Vocabulary · Tier 1: everyday words
Picture dictionaries and bilingual word cards
Give students a picture dictionary or bilingual word cards for the topics they are studying, and teach them to use these independently. New arrivals can find words without waiting for an adult.
- Bands
- 1 to 3
- Stages
- Lower elementary, Upper elementary, Middle school and High school
- Settings
- Mainstream class, Push-in support, Pull-out support and At home
- Prep
- Medium prep
How to do it
- Choose a picture dictionary, or make topic cards with a picture, the English word and the home language word.
- Show students how to find a word by topic and by picture.
- Keep the dictionary or cards on desks during lessons, not on a shelf.
- Ask students to add new words they meet to their own cards.
- Check in each week on the words they have added, and practise a few aloud.
In a lesson
Science (middle school)
In a lesson on digestion, a student uses a bilingual card set for body parts. When the teacher says “stomach”, she finds the card with the picture and the Mandarin word 胃, then labels her diagram in English.
What commonly goes wrong
- A translation app is used for every sentence, so the student stops trying to understand the English.
- Word cards are never updated.
- Staff assume the student can read in their home language without checking.
Adapting it
For a lower band
Start with ten picture cards for the most urgent words.
For a higher band
Move to an English learner’s dictionary with example sentences.