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Saturday 20 March 2010

Black Listed Vocabulary !!! Words that are (not) meant to be used

The first step in learning new vocabulary is to be able to recognise a word when you see or hear it. This is the easy part. When it comes to using new words, many students find it difficult. They believe they don't have enough vocabulary to expand on a topic.

One of the main reasons for this is they have never needed to try and think of interesting words to describe something. After learning a few simple words such as good ,bad , thing, beautiful, very and also , they stop trying to use other words because they know enough to get their message across.

After a few years of learning English they realise they need to use more complex vocabulary and simply can't come up with the exact word they need. Everything is either "a good thing" or "a bad thing" . In order to encourage students at B1 - B2 level to actually USE other words (YES!- there are words in the English language apart from good and bad) we came up with the BLACK LIST. Whenever a student uses a word from this list we (teachers and students) point out that this word is not allowed. The student is then encouraged to use a synonym, consulting the respective list when necessary.

If after learning English for so many years, the only word they can come up with is good and bad, this is a sign that there is a missing link in the learning process. We don't learn words just to show our teacher that we know their meaning. Words are meant to be used!







8 comments:

Christina Markoulaki said...

Well-said, Smaragda! As for your lists, they are not VERY GOOD and BEAUTIFUL, but they're TOTALLY MARVELLOUS and APPEALING! I haven't used a black-listed word..... have I?

Anne Hodgson said...

Excellent!
OK, here's a quick something to rewrite:
I had a good afternoon with a good friend of mine. The weather was really beautiful, so after school (work) we decided to get something good to drink, and went to sit under a beautiful tree to have a good talk. The beautiful shade felt very good, and we went home feeling very good indeed.
How many variations?
Taking this to a class of my own. Thanks, and have a delightful weekend!
Anne

Christina Markoulaki said...

Great idea, Anne! Let's see the number of variations students can come up with...

Marisa Constantinides said...

Lovely!

lazy daisy said...

This is exactly what I was talking about today with a colleague - I wanted to give the students a list of words they are supposed to use but I'll alaso give a banned words list. Thank you :)

english.gr Κεντρο Ξενων Γλωσσων said...

Great piece of writing Anne. In fact, it was very GOOD.

Excellent use of vocabulary Christina.For a minute there, I thought you would have to get detention ;)

Anonymous said...

Very helpful article and it has validity. As a kid I constantly used the same words

english.gr Κεντρο Ξενων Γλωσσων said...

Only when we are encouraged (or forced to,via a black list) do we realise how many GOOD words we know and how GOOD it is to use them.

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