Entry 8: Vocabulary Activities

May 8^th, 2014
 

This week, our mentor teacher made some vocabulary exercises with the students in the first hour. She introduced some unknown words to them and she gave them some keywords. The students tried to guess the meanings and the contexts where the words are used. They did semantic maps for each word and she asked them what comes to their mind when we say ……..? Students tried to draw some objects which can be useful for remembering the words. For example: a beaker for “experiment”, which I find very entertaining. Since they are young learners and they like drawing, this can be very useful. Some of the students may not like drawing like me but they can write related words next to each newly-learned vocabulary item which is similar to semantic maps is always a good way of remembering words. All students have their own style and it increases the diversity.

In some of the activities, she gave us a chance to “come on the stage”. At some point, she left the class to get something and I was leading the lesson. I realized that students haven’t grasped the meaning of “charity” correctly. It was pretty surprising that they think charity means poor. I tried to explain it without using L1 and it was like a big revelation for them and it was very funny. When our mentor teacher left the class and I took charge of the class, İdil asked me “Can I share something with the class?” I asked what it’s about. When I realized that it was something else, I didn’t let her. I feel like she always tries to manipulate the lesson when our mentor teacher isn’t around. Since she is a very strict teacher, she won’t put up with anything unrelated to class and the students try to use their chances when we are present.

By the way, the students have a class before their regular classes called “paylaşım saati”. In that hour, the students made an experiment about ants and they put their products in front of the window. When our mentor teacher saw that, she asked what they are. The students explained and our teacher said “You see? This is an experiment.” I was very impressed by that. It was so spontaneous, but very appropriate example. Then, she asked further questions about this experiment and she kinda drifted away from the lesson. The students are always ready to manipulate the lesson and they came to near the window and show the jars which belong to them one by one. 

Hot seat…….

I think it is a nice game and the students love to play it. The procedure is like this;

The teacher picks a volunteer student. S/he sits in a chair facing the rest of the class. T writes a word on the board and the students try to explain it. Another student comes and the one in the hot seat writes the new board. 

It is a very simple game, but they are dying for playing it all the time.

In the second hour, she gave them a writing assignment. They were required to tell about their last vacation. She wrote some guiding questions on the board such as:

•    Where did you go?
•    What did you do?
•    What did you see? 
•    With whom did you got there?
•    What did you drink/eat?

These questions were quite helpful. When students answer these questions one by one, they will end up having an organized paper. They need to use some conjunctions, but she also reminded them to use “firstly, secondly, finally” etc. considering their age and level, I think this is enough. 

 

This writing activity showed me that some activities can’t be done in all kinds of schools. I mean, these students have so much to tell. They have been to Paris, America, England etc. They tasted different foods and drinks. They have seen so many places. So writing can be a fun activity for them. They can enjoy what they share. However, the students in public school can’t go abroad to have a vacation, not even out of town where they live. For example, when I was in primary school, I used to go our hometown every summer and I used to do the same things. And I hated it when we come back to school and our teacher made us write about our holiday in Turkish class in the very first class of the semester because mine was always the same.