Vocabulary knowledge has long been considered critical to children's successful reading comprehension. When children increase their reserves of word meaning, they also broaden their thinking and become aware of new semantic and conceptual relationships. Their broadened awareness, in turn, increases reading comprehension and writing abilities. Many barriers prevent English as Second Language learner from grasping new vocabulary, but one of the biggest challenge is the minimal time teachers devote to vocabulary instruction. Inundated with a number of other curricular mandates, many elementary school teachers do not rank vocabulary instruction as their top priority. A disturbing number of studies indicate that vocabulary instruction is a very small part of elementary instruction. Again some teachers struggle with determining how to provide students with appropriate contexts for learning new words. We report here four vocabulary strategies for teachers to actively involve students in the vocabulary learning process. The activities are easy to introduce and students can participate with peers to develop a self-regulated approach to vocabulary enhancement.