Teachers' goals when teaching glossaries should include conveying to students the purpose and function of a glossary. Effective glossary use requires knowing where to find a glossary, how to look up a word in a glossary and how to apply the meaning given in the glossary to the word in its context in the text.
Comparing glossaries and dictionaries offers a helpful way of distinguishing between the two and in turn solidifying the purpose of a glossary. Teachers can write definitions of either kind of reference book on the board and discuss the differences with the class. Providing students with sample pages from either kind of book and discussing their differences in terms of structure and content also helps students understand the function of a glossary.
One of the easiest methods for students to practice using glossaries entails providing them with a story or article with an attached glossary. Have them read the story and copy out definitions from the glossary. Alternatively, instruct them to guess the meanings of words in context and then look them up in the glossary to check their answers. They can also look up the word in a regular dictionary and then compare the definitions offered.
Students create glossaries to gain cognitive understanding of different words and phrases. Provide students with an article or story sans glossary, and have students create their own glossary with unfamiliar words from the article, using a standard dictionary as an aid. Teachers should stress that students word their own definitions in a glossary to be relevant to the words' usages in the actual text, rather than just copying several definitions word-for-word from the dictionary, some of which are likely irrelevant. Alternatively, students can write their own stories and develop accompanying glossaries.