I need some fresh ideas on how to study foreign language vocabulary

[Melissa B]

The kids (and I) are tired of the daily index card vocabulary practice. Any great ideas on how to study foreign language vocabulary or orgranize vocabulary words? It can't be too complex or take up too much time. But there must be something other than writing out the index cards and going through them every day or two.

[EmilyK]

freerice.com?

[Ester Maria]

Learning isolated words (the "word-list" approach) is definitely not the smartest thing one can do; vocabulary is learned the best, and retained the best if learned in a meaningful context.

On the long run, your children will profit much, MUCH more from lots of exposure to appropriate native materials (such as books, magazines and films aimed at native children) and regular contact with native speakers, preferably around their age, to talk to, exchange mails with, stuff like that. When regularly exposed to such activities, even if initially they don't understand much (or at all), with time they will inevitably not only develop understanding, but also learn so much more, as vocabulary and grammar will be constantly reinforced through usage.

Usage, combined with formal study, is probably the key to learn a language well. Vocabulary just fits into the "learning well" scheme, as you can't really focus on one element and neglect the others. The lexical element will come along with the phonology, morphology, and syntax. That's what's nice about it - you master more things at the same time, and it's FUN for children if you find activities they like. The more they use the language, they will have gone through more individual contexts in which vocabulary items can be used, and they will master them to a higher level - not through "translation" from English, but through direct contextual thinking in the foreign language itself.

 

So what you actually need to do is to reinforce the usage. That can be done in many ways. With young children, stick little pieces of paper with the name of the object in the foreign language to many objects around them, or make a poster with drawings and the names of objects - ZERO English, only the name in the foreign language AND foreign script, ZERO transliteration. With older children, music, books and films can do wonders, you just have to find something which interests them. Also, encouraging them to research online some topics you study in foreign language too does wonders - it's really something done by the way, but so much vocabulary is picked up even if they only really glance through their search results. Native kids their age to talk with and correspond with are great too, and thanks to the internet, one can really find lots of them online (even for small kids - if you're willing to search, you WILL find the entire school groups, study groups, etc.). And so on, there's really plenty of things that can be done.

 

Of course, it all changes a little with classics, as they can't be "used" to the extent modern languages can, and many times it's really just sit-and-learn what works. However, trying to apply some of the above (Latin music, texts which interest them, etc) will have an immense effect already.

[japhmi]

One of the problems with flashcards is that you end up reviewing the words you know along with the ones you find difficult.

 

I use Anki (http://ichi2.net/anki/), a spaced repetition system program. If I know a word very well, it will space out my review of it over a long period of time. If I am struggling with a word, it will bring it up more often.

[Melissa B]

Thanks for the responses!

 

To clarify, we are not memorizing isolated lists or anything. The kids and I are all pleased with the foreign language programs we are using and my dds are motivated students. We are just looking for some variety in the vocabulary memorizing element.

 

I found an online vocabulary card service that looks interesting (and is probably similar to Anki.)

 

http://quizlet.com/

[Moni]

It can't be too complex or take up too much time.

 

Same here.

So I continue with the homemade flashcards with systematic review.

 

Very efficient use of study time. High return for the effort.

 

:seeya:

[Stacia]

stick little pieces of paper with the name of the object in the foreign language to many objects around them, or make a poster with drawings and the names of objects - ZERO English, only the name in the foreign language AND foreign script, ZERO transliteration.

 

Great idea. I had thought about labeling things, but not about leaving the translation off the card. Makes sense!

 

Thanks!

[Colleen in NS]

I organize our Latin vocab cards into piles of parts of speech. I colour-code them, too, with marker. So for example, all nouns are in blue, verbs in green, etc.. I also sub-divide nouns into declension piles, verbs into whatever conjugations they are, etc.. Then I rotate through them. I did the same with Spanish cards, although we haven't kept up very well with Spanish.

[Rosie_0801]

How about playing maths games in the language. It might seem a bit weird at first, but they would know the numbers by now, yes? They can learn 'clubs, spades, diamonds and hearts' to play cards. "Go Fish" requires repetition of simple questions.

 

Rosie

[Kate in Arabia]

For Arabic, I have made matching cards for basic vocab. The Arabic word on one card, the English and a related picture on another card. On the back I put a matching pair of stickers, so my kids can see if they got it right or not.

 

For terms that really don't do well with pictures, I've put the English on one and the Arabic on another, and if they match then there will be a completed picture on the opposite side. I try to use pictures that would be appealing to my pre-teen son, so like battle scenes and the like, lol.

 

hth!

[Laura Corin]

Once the vocabulary has been given a once over, I dictate the passages from the lesson for the boys to write down. We particularly do this for Chinese, where the characters are not phonetic and are easy to forget. Where possible I also get the children using vocabulary to write their own short pieces.

 

Laura

[Kate in Arabia]

Oh, and I forgot crossword puzzles. My kids love crossword puzzles, so sometimes I'll make one where the clues are the english and the answers are Arabic, or vice versa.