Vocabulary · Tier 3: subject words
Cognate awareness
Show students where English subject words look and sound like words in their home language, and warn them about false friends. Some languages share many academic words with English, which students can use as a shortcut.
- Bands
- 2 to 5
- Stages
- Upper elementary, Middle school and High school
- Settings
- Mainstream class and Small group
- Prep
- Low prep
How to do it
- Find out which home languages are in the class, and whether they share vocabulary with English.
- When you introduce a subject term, ask, “Does this look like a word you know?”
- Build a class list of shared words and false friends for the unit.
- Teach the English pronunciation, which is often different.
- Check meanings, because similar words sometimes mean different things.
In a lesson
Science (high school)
Introducing photosynthesis, the teacher asks whether anyone knows a similar word. A Ukrainian-speaking student recognizes фотосинтез, and a Malay-speaking student recognizes fotosintesis. The class notes the shared parts, photo meaning light and synthesis meaning making, and uses them to remember what the word means.
What commonly goes wrong
- Staff assume every language shares vocabulary with English, when many share very little.
- False friends are missed.
- Pronunciation differences are ignored.
Adapting it
For a lower band
Point out shared words as they come up in the lesson.
For a higher band
Ask students to explore the Latin and Greek roots behind the shared words.
Especially helpful for speakers of
Malay and Ukrainian