Talk with them about what they’re doing, or reading, or thinking. Unless children are very young, you don’t need to simplify your normal vocabulary. It’s better to encourage children to ask when they don’t know a word you’ve used.

Get involved with homework and other school projects. Support children in their study habits and be available to answer questions.

Make it a habit to read books together to promote a love of reading. Reading is one of the best ways for children to improve vocabulary. Start by reading out loud to children, then pick books to read and discuss together.

We recognize that many parents don’t have a lot of free time themselves, and might find it hard to spend hours joining in their children’s “free time” activities. Parents are often relying on children to find their own activities, and in today’s wired world, that usually involves videos, computers, or televisions. However, this doesn’t mean that parents can’t have some influence on how children use those resources. By helping your child choose wisely from all of the different entertainment options available on line, you can help them learn and build vocabulary while having fun.

With that in mind, point children first to your local public television station. There are entire shows built around vocabulary building, and often these shows have associated online video games through the television station’s website. Here are some suggestions:

In the United States, PBS (the Public Broadcasting System) has a great “PBS Kids” outreach program, which includes the “Word Girl” video series and games, and dozens of vocabulary-themed games available through their website. There are puzzle games, word quizzes, and action games all based on vocabulary and spelling skills that will keep children entertained and educated.

The BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) also has a dedicated “CBBC” television program schedule for children of all ages, and English-language skill-building games on various parts of their BBC and CBBC websites, like the “Wordsearch” puzzle that helps children get an eye for words in the news.

If you’re in Australia, check out the game options like “Prose and Motion” on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) web site, or watch the educational programs broadcast daily.

Most importantly, keep in mind that if you stay involved in your children’s lives and learning, they’ll make the most progress.

One of the most important things a new teacher discovers is that people have different styles of learning, and it’s important to present information in ways they will understand. That’s why the study of pedagogy (the science, theory, and practice of instructional techniques) is part of any curriculum designed to train people how to be teachers. The classes in teacher training will usually cover topics such as strategies to identify an individual student’s learning goals, ways of presenting information to appeal to students at a variety of ages, methods of encouraging active learning and research in the classroom, and hints on how to help students overcome any problems they’re having with the learning process.

If you’re going to be an English teacher, you’ll learn about the best ways to teach vocabulary words to students. In order to do this, you’ll have to be completely familiar with vocabulary study yourself. You’ll need to be comfortable using vocabulary resources like dictionaries and thesauruses (both print and on-line) and able to use all of their components, including phonetic pronunciation and syllabification. Not only that, but you’ll have to understand them well enough to be able to explain them to your students. You might have to explain terms and concepts in simpler ways to help them understand, so you’ll need to be able to use synonyms of more technical or difficult words. You might want to brush up on your artistic skills so that you can create visual images to help students understand a word, or focus on teaching them how to figure out a word’s meaning by reading it in the context of a phrase or paragraph.

In order to keep your skills sharp, don’t forget to practice all of these techniques yourself, and keep adding new words to your vocabulary every day.

The word lucrative means “profitable.” If you look at the word’s etymology, you’ll see that it comes from the Latin word lucrum (“wealth, riches”). One of the best ways to gain wealth and riches is to improve your salary and earning potential by moving up the career ladder. You can do this by gaining more knowledge and training in your field, which means you’ll have to know the vocabulary and jargon specific to your industry in order to succeed. You can also get promoted by being an excellent employee who can be counted on for quality work and innovative ideas, which means you’ll have to know the vocabulary related to your daily work as well as the word skills to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively. Finally, a quick way to bring yourself to the attention of upper management is by being the person who takes charge of projects and presentations, which means you’ll be the one called on to speak about programs and topics in front of others – and you’ll definitely need an excellent vocabulary to do that.

If you always have the words you need, you will never be at a loss when called on – and you’ll profit from your expertise in English vocabulary.

