Category Archives: Visualising Vocabulary

Revisiting a “Horizontal” Lexical Activity -“The Egghunt”

Words.

Lots of words.

Lists of words.

Words for the students and words for me:

It’s the “Why”, the “Which”, the “How” and the “When” of vocabulary acquisition for EFL students that I need to carefully consider and plan for when I teach.  In order to do that effectively, I need all the information, support, and inspiration I can get, from the experts.

Experts such as the one-and-only Batya Laufer, from Haifa University,  who will be presenting at the upcoming ETAI 2023 International Conference & Mediterranean SymposiumHer plenary talk Lexical Targets: Why they are necessary and how they can be implemented” will be targeting those pesky “WH Questions”!

Targeting vocabulary? Naomi’s Photos

The updated activity I am sharing today was inspired by previous sessions at ETAI Conferences,  from another amazing speaker at the upcoming conference, Leo Selivan, aka “Lexical Leo”. His clear and practical conference talks have inspired many a lesson in my classes.

Here is an updated version of “The Egghunt”, created with Leo Selivan’s post Horizontal Alternatives to Vertical Lists in mind.

See you at ETAI!

———————————————————————————

The Egghunt

This activity was designed to focus on vocabulary presented not according to semantic sets, (transportation, colors, food etc.), which is the vertical approach, but rather by introducing the words with other words they go with (horizontally).

I chose a short animated film that I feel is age-appropriate (elementary school) and suitable for use in schools.

I then wrote a list of twenty-three vocabulary items that either relate to or appear in the film.

All but three of these words appear in the Ministry of Education’s approved word list. These three words are needed in this context (they are marked with an asterisk in the word list below).

The decision to have all the activities connected to the film is grounded in a belief that what is made memorable is learned best. I do this often with homework assignments for my own students, with various language elements I’m trying to teach, not just vocabulary. The visuals in films (I always use ones without dialogue, my students don’t hear well!) supply a clear context.

 

1) Here’s the list of vocabulary items FOR THE TEACHER:

Egg buy Take care! hungry
Caveman* Hunt * Be careful! long
Spear* fall That’s not fair! angry
film smile How many sad
food watch sure
another break true
see

 

2. Here is the pre-reading activity for the students. Click on the title below to get a downloadable PDF.

Egghunt:  Pre-Reading Activity

3) The animated film (no dialogue, remember?)

4) Questions related to the film embedded in the film, courtesy of Edpuzzle. Edpuzzle has made it so much easier to work with film!

 

Revisiting “A Quote Challenge” – A Refreshing Review of Vocabulary & Syntax

When the pandemic began I forgot about this lesson.  In fact, the thin binder of “puzzles” that it was placed in it fell out of a drawer and lodged itself behind the drawers.

I’m so glad I found it again.

The students enjoyed it and I was pleased with the vocabulary and syntax reviewed.

Here is the post as it was first posted on Jan. 6 , 2016

_ *_ *_* _

Full disclosure: I’ve never began a post this way before.

Naomi's Photos
Naomi’s Photos

There’s no real reason to continue reading this post. Hana Ticha’s lesson “Everyone is a Genius” has everything you could want a lesson to include – vocabulary, grammar, syntax, discussions, general knowledge and FUN! The quote chosen has a such a nice educational message too. So why adapt it? What happened to “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”? Just go on to Hana’s post!

I had to adapt the lesson because I wanted to use it in my learning center for Deaf and hard of hearing students. Each lesson is for a jumble of  10th, 11th and 12th graders, at all possible levels. This activity is not for all them.

In addition, due to my students’ hearing problems, I would have to write out each clue, as they woudn’t be able to follow the spoken language. That would be cumbersome and time consuming.

In short, I needed a version that students could work on fairly independantly, with me guiding and helping from time to time (and then hopping of to help someone else).

Naomi's Photos
Naomi’s Photos

So I typed up the lines for each letter of each word of the quote, so the students would have that information as a hint. I also added the first letter of most of the words (not the grammatical ones). I also wrote clues for about two thirds of the words. Some are very simple clues, others demand more of the student.

Here is the word document (two pages):

A Quote Challenge

I’ve done it with a few students so far. One by one (not in the same lesson). They are all students who enjoy a challenge, students who are curious.

