TEACHING 70 VOCABULARIES ABOUT VERB FOR THE FIRST GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BY USING WORD WALLS

TEACHING 70 VOCABULARIES ABOUT VERB FOR THE FIRST GRADE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BY USING WORD WALLS

by Liliek Sudarwaty

Chapter I
Background

In learning English including writing, reading, speaking or listening of course it we need to understand about vocabulary first. Vocabulary is very important thing because it can listing of the words used in some enterprise, a language user's knowledge of words and the system of techniques or symbols serving as a means of expression. Vocabulary also the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge.
A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a , or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning; The collection of words a person knows and uses; The stock of words used in a particular field; The words of a language collectively. Refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively.
So, the teachers have to make some ways so that the student’s motivation to learn English is increase. There are many ways to make the students are interesting in learning vocabulary. One of the ways is using Word Walls.

Statement of problem
Many learners are not interested to learn about vocabulary. They think that the vocabulary in English is difficult to understand. They also think that the pronunciation of English vocabulary is confused. And the biggest problems of them are they still confused about the meaning of the word.
Vocabulary is the basic of writing, speaking, reading and listening. So, if they want to be able to mastery all of them, they have to know from the basic. It is vocabulary.


















CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Improving student’s Vocabularies about Verb by Using Word Walls
Traditionally, the teaching of vocabulary above elementary levels was mostly incidental, limited to presenting new items as they appeared in reading or sometimes listening texts. This indirect teaching of vocabulary assumes that vocabulary expansion will happen through the practice of other language skills, which has been proved not enough to ensure vocabulary expansion. Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus, and taught in a well-planned and regular basis. Some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‘language consists of grammaticalize lexis, not lexicalised grammar’. There are several aspects of lexis that need to be taken into account when teaching vocabulary. In my opinion the most important aspect of vocabulary teaching for advanced learners is to foster learner independence so that learners will be able to deal with new lexis and expand their vocabulary beyond the end of the course. Therefore guided discovery, contextual guesswork and using dictionaries should be the main ways to deal with discovering meaning.
Robert Lado (1955) talked about patterns of difficulty in vocabulary teaching. He highlighted key issues related to words, the native language factor and about patterns. He even analyzed Spanish, French and Mexican patterns of difficulty in their respective vocabulary items. He stated that while dealing with vocabulary one should take into account three important aspects of words - their form, their meaning and their distribution - and one should consider various kinds of classes of words in the function of the language. He said that the forms, meaning distribution and classification of words are different in different languages. He revealed that these differences might lead to vocabulary problems.
In teaching vocabulary of course there are many methods that can use. One of them is using word walls.

Teaching 70 vocabulary about verb by using Word walls
A word wall is literacy tool composed of an organized (typically in alphabetical order) collection of words which are displayed in large visible letters on a wall, bulletin board, or other display surface in a classroom. The word wall is designed to be an interactive tool for students or others to use, and contains an array of words that can be used during writing and/or reading.
Although typically associated with reading/writing instruction, word walls are becoming commonplace in classrooms for all subject areas due to their ability to foster phonemic awareness, display connections throughout word "families" (such as "-ick" words), serve as a support/reference for students, as well as create meaningful/memorable experiences with new vocabulary words.
Due to their flexible nature and ability to "grow" alongside the students, word walls can be used in classrooms ranging from pre-school through high school. Word walls are considered to be interactive and collaborative tools, as they are a student-created and student-centered artifact. Many variations of the word wall are currently in existence, including those featuring illustrations of the words and color-coded lists. As part of a reading instruction program, teachers designate one wall (or part of a wall) in the classroom for displaying commonly used vocabulary and/or sight words in large print so that all students can read the words from their desks. The students can then refer to the wall during literacy exercises. The large visual nature of Word Walls helps students to naturally gain familiarity with these high frequency words, as well as to gain reinforcement of vocabulary. Word Walls should be interactive and dynamic tools. This means that students can suggest words to add to the wall throughout the school year. As new words are learned in class, the teacher should also initiate additions to the Word Wall.