For those of you who aren’t using the software, here are 5 top vocabulary-building techniques, all of which you can start using right away to learn new words. As an example, let’s consider a word from the previous paragraph you might not know: unprecedented.

Technique #1: Break the word down to its roots. A dictionary will help you discover how to segment a word by syllable and by root word. Here’s an example:

un | pre | cede | (e)nt | ed

We’ll talk about how to use this breakdown later to help understand the word’s definition. First, however, focus on using the syllable breakdown to …

Technique #2: Learn how to pronounce the word correctly. Communication is done both in writing and in conversation, and many people forget that a major component of spoken communication is pronunciation. You may know useful and powerful English vocabulary words, but if you’re not pronouncing them right, people won’t understand you and the value of your vocabulary will be lost. Again, a good dictionary will give you a word’s pronunciation; systems like Ultimate Vocabulary have audio links so you can hear the word being spoken correctly out loud.

uhn-PREH-seh-dehn-tehd

If you know how a word is pronounced, it will help you …

Technique #3: Learn to spell the word correctly. Just as no one will miss your pronunciation errors in a written document, you won’t make any spelling mistakes when you’re talking – but even one error in a document will make the reader doubt your knowledge and competence on the subject. Practice the word’s spelling, writing it out several times so that your hand and eyes automatically reinforce your brain’s knowledge of the proper order of the letters. A good way to practice spelling a word is to …

Technique #4: Create sample sentences using the word. The best way to learn how to use a word correctly in context is to practice making up sentences with that word. Of course, in order to do this you need to know what the word means, so check the dictionary: in this case, you’ll find that unprecedented is an adjective meaning “new, not like anything previously seen.” Knowing the meaning of a word lets you use it correctly, but you might find it hard to remember the definition. That’s why you need to …

Technique #5: Look up the word’s etymology. Go back to Technique #1 and look at the breakdown of the word. In this breakdown you can find the word’s meaning, and other words related to it.

un is a prefix meaning “not”
pre is a prefix meaning “before”
cede comes from the Latin root word cedere, “to go”
the suffix (e)nt turns the verb into a noun
the suffix ed turns the noun into an adjective

Putting this all together, you get the meaning “not (something that has) gone before” – in other words, “new, not like anything previously seen” as we said above. You’ll also notice the word precede, which is a verb meaning “to come (or go) before.” By looking at the roots of the larger word, you’ve added another word to your vocabulary without even trying.

Using the techniques in combination. By using all of these vocabulary study techniques together, you reinforce your knowledge of the word, making it easier to remember and use correctly. Keep practicing, and you’ll experience an unprecedented increase in your vocabulary skills!

Another helpful option, and one that can be used with any or all of these study methods, is to spend some time (and possibly money) on a good tutorial session. A tutorial is a private or small group instruction given by someone who is very knowledgeable in that particular field. The word comes from the Latin word tutorem, which means “watcher, guardian.” Back in the 17th century, it was the custom in England to assign an older student to help a younger one get through his classes – in other words, to “watch over” the boy to make sure he didn’t fall behind. These days, parents often hire a tutor to give their child extra help on one or more school subjects, especially if they’re having difficulty understanding the lessons. People who want to learn a second language frequently look for native speakers who can tutor them (note that the verb form is the same as the noun form) in that language as well as give them opportunities to practice speaking the language. If you’ve signed up for classroom instruction, there may be a teacher’s assistant or graduate student available for free tutoring sessions before or after classes.

Whether you like to learn on your own, or find it helpful to work with others, keep in mind that everyone needs a little extra assistance now and then. The time and money you spend in focused vocabulary study will pay off in the end.

