As a Kindergarten teacher, I wholeheartedly agree with the emphasis on growing students' vocabulary. Even at 5 years old, there can be a wide gap between students' level of word knowledge. Over the past 6 years, I have also worked with the ENL cohort at my grade level. I prioritize building language in the classroom, and over the past few years I have become even more interested in learning strategies for growing vocabulary.
For the first strategy, Angela Peery suggest ways that teachers can use informal conversations for incidental learning. Although the conversations are informal, she argues that teachers can purposefully plan for these occasions. You can decide on targeted vocabulary prior to conversations with students, and find ways to embed these words into conversations. This is one strategy that I have used in my classroom, and I continue to find ways to get better at it. For example, my students line up at the door each morning, and I have a small conversation with each one at the start of the day. If my current theme is community helpers, I might plan to show each student a picture of my cat at the Vet. As they enter, I might engage each one of them in a dialogue using terms such as veterinarian, healthy, stethoscope, whiskers, paws...etc. For the students who do not have as much language, I would plan on spending a little bit longer on our conversation, exposing them to new vocabulary in a meaningful way. Incidental learning is a powerful strategy for boosting vocabulary for all students.
For the first strategy, Angela Peery suggest ways that teachers can use informal conversations for incidental learning. Although the conversations are informal, she argues that teachers can purposefully plan for these occasions. You can decide on targeted vocabulary prior to conversations with students, and find ways to embed these words into conversations. This is one strategy that I have used in my classroom, and I continue to find ways to get better at it. For example, my students line up at the door each morning, and I have a small conversation with each one at the start of the day. If my current theme is community helpers, I might plan to show each student a picture of my cat at the Vet. As they enter, I might engage each one of them in a dialogue using terms such as veterinarian, healthy, stethoscope, whiskers, paws...etc. For the students who do not have as much language, I would plan on spending a little bit longer on our conversation, exposing them to new vocabulary in a meaningful way. Incidental learning is a powerful strategy for boosting vocabulary for all students.