They loved it!

Filling it in led to them asking great questions. The students tried to use “he” instead of “it” for the fish, which led to a review of the difference between  “it’s” and “its”. One very deaf student was puzzled by the word in the clue for tree “leaves” which he was positive was only an irregular verb in the past. The whole idea, naturally, of an “f” (leaf) changing to a “v” (leaves) is strange to him. Another student was sure that “everyone” should be plural but could tell that the number of letter spaces didn’t match the word “are” and figured out on her own that the following word must be “is”. The only word they all had trouble figuring out was “if”, even though they got the “will”. Perhaps I shouldn’t have a clue for it, and then it will draw more attention to the conditional form.

The students really enjoyed the detective work! However,they all needed my help in understanding what the point of the quote was. One thought it meant he shouldn’t go off on “wild goose chases” such as looking for fish on trees…

All the students who have done it so far are kind of “loners”, students who don’t always “fit in”, for different reasons. Once they got the point of the quote, they really approved!

Expressing Your Opinion – Revisiting the “Holstee Manifesto Lifecycle Video”

From “Lifecycle” to “lifestyle” Naomi’s Photos

I first learned of the Holstee Manifesto video on one of Sandy Millin’s blogs: (Almost) Infinite ELT Ideas back in 2012.

This video is far too useful to be forgotten.

The Holstee Manifesto Lifecycle video is short, suitable for teens, and can be used with the sound off. Though I must say that if your students don’t happen to be Deaf or hard of hearing like mine are, the music is a  welcome addition.

The video ties in nicely with the topic students my students are working on –  writing essays that express an opinion. It is chock full of statements that are easy to get students to respond to.

Turn on the light in their heads! Naomi’s photos

I really enjoyed the students’ comments. They seem shocked at the idea of not looking actively for the love of your life. They agreed, in theory at least, that if you don’t have enough time you should stop watching TV. They also supported the idea of trying to change things. One student thought that “sharing your passions” was a bad idea, passions should be kept private. I’m going to ask him and see what he understands “passions to mean”. “All emotions are beautiful” was criticized and jealousy was cited as an example of an ugly one.

One statement seemed to strike most of the students as stupid – “Getting lost will help you find yourself”!

I have revamped the old worksheet I made – it has been updated and is now a LiveWorksheet. You’ll find it below, along with the video itself and a link to the Holstee website with the text version of the video. In addition, I highly recommend checking out other suggested ways to use this video in class  – you will find them in the comment section of Sandy Millin’s post, as mention before.

Thank you, Sandy Millin!

Enjoy!

https://www.holstee.com/pages/manifesto

The link to the worksheet:

https://youtu.be/QDmt_t6umoY

 

Online Teaching for Students Who Never Read Instructions

We’ve got the students, without the classrooms
Naomi’s Photos

“If all else fails, read the instructions”.

I don’t know who actually said it first, but it seems that a great many people invest a great deal of effort in proving the veracity of this old adage.

My Deaf and hard of hearing students (ok, “MOST of’ , there are notable exceptions) prefer a different version:

“If all else fails, don’t do it .”

Reading the instructions doesn’t even enter into the equation. In  ANY language – not just in English as a foreign language!

I encourage, I point out the instructions, sometimes I refuse to help unless they read the instructions,  but without my intervention, the instructions usually remain unread.  Perhaps 10th grade is a bit late to start working on the importance of “reading instructions”, but I haven’t given up yet.

We’ve got to get the students “standing tall” and independent! Naomi’s Photos

Now that schools have closed because of THE VIRUS, I have discovered that I now have a golden opportunity (we have to be optimistic and look at the bright side, right? ) to get these students reading instructions!

Over these first crazy days of trying to adjust to online learning with my students, who are not only at every possible level there is, but  all their schoolbooks are the classroom I have learned three useful tips.

At least I’m learning new things every day!

  1. Start them off with a  task that has two parts. What needs to be done in the first part consists of an exercise of the sort where it is very very obvious what needs to be done.  Such as the following Live Worksheet, on the topic of words and phrases that I see often on national exams and confuse my students.

With a live worksheet, the students can do a worksheet online and check their answers on their own, while using content made by their own teachers. The students know exactly what to do.

