How to teach vocabulary with comics

My top tips for teaching vocabulary:

• It’s better to teach two words that a student will definitely remember in the next class than to teach ten words all at once and have the student not remember ANY. Every student and every class is different, so you’ll have to determine how much they can handle at once.

• If you think the student may already know the word, wait for them to say it first. Give them lots of thinking time! Don’t be afraid of long pauses.

• Repeat words more times than you think is logical. I was always afraid students would get bored if I asked them over and over about the same words, but this is necessary for building a strong memory! And really, it’s possible to repeat the same words five days in a row and do it in a way that is not boring.

• Apply vocabulary words to the student’s own life. From the picture below, example questions could be “Is there a curtain in your bedroom? In your living room? In your classroom?” or “What color curtains do you like/want?”

This excerpt is from “Dilly Around the World #1”

Steps for teaching vocabulary

To demonstrate, I will use the vocab word “curtains” as seen in Dilly #1 and #2.

First: Introduce the word—Students can’t use a word they have never seen or heard before!

1. Give them many chances to hear the word by you and/or a recording.

2. Give them many chances to say the word. 

   1. Parroting

   2. Reading

   3. Finding words that rhyme (great for pronunciation!)

   4. Recalling the word from memory

   5. Saying the word along with other words. (Not just “curtains” but “the curtains,” “long curtains,” “red curtains,” etc.)

Second: Create lots of connections in the brain

1. Context is key

Kids don’t always understand definitions straight from a dictionary entry, so using the word in examples is the best way to go.

2. Pictures

You can explain what “curtains” are in ten words, or you can show one picture.

While pictures are great for nouns, action verbs, and prepositions of place, they don't always work for more abstract concepts.

3. Actions and mime

This takes the word off the page and puts it into real life situations.

Example: “Open the curtains! Now close the curtains!”

4. Other visuals

This could be a video, or real items that students can touch and handle (ie, realia). 

Perhaps you have curtains in your classroom, or have a puppet stage with curtains!

What vocabulary to expect from our comics

• Action verbs

• Items in the house

• Places around town

• Clothing and patterns

• Shapes and sizes

• Describing words

• Emotions

• Food 

From the picture above, I have compiled these vocabulary words:

• Action verbs = point, hold, look, climb, talk, say

• Things in the house = window, curtain, suitcase

• Clothing = t-shirt, long sleeves, skirt, earrings

• Patterns = stripes

• Shapes = round (earrings)

• Adjectives = small, little, tiny, mini, cute, dark (outside), short (hair), long (sleeves)

• Emotions = surprised, shocked, excited

These words are not organized by proficiency level. For those types of vocabulary lists, click here