Vocabulary Game for English Learners - Assignment Example

Vocabulary Game for English Learners Vocabulary Game Activity: Create a game to teach vocabulary Segment: Middle school Unicellular& Multicellular Organisms- Science In this document we will look at how best to introduce the concepts and terms of a middle school science lesson to learners of English as a second language. This document will use the principals of SIOP when planning and organizing the vocabulary game that would help introduce the many different terms that will have to be taught to students who for the first time will be learning about unicellular & multicellular organisms. It is not the objective of this document to arrange the lesson plan for the science lesson but rather to describe the different exercises and methods that will be used to introduce the new terms to the students for whom English is a second language. However this document will use the terms that will be learnt in this lesson where necessary to give examples on how and what should be done and in what sequence when introducing the terms to the students. The document is arranged in order of the different exercises that should be followed in sequence to prepare the students for the lesson and then to take them through the lesson and finally revise the lesson. It should be kept in mind that this vocabulary game has been designed assuming that the level of English knowledge acquired by the students in question is minimal and have never heard a single term that is used in the lesson. Therefore the teacher will have to use his or her discretion when deciding which exercises are not required as the students above the assumed level. Before beginning the lesson and introducing the terms that will be learnt in unicellular and multicellular it is best to introduce the concept of what is going to be learnt using life experience and day to day concepts. This can be done by talking to students about the single purpose and multipurpose objects such as a water kettle vs. microwave oven and a television or DVD player vs. a home entertainment system. This will enable the students to get an idea of what they are going to learn in the next chapter in science. Once the students have understood the concept that they are going to learn - use the human body to introduce the concept further. This will have more scientific basis and at the same time be something that all students understand irrespective of culture and background (Settlage, J. & Southerland, S. A., 2007). Now that the students understand the concept that they will be learning in the next chapter in their science lesson it is time to introduce some of the basic and common terms that they will be learning. These terms should be introduced with pictures or diagrams. While students may never have heard the terms before it is quite possible that they have seen the different organisms that are being introduced and this will help them to make a connection between the terms and what they already know - this will help retention and better understanding. Now that the students have made a basic connection between the common terms and diagrams it is time to let them work on their own to build and increase their understanding. Now they should be encouraged to use different resources that are available to them to learn the definitions of each of the terms that have been introduced to them. This will help give them a deeper understanding of the terms and will help them make a deeper connection with what they already know and what they are about to learn in the future. Next once the students have adequate knowledge of the terms and definitions some games can be brought in to enhance the knowledge, stimulate more interest and also to make the lesson interesting. Students can be given opportunities to become competitive by dividing them into groups and asking them to match terms with diagrams, match terms with definitions and fill in the blanks in closed sentences that would enable further understanding of the words (Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. & Short, D.J., 2003). Further depending on the level of the students the teacher can go a step forward and ask the students to work in groups and further research the subject area on their own and draw posters and flow charts that would further help them understand the concepts they are going to learn and give them a deeper understanding of the subject and even arouse their curiosity to the level they will learn of their own initiative. An example of this would be to ask the students to compare illustrations in the groups that show similarities and differences and open it up for discussions. They can also be asked to illustrate the structure of various cells and their functional relationship with other cells (Victor, E. & Kellough, R. D., 1999). Now that the students are have learnt the concept, learnt the new terms and even researched the subject on their own the teacher can move on to teaching what is set out in the curriculum by reading the text and stopping wherever there are new terms that were learnt, he/she can ask students to define the terms and paraphrase what they have learnt so far. This would ensure that the students have adequate comprehension before moving on to the next step. While continuing through the chapter and at the end of the chapter the teacher can go back and use certain exercises to introduce newer terms and concepts and also to make the lesson more interactive and interesting to the student. Doing so will help increase retention of the subject matter and also help the students make a connection between their daily lives and the lesson and arouse their curiosity further. In conclusion it can be said that before introducing a science lesson that is full of new terms to a group of student for whom English is a second language it is best to introduce them to the new terms and definitions they will be encountering through the use of diagrams and daily life examples so that it would make the lesson easier to grasp, more interesting and arouse the students' interest enough for them to want to learn and expand their vocabulary and knowledge at the same time (Marzano, R. J., 2004). References Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. & Short, D.J. (2003), Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (2nd ed), Allyn and Bacon, Pearson Education, Inc. Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Settlage, J. & Southerland, S. A. (2007), Teaching Science to Every Child: Using Culture as a Starting Point (1st ed), Routledge Victor, E. & Kellough, R. D. (1999), Science for the Elementary and Middle School (9th ed). Prentice Hall. Read More