When I was in school, our teachers would give us 20 or 25 words on Monday, and we had to memorize them and take a test about them on Friday. I don’t know who had the idea that this would be a great way to build a child’s vocabulary, but this method doesn’t work. I never used this method with my students, and I do not use it with my own children.
Here, I list some methods for expanding one’s vocabulary.
Be a Word Collector!
I love the book The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds.
I think word collecting would be a great theme for a classroom bulletin board. I also think word collecting would be a great focus for a Goodnotes notebook. I can imagine someone more artistic than I creating sentences with beautiful words he or she has encountered–maybe using beautiful script or calligraphy–and then illustrating those. I sincerely wish I had a classroom of students with whom to try this project.
Learn a New Word Every Day
Merriam-Webster has had a word of the day feature as long as I can remember. (Here’s a link.) I used these when I taught high school, but I didn’t use them as I do today. I’m not even sure the feature was as detailed as it was back then because I certainly don’t remember the etymology feature! Today, my kids and I spend time each morning reading the word and exploring the spelling, pronunciation, definition, and examples. We then listen to the podcast, which is just a repeat of what we’ve already read on the page. (Finally, we work the word scramble.)
Then we use the word throughout the day, wherever we can use it. When my husband returns home from work, my kids tell him the word of the day. My daughter even texts the word of the day to her beloved older cousin, who is a school psychologist.
I do like the idea of integrating the word of the day with the word collector idea above in a classroom setting.
Vocabulary Cartoons
I taught 11th grade for years, and I taught honors kids for a couple of those. Although the ACT was at that time the preferred test for college admissions, a number of my kids took the SAT. I wanted to prepare those kids for that test, so I had two books called Vocabulary Cartoons: SAT Word Power and Vocabulary Cartoons II: SAT Word Power. I used those books religiously with my kids, and they loved them. Several students told me they helped.
The SAT doesn’t test words out of context these days, but vocabulary is still important. I would still recommend these for expanding vocabulary in a memorable way.
Vocabulary Building
During my years teaching, I started assembling a vocabulary building booklet. I intend to publish it on this site in the future. Use the link at the top of the page to subscribe to my newsletter to receive an update when I begin publishing this material.
Never stop learning,
Erin
