Vocabulary building is a fundamental skill in english, as it improves reading comprehension, spoken english and written expression. Learning vocabulary is not just a matter of looking up the meaning of a word in a dictionary, but a more complex skill that is learnt through seeing and using the word in a variety of ways. Multiple exposure to the word in different situations and using different learning methods can help with vocabulary development. A good vocabulary is also important in the 11+ exam and should therefore be started early.
The inspiration from this post came from a comprehension exercise that I was doing with one of my students. The word “harmless” came up and I had to try more than one way of explaining it to her. I learned that later she used the word “harmless” to describe herself and “harmful” to describe her little sister in a conversation with her mum.
Here are 6 ways to improve vocabulary….
1. Using Visual Props
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Draw a picture to show the meaning of the word.
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Make flash cards with the word on one side and the meaning on the other
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Download and print pictures or photos of the word
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Use WORDLE.NET to create word clouds. Just type words with the same meaning and it generates a word cloud. This example is all the words which mean “yummy”.
2. Acting Out
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Write down 10 words on flash cards. Get the child to pick a card and act out the meaning of the word without talking. You can print your own flashcards on Quizlet.
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You can use props to help you. I have a cuddly teddy in my classroom because the word “affection” is on our vocabulary list. So to illustrate “affection”, I cuddle the toy.
3. Traditional Methods
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Look up the word in a dictionary, or online at dictionary.com
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find synonyms in a thesaurus, o r oline at thesaurus.com
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use the word in a sentence
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describe the word in a sentence
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find the opposite of the word and explaining the meaning of the opposite word
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Make the word longer by adding prefixes or suffixes
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create vocabulary word lists for common words. I have a collection on my Pinterest.
4. Vocab Games
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Matching game – make flash cards
type 1 – 10 vocab words to learn
type 2 – 10 definitions of each word
type 3 – 10 synonyms of each word
type 4 – 10 opposites to each word
Match type 1 to type 2, match type 1 to type 3 or type 1 to type 4. There are a total of 12 different types of combinations you can try. Once you’ve mastered 2 combinations, then try to match 3 sets of cards, and then all 4 sets of cards.
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Online websites
this one called vocabulary.com is really good for older children (age 12 and above)
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pictionary
parent draws a picture to represent a word, child tries to guess the word
child draws the picture and parent guesses
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topic words
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