I asked my classes recently what their biggest obstacle to fluency was and they nearly all said shyness and a lack of vocabulary – the perfect combination. Not sure what to say, nor how to say it! I am sure we all have lots of ideas for activating vocabulary but I actually think the key thing however is passing on the need to work alone on your vocabulary. Of all the parts of learning a language it seems to me that vocabulary acquisition ultimately comes down to the learner – how much do they read, watch, note down, record, and revise outside class? We can recycle and revise it but a big effort has to come in from the learner.
Ideas is another thorny area. How do you have ideas? Do we all have them, but some people don’t share them? I’ve often thought the expression ‘No idea’ is a bit of a cop-out. Surely everyone has ideas? I like to encourage my students to notice things, ask questions, pass comments. Most ideas grow from other ideas and that is how a conversation flows. Any activity which encourages explanation or deduction will help here.