**** You can see it here, but if you want to try answering it to see how it works, use the link here in green letters :  Confusing Words and Phrases

 

Confusing Words and phrases commonly seen in exams, an interactive worksheet by naomima

liveworksheets.com

2.  The second part of the exercise involves reading a simple instruction. If the students ignored it, you can first praise them for getting the first part right. Builds confidence! My own students were asked to send me translations of this completed exercise.

If your students DO send you a question, don’t answer instantly. Wait a bit. Besides the VERY important message that you want your students to understand regarding you not being on call EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY, let them look at the exercise on their own for a bit. When they don’t get an answer right away, they might actually try again. Try it!

3.  When you respond to the question, first ask them to explain exactly what was it in the instructions that was unclear to them, which part or which words. That makes both you and the students reread the instructions.

There’s a good chance that the students will now know exactly what to do.

If not, then YOU, the teacher, may realize that the instructions could be improved.

A win-win situation!

When D.G., (The 10-Sided Dice) Presents Examples of Using Examples…

Why didn’t you mention me?

In theory, visualising a difficult concept is supposed to make it easier for the students to grasp it.

Naturally, achieving the desired outcome depends on visualising the material in a manner the students can relate to.

Many of my Deaf and hard of hearing students adolescent students have a lot of trouble answering questions constructed as “What is _______ an example of?” / “Why is __________ mentioned in the text?”

As in the following example:

Yossi got many gifts for his birthday. He got some books, three shirts and a helmet for his motorcycle.

What is a helmet an example of?

Some of my students would think the correct answer was:

“A helmet is an example of something you put on your head” or ” “…something you use for your motorcycle”

Yet the correct answer is:

“A helmet is an example of a gift Yossi got for his birthday”.

The students need to answer such questions on their final exams.

Sigh…

There has to be more than one way…
Naomi’s Photos

Till now I began by practicing such question types with the students in their mother tongue first, since understanding the question format itself and the thinking process required, is crucial.

Then we practiced answering sample questions in English. Here’s a downloadable worksheet I use.

what_is_this_an_example_of

All of this helped, it really did.

But not enough.

Some students still have difficulties in answering such questions correctly.

I wondered if visualising the issue in the context of a simple story would help the students, in addition to what we are already doing.

And so, the story of D.G., an angry 10 sided dice who doesn’t want to be called by his full name (Decagon), was born. When D.G. introduces us to his family, he presents us with many examples of such structures in context. He feels forgotten since no one seems to mention him…

Since a tale about a family of dice is so completely unconnected to a specific culture or age group, I believe the characters could be easily used with a wide variety of students.

Only time will tell whether the presentation will have the desired impact.

But in any case, brilliantly colored multi-sided dice are pretty cool, don’t you think?

You can download the presentation by clicking here:

Why didn’t you mention me

Note: This slideshow contains animated effects. My attempts at having the slideshow embedded in the blog while presenting all elements were, sadly, unsuccesful.

 

 

Converging Corners – Engaging with Vocabulary from “THE LIST” & the Literature Program / ETAI 2019

A few minutes before the presentation – ETAI 2019

Converging Corners: Struggling Learners, The Literature Program & The Vocabulary Lists

Presentation at ETAI 2019

I began my presentation by stating the following facts that represent the reality in my classroom of Deaf and hard of hearing students and holds true for many other teachers as well.

´* I must teach the literature program.

´* I have many struggling learners – progress in the program is slow.

´* Time – We never actually teach the allotted hours in a semester

´* There are official lists of specific vocabulary items that must be taught and practiced.

´ *All students need to engage multiple times with a word.   Struggling learners need to engage with a word more than everyone else!

THEREFORE – NEEDS MUST CONVERGE!

As I teach the literature program I provide opportunities for the learners to engage with the target vocabulary on the official word lists.

During the session, the teachers actively participated in several activities designed to do just that. The relevant links to posts, worksheets, and Quizlet Sets appear below.

Additional activities related to other literary pieces are “in the works” – follow this space!