Some activities to improve student’s vocabularies by using word walls
Here are some activities for you to use with your word wall:
• Point, Clap, Chant.
The teacher states the word, one student points to the word on the word wall and then all students chant the letters of the word and clap for each letter.
• Rhymes.
The students take their notebooks out and when the teacher states the word, the student tries to write 1-3 rhyming words in their notebook. The teacher then lets the students say their rhyming words.


• Alphabetical Order.
Depending on the number of word wall words, students can alphabetize all of them or they can alphabetize the first 20 or last 20 words.
• Sign Language
This works best when the sign language pictures are also available. The children use sign language to spell the word the teacher says. A terrific inclusive activity!
• Add an ending (s, ed, ing)
The students take out their notebooks and add endings to each of the words where appropriate.
• Vowel Play
The students can write the words and underline all the vowels, or decide if the vowels are long, short or controlled by another letter (star - r controlled vowel and neither long nor short)
• Peer test.
Students take turns testing each other on the spelling of each of the words
• Scavenger Hunt.
Use old magazines or newspapers. Students try to locate as many of the word wall words as they can, they can cut them out and paste them into their books.
• Change a letter.
Students try to make new words by changing just one letter. This can be a fun, challenging activity that can also be played in teams.


• Word wall stories
Students use as many of the word wall words as they can to write a story. This too can be quite a challenge to ensure that the story makes sense yet still uses many of the words.
• Guess the word wall word.
Students work with partners and draw the word with their finger on their partner's back. When the student guesses the word, they trade places. (Great for tactile learners)
• Letters or syllables.
The teacher states the word and the student then hold up the right number of fingers to show the number of letters or the number of syllables.
• Missing word.
This one can be really fun. The teacher gives a sentence that is missing a word wall word and the students have to guess what the word is. For instance, if the word wall word is 'at', the teacher could say, "Who was _____ the park yesterday?" The teacher could have students state the word orally by turn, or have them do the activity in their notebooks. The activity could then be taken up after the dictation.
• Guess my word wall word
This activity can be done in a couple of ways. The teacher gets the students to number off from 1 to 10 in their notebooks and gives clues about the word. For instance: "The word I'm thinking about rhymes with _____ and has 1 syllable and 4 letters." The student then writes down what they believe the word is. The other method is to do the activity orally and let a student point to the word on the word wall.
• Word wall Bingo
Students always love a good game of bingo. In this activity, the students write down a stated number of word wall words, 10, 15 or 20. The teacher then randomly states the names of some of the word wall words. As she says the words, the students underline the word or put a chip over the word. The first one to have their words read out by the teacher first is the winner.
• Word wall snap.
The class forms 2 lines. The teacher is in front of the 2 lines. The teacher points to a word wall (or uses the word wall cards), the first student to say the word remains in front of the line. The other student goes to the back of the line and the 2 students in front continue on.
• Sounds like....
The teacher says a word that sounds like the word wall word, for instance in the case of 'are' the teacher would say "sounds like far" and the students write down what they think the word wall is. This one can also be played orally.






