attention to and then students have to either raise their hands whenever they hear a word related with the topic or write them down. (Nunan, 2003) Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 24 .- Round table students have to make groups and each member by turns has to write a word they know related with the topic (Kagan, 1994): These activities apart from helping the teacher to know the previous knowledge the student have, also helps them to realize what they know, to feel important because they can explain those things they know to their classmates who don’t know them and specially these activities facilitate students’ engagement with the topic and make them want to know more. Besides knowing the background knowledge of students it is important to know the learning outcomes we want for them. The book has to have the objectives and content indicated in the local curriculum, in our case that of Aragon so all the competences, topics, and skills the curriculum talks about have to be seen in the book. The learning outcomes should be clearly marked so that the pupils know what they are learning and how. After analyzing the four books, reading different articles by Brown, Harmer, Thonbury, Kagan… about how to teach English, focusing on this case in teaching and learning vocabulary words, and theories by Chomsky, Krashen, Vygotsky, Long… I realized that teachers have to take into consideration several ideas, theories and techniques which will help them to make the most of their classes and help students to learn English and vocabulary words in a fun, productive and interactive way. As the input students receive acts as a trigger for that learning acquisition device they have and they start learning the language (Chomsky) we will make sure to talk and use English all the time. However, the input provided to our students will be in their zone of proximal development so that information is accessible and reachable for them otherwise it won’t be useful (Vygotsky, 1978). Besides, the input also has to be one step above their current level (i+1) as this will provide them a challenge which motivates them to keep on learning the language, otherwise if the level is too high or too low they will feel demotivated because it is too easy for them and they feel they’re wasting their time or it is too difficult for them and they feel as if it is too much effort and it isn’t worth it (Krashen, 1982 ) to do this we will increase the difficulty of the input they receive at the same time as their knowledge is increasing to make sure the input we provide them is always one step above their level. As the input has to be comprehensible for everyone and each student has his/her own level, we should cast a net, using different levels of English (i-3, i-1, i+3…) to make sure the“i+1” theory is for everyone. Another way of making input comprehensible is by making communicative activities in which students are given opportunities to talk among them and use what they have learnt, as the input is made comprehensible when they adapt it to their level, to what they are able to use and understand (Long, 1981). To Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 31 .- Students make a mini book with the comic of the unit. Some of the sentences said in the comic are written and others aren’t, for those that aren’t students have to stick the correct sticker. This helps students to remember the story, revise how words are used and to practice speaking by retelling the story with the help of their minibook. (Bugs world, Macmillan) [Appendix 17] .- To practice directions a city will be created in class, putting pictures of different places, making streets with desks and naming them, then some students will ask how to go somewhere and the other students will tell them the direction. (Get set go, Oxford) [page 60] [Appendix 18] .- Quizzes: students ask questions to their partners about themselves, always questions related with a topic, this help students talk and be motivated as they have to talk about themselves. (Get set go, Oxford) [Appendix 19 ][page 16, 40, 84] .- The questions hat: students read a text or listen to a story and they have to write questions about it and put them in the hat. In turns each student will pick up one piece of paper and ask the question to the rest of the students. This activity is quite complete as students are practicing the four main skills, they can also revise vocabulary and the work individually and then as a group. .- Another activity I liked was one in which students have a notebook with the animals Tina has seen on a trip listed and the amount of each one as well (Splash, Longman) [Appendix 20] [page 40]. What I liked about the activity is that some examples were given to the students so they can follow the structures changing the animals if they want but for those who are better and know different types of questions they can make this activity more dynamic and they can practice more structures, for example:  Did Tina see more ___ or ___? /How many ____ did Tina see more than ___?  To practice the comparative and numbers  What was the animal Tina saw the most/least  to practice superlatives  Did Tina see ___? To practice yes, she did or no, she didn’t answers And also students can ask more open questions maybe not based on the notebook, for instance:  What animal do you think she liked the most/least?  Would you like to see all those animals?  What of these animals is your favourite? .- Oral activities in which both students have the same picture and little pictures to stick. One sticks all the small pictures and the other ones has to make questions to know how to put each little picture, the purpose of the activity is to have the same picture at the end. This type of activity is really good as there is an information gap students need to fill in order to achieve the purpose of the activity and to do that, they need to interact and share information and that is one of the best ways to learn a language and its Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 32 vocabulary words (Long, 1981). This type of activity can be done to revise and practice any topic [Appendix 21]:  Colours and animals (Explorers, Oxford)[page 19]  Clothes (Explorers, Oxford)[page 29]  Location prepositions, house rooms and house objects (Explorers, Oxford)[page 39] II.