Thank You, Ma’am

Pre-Reading Activity & New “LOTS” Worksheet

Full post related to the activity including links  and information related to the word lists: https://visualisingideas.edublogs.org/2019/01/03/counting-re-entry-of-vocabulary-items-thank-you-maam/

Shortcut to pre-reading activity:

Gift-of-time-pre-reading-Mam-p218o7-1e53wc3

Shortcut to New “LOTS” Worksheet:

Thank You Ma’am Open Questions-2ktog3e

“Matching Activity” 

By clicking on the  link below you will have:

  • information regarding the words from band 2 chosen
  • a  link to the chosen set of words on Quizlet
  • pictures of cards from the activity
  • an explanation of how the activity works
  • the sentences that appear on the cards.

https://visualisingideas.edublogs.org/2019/02/20/the-joy-of-simple-self-check-activities/

A Summer’s Reading

By clicking on the link below you will have:

  • information related to the activity and the words chosen.
  • an explanation about the use of Control F as a helpful tool.
  • a link to the chosen set of words on Quizlet.
  • document with the sentences that appear on the cards.

https://visualisingideas.edublogs.org/2019/02/03/using-control-f-to-add-sophies-voice-to-a-summers-reading-by-malamud/

Shortcut directly to document with the sentences that appear on the cards.

Summer Reading Perspective-1owtxz2

 

The Road Not Taken

Post describing the activity:

https://visualisingideas.edublogs.org/2019/07/06/daring-to-dive-into-the-dilemma-the-road-not-taken/

A shortcut to the sentences in the activity:

The Road Not Taken Dilemma activity – band two

A link to the Quizlet set of the related words

https://quizlet.com/_6uazwy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daring to Dive into the Dilemma – “The Road Not Taken”

Are they both “just as fair”?
Photo taken by Naomi

One of the great things about teaching the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” to my Deaf and hard of hearing students is that they have some very powerful examples of “standing at crossroads” in their young lives. These are times when they had to make a decision and knew they would not get the opportunity to come back and try the other option.

For example, some of my students faced a dramatic choice at the end of junior high school (9th grade) – whether to study at the high-school close to their home along with their old classmates and continue being the only hard of hearing /Deaf student in the whole school, or to commute an hour or more to a high school that offers strong academic support and a peer group.  That’s a SIX day a week commute!

On the other hand, many of my students find it harder to take in the aspects of the traveler’s dilemma that are stated in the poem itself.  Not only can the traveler not take both roads and won’t come back another day, but both roads are actually just as fair, have been worn about the same. Even worse, the traveler can’t see what lies ahead as the road bends in the undergrowth!

I want my students to pay attention to all that too.

AND

The students should be engaging in a meaningful way with words from the Ministry’s word list while they are learning the poem.  I firmly believe in integrating the practice of the vocabulary items on the list with the teaching of the literature program. ***

 

Suggestion cards
Response cards

SO

I identified 52 words from the Band 2 Word List to be used while teaching the poem and created a  Quizlet set with the words. 

I then created The Dilemma Activity, which can be used in many ways. While it can be used as a worksheet,  I preferred to use index cards (or sentence strips) as I find the activity suitable for acting a bit of dramatic flair!

The students are presented with the situation:

A traveler is happily walking along a road in a yellow wood when the roads diverge (“along” is a word on the word list).

He/She doesn’t know which road take and needs advice.

The traveler now needs to hear suggestions and respond accordingly. “Suggestion” is also a word on the list!

Suggestion card number 6

There are 7 suggestions to be given to the traveler, each one on a separate card. The suggestions are numbered and must be read in the correct order.  The responses are not numbered, and the students must match the correct response to the suggestion.

For example, here are the first two suggestion cards.

  1. Why don’t you take both roads?
  2. So take one road today and the other road another time.

And the matching responses:

  1. I can’t take both roads because I’m only one traveler.
  2. One road leads to other roads. I doubt I will ever come back. I have to make a choice.

The imaginary advisor is losing patience with the traveler, and by the time we get to the last two suggestions, exasperation should be clearly expressed in intonation and body language!

6. Don’t be so nervous, just choose a road. What difference could it make?

7. I give up – I can’t help you. You will sigh when you think about this in the future but choose a road NOW.

The matching responses are:

6. It’s possible that my choice will make all the difference. That’s why I am nervous.

7. You are right, I will sigh. But will it be a sigh of regret or relief?

You can download all the sentences related to the activity here:

The Road Not Taken Dilemma activity – band two

Enjoy!

