For example:
schedule – a plan of procedure, usually written, for a proposed objective, especially with reference to the sequence of and time allotted for each item or operation necessary to its completion.
Your 8-year-old low level student stares at you incredulously. You smile nervously. How are you going to explain the word schedule then?
I usually smile and just strike through the long definition. I tell the student “Don’t worry about it. It’s soooo easy”. I then write:
8:00 – I wake up
9:00 – I eat
10:00 – I go to school
Then, I circle around these words and I say “schedule”. Usually, the student nods, smiles and gives you a thumbs up “Okay, teacher.”
So, when you are faced with a slide featuring vocabulary words with an Encyclopedia Brittanica definition, strike through the words, do TPR, or draw, or pull up an image, or just write a few simple words that describe the new vocab.
Hope this helps.
Question: How about you? What’s your pet peeve in ESL teaching?
Joiful Teaching 