- Writing activities .- Team collage: team presentation which includes an art project, students bring magazines and pictures (Kagan, 1994). For example, to learn and revise clothes, the teacher can give to each team a season or a trip somewhere and students have to make their suitcases, cutting and sticking the clothes which they would have to wear. If we are learning and revising food, students in teams could make their own menu as if they had a restaurant, or individually could stick the food they had had for breakfast, lunch and dinner the previous day. .- Where am I?: in teams they are given vocabulary of places, students write down several questions students can make about each picture to guess the place, without saying the place in the questions. After having done that, the teacher sticks a picture in each student’s back and they have to go around the class asking questions to the students, once they know where they are they go to the front of the class. (Kagan, 1994) .- Writing stories: in teams with a paper and a pen that rotates. In turns students have to write a sentence to write a story. This story can have a topic given by the teacher to revise certain vocabulary words they have learnt or it can be completely free and up to the students. .- Writing at word level (Reilly and Reilly, 2005): [Appendix 22]  Word monster: the monster is divided in words students need to learn and words students have learnt. New words are stuck in the “words for the day” section and once students have learnt them they stick them in the “words to remember” to review them  Meaningful copying: lists about different topics but with a context and purpose  Word list races: given a set time students have to write lists of different topics, or words which star with a certain letter, adjectives…  Word family posters: sort words on posters according to the sounds they begin, contain or end with .- writing at sentence level (Reilly and Reilly, 2005): [Appendix 23]  Traffic light parsing: to learn types of words, each one has a colour. Verbs are red, adjectives are blue… Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 33  Sentence flap book: students change the words in a flap book to create sentences .- Writing at text level (Reilly and Reilly, 2005): [Appendix 24]  Giving them the structure of a text ask them to write something related with the topic they are studying .- Pictures coming alive: students are given a picture and they have to write a dialogue (C. Read, 2007) .- Post-it memos: students are given post-its with information they have to order and write a text with sense (C. Read, 2007)[Appendix 25] .- Design your own lunch sticking pictures from magazines and describe it (Bugs world, Macmillan) [Appendix 26] .- Descriptions: students are given a picture of a person, a place… they have to write sentence to describe those pictures but they have to add mistakes, change the vocabulary words. For example if they are studying adjectives they have to change the adjectives, or if in the picture there are people doing sports they have to change the sports. After that, students will change the picture and its description to their partners to correct the mistakes. This way they practice the vocabulary they have just learnt or they revise the one they have learnt before while writing, reading, speaking and listening. They have to write them, read them to the rest of the class and then the others have to practice listening and also speaking to say the mistakes they have noticed. (This activity is based on one I have seen in Splash but I have changed it to make it more useful) c.- Deliberate language-focused learning This consists in paying deliberate attention to particular language features like the sound, the spelling… through specific activities where those features appear. (Nation, 2008 ) .- Spelling dictation: the teacher dictates words or sentences that students have to write down .- Pronunciation: students have to read words out loud and the teacher gives them feedback about how the words have been pronounced .- Word parts: students have to cut words into parts and give the meaning of each part and then the meaning of the word .- Word detective: students report on a word they have found in their readings. They talk about the meaning, spelling, parts of the word, collocation… Another activity to practice this features is the one called “the spelling game”. This activity is carried out in groups, they are given a group of cards upside down, and a Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 34 dice, whoever gets the high score in the dice starts, the student sitting on the right gets the card and says the word, if the student spells it correctly he/she advances the number of the dice, it the word is spelt wrongly the student on the left tries. (NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 27] d.- fluency development Activities designed to help students use vocabulary words fluently and make the most of the words they know could be writing down notes quickly, writing for X minutes all the words related with a topic, listening to words and pointing at objects or pictures or timing reading and writing activities. While learning the new words, students have to group them and store them and there are some activities which could help them to do that. .- Subject of field: this is the way book units are grouped, each unit is about a topic and students learn several words of each one. To practice this there is an activity called “lexical line-up” in which students are given a grid with several words and they have to connect three words that are related to the same topic with a line (NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 28] .