“Saying it out loud really helps you remember new words.”
“You don’t forget anything – you remember stuff when you say it out loud.”
“I don’t think I’d remember it as well if it was just Sir reading it out. I would just be thinking, yeah yeah yeah, but not really giving full attention.”
One of the most important benefits of learning through talk is that students get the chance to apply new and technical vocabulary – and therefore remember it. Students are very aware of this, as the quotes illustrate.
But when I do talk audits, I’ll often observe an imbalance. Students often HEAR the vocabulary many times, during teacher explanation, but have few opportunities to say it themselves. It isn’t uncommon to hear a teacher repeating a new word up to 30 times in a lesson while students say it just once.
Let’s shift the balance!
One good way to way to introduce a new word is to have all students say it together a number of times when they first encounter it. Sometimes also have them repeat the definition as well.
Students also need opportunities to practise using new words in context, so also plan pair, group and whole-class talk activities where they will do this.
“Since we introduced chanting of key knowledge, there’s been a marked improvement in attainment.”