*** A special post of links related to engaging with the word lists while teaching the literature program can be found here:

https://visualisingideas.edublogs.org/2019/07/06/converging-corners-links-to-activities-combining-the-vocabulary-lists-the-lit-program-etai-2019-presentation/

When an Error Turns into a “Very Lonely Felt Jacket…”

Distortions…
Naomi’s Photos

“Wow”, I thought to myself as I moved between the students who were working individually on their reading comprehension tasks, “this student’s error is a classic mistake! Here is a great opportunity to remind the class of the dangers of ignoring parts of speech and the importance of using the dictionary wisely”.

So I called everyone’s attention to the board. In my 12th grade class of Deaf and hard of hearing students, all comments for the whole class must be made while standing by the board where everyone can see me, and I can write-up the words and sentences as needed. The students are used to me pointing out errors in this manner. They know I absolutely never ever make fun of a student. I also thank the student for giving us this opportunity to pay attention to some point. Since this happens once with one student’s error and then with another, the students are all well aware that they are all “in the same boat”.

Appearances deceive – a  boat that is a bench…
Naomi’s Photos

The source of the problem was the word “felt.” One word led to multiple errors.

“I felt certain that my second attempt would be successful”.

The student had forgotten the meaning of this irregular verb so he looked up the translation in his electronic dictionary.

However, he did not pay attention to the fact that he was looking for a verb and that the electronic dictionary first presents translations that are nouns.

The student wrote down the noun meaning of the word “felt” (as in a type of cloth) which in Hebrew is a three-letter word “leved”.

The electronic dictionary does not use diacritics and the student understood those same three letters to mean a totally different word in Hebrew, “levad”, which means “alone”.

Therefore, the student could not understand the sentence in the text.

A textbook error to be presented to class, right?

Or, as it turned out, an excellent example of how explaining too much can totally confuse students and introduce other mistakes!

Lost my way…
Naomi’s Photos

I should have just reminded the students of how to pay attention to the syntax and look up the word “felt”  as a verb and left it at that.

Sigh…

When we looked at the meaning of “felt” as a noun it turned out that not a single one of those students knew what the material felt was. I didn’t have anything made of the material felt in the room to show them and none of the students were wearing anything made of felt (it’s a hot country, you know!).  I started trying to explain. The only example I could think of at the moment was a  “felt jacket”.  I’m sure if they had touched the material it would have been familiar but they simply did not have a word for it in any language they used.

The fact that  I had also been trying to explain how the first student had made an error with the meaning of the noun as well, confused the students even more.

No, there were no “felt jackets” mentioned in the sentence.

Yes, yes, I agree, jackets, made of felt or any other material cannot be lonely, so it is ridiculous to use the word lonely in the context of a jacket except that aren’t any jackets in the sentence.

Aargh!

Sometimes less actually is more – explain less!

The sentence remained on the board when the next class came in.

I simply pointed to the word “felt” and reminded the students how they could (and should!) know the word is a verb even if they forget it’s meaning.

No “lonely felt jackets” were allowed into the room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Joy of SIMPLE “Self-Check” Activities

A party of one…
Naomi’s Photos

There are all sorts of sophisticated self-check activities out there, ones that look stunning but seem to require artistic abilities that I don’t possess,  props one needs to get a hold of  (such as clear plastic covers of chocolate boxes) or are simply too time-consuming to create.

There are countless variations, such as using puzzle pieces and dominoes and many more. I truly admire these activities and their creators.

Such sophistication is simply not for me. Not anymore.

However,  I did want an effective self-check exercise that I could make on my own, one which I could sneak in a few words from the Band Two Word List that students need to practice.

Particularly one which I could prepare easily.

Scatter the cards on the table. Make sure the word START is face up.

Easy to prepare like the self-check activity involving two-sided index cards. A student begins with the card that says START, flips it over, matches it to its corresponding index card, flips that one over, and continues matching until he/she reaches the card that says THE END.  If the student flips over THE END  before all the cards have been matched then a mistake has been made, and he/she will have to backtrack.

Simple!

I learned of this activity many years ago from Tal Papo. I’m sure many of you are familiar with it!

In my learning center for Deaf and hard of hearing high school students, the students progress at different paces. That means that each student is ready for a review activity related to the story they have just completed at a different time.