CHAPTER III
FINDING DATA

The Effective Ways to Use a Word Wall in Classroom
There are ten relatively simple ideas that teacher could easily use in your next class (assuming you already have a Word Wall):
• Ask the students, "Pick two words from the word wall that you know and write a definition or example for each one." This can be done weekly (at least), and make sure to have them do a different word each time! This is a quick and painless review that reinforces the importance of the vocab.
• Create a children's alphabet book. Students create a page for a vocabulary word from each letter of the alphabet, with a picture or drawing and simple explanation for each term. This is better to use at the end of the year, when you'll probably have vocabulary from A-Z already on the word wall. Don't turn this into a scavenger hunt where the students find random words from the textbook--that's just wasted time. You can replace this activity with any differentiated product--a story, song, poem, etc--that requires the students to understand and use vocabulary correctly.
• Create one-page posters. The one-page poster is one of the most effective and easiest to implement. Students create a mini-poster on blank unlined paper that shows one vocabulary word, a simple definition, and an example problem. The problem must be solved and explained. Afterward, the work is posted in the classroom as a reference for students and referred to by the teacher constantly.
• Compile a bilingual glossary. If you have a large number of ELL/LEP students in your classes like I do, these types of projects are important for them to build not only their content-area knowledge but their overall English reading skills. Students create a glossary of a set number of word wall terms that includes the word, a definition, and example. The word and definition should be in English and their first language. Internet access might be needed in classrooms where you have many different primary languages spoken so that students can translate words. You can also make most of the other ideas here into a "bilingual" assignment.
• Include "test question" words on the Word Wall. For example, besides content-area vocabulary like slope, y-intercept and linear function, my students need to know what to do when they are asked to simplify or evaluate something. In addition, there are terms for processes or methods, like using the vertical line test to determine if a graph is a function, that are often overlooked. Include all of the most frequently used ones in your list.
• Give your Word Wall list to other teachers. Keyboarding, business and computer teachers are often happy to incorporate core area vocabulary into their curriculum. If they're not very open to it, ask them to offer it as an extra credit assignment. Ask English teachers (especially if you are teamed) if they could incorporate it as well. Make sure you give them something ready-made too: they don't want extra work any more than you do.
• Incorporate Word Wall terms into daily assignments, tests and quizzes. This is easy if you use some kind of Interactive Student Notebook, but make sure to put some typical vocabulary exercises into your other assignments and quizzes. The easiest way is to do some fill in the blank, short answer, or matching. I use fill in the blank about the previous day's work as a "Do Now" often.
• Create a team or grade level Word Wall. Work with your team or across the disciplines of your grade level to have common terms on every word wall. This way students will see (and hopefully use) the words repeatedly. This requires a bit of coordination and cooperation--like idea #6 above, you'll have to have some ideas that everyone can use quickly and easily use ready to give to reluctant participants.
• Students create a Crossword Puzzle using Word Wall terms.
• Use it and refer to it constantly. This means that you should refer to it during your lesson ("What's that word for a graph that's a straight line? It's on the word wall."), update it frequently, and incorporate it one of the ways described above (or come up with your own). It also means that words need to come off the wall periodically--they might be important for one chapter or unit, but not for the big picture. The other side of this is to be judicious in which words you put up there in the first place--you don't want a huge turnover every grading period either.


The Way to Use Word Wall
One of the most helpful activities you can do with your students this month is to make a Word Wall. Although this is a popular activity with young students, it can be easily adapted to the needs of older ones. First, determine the terms in a unit of study that you want your students to know. Then, display them in a large format on the wall, on the board, in personal dictionaries, or in some other conspicuous way. Word Walls are successful activities because students tend to learn what you call their attention to. If you post the terms of a unit that they are studying in a conspicuous place, they will then learn them almost passively. Word Walls are successful because they focus attention, give sample opportunities for review, and are pleasant for students to use.
There are many ways to create a Word Wall:
• Post the terms you want students to know
• Post the terms and their definitions
• Use bright colors to help students retain meanings
• Post sight words that you want students to learn
• Post photos, drawings, or other illustrations next to the words
• Use the words in a phrase or sentence
• Use 3-D objects to help students recall the words
• Post frequently used words
• Post frequently misused words
• Post variations of words such as politics, politician, political
• Post root words and affixes
• Post words associated with an upcoming unit of study to generate interest
• Post words associated with your discipline
• Post words associated with standardized tests (imply, infer…)
• Post words that student themselves suggest
Keep in mind that while some words may be obvious to you, they may be ones that your students do now know. A Word Wall is a great way to bring these words to your students’ attention.
















Chapter III
Conclusion

In teaching vocabulary, there are many methods can use. It is base on the use of method is adjusted with the materials that will be taught. Every teacher should always prepare the suitable teaching method before presenting the materials in the class.
Many learners face many problems when they learn about vocabulary, it is about pronunciation, even the meaning of words. Sometimes, they can know about the meaning of word, but it is not easy to make they always remember it. So, by using word walls they can read always the word because it can keep on the walls.











REFERENCES

Brown, H. D. 2006. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. NM: Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.
French Allen, Virginia. 2000. Teaching Technique in Teaching Vocabulary. New York: Oxford University Press
Harmer, Jeremy. 2004. How to Teach English. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited
Kadon Enterprises, Inc, Suite 16, 1227 Lorene Drive, Pasadena, MD 21122-good company, original puzzles and games, catalog.
Thornbury, Scott. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Oxfordshire: Longman Pearson Education