What is semantics?
The study of the meaning of language.
Semantics are often troublesome for ELL's. Just think of how many words in English have multiple meanings and similar spellings. For instance, blue can mean the color blue, "The sky is blue", or it can mean sad, as in "I'm feeling blue today". A bat can be an animal that flies around at night, or it can be a stick used to hit a ball. Students must understand context in order to determine the meaning of particular words within a phrase or sentence.
Teaching Stategies
- Use limericks or rhymes
- Have students rewrite sentences by changing certain words without changing the meaning
- Play videos that demonstrate semantic differences
- Preteach vocabulary