Vocabulary

Reading this chapter made me think of a new way to approach vocabulary words in my classes. My students have fifteen vocabulary words each week. All they do is memorize the words, but they don't really understand the meaning. I realize this, because they don't understand some of the English translations. For example, I've had to explain numerous times what the word "timid" means in English. I've been thinking about introducing the Spanish words as synonyms to the English words, but I also want to go through the English words, what they mean and the connection that many Spanish and English words have. I've also thought about giving them their words in a different fashion. Right now, I write the Spanish words and their English meanings on the board every Monday and the students copy them down. Throughout the week we do certain exercises with these words, now I don't want to quit using these exercises, but I would like to introduce them differently to these words. One idea I've had so far was to write a story with the words. The story would be in English, but the weekly vocabulary words would be in Spanish. I'm still throwing around some ideas and would love to hear any ideas anyone else has!

I've also been thinking about many of the terms we use in Spanish: cognate, conjugate, infinitive, etc. I do have to teach some English grammar aspects in order for them to understand the Spanish grammar aspects. I would love to create a word wall, with these words and examples of these words. I would also like to use them in the classroom for the first few weeks of school. By use them, I mean in conversation and look at English examples of infinitives, how to conjugate, etc. Hopefully, by doing this, they will have a better grasp on the meanings of these grammar words. Again, I'm still throwing around ideas for this as well!!