Using Different Teaching Strategies to Help Young Learners Figure out Meanings of New Words

Abstract

Helping young learners figure out forms, meanings and uses of new words without using their mother language can be one of the teachers' challenges, especially for those who are not native speakers of English and are teaching English as a foreign not a second language, because it is likely that both teachers and young learners tend to use their first language to be sure that all learners understand new vocabulary correctly as well as to save time. This article has been written with the hope to share some practical and effective teaching strategies to create contexts in which young leaners can get the meaning of new words directly in English in instead of translating them one by one and to motivate the learners to take part into the classroom activities actively and happily. By using such teaching strategies, new vocabulary will be presented, explained and demonstrated in different lively, meaningful and memorable ways by using some flashcards, posters, board drawings, imitative sounds, total physical response, miming, realia, toys, stories, etc.