4 Awesome Ways to Make Lexical Chunks Work With Kids

8/13/2019 4 Awesome Ways to Make Lexical Chunks Work With Kids

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4 Awesome Ways to Make Lexical Chunks Work with Kids

The big debate continues do children, who are learning English as a second

language, acquire vocabulary better learning a single word or in lexical chunks?

Traditionalists would argue the former, but those who really understand the

complexities of a language and how it is made up would advocate the latter. Its

said that children are adaptable and they learn fast. But whats really beneficial to

them and what are lexical chunks?

Lexical chunks could be simply defined by a group of known words thatcommonly appear together. Traditionally speaking, languages, English included,

have usually been divided up into two sections: grammar and lexicon. Grammar

rules would be automatically written down on the board, tirelessly copied into

notebooks and every single word would be learned separately, memorized and

inserted into their rightful places depending on the grammatical context of the

sentence. While this rigid approach is rather simple and can be used in learning

any language, its not the most practical. Lets take the verbs make and do forexample, two seemingly easy words for native speakers but two words that cause

non-native learners a lot of grief, why is it we make the bed but we do the

dishes? In order to learn words and work towards fluency, ESL learners need to

understand when to use words in not strictly a grammatical sense but in a lexical

sense too. Its easy to sit down and memorize a list of words, anyone can do this,

but to truly acquire a second language it needs to be learned in chunks, how it

appears naturally in the English language and it needs to be implemented rightfrom the very beginning of a childs learning process. So, how is it we can

effectively teach lexical chunks to children and promote fluency in the ESL

classroom?

Promote Fluency by Using Lexical Chunks

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Link Lexical Chunks in a Meaningful Way


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When learning any aspect of any language, learning needs to be meaningful.

Students young or old need to see how its used. Learning a language should be

communicative and our students need to see and understand how the grammar

and words taught in the ESL classroom relate to real life. When we teach with the

idea of real life in mind, were improving our students fluency. Instead of taking

weeks or perhaps even months to learn how to string single words into sentences

to form a dialogue they will be able to do this almost instantaneously.

To teach sequencing of lexical chunks its a great idea to use flashcards.

Unfortunately for us teachers this means extra work because still today, no matter

how many times communicative learning has been advocated we still receive

flashcards with single words. However, lucky for us technology is on our side and

these can be easily made on the commuter with simple clip art to accompany

them. Place the series of relevant lexical chunks on the board that form a

conversation e.g. what time is it?, its time to start, are you ready?, just a

minute, hurry up. The lexical chunk flashcardsshould be placed in sequence as

the natural dialogue would take place and have simple pictures to accompany

them to express the meaning. After the teacher has modeled the dialogue, the

students will take it in turns to practice the dialogue in pairs.

After practicing the sequenced dialogue a few times jumble the flashcards up and

have the students put them in their correct order and have the remaining pairs

practice them. Finally, its time for students to add a little bit of their own

imagination through adding actions. The main purpose of this particular exercise

it to promote fluency in speaking. It will also give the students more confidence

and the feeling that progress is being made.

After practicing the sequenced chunks in speaking its then time for writing. Give

your students a worksheet with the pictures in random order without the text.

Afterwards have them decide which lexical chunk fits with the corresponding

picture with the final exercise being sequencing them into their correct order.


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2

Use Songs to Learn Lexical Chunks

Kids love songs and singing, rhyme and music are underrated and still not used

enough in the ESL classroom as quite often as they should be or not teachers

dismiss them as consuming too much of the precious lesson time. If songs are

unrelated to the lesson, then yes, they are a waste of time but theres a plethora

of great childrens songs and nursery rhymes that include lexical chunks. Songs

are great and should be used in the ESL classroom, especially for children, who

generally have no inhibitions about singing unlike older learners the songs just

need to be chosen wisely. The great thing about songs and lexical chunks is that

they stick. Play the song and as you play the song model the actions so the

students understand the chunks. After modeling write the lexical chunks on the

board for the students to refer to. Some great childrens songs that can be used

are the classic nursery rhyme This is the way we or Shell be coming round the

mountain.

3

Lexical Chunks and Comics

Lexical chunks are also great in conjunction with comics. Have a simple comic

strip with the group of lexical chunks you want to learn e.g. classroom language.

Form a short story with simple comic-like pictures to confer the message. If

youre not an artist, it doesnt matter, simple stick figures will suffice. Have a

short scene of pictures telling the story. Without having any words in the speech

bubbles make up your own story dialogue that students can listen to as the look

at each picture. Make sure you guide the students with the pictures and

demonstrate with your fingers that youve moved onto the next scene. Repeat the

story a few more times until the students have heard the basic lexical phrases a

couple of times. Afterwards point to each picture and encourage the students to

shout out the phrase e.g. raise your hand, be quiet. After the students have

managed to repeat the phrases correctly write them on the board. The next step

is to have your students use their imaginations with the pictures in front of them

and write their own simple dialogue with the inclusion of the lexical chunks on the


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board. Even if your learners are of a low level, it doesnt matter, they can just

include some names to make the comic more original. Allowing the learners to

make the comic more personal will also help in making the learning more

meaningful.

A great way to practice lexical chunks for homework is to give your students a list

of chunks that needed to be included in their own original comic pictures and

all.

4

Review Lexical Chunks

Lexical chunks are easy to review with children and almost the same approach can

be taken as learning individual words you just need a little bit more imagination

when it comes to kids. Kids love to draw, so why not integrate it into the

classroom? To simply review previously taught lexical chunks from prior lessons

ask your students to open their notebooks and write the chunk e.g. wash the

dishes. Under their writing have the students draw a quick sketch to visually

show the meaning. This way you kill two birds with one stone not only do the

children get to review, but they will have a visual reminder of the chunk when it

comes to reviewing for quizzes and tests. Drawing the chunks will help them

contextualize the meaning and at the same time store it away in their memories.

Learning any language can be a long and arduous task if the aim of learning is

fluency.

With the increased demand of knowing English as a second language, it is clear

that students have the motivation to learn for both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons.

Working towards fluency needs to begin from when the student is of a young age,

so they can gradually work towards natural sounding English. In short, chunks are

more common in the English language than individual words, therefore, asteachers we should aim at helping young learning acquire English in chunks to

promote fluency. When we hear the word fluency, boring and intense lessons


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immediately come to mind, this is not so and these are just a few ways of

including chunks in your lesson to make it more fun.

4 Awesome Ways to Make Lexical Chunks Work With Kids

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