Vocabulary · Tier 1: everyday words
Labelled classroom environment
Label the objects and places students use every day with a picture and the English word, and use the labels in your own talk. New arrivals get a constant, low-pressure source of everyday English.
- Bands
- 1 to 2
- Stages
- Early Years, Lower elementary, Upper elementary and Middle school
- Settings
- Mainstream class and Push-in support
- Prep
- Low prep
How to do it
- Choose 20 to 30 objects and places students use daily, such as the door, the bin, the pencil sharpener and the reading corner.
- Make labels with a clear picture, the English word and space to add a home language word.
- Point to the label and say the word whenever you use it in an instruction.
- Invite students or families to add home language words to the labels.
- Refresh the labels each half-term, adding new items and removing ones everyone knows.
In a lesson
Science (upper elementary)
Before a practical, the teacher points to the labelled equipment tray and says, “Take a beaker, a spoon and the goggles.” A new arrival matches each word to the picture on the tray label and collects the right equipment without needing a translation.
What commonly goes wrong
- Labels go up once and are never referred to again.
- So many labels go up at once that none stand out.
- The text is too small to read from a seat.
Adapting it
For a lower band
Use the picture and word only, and say the word every time you point to it.
For a higher band
Add a short phrase to each label, such as “Put used paper in the recycling bin”, and ask students to write labels for new items.