Simple Words and their Meanings

Teaching sentences and simple conversations in English to village kids is a hard task for two reasons. Firstly, they don’t hear the English language on a daily basis, and so don’t have an intuitive sense of “what sounds right”. And secondly, they have not really been taught English well at school. They don’t even know basic words even after having been “taught” this subject for 6+ years! So after doing some experiments with teaching sentences and conversations, I am back to words, but with a twist.

In my class today, I had a few somewhat senior students, and several much younger ones. So I generated a list of simple words with their meanings (short English sentences) using chatGPT, and asked the senior ones to guess the word based on their meanings (which I read out loud). They had to first explain the meaning in Hindi, and then guess the word. They, of course, had trouble understanding the full English sentence (word meaning), and so I helped in breaking it up and translating. They could guess some of these words right, but not as much as I would have liked.

And then I made all of them (including the younger ones) write the spelling and say it out loud a few times for memorisation. Not sure how much they will remember though! Will need to practice it a few times at least.

Here’s the word list and their meanings that I generated, and some of which I used today:

1. Ball — A round thing children throw and kick while playing.
2. House — A place where people live and sleep.
3. Farm — A big open area where crops grow.
4. Well — A deep hole in the ground that gives water.
5. Tree — A tall plant with a thick trunk and green leaves.
6. Cart — A wooden thing with wheels used to carry things.
7. Cow — An animal that gives milk.
8. Chair — Something people sit on.
9. Rope — A long, thick string used to tie things.
10. Bucket — A round, deep container used to hold water.
11. Bridge — A structure that helps people cross rivers.
12. Stick — A long, thin piece of wood.
13. Road — A path where people walk and cars drive.
14. Pot — A round container used for cooking or storing things.
15. Bird — A small creature with wings that flies.
16. Drum — A hollow thing that makes a sound when hit.
17. Cloth — A soft material used to make clothes.
18. Sun — The big bright thing in the sky that gives light.
19. Moon — The round white thing in the night sky.
20. Star — A tiny light in the sky at night.
21. Cloud — A white or gray thing in the sky that brings rain.
22. Road — A hard path where people walk and vehicles move.
23. River — A long flow of water that moves through the land.
24. Boat — Something that floats on water and helps people travel.
25. Fish — A small water creature that swims.
26. Flower — A colorful and soft part of a plant that smells nice.
27. Mud — Wet, soft earth that sticks to feet.
28. Fence — A wooden or metal barrier around a place.
29. Ladder — A thing with steps used to climb up.
30. Bell — A metal object that makes a ringing sound.
31. Lantern — A light source that works with oil.
32. Bed — A place where people lie down and sleep.
33. Pillow — A soft thing used under the head while sleeping.
34. Blanket — A thick cloth that keeps people warm.
35. Table — A flat surface with legs, used for eating or working.
36. Cup — A small container used for drinking tea or water.
37. Plate — A flat round thing used for eating food.
38. Spoon — A small thing used to eat or mix food.
39. Knife — A sharp tool used to cut things.
40. Bottle — A container used to store water or other drinks.
41. Mirror — A shiny surface that shows your face.
42. Comb — A tool with teeth used to arrange hair.
43. Soap — A thing that makes hands and body clean.
44. Towel — A soft cloth used to dry the body.
45. Broom — A thing used to clean the floor.
46. Lamp — A small thing that gives light in the dark.
47. Box — A container used to store things.
48. Lock — A small metal thing used to keep doors closed.
49. Key — A small metal piece used to open locks.
50. Mat — A thin thing spread on the floor to sit or sleep on.
51. Fan — A machine that moves air to keep people cool.
52. Field — A big open area where crops grow.
53. Soil — The soft brown ground where plants grow.
54. Seed — A tiny thing from which a plant grows.
55. Crop — Plants grown by farmers for food.
56. Rain — Water that falls from the sky and makes fields wet.
57. Tractor — A big machine used to plow fields.
58. Bull — A strong animal used to pull carts and plows.
59. Cow — An animal that gives milk and helps on farms.
60. Buffalo — A big black animal that helps in farming and gives milk.