Unit 3. Selecting and grading vocabulary

[Iol]

I don't agree totatlly with the classification in activity 1.Not with everything. In general and from my point of view, the classification is good but I find more difficult to classify words between beginners and intermediate. Advanced words are easily identified but not in the other cases. For example, I use to teach the word balcony to my elementary students because it's a very similar word to my language, Catalan (balcó) , and students remember it easily. Another word I use to teach them is the word wardrobe in order to differentiate it with cupboard. Otherwise they use cupboard to refer to any kind of ‘container’ in the house.
Probably, I would also include those words in the lists:
Beginners: dinning room, hall, bathroom, living room, table, stairs….
Intermediate: terrace, first floor, carpet, flat, cottage, …
Advanced: handle, lawnmower(or mower), keyhole, clothes line, dryer

On the other hand, between these two sentences:
a. Students can decide for themselves which words they would like to learn.
b. It’s the teacher’s job to decide which words students need to learn.
I think teaching is a mixture of both. Teachers can provide students with lists of activities to practice some words from a field but then, it’s obvious, students decide by themselves which ones are they going to remember and therefore learn, and which ones are not. I think learning is experiential, so depending of each student’s needs they are going to learn ones or others. Teachers can direct in somehow their learning but at the end, learning depends on the student’s choice.

[Admin]

I agree with everything you say Iol! Thanks for posting -(sorry my reaction is a bit late, I don't know why I missed your message).
Regards,
Pieter