As a math teacher of primary school children incidental learning of vocabulary happens through conversation organically, while walking in the hallway or meeting at the math table. For example, my kindergarten students struggle with the concept of before and after, and 1 more and 1 less. These vocabulary words imply order and are confusing to young learners. The lesson of before and after is often very explicit. I say "Let's line up. I want Angel to get in line before Muhammad." We repeat this exercise regularly, to grow the concept of order and position. An explicit lesson using numbers sounds like, “Does 2 come before or after 1?” We use counters and number lines to find out. For math vocabulary, I have posted on my bulletin board, vocab cards very much like the T.I.P chart. We are constantly introducing and reinforcing vocabulary meanings with young learners.