- Superordinates and hyponyms: students learn classes of something or parts of a whole. For example, type of mammals, parts of the body .- Pairing words: learning synonyms, antonyms, an activity to work this could be “opposites puzzles”( NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 29] .- Word families and derivation: verb-noun-adjective of a word .- Vocabulary networks: a topic is given and students have to write words related with the topic creating a map. This could also be done with pictures. (Phillips, S. 1993) .- Vocabulary notebooks or cards: students have a list of words and their meaning, pronunciation, a sentence in which it appears, a picture… .- Class dictionary: there is a poster in the class and every new word students want to learn is stuck in the poster .- Insight pictures: making posters related with a topic in which students stick cut-outs from magazines related with that topic. For example, if students are studying the rooms of a house they can make a poster of a house or if they are learning food words they can make a food pyramid. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 35 Once the vocabulary words have been presented and learnt it is important to keep making activities in which students can review the words they have learnt in that unit and in the previous ones to keep the words fresh and make sure students don’t forget them. .- At the beginning of the book it is a good idea to revise two basic things that students need to know and it is always good to review them until they acquire them completely; one being numbers and another one being the alphabet. There is an audio of the numbers from 1 to 12 but this could be longer and there is another audio of the alphabet from A to I but I would put all of the letters, numbers and letters also written, so students can see them while they hear them. (Explorers, Oxford) Another thing which could be at the beginning of the book is a big picture of everything they are going to learn during the year, divided in grids like the battle ship game. This is a game in pairs in which in turns one asks “where is …?” and the other one has to say the square in which that object is. This is a really good idea to revise vocabulary after finishing each unit and at the end of the year to revise everything, and also a good idea would be to play this game not to revise just the vocabulary learnt in the unit but to revise all the vocabulary learnt in that unit and in the previous one as a way of recycling it. (Explorers, Oxford) [Appendix 30] .- Complete the text: students are given a text with missing words and a letter, they have to fill the gaps with words which start with the letter given. .- Odd one out: students are given three or four words which are related with a topic except for one and they have to spot the odd one out. For example “hat-dog-jeans” dog is an animal not a clothes item .- Three minute review: students listen to an audio or read a text and after X minutes they have to say the vocabulary words, which they have learnt in the unit, they have spotted (Kagan, 1994), .- Photo books: students a section at the end of each unit called “Photo books” and there are three ways of revising words with these books[Appendix 31]:  Some of the photos are already printed and students have to stick the names under them and for other pictures, the name is written and there is a square in which students have to stick the correct picture. (Bugs world, Macmillan)  The picture is printed and they have to stick the picture over it and write the name (Get set go, Oxford)  The picture is given and they have to stick the name (Get set go, Oxford) .- Create a picture alphabet and write words with it. In Splash [Appendix 32] (page 63) the activity consists in writing people’s names using a picture alphabet in which words are mixed, they use animals, food, objects… but the ideal activity would be creating an alphabet made of words about just one topic, this way we revise the words and then have fun with them. We can also create cards of objects of the class’ names using Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 36 ordinary alphabet and the picture alphabet we have created and then put them next to the object and revise them from time to time. .- Vocabulary checklists: students are given a worksheet with pictures to revise vocabulary, on the left hand side the names of the pictures are written next to them so students are asked to read them and study them for five minutes, the teacher reads the words and they have to listen and repeat to practice pronunciation and after that they have to fold the sheet and write the names of the pictures (NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 33] .- Word quiz: students are given a sheet with several questions they have to answer with one word. This helps them revise vocabulary and also be aware of their knowledge (NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 34] .- Alphabet or picture domino (NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 35] .- Picture broken words (NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008) [Appendix 36] .- Other activities are for example, bingo, memory game, word sorting, inside-outside circle (Kagan, 1994), round table, round robin (Kagan, 1994), turn toss (Kagan, 1994), micro-listening (Nunan, 2003), real situations, crosswords and searchwords (Bugs world, Macmillan) [Appendix 37], and traditional games like I spy, Simon says However, vocabulary is more than just words, vocabulary is also word families, word classes, multi-word units like lexical chunks, idioms, collocations, phrasal verbs… part of the language which is very useful in real context but books tend to forget about them. These words could be learnt in context, through readings and listening activities in which students guess the meaning from the context. However, a deliberate teaching of these multi-word units could also be carried out. Some activities for this deliberate way of teaching are (Nation, 2008 ): .