1. Know the vocabulary of the course and level

As with grammar, teachers should be familiar with the lexical content expected at each level. Before starting a course, review the vocabulary sections of the coursebook and identify the main topics, lexical sets and expressions students will encounter.

It is also important to consider previous levels. New vocabulary should constantly connect with and expand language students already know.

For example:

A2: good → B1: great / enjoyable → B2: impressive / outstanding → C1: remarkable / exceptional

The objective is not simply to replace easy words with difficult ones, but to gradually increase range, precision and appropriacy.

2. Teach words as language, not translations

When presenting a new word, consider more than its meaning:

Meaning → Pronunciation → Form → Use

For example, teaching decision may also involve:

• pronunciation and word stress: deCIsion
• word family: decide – decision – decisive
• collocation: make a decision
• example in context: I haven’t made a decision yet.

This gives students a much more useful understanding of the word than simply writing decision = decisión.

3. Elicit before giving the answer

Before providing a word, check whether students already know it. Use pictures, gestures, definitions, examples, opposites or context to encourage them to retrieve the vocabulary themselves.

If the target word is exhausted, for example:

“Yesterday I worked for twelve hours and slept for only three. Today I’m very…?”

This activates previous knowledge and makes students cognitively involved in finding the word.

4. Check meaning

Never assume that recognising or repeating a word means understanding it.

Use CCQs (4.1) to check meaning:

For generous:

“Does a generous person like sharing things?”
“If I never give anything to anyone, am I generous?”

Then use Personalisation (4.2):

“Who is the most generous person you know? Why?”

Students move from understanding the word to actually using it.

5. Create associations

Vocabulary is easier to retrieve when it is connected to other information. Teachers can create associations through:

• images and gestures
• synonyms and antonyms
• word families
• lexical sets
• collocations
• colour coding
• personal examples

The objective is to build connections between words rather than storing them as isolated items.

6. Prioritise retrieval and recycling

Seeing a word once is rarely enough to learn it. Vocabulary needs to reappear across lessons and students need opportunities to retrieve it from memory.

Do not always immediately show students vocabulary they have previously studied. Ask:

“What was the expression we learnt last week for…?”

Quick games, questions, speaking activities, quizzes and previous vocabulary incorporated into new lessons can all provide retrieval practice.

7. Move from recognition to production

There is an important difference between recognising a word and being able to use it spontaneously.

A useful progression is:

Recognise → Understand → Retrieve → Use

After completing a vocabulary exercise, therefore, do something with the language. Ask students questions, create sentences, personalise examples or organise a short speaking activity using the target vocabulary.

Completing the exercise should not be the end of the vocabulary lesson.

8. Quality before quantity

Students do not need to learn every unfamiliar word that appears in a text or activity. Teachers should prioritise vocabulary that is useful, frequent, appropriate to the level and likely to be reused.

Ten words that students can understand, pronounce and use confidently are more valuable than thirty words they have simply copied into a notebook.