In this particular case, the story in question is called “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes.

I defined vocabulary items that are related to this story from the Band Two Word List, as you can see by clicking on the following link. https://quizlet.com/_63ru7n  In my previous post related to this story I defined words from Band Three Word List and the questions I created.

The word “description” ignited the idea for the activity.  The word “belong” fit in nicely too.  The vocabulary items “crime” and “pair” are also on the list.

Matching sentences DO NOT appear on the same index card!

Here are the corresponding sentences. Remember! The first sentence is written on the back of the card that says START! The words “THE END” appears on the back side of the card that has the last matching sentence. In other words, sentences that match do not appear on the same card!

START –

  • She was a large woman with a purse.    ** A description of Mrs. Jones.
  • It was heavy and had a long strap.  It was large.       ** A description of the purse that belonged to Mrs. Jones.
  • He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and thin. His face was dirty.      ** A description of Roger.
  • In the corner, behind a screen, there was a gas plate and an icebox. There was a daybed too.      ** A description of the room that belonged to Mrs. Jones.
  • He tried to steal her purse.    ** A description of Roger’s crime.
  • A pair of blue suede _____________.      ** A description of the shoes Roger wanted to buy.
  • She picked him up and shook him until his teeth rattled. She kicked him too.      **A description of Mrs. Jones’ reaction when Roger tried to steal her purse.
  • She gave him ten dollars and then led him to the front door.         **A description of Mrs. Jones’ actions at the end of the story.
  • THE END

I hope you find it useful too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using “Control F” to add Sophie’s Voice to “A Summer’s Reading” by Malamud

Some might find this “creature” intimidating! Naomi’s Photos

There is something intimidating about looking at very long lists of vocabulary items, each list spanning several pages of words written in three columns. There is this feeling of being lost in a wood where the trees are made of words.

Fortunately, technology makes it so much easier to deal with such word lists. I found myself introducing the “control F” function on the computer to several teachers over the last two weeks. Holding down those two keys open a “dialogue box” that allows you to type in a word. If the word appears in the list, you will be magically transported to the right place. If those letters appear in other words as well, those places will also be shown, but the little number on the side of the “box” shows you the number of words available. There are arrows to move between the words.

So helpful!

It particularly came in handy while I was thinking about the character of Sophie, George’s sister in the story “A Summer’s Reading” by Malamud. She’s a very minor character in the story but I thought that adding her point of view could give me a useful way to review the story,  practice vocabulary from the word list in context and the higher order thinking skill known as “distinguishing different perspectives” all in one go.  It’s quite easy to imagine some things Sophie might have thought in reference to her brother.

Her voice is hardly heard…
Naomi’s Photos

I identified 58 vocabulary items from the Band 3 word list as words to use while teaching this story. You can find them on the Quizlet list here: https://quizlet.com/361845610/a-summers-reading-flash-cards/

I wrote sentences on index cards. Each sentence uses a vocabulary item from the list (a word or a chunk) and a few use two words. The words are highlighted in orange. I used 28 items from the Quizlet list. Each index card presents a statement one of the characters in the story may have thought or said. These are not sentences from the story itself!

My class of Deaf and hard of hearing students and I read each card together and then discussed who might have said/thought such a thing. It was really great to see how they explained to each other which parts of the sentences gave them the information they needed to decide from whose perspective it was written. The students were very involved in the activity without officially turning it into a game.  The students could be asked to read the sentences out loud “in character”, but I haven’t tried that yet. Frankly, I was very pleased with the students’ reactions!

Here are examples of sentences from Sophie’s point of view. The activity also includes George’s and Mr. Cattanzara’s possible statements. For the full list of sentences,  click on the title of the attached word document below (you can download it). I hope you find the activity helpful too!

“He won’t come out of his room. I don’t know how he can breathe in there! It is very hot.”

“I don’t understand. He says he is reading books but I don’t see any evidence around the house. Is he telling the truth?”

“Working in a cafeteria in the Bronx means that I’m not home during the day”.

“I wish he would get a job! it would enable us to stop living in poverty!”

“Our mother’s absence really made a difference in our lives. I have to live at home and take care of my father and brother”.

Or as George may have said, sadly:

“Getting some money from my sister is my only source of income“.

Summer Reading Perspective-1owtxz2