13 Ways to Present Lexis (https://theultimateguidetocelta.wordpress.

com/2018/09/10/13-ways-to-present-lexis/)

The American athlete, Hank Stram’s philosophy of “Simplicity plus variety” is certainly one that could
be applied to introducing new lexical items to students. Some traditional ways of presenting lexis are
still very useful, after all, do we really need to reinvent the wheel? Here we have a selection of new as
well as old methods for introducing new lexis ..
1. Pictures. Visuals shown either on flashcards, using a tablet or projected/ drawn onto the board
are an invaluable way of conveying meaning, especially of concrete nouns eg modes of
transport. Make sure it is 100% clear what the pictures is conveying!
2. Context. If language is introduced in a context it is often more memorable. This could be through
a listening or reading text. Teacher needs to ask concept checking questions to check students’
understanding of the items. Make sure you focus on the content of the text with reading/
listening tasks before focusing on the language in the text. This means the students will be
comfortable with the text and can concentrate solely on the language being introduced.
3. Definition. Students match items to their definitions or teachers give students 3 definitions for a
lexical item and students should work out/ guess which one is the correct definition. Teacher
needs to ask concept checking questions to check students’ understanding of the items
4. Realia. Again for concrete nouns, the teacher brings real items to class.
5. Matching synonyms/ antonyms. Matching opposites can work well for adjectives and appeals to
more kinesthetic learners.
6. Mime. Teacher uses mime or gesture to clarify meaning. Works well for teaching actions.
7. Grouping or classifying. Eg by giving students food and drink words, they can categorise them
into fruit/ vegetables/ meat/ drinks.
8. Ordering. This can also involve physically moving things about or ordering items on a line eg
always, usually, sometimes, never.
9. Cuisenaire rods.CC0
These were designed for the maths classroom but can be useful in the EFL classroom too eg for
teaching prepositions of place.
10. Graphs. Useful for teaching verbs or adverbs to describe trends eg to increase, to sky rocket, to
slump
11. Word families. Students can extend their knowledge by learning not only the noun but also the
verb, adjectives and adverbs connected to a word. This is more useful at higher levels and
especially for those students preparing for a Cambridge exam as this is tested. For example to
produce (vb), produce (n), production (n), producer (n), product (n). productive (adj)
unproductive (neg adj), counterproductive (neg adj).
Anecdotes. The teacher tells an anecdote, possibly personalised to make it more
interesting. Teacher needs to ask concept checking questions to check students’ understanding
of the items. Make sure you focus on the content of the text with reading/ listening tasks before
focusing on the language in the text. This means the students will be comfortable with the text
and can concentrate solely on the language being introduced.
12. Dictogloss. This is based on numbers 2 & 12 with a twist.

Finally some tips when it comes to presenting lexis:

 Remember to ask concept checking questions to check understanding of meaning.

 Focus on the meaning, form & phonology of the target language.
 Focus on the meaning first before dealing with form or phonology so students understand the
words.
 Teach language in chunks.
 Teach students how to record and review newly introduced lexical items
Focusing on Language in the Classroom (https://theultimateguidetocelta.wordpress.com/2018/04/26/focusing-on-language-in-the-classroom/)

It is very interesting when observing trainee teachers on a CELTA course, how many feel the need to
“teach” in the old-fashioned sense of the word. Many trainees believe that if they haven’t stood at the
front of the classroom talking at the students for a good chunk of the lesson that they haven’t actually
taught anything.
In my opinion, teachers of EFL (though I am sure teachers of other subjects would benefit too) need
to stop thinking that they have to teach but rather that they have to help students learn. After all, if
you have discovered something for yourself, you are more likely to remember it. So how do we
enable learning? Let’s take a grammar focused lesson as an example:
Situation: I have noticed that my learners keep using the past simple when they should be using the
present perfect.
How could I focus on the difference?
If I wanted to teach the students, I might write an example sentence for each structure on the
whiteboard and then tell the students what the difference is. If I wanted to make this a little more
student-centred, I might elicit from the learners the difference in meaning.
But what if I wanted to help the students learn it for themselves? There are a variety of ways in which
learners can be sent on a self-discovery mission, either through a reading text, listening tasks or by
way of a dictogloss.
Through reading or listening tasks, first the learners would be given some comprehension questions
to check that they have understood the content, then they would be given some more leading
questions, helping them to focus on the meaning of the grammar. Once the students have
understood the meaning, it would be necessary to focus their attention on the form (eg have + past
participle for the present perfect, or verb-ed for a regular past simple etc.). Finally, a bit of
pronunciation practice highlighting the phonologocial features (phonology) of the target language.
My favourite method though would be by way of a dictogloss.
1. The teacher reads out a text, containing the target language, at normal speed and students are
given a gist listening question. Now the students are familiar with the overall content of the
text.
2. The teacher reads the text out again, still at normal speed, and students are encouraged to
make notes of key information.
3. Students are put into small groups (three is optimal), and asked to reconstruct the text. The
teacher should monitor and listen in carefully to find out where the students are struggling
and prepare him/herself for the next stage.
4. The first group’s reconstructed text is analysed and corrected in plenary. This is the chance
for the traditional teacher to feel like he/she is doing some proper work! The teacher should
use this opportunity to focus on the meaning and form of the target language by asking CCQs
(concept checking questions) and highlighting the structure of the langauge.
5. Depending on how many groups you have, you can either encourage the groups to check their
texts and amend any language errors now that they have a better understanding of the
meaning and form or you could analyse another groups’ text in plenary.
6. Once the students have understood when to use past simple and when to use present perfect,
the teacher should provide the students with some controlled practice and then freer practice.
By using the above method to focus students’ attention on the target language, the teacher has
enabled the students to discover the language for themselves and will have helped each other to
understand it. The teacher has facilitated learning.