Gradation of English Vocabulary in Early Child Education
The word selected for the early child education stage has to be taught in three to five years. So we have to grade them for the different years according to certain principles.
The following are the principles of early child education vocabulary:
1. Usefulness: some words are more useful for the early child at a particular stage than others. For example, in the first year of teaching English, the following vocabulary items are very useful.
a) Words for the things the child use e.g. ball, bubbles, shoes, book, pencil, bag, rubber, water, juice, bed, milk, banana, apples, etc.
b) Words for common relationships e.g. mom, dad, father, mother, sister, brother, uncle, etc.
c) Words for environmental areas, e.g. school, home, shop, kitchen, etc.
d) Words for everyday actions, e.g. sit, stand, go, cut, play, eat, jump, brush, run, dance, drink, stop, walk, help, baby, cow, fish, hot, in, out, up, down, please, thank you, me, you, bye, yes, no, big, little, car, tree, sun, etc.
e) Certain quality words, e.g. good, bad, fine, etc.
2. Structural Value: Even the structural words are graded. For example, the prepositions on and in are taught earlier than at.
3. Teach ability: Some words are easier to teach than others. For example, the word table is easier to teach than honesty. The teacher can show a table, but he will have to create a verbal situation to give the mother tongue equivalent to teach honesty. For the same reason it is easier to teach ‘open’ than to teach ‘kill’.
4. Simplicity: The simplicity of a word depends on its spelling and pronunciation. For example, strange is simple than mysterious.
It should be noted that only one meaning of a word be taught at a time. That meaning should be the simplest one.
Look at the following three meanings of the word ‘have’. These meanings have to be taught in the order mentioned in accordance with the principle of simplicity.
Have;
1. (Showing permanent possession); I have two hands.
2. (as helping verb); They have gone.
3. (Followed by infinitive); they have to work.
