Often, in class--especially since I teach a number of writing classes at our English academy--students will ask me for help with vocabulary.
"Teacher, how do you say ______ in English?"
Before, I used to resort to a dictionary.
But that was time-consuming and rather unproductive.
Now, I tell them,"I don't know. What is it?"
Sometimes it is easy; if a student asks me, "How do you say "참 치" in English?", I can help, because "chamchi" means "tuna"(a food I like to eat).
I kind of make a game out of it, and the process often involves drawing on the whiteboard.
We're not talking about simple words like "ceiling" or "eyebrow"; those can be communicated with gestures.
Rather, what if a student is writing a story in class and wants to know how to say "prison" but doesn't know the English word for it; that's when the whiteboard comes in handy.
I've gotten good at helping students with vocab, but there are some things that I don't know or can't guess.
Friday, for example, a girl asked me, "Teacher, how do you say ______ in English?"
She tried to explain it to me, even drew a picture on the whiteboard, but I was confused, so I sent her to the office (a last resort).
She came back with a post-it note that said "experience".
No wonder I couldn't give her the word. She wanted to write, "I experienced the music."
It's a learning process, which is part of what I like about teaching.
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