- The teacher shows how meaning of the parts contribute to the general meaning and then students are given some multiword units and try to guess the meaning by knowing the meaning of the parts. .- The teacher draws students’ attention to the fact that some multi-word units make use of sound patterns and by realizing this, students can memorize them easier. Another way of learning vocabulary and also learn about culture and other curricular subjects is the project based learning, some examples are: .- Students have to search for information and then write a text and add pictures, this makes them use ICT, internet, and besides develop reading and writing strategies, this also helps them to develop critical thinking and selecting information ability and if they Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 37 have to tell the rest of the students about their project they will also be practicing speaking. The projects can be about any topic students are studying:  Recipes to practice imperatives and food words (Get set go, Oxford) [page 71][Appendix 38]  Monuments to practice places and learn history (Splash, Longman) [page 32] [Appendix 39] .- Students can also read and make other types of projects, for example:  A project about water (Splash, Longman) [page 45] ][Appendix 40]: students have to read a text about an experiment with water, then they do some activities and at the end they can carry out the experiment. Even though the oral activity shown in the book is scripted, they can make an experiment and that means that there is a lot of interaction and free oral practice, and interaction is the most important thing because that is the way the language is made comprehensible and understandable for the students (Long, 1981) and also the vocabulary is learnt and practiced in a more interactive and fun way. Furthermore because they are doing they are learning more and not just English but values such as cooperative work, respect for each other, helping each other. This makes them grow as a person something that is very important and that we should never forget. As important as the activities students do is the way they work, the way they are grouped. There are several ways of grouping students and making sure that they are involved in the activities: .- A good way to do activities such as reading and listening comprehension, problem solving or deduction activities in a cooperative way is by doing it in what is called “Team Pair Solo”. Students can do more things with help than alone and the objective of this grouping technique is that students start doing it in teams and then in pairs so they have the help they need to eventually be able to do them by themselves what at the beginning they couldn’t do. This way, students are more motivated and feel comfortable at knowing that now they succeed at things they used to fail at first. (Kagan, 1994) .- Peer teaching: there has to be an information gap for these activities to be useful. For example, they have to order the pictures of a story and each one of them has some; each one of the students have a picture and they have to ask questions according to their picture to spot the differences. (Thonbury, 2002) ][Appendix 41] .- Learning in groups is also very helpful, as students can interact with more people and see things from different perspectives. There are two ways of making groups, homogeneous groups in which all students have something in common and the level is more or less the same, or heterogeneous in which students in the same group have different opinions and level. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 38 Two ways to create heterogeneous groups is by line-ups and value lines; something that is also very helpful is having a list in which high, low, medium-high and medium-low level students have the same colour, this will help to create groups, the ideal number is four. To make sure everybody in the group talks there are two techniques, one in which the group is divided in “face partners” and “shoulder partners”, always making sure that low and high students don’t talk together, as the difference could be quite noticeable, in this technique the teacher says with which partner students have to talk. The other way to make sure everybody talks in the group is “numbered heads” this way each member has a number and the teacher calls the number to make them speak. Also other ways to work are individually, this is helpful to check what the strengths and weaknesses of students are and this helps students to know themselves as well, and another way is the whole class together which helps to solve general problems or difficulties. 4.- Conclusion During this degree I think I have learnt a lot about how I have to develop my classes and I have gained the knowledge to do it right. Something that helped me a lot were the internships we did in the last three years of the degree. Being in a school, in my opinion, is what really teaches you but it is also very important to have the background knowledge we have gotten in the university to really know what to do, how to do it and what objectives you are trying to achieve by doing that. All of this has helped me to know what I want my students to achieve, and the way of doing it. The four books have been analyzed with the objective of knowing their weaknesses and strengths and to know how the way of teaching has evolved in the last decade. Taking into consideration the analyses’ results and the way I learnt vocabulary when I was at school I have seen that there are similarities in the type of activities and in how words are presented and practiced. However there are also differences, mainly according to how free students are when it comes to talking or writing and the interaction opportunities students are given to communicate and use the language in real situations. Besides, after reading several articles by different authors I have found several theoretical ideas needed in an effective vocabulary teaching proposal. I have realized that we always need to use the target language in class as it acts as a trigger for our students’ learning, however, this input has to be located in their zone of proximal development and it should be just one step above their current level, which means it has to be accessible and comprehensible. This will create a challenge for them and keep them motivated. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 39 Motivation is a very important key element in learning a language successfully and we have to keep our students motivated by making them participate in the class and give them opportunities to decide the activities they want to do next or about which topic they want to learn. Besides, I learnt that the best way of practicing vocabulary is through tasks which have a context, a purpose and an objective to achieve as well as a measurable outcome which help students realized what they have done and what they have learnt. Thanks to this project, I have also realized that, although books have improved over the last few years there is still a long way to go. I think we need to realize that text books are just another tool a teacher has but there other resources and activities to help our students learn such as flashcards, realia, videos or games, however all of them need to have a context and a purpose to keep students’ motivation high and to create a challenge in the learning process, otherwise they will lose interest. Furthermore, we need to create a stress free environment in which students feel free to talk and make mistakes. Now that I have finished this project I feel more prepared to make the most of my classes and I know that the best way of learning a language is providing comprehensible input to our students, promoting activities with opportunities to cooperate and interact and creating a class environment in which they feel comfortable. I think those are the main keys of teaching vocabulary successfully. Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 40 5.- Appendix Appendix 1: Splash Analysis Activities Where Type of activity Visual support Yes All units Presenting words Isolated words 4 31 46 61 65 74 -Countries: USA, Japan, Poland, China, Argentina, Britain -Things: rock, metal, water, ice, steam, oxygen , milk -Volcanos: solid rocks, liquid rocks, crack, solid, liquid, gases -food: lemon, ice cream, seaweed, roses, sugar, salt, litter, pepper, silk - flavours: salty, sweet, sour, hot -adjectives: hungry, cold, hot, tired, wet, thirsty, soft, wet, cold, slimy, horrible, lovely -materials: paper, wood, plastic, metal, cotton, glass, rubber -illnesses: headache, earache, stomachache, toothache, cold, cough -litter (cola can, crisp packet, ticket, orange peel, comic) Words in context 2, 3 6, 7 8 10 12 14 18 22 29 38 40 42 60 68 77 Identity cards: name, birthday, hair, height, eyes… descriptions -computers, parts and uses: keyboard, screen, microchip… -jobs: engineer, pilot, scientist, vet, detective, chef -rain forest: objects, places rope, climb, cliff… -places: video shop, home, office, newsagent’s, station, pizza parlour -rainforest: tropical weather, hot, wet, tree, leaves, plants, animals, birds, orchids, river. - transport: plane, bus, car - London’s landmarks: Trafalgar square, House of Parliament, Big Ben, Tower of London - travelling: journey, timetable, station, map, plane, airport - animals: orangutan, squirrel, bird, frog, leopard - adjectives: big, small, bigger, smaller -animals: fox, rabbit, blackbird, badger - adjectives: tall/taller, short/shorter - Egypt: tomb, coffin, Tutankhamun, mask - Indonesia : tropical island, Jakarta, Legong, The komodo dragon -adjectives: largest, smallest Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 47 72 80 - recipe - places you have gone to last week Speaking Free 44 49 56 60 - interview, ask about the person and his/her job - pains and remedies - ask ¿? About the London text - give directions Partially scripted 22 23 26 35 40 42 56 58 70 72 74 92 - Does____ like___ ? - do you want___? - do you like__? - does ___ like ____? (a grid with people’s names, different colours and patterns and then ticks, for yes, or crosses, for no ) - does Steve ______? About his daily routine in the activity above - what do _____ do? About different jobs - is /are there ____ in your town? - where is the____? It’s ____ - there is/are ___ in the kitchen/ is there any ___ in the kitchen? - is/are there any ___ in the ___ sandwich? - were there ____ in Hilltown? - did jack ____? Check comprehension Totally scripted 2 3 4 8 11 18 29 33 34 46 68 86, 90 - His/her name is____, he’s/she’s ___ (age) - count and answer the ¿? - How old is he/she? He’s/she’s_____ - What are they doing? They’re___ - what’s the weather like in___? w/ map - what time is it? It’s ___ - How tall is (name)? - Does Sally like these? - What’s this?