The ESL Tickle Trunk

Idea From: TESL-L
Caroline Gwatkin
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Vocabulary Building Idea:

I call it 'Colour Your World', and it works like this:
Each learner is encouraged to organise a special section in his/her file only for vocabulary (loosely covering collocations, expressions,
discrete lexical items etc.)
Each page of the folder is for ONE THEME (e.g. the family, work, animals etc.)
The first step is to brainstorm all known vocabulary to do with the
theme and to write the words/collocations/ expressions in ONE colour. These are the 'core' items, active vocabulary which is familiar to all the class.
Then, when tackling a future activity/exercise relating to the theme, learners first consult their brainstorm, and then add new words in a SECOND COLOUR. At the top of the page, in the second colour, the page of the course book/ activity/ exercise is written and used as a reference in case the learner needs to reread the source material.
This procedure of adding vocabulary in different colours during
thematically related activities/exercises is repeated in different
colours (together with the references at the top of the page) until
totally new items start appearing in the brainstorm.
When a number of colours are used it becomes very clear to the learners that each colour represents different 'degrees' of his/her own learning.
The largest quantity of words are usually written in the first colour,
the items written in the second colour are usually 'passive memory'
items and from then on the following colours represent 'new' language.
The teacher is then able to set a, for example, a writing task connected to the theme, confident that the learners can resource themselves and recycle taught lexical items. It is fun for them write the words in the same colours as they appear in the brainstorm!
Personally I give lots of credit to those who are able to use the words on the outer edge of the brainstorm (the most recently acquired).
Building vocabulary in this colourful way has many benefits, for
instance:
- it keeps topic related vocabulary on one page for quick reference
- it helps the learner see at a glance which words need to be 'learnt'
and which are 'known'
- the learner is able to independently add more words (but always in different colours!)
- and, as colour aids memory (at least for visual learners), the teacher can colour code activities too!
I use this technique with all levels and all ages.