Methods for Saving New Vocabulary

After teaching English for 8 years I had noticed that sometimes books give strategies to help students record vocabulary however they are not always suitable for Beginner and Elementary levels.

So I decided to try and make some lower level methods with the help of my classes.

The most successful method has been through pictures and word matching and colour coding. This involves students trying to remember words when looking at pictures, and putting stickers on them to represent difficulty.

Red: very difficult

Yellow: ok

Green: easy

Then as the week goes on and students try again and again, they can monitor their own progress by moving the stickers if they think they have improved, this shows the students how they have improved and the focus is on them to get all the stickers green.

Here is an example of some elementary students using the stickers and then also writing the vocabulary over and over on a mini whiteboard (these can be bought very cheaply in the city centre).

Have a go and see if it helps you. For more ideas and support, join our Free Support Classes by signing up at the Student Helpdesk.

Teacher Cat