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Teaching ESL/EFL Vocabulary

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Do you sometimes wonder if the vocabulary your textbook is teaching is really what your ESL students need to learn? Well, you're not alone. Many teachers long to have a more precise and effective way of helping their students learn English vocabulary, and in this course, I'll show you how.

Over the next six weeks, you'll discover what the different types of vocabulary are, as well as how to accurately assess what your students already know and what they need to learn. You'll also explore the most powerful way of teaching vocabulary as you teach ESL: across the four strands. These four strands include meaning-focused input (listening and reading), meaning-focused output (speaking and writing), language-focused (deliberate) learning, and fluency development.

You may be surprised to learn that you don't need to devote class time to all the types of vocabulary. Instead, you're better off teaching your students learning strategies with certain categories, and you'll get to fully delve into what these are too.

In addition, you'll find ways to evaluate how successful your vocabulary activities are, see how to teach vocabulary with content-based instruction, and explore how to monitor your students' learning. By the end of this course, you'll understand what makes a well-balanced vocabulary course and how to design one of your own!

Course materials are developed by Heinle I Cengage Learning, a global leader in ESL/EFL materials. Course content is approved by the TESOL Professional Development Committee so students who successfully complete this course receive a TESOL Certificate of Completion.

About The Instructor

Paul Nation is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has taught in Indonesia, Thailand, the United States, Finland, and Japan. His specialist interests are language teaching methodology and vocabulary learning.

Paul's latest books include Focus on Vocabulary (2007) from NCELTR/Macquarie,Teaching Vocabulary: Strategies and Techniques (2008) from Heinle Cengage Learning, Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking with Jonathan Newton (2009) from Routledge, and Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing (2009), also from Routledge.

Kieran File will be your facilitator in the Discussion Areas. He has taught English in ESL and EFL contexts in Australia, Japan, Vietnam and New Zealand. He has a real interest in vocabulary learning and teaching.


Syllabus

A new session of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.


Requirements

• Internet access
• Email
• One of the following browsers:
o Mozilla Firefox
o Microsoft Internet Explorer (9.0 or above)
o Google Chrome
o Safari
Adobe PDF plug-in (a free download obtained at Adobe.com .)