Finding Similarities Behind Language Can Help ESL Students Build Vocabulary

As a teacher at an International School, many of my students were English Language Learners. Even my native English speakers were living in a non-English speaking country. Due to my unique teaching position, I have had some readers ask for tips on teaching English Language Learners. Here is this week’s Tuesday TESOL Teaching Tip:

We can never forget that our ESL or ELL students have a wealth of knowledge in their own language, including a ton of vocabulary words that possibly have similar roots with English.  No matter what the home language of my students, every student I have ever taught has been able to find cognates and similarities between their home language and English.  They key is getting kids to look for them.  Often students see English as a completely foreign identity with no connection at all to the languages they speak at home.  The more students are encouraged to look for these similarities, the more that they will find that they already have a base of words and grammatical structures built in to their understanding.

Some ways to help students build up these understandings are:

1.)  Have students jot down key vocabulary words in their home language.  This is the reason that my ESL Vocabulary Packets all start out asking students to write each word in their home language.  It helps students identify similarities and cognates, while building up their English vocabulary.  (Depending on a wide variety of factors, including literacy level and home environment, some students may not have academic language in their home language.  You may allow students to translate the words if you feel like the cognates and roots will help them to remember the English – or to enhance their home language vocabulary. )

 

2.)  Have students create a Venn Diagram, comparing their home language and English.  This could be done with a specific set of vocabulary words, with grammar rules, or simply about the languages in general.

3.)  Have students write the same sentence – in English and in their home language, and then diagram both sentences.  This will encourage students to look not only at the similarities and differences of the vocabulary, but also the grammatical structure.

I’m always looking for new tips and ideas, so feel free to leave a comment with your great tips and ideas for helping ESL students recognize cognates.

TESOL Teaching Tip #26 - That Word Sounds Like….

My class consists of 20 students, of which only 1 speaks English only in his household, and even he began his life in a bilingual environment. The other 18 speak at least one, if not two other languages in their homes, and go to school in English, although they don’t live in an English speaking country. Due to my unique teaching position, I have had some readers ask for tips on teaching English Language Learners. Here’s this week’s Tuesday TESOL Teaching Tip:

ELL Teaching Tip #26: Help Your Students Explore Cognate

All languages are related, and there are words called cognates that help language learners to “guess” the meaning of new words.  Cognates sound and/or look the same in two or more languages.  For example:
Night in English is nuit in French, noche in Spanish, nicht in Scots and nat in Danish.
Star in English is etoile in French, ster in Dutch, sterk in Kurdish and estrella in Spanish.
Active in English is actif in French, activo in Spanish, ativo in Portugese and attivo in Italian.
Family in English is famille in French, familia in Spanish, familie in Dutch and pamilya in Fillipino.

Sometimes we have what is called “false cognates”, where words give us meaning clues, although they may not be exactly the same.  For example:
Snake in English is serpent in French.
Glacer is a large piece of ice in English, glace means ice in French.
Molest in English means to abuse, molestar in Spanish means to bother.

When we are learning, or teaching, a new language, these cognates help us to learn and remember new vocabulary.  Help your students learn these cognates by being aware of some yourself.  Here is a website with a list of common Spanish cognates.  Here is a website with a list of common French cognates.  A Google Search will reveal cognate lists for other languages as well.
Also, when introducing new vocabulary, encourage your students to tell you if they can find a cognate in their home language.  Have students write these cognates in a “Words I Know” or “My Own Dictionary” type of book, to help them spark their memories.

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