Vocabulary learning: the use of grids

A system of ‘grids’ was devised for a group of trainee translators to help them organize and categorize vocabulary into related areas. This was found to be a useful device with possible extensions to other areas of English language teaching. The ideas offered here attempt to show in a practical way how a system uses to develop and practise skills in one particular area (the learning and exploitation of vocabulary) can be put to a number of other uses. The aim is to demonstrate that vocabulary learning and practice can be a worthwhile and interesting activity in its own right, and to consider some further possible uses for the basic organizational concepts (‘grids’), especially in the field of teacher training.