VOCABULARY
Step-by-Step Approach to help your children
acquire basic vocabulary across 25 topics.
Let’s build your children’s vocabulary through 30 picture books
covering 25 topics with Fun Learning Games
and emphasize stress patterns and intonation for meaning.
Tip 1: Start Teaching Number in Nouns and the demonstrative pronouns (Book 1-2)
Many ESL children speak languages that don’t show the difference
between one thing and many things. So, from the start, help them build the habit of
thinking, “Is it one or more than one?” every time they learn a new word.
Tip 2 : Help them get used to ‘Be’ verb (Book 3-4)
Help your children start speaking in English by using am, is, and are
with simple family words and common adjectives shown in the illustrations.
Examples:
“She is my mom.” “He is my brother.” “They are my books.”
“I’m big.” “I’m small.” “I’m hungry.” and so on.
Tip 3 : Help them Practice Question Sentences with the ‘Be’ Verb (Book 5-7)
Use your hands to show how the word order changes when making questions.
For example:
“This is a lion.” → “Is this a lion?”
“Those are a shark’s teeth.” → “Are those a shark’s teeth?”
“That is the best outfit for the parrot.” → “Is that the best outfit for the parrot?”
Remind your children each time that
the be verb moves to the beginning of the sentence to make a question
as they learn vocabulary about animals, body parts, and colors through outfits.
Tip 4 : Introduce Important Concept Words to Children (Book8)
Explain to your children that some words cannot be counted.
Read through Book 8 together and talk about the meaning of each concept word.
You can use the pictures to help your child understand the ideas more easily.
Tip 5 : Always Remind Children of the Two meanings of ‘Be’ Verb (Book 9-10)
Children whose mother tongues have a different sentence order from English
may need extra help understanding sentences from the beginning.
When you teach that the be verb can show the existence of a subject,
gently remind them that the be verb has two meanings:
Existence / Presence – e.g., “I’m home.” “There is a cat.”
State / Description – e.g., “This is a cat.” “It is cute.”
Tip 6 : Let them Speak Wh-Questions with ‘Be’ verb (Book11)
Teach children the wh-words with the games below, which I use in class and
remind them of the ‘road signs’ in the book that guide the sentence order of wh-questions.
Tip 7 : Teach the most common Action Verbs Using Imperative Sentences (Book12-14)
As you know, imperative sentences do not require any changes to the base form of verbs.
This makes it easy for young learners to practice verb vocabulary while speaking meaningful sentences.
Each verb can be practiced in four sentence forms:
Affirmative Imperative:
(Please) Walk like a penguin!
Negative Imperative:
(Please) Don’t walk like a penguin!
Inclusive Suggestion:
Let’s walk like a penguin!
Negative Suggestion:
Let’s not walk like a penguin!
-Reinforce SVO order for children to get used to English Sentence Structure
Feel free to use online learning games and zoom class PPT materials before you read the books if you need.
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Vocabulary Game Tips
(All PPT class material have these games on slide.)
Vocabulary Game Tip 1: SPEED GAME
-Use a stopwatch and let each child say a list of words up to three times.
Children love this game because they discover that
the more they practice, the faster they can speak.
Make it fun by cheering them on and celebrating small improvements.
Vocabulary Game Tip 2: I SPY GAME
-Use the classic “I Spy” format to have children find words.
– Encourage them to say the word aloud when they spot it.
This game improves observation skills and oral vocabulary
while keeping children engaged.
Vocabulary Game Tip 4: WORD SEARCH
-Provide children with a word search puzzle
where they have to find the target vocabulary words.
– Encourage them to say the word aloud as they find it.
This reinforces visual recognition of words and strengthens focus and attention.