Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Vocabulary Self-Awareness Pg 130

Vocabulary Self-Awareness is a pre-reading strategy to assess students on what vocabulary they already know.  This activity fits with any subject.  Anytime there is a vocabulary list, students simply make a chart like below:
Word
+
-
Example
Definition
finite
+
Finite resources (such as oil)
Limited, not forever, antonym--infinite
somnambulist
-
impunity
No one attacks me with impunity and gets away with it.  (something I heard from “Cask of Amontillado” by Poe??












If a student knows the word well and can write an example and definition for that word, he will place a plus sign (+) in the chart and then provide the additional information.  If he can provide only an example or definition, he will add a check (the checks should be in the third column but won't show up here--sorry) to the chart and supply the one he knows.  If he is totally unfamiliar with the word, he may simply add a negative sign (-).  Students will later add to the chart after reading when they have a better understanding of the vocabulary.

In English, I can use this strategy with their stems or with a particularly difficult text we will read.  This strategy can be applied to any activity where learning new words is necessary.


1 comment:

  1. This is a great idea, not just before reading but for starting a new chapter where students will have to learn new vocab and incorporate old vocab as well. I think I will do this the next time I start a chapter in Spanish 1, but I think I will make them each do it in their own google doc and color code the words to save space. This is a great way to activate prior knowledge and to encourage students to "Create with language" (important to world language teachers) at the same time.

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