Tuesday Tip - How You Can Boost Your Students' Vocabulary

In today's Tuesday Tip, I discuss front loading vocabulary and concepts to help students with language difficulties engage more effectively in lessons.

Video Transcript

Hi there, it's Jocelyn, it's time for a tip. This week we're talking about front loading vocabulary and concepts. This is a suggestion often made by speechies for students with language difficulties or processing challenges. Now for these students, what often happens is what the teacher provides in terms of that lead up is not enough: they need more wait time, they need more processing time, they need more repetition. And so the main lesson happens and you can be teaching it really well, but those students are not really engaging with what's happened. Then you try and provide some tier two follow up and the person doing that has to basically start all over again.

But if you can gently front load vocabulary and concepts and give children a little bit of a headstart in a way that works for them, that increases the chances that when they get to the main lesson that you're already teaching well that they'll actually be able to engage and keep up and learn from that lesson.

So that is the tip this week. It is all about front loading vocab and concepts wherever possible.

Want to know more?

Click here to find out what an upper primary reading lesson looks like.

Click here to find out about the finer points of instruction.

And click here to find out whether comprehension strategies are still a thing.

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