/ what are these? - can you see (name)? - what is this? It’s ____ (food) - ask and answer questions already written Reading 5, 7, 9, 17, 21 Comics True or false 1, 15, 19, 28, 49, 61, 74, 78 Say if the sentence is true or false Listening Listen + read 18, 19, 20 39 43 50 55 63 67 71 - time-actions done at that time -time-daily routines in a zoo - what Nino does as a waiter - a monkey gets sick - text about London - a letter from English students talking about their school - dialogue at a store, buying food - recipes step by step Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 48 73 83 85 - text about a town (in the past and in the present) - a day in Elsie’s past life - text about Egypt Listen + read + say 41 42 44 46 49 59 - jobs and what they do at work - irregular plurals  child-children, man-men, woman-women, person-people - interview about a person’s job - object pronouns him, her, me, us, them - parts of the body hurt - directions with a map Other activities Read + point / listen + point 22 26 39 48 - “I want…” -R-P  animals - read the sentences and point at the correct clock (check comprehension) - object pronouns + revise sports Matching 10 14 82 - L-M, sentence-picture - R-M sentence-picture  actions can/can’t - match the sentence with the picture Songs 6 11 17 23 35 38 47 53 62 80 - sports - weather - time, daily routines - food - clothes  jacket, skirt, hat, shirt, jumper, shorts, socks and shoes - time-daily routines - him, her, us, them, me - places and things you can do there - adjectives + colours - parts of the body + numbers + adjectives leg, tail, short/long, one, two, four Games 8 24 36 44 46 48 60 68 76 - each one thinks of a sport and the rest try to guess what it is - at a restaurant with the menus they have created - acting as you were getting dress, the rest of the class have to guess which object are you putting on - interview, ask about the person and his/her job - a picture divided in 25 squares, ask in which of the squares the people are - have you got the (hidden object); no I don’t ask him/her….. - create a city at class to practice directions - at a supermarket - spot the differences Structures Do + sport 6 do + gym, judo Play + sport 6 play + basketball, football, tennis, volleyball Comparative, superlative 30 adj-er + than the adj-est Brush +sth 38 have + shower, breakfast, dinner, lunch Have + sth 38 brush + my teeth, my hair Idioms No Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 49 Phrasal verbs No Collocations No Work Individual work 4 16 28 32 56 68 72 Todos los readings con T/F -describe yourself (name, age….) - “your quiz”  answer ¿? About yourself - “your quiz”  animals - “your quiz”  adjectives, comparative - draw your favourite place in town and tell your classmates - write your shopping list - write a recipe Pair work 13 44 Oral activities - answer the ¿? (yes he can, no he can’t) - interview (jobs) Group work 8 36 48 66 80 - each one thinks of a sport and the rest try to guess what it is - acting as you were getting dress, the rest of the class have to guess which object are you putting on - have you got the (hidden object); no I don’t ask him/her….. - point and say what is in the trolley  food - tell your classmates where have been last week Get Set Go’s topic units 1 My family 2 Sport 3 Weather 4 Animals 5 Leisure 6 Food/drink/restaurant 7 Animals 8 Height/length/world facts 9 Shopping clothes 10 Daily routines 11 Jobs 12 Friends 13 Illness/zoo rules 14 Places 15 The town 16 People 17 Food/drinnk/hopping 18 Cooking 19 The past 20 Leisure Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 50 21 Schooldays 22 History 23 Resources 24 Revising everything Appendix 4: Bugs World Analysis Activities where Type of activity Visual support Yes All units Presenting words Yes All units Isolated words 5 11 17 25 31 37 45 51 -class material: chair, desk, pen, school bag, ruler, notebook -clothes: T-shirt, trainers, dress, socks, hat, jeans, coat, shoes -body parts: ears, eyes, tongue, tail, teeth, mouth, body, whiskers -food: salad, macaroni, chips, sausages, rice, fish, orange juice, ice cream -sports: play basketball, play football, play tennis, rollerblade, skateboard, ride a bike -daily routines: go to school, have breakfast, have a shower, get dressed, get up, brush my teeth -country, mountains, lake, swim, beach, park, swimming pool -King, Prince, Princess, John, Queen, Father, Puss in boots Words in context 3 6, 7 9 10 12, 13 15 16 18, 19 21 22 26, 27 29 30 32, 33 35 36 -library, books, science project, grasshopper, spider, under, leaf, computer, internet, the best -pet, grasshopper, under, desk, on, chair, in, school bag -mouth, front legs, back legs, wings, antennae, eyes - ant, T-shirt, flower, pet, under, leaf -house, big, witch, black, hat, dress, purple, shoes, Halloween -Halloween, costume, pumpkin, party, games -big, hat, black, dress, witch -gorilla, jungle, leopard, mouth, scared, big, crocodile, big, teeth, snake, long, tongue, storm -plants, insects, turtles, giraffes, flowers, leaves -storm, scared, long, tongue, snake, body, gorilla, big, teeth, lion -lunch, fish, ice cream, sausages, chips, macaroni, hungry -milk, eggs, cereal, grains, sweets, vegetables, fruit -salad, hungry -play tennis, play football, play basketball, rollerblade, shoot, play computer games -serve, score, goal, ride a mortorbike, dance -play football, play tennis, skateboard Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 51 38, 39 42 46, 47 50 55 56 -o’clock, have a shower, brush my teeth, get up, half past, breakfast, giant, smell, get dressed, clean, dirty -what time is it?, o’clock, breakfast time -summer camp, country, mountain, lake, play football, windy, noisy, raining -coat, cold, mountains, sunhat, beach, swimsuit -theatre, museums, zoo, Thames -crown, Prince, handsome, rich, Princess Recycle vocabulary 6, 7 10 12, 13 16 18, 19 20 22 26, 27 30 32, 33 36 38, 39 42 46, 47 50 56 23, 24 43, 44, 57, 58 -3 (desk, chair, school bag) + 4 (grasshopper, under, in, on) -3 (pet, under, leaf) + 3 (ant, T-shirt, flower) - 5(dress, hat, shoes, black, purple) + 4 (house, big, witch, Halloween)-all review All reviews - 5(gorilla, teeth, snake, long, tongue, mouth, crocodile, big) + 4(storm, jungle, leopard, scared) - 5 (tiger, jungle, lions, gorillas, fish) + 4 (zebra whales, sea, grasslands) All reviewed -4 (fish, ice cream, sausages, chips, macaroni) + 2 (lunch, hungry) -all reviewed -4 (play basketball, play football, play tennis, rollerblade) + 2 (shoot, play computer games) -all reviewed - 4 (have a shower, brush my teeth, get up, get dressed) +6 (o’clock, half past, breakfast, giant, smell, clean, dirty) -all reviewed - 5 (summer camp, country, mountain, lake, play football) + 3 (windy, noisy, raining) -all reviewed -all reviewed Bug revisions (all reviewed) Word family No Writing Fill in the gaps No Order the words No Writing production 24 44 58 -design your own uniform and describe it -design your healthy school lunch and describe it -design the activities at you summer camp and write about it Speaking Free 9 15 21 29 35 -What is your favourite insect -What do you do at Halloween -What is your favourite wild animal? -Do you eat something from each group every day? -what sports do you do? Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 52 41 49 55 -what’s your daily routine? -what’s the weather like where you live? -what activities can you do where you live? Partially scripted 8, 11, 14, 48, 54 17, 45 28 34 40 Games -one student has to ask “how do you spell this word” and the other one has to spell it -can I have food? - have you got number X? yes/no I have(n’t), my turn -what time is it? It’s time - Totally scripted 23, 43, 57 41 Act out bug review’s dialogue -who is it? It is character of the play Reading 6, 7, 10 12, 13, 18, 19,22 , 26, 27, 32, 33, 38, 39, 42, 46, 47, 50, 56 2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 45, 48, 51, 54 9, 15, 21, 29, 35, 41, 49, 51 52, 53 -comics -songs -texts .play True or false 9, 15, 21, 29, 35, 41, 49, 55 -read and say if the sentence is true or false Listening Listen + repeat Listen + read 2 6, 7, 10 12, 13, -characters introduce themselves -comics Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 53 18, 19,22 , 26, 27, 32, 33, 38, 39, 42, 46, 47, 50, 56 23, 43, 57 24 44 58 -dialogues -“learn about” school uniforms in the UK -“learn about” school lunches in the UK, in the USA, in Autralia -“learn about” summer camps in Spain, Canada, England Listen + say No Listen + chose No Other activities Read + point / listen + point 4 8, 20 14 28 48 54 -listen and point at the correct number -listen and point at the animal -member of the family -cutlers - summer essentials -“Pussy in boots” characters Matching 9 15 21 29 35 41 49 55 -listen the sentence and match it with the correct letter: -grasshoppers -Halloween -wild animals - food -sports -daily routines - places around the world -London Songs 2 4 5 8 11 14 17 20 28 28 31 -bug’s hello song -alphabet song -class objects  desk, chair, notebook, ruler, pen, school bag -animals  bird, tortoise, fish, hamster, dog -clothes  socks, shoes, dress, hat, jeans, t-shirt, trainers -family members  family, mum, dad, brother, sister, cousin, uncle, auntie -parts of animals’ bodies  whiskers, teeth, tiger, small, ears, big, body, eyes, tongue, snake, long, tail, mouth, crocodile -animals and where they live  tiger, jungle, whales, sea, lions, grasslands, gorillas, fish, zebra - food macaroni, ice cream, fish, chips -cutleries fork, spoon, glass, knife - sports  play tennis, play basketball, ride a bike, skateboard, rollerblade, play football Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 54 34 37 40 45 48 51 54 -sports  throw, ball, win, game, pass, point, whistle, winners -daily routines  get up, morning, stretch, have a shower, brush my teeth, get dressed, have breakfast, go to school - time  what time is it?, half past, o’clock, breakfast-dinner-lunch time -holydays  -summer, camp, country, mountains, walk, lake, swim, beach, park, swimming pool -summer essentials  sun hat, swimsuit, swimming trunks, sunglasses, towel, sun cream -“puss in boots play  description of the main character -“puss in the boots” play  description of the rest of the characters Games 8 11 20 54 14 31 34 37 40 48 -guessing game. Describe something and the other student has to guess it. With the structure “it is ….”: Animals Clothes Animals Play characters -there is a picture above. One student has to describe what they are wearing for the other student to guess the person -mime the sport for the other person to guess it - Bingo -mime the daily routine for the other person to guess it -there are 8 clocks with different times, one student thinks of one of the clock and the other one has to say the clock’s time until he/she gets it right -there are 4 bags, choose one and describe it for the other student to guess it Phonics 10 16 22 30 36 42 50 56 - er - /i/ - /i:/ - s- - /ai/ - /i/ -/a/ - /ei/ -g- -h- -sh Structures Questions 18, 19, 33 26, 27, 28 -What’s the matter? -Here you are + Can I have…? Play + sport 31, 32, 33, 35 play + football, basketball, tennis Ride + sth 31, 32, 33, 35 ride + a bike, a motorbike Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 55 Have + sth 37 have + breakfast, a shower Brush + sth 37 brush + my teeth Idioms No Phrasal verbs Collocations 37 have breakfast, have a shower, get dressed, get up, brush my teeth Grouping Individual work Yes Pair work Yes Group work No Bugs World’s topic units Unit Topic 1 Classroom objects, Pets 2 Halloween 3 Body parts, Wild animals 4 Food 5 Sports 6 Time, Daily routines 7 Holidays 8 Court (play), London Appendix 5: Explorers Analysis Activities Where Type of activity Visual support Yes All units Presenting words Yes All units Isolated words 2 5 6 -colours: red, orange, yellow, black, white, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, grey -months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December -objects: backpack, watch, compass, torch, camera, notebook binoculars, map Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 56 9 11 16 19 21 26 29 31 36 37 39 41 46 47 49 51 56 59 61 66 68 -insects, grasshopper, bee, butterfly, beetle, ant -grass, leaf, warning, poisonous -play + computer game, football, basketball, tennis, piano, violin, drums, recorder -skateboard, dive, draw, skate, paint, ride a horse -wood, animal skin, armadillo, plant, sea shell, shaker -sunglasses, sandals, swimsuit, jeans, scarf, raincoat, woolly hat, gloves -summer, autumn, spring, winter -sweat, candies, fireworks, tea - mirror, radio, plant, bin, wardrobe, bookcase, picture, lamp - in, on, under -fridge, cooker, TV, sofa, phone, next to - wood, stilts, wood, leaves, mud, grass, hunter - crocodile, zebra, parrot, flamingo, lion, python, monkey, gorilla -head, legs, body, wings -feathers, hair, whiskers, claws, teeth, scales -eggs, milk, blood, backbone - salad, toast, water, jam, sandwiches, pasta, eggs, juice - breakfast, lunch, dinner, rice, vegetables, ham - tractor, seeds, lorry, flour - bat, witch, ghost, goblin, pumpkin lantern - stocking, Santa Claus, presents, mince pies, reindeer Words in context 4 7 8 11 14, 15 17 18 21 24, 25 27 28 31 34, 35 37 38 41 44, 45 47 48 -box, present, birthday, May, bike, dog -compass, map -binoculars, camera, notebook, pencil, bird, T-shirt -insects, camouflage, butterfly, leaf, warning, beetle, poisonous - grasshopper, ant, leaf -play piano, play tennis -skateboard, play guitar, fly, run -guitar, drums, wood, animal skin, flutes, armadillo, shakers, plant, sea shell - map, pen, notebook, camera, football -trousers, shoes, raincoat -raincoat, hat, boots, umbrella, shorts, T-shirt -festivals, sweets, dresses, fireworks, spring, tea -hat, gloves, boots, sandals, coats, trousers, jacket, cloth -book, table, lamp -bookcase, floor, door, close, behind, plant, bedroom, under, table -countries, houses, hunters, igloos, snow, windows, stilts, wood, leaves, huts, mud, grass - snow, coat, scarf, woolly hat, table, under, gloves, bookcase, on - monkey -zoo, wings, parrot, tail, legs, monkey, head, ears, nose, elephant Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 63 Appendix 7: current books’ comparison 0  nunca 1 poco 2  normal 3 mucho Activities Bugs world Explorers Visual support 3 3 Presenting words 3 3 Isolated words 1 3 Words in context 3 3 Recycle vocabulary 2 3 Word family 0 0 Writing Fill in the gaps 0 0 Order the words 0 0 Writing production 2 1 Speaking Free 2 1 Partially scripted 2 3 Totally scripted 1 2 Reading 3 3 Listening Listen + repeat 0 3 Listen + read 3 3 Listen + say 0 1 Listen + chose 0 2 Other activities Read+ point / listen + point 2 1 Matching 2 1 Songs 3 2 Games 2 3 Phonics 1 1 Structure 2 1 Idioms 0 0 Phrasal verbs 0 0 Collocations 0 0 Grouping Individual work 3 2 Pair work 2 3 Group work 1 3 Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 64 Appendix 8: Dictation with a difference Appendix 9: picture dictation Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 65 Appendix 10: Transferring information Appendix 11: School lunch Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 66 Appendix 12: Pancakes day Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 67 Appendix 13: World music Appendix 14: Houses Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 68 Appendix 15: Text with pictures Appendix 16: Time and daily routines Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 69 Appendix 17: mini book Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 70 Appendix 18: directions Appendix 19: Quizzes Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 71 Appendix 20: Tina’s notebook Appendix 21: Cooperative learning oral activities Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 72 Appendix 22: writing at word level Word monster Meaningful copying Word family posters Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 79 Appendix 34: Word quiz Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 80 Appendix 35: alphabet or picture domino Appendix 36: picture broken words Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 81 Appendix 37: crosswords and searchwords Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 82 Appendix 38: Recipes Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 83 Appendix 39: Monuments Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 84 Appendix 40: projects about water Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 85 Appendix 41: Peer teaching activity Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 86 6.- Bibliography .- Lawday, Cathy. 1999. Get Set Go. Oxford .- Samuel, Ann. 1994. Splash. Longman .- Elisenda Papiol and Maria Toth. 2009. Bugs World. Macmillan .- Nina Lauder. 2011. Explorers. Oxford .- BROWN , H. D. 2001. Teaching by Principles: an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, White Plains, N.Y.: Longman. .- HARMER , J. 2001 (1983). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman. .- NUNAN, D. 2003. Practical English Language Teaching, New York: McGraw Hill. .- REILLY, J. and REILLY, V. 2005. Writing with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .- Thonbury, S. 2002. Chapter 5: How to teach vocabulary. Harlow: Pearson Longman. .- Nation, P. 2001. Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .-Nation, I. S. P. 2008. Chapter 7: Deliberate teaching learning of vocabulary. Cengage Learning-National Geog .- Read, Carol 2007. 500 activities for the Primary Classroom. Macmillan .- NIXON, C. & TOMLINSON, M. 2008. Primary Vocabulary Box: word games and activities for Younger Learners. Cambridge: CUP. .- PHILLIPS, S. 1993. Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press .- Kagan, Spencer. (1994). Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. .- http://www.kaganonline.com/index.php .- Dörnyei, Z. 1994. Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom. In Blackwell Publishing (ed): The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Autumn, 1994), pp. 273-284 .- BREWSTER, J. 1991. “Listening and the young learner” (Chapter 12), in Brumfit, C, et al. (Eds.) 1991. Teaching English to Children: from Practice to Principle, London: Nelson Teaching vocabulary Sara Sánchez Gimeno (628038) 87 .- Krashen. 1982. Principles and practice in second language acquisition, Pergamon Press .- Long, M.H. 1981 "Input, Interaction and Second Language Acquisition." In Winitz (ed): Native Language and Foreign Language Acquisition, New York, New York Academy of Sciences, 259-278. .- Vygotsky, L. 1978. Interaction between learning and development. From: Mind and Society (pp. 79-91). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .- Skinner. 1957. Verbal Behavior. Appleton-Century-Grofts, INC.