Knowing the root of a problem is the first step in solving it. The ancient Greek word gignoskein (meaning “to know, to learn”) forms the last half of the word diagnosis, which makes clear the connection between knowledge of a problem and finding its solution. A diagnosis is the process of identifying a problem by studying the symptoms or results of that problem. Most of the time you’ll see the word used in a medical setting; a doctor will look at the symptoms of a patient (rash, fever, chills, etc.) and diagnose what’s wrong with them. You can do the same thing if you’re sick of studying vocabulary – once you pinpoint the specific issues, you’ll be able to come up with a remedy. Here are some possibilities:

You’re not learning any new words from the things you’re reading. There are two possible problems here, and both are easy to fix. First, make sure you’re picking books from a variety of genres and sources. The best way to find new words is to read about new topics. For example, if you always read business journals, pick up a history book or a novel instead. The second thing to check is whether you’re challenging yourself enough with what you read. You might have reached a plateau where you’re reading things that don’t use vocabulary at the next level up. Look for more difficult texts and/or ones on more complex subjects.

You’re having difficulty learning new words. Here’s where you need to ask the types of specific questions you might get from a doctor, because you’ll need to isolate exactly what the problem is before you can fix it. What’s the aspect of vocabulary study that’s slowing you down? Are you having issues with learning how to pronounce words? Is a word’s spelling always the hard part for you, making you spend extra time with each word before you can move on? Do you find that you confuse word definitions, and can’t remember what definition goes with which word? Take each of these issues one by one and work on ways to improve your skills in those areas. One advantage of using a software system like Ultimate Vocabulary is that it has exercises that target each of these aspects of vocabulary study.

You’re just tired of focusing on vocabulary improvement. That’s an easy one to fix: go ahead and take a break! Unless you’re up against a fixed deadline (like the test date for the SAT or GRE, perhaps) there’s no reason you can’t just relax for a bit. Try some of the low-impact study options like a “word of the day” calendar, read for fun, do crossword puzzles and other word-related games, or watch a foreign movie with subtitles. Vocabulary words are all around you, and you don’t have to work hard all the time to concentrate on them.

Feeling better now?

On a more practical level, children will quickly learn new vocabulary through reading, and they won’t even feel like they’re studying. They’ll get practice in figuring out a word’s definition by looking at how it’s used in context, but if they can’t get the meaning right away, be sure that you’re there to help them find the resources that they need to look up words. Each new vocabulary word builds on the previous words learned. These new words will also provide the stimulation children need to think about new ideas.

While they’re using their new vocabulary to read increasingly complicated books, children learn the skills of writing well, just by observing how words are used by the authors of the texts they’re reading. They’ll unconsciously absorb the principles of good writing, and will naturally apply those principles to their own writing. They’ll also be absorbing the correct spellings of the words they see, and memorizing the shapes of the words, which will help them remember the way they’re spelled. It’s well known that the more times someone sees an image, the better able they are to remember that image exactly. The same principle holds for spelling – if a child sees a word spelled correctly multiple times, they’ll automatically memorize it.

Perhaps the best thing about introducing children to books and reading as something fun is that they’ll continue to see it as fun, and be more willing to spend time at it. Think about the difference between telling a child to spend an hour reviewing vocabulary and spelling lists, and inviting them to spend an hour reading. Which do you think they’ll want to do? If at first they’re reluctant to read on their own, try to spend time reading with them. Research has shown that children whose parents and teachers read out loud to them generally read more on their own as well. And if a child doesn’t want to read things they think might be “boring” then pick a book about their favorite hobby, or a graphic novel, or even a comic book. Once you show children that reading is fun, they’ll start to choose books on their own.

Cross-posted at the Ultimate Spelling blog.

Many English words can be traced back to ancient Greek, and that’s the case with today’s word, xenophobia. You’ll probably recognize the last half of the word, as phobias have become all too common in our modern world; the word phobia comes from the Greek phobos, meaning “to panic, to make run away” – or more generally, “fear.” Words for different fears have become part of our standard vocabulary, like the fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) or the fear of wide open ones (agorophobia). To determine the meaning of xenophobia, look at the first half of the word; you’ll see it matches the Greek root word xenos, or “stranger.” Xenophobia is a fear of strangers, or of foreigners.

Being afraid of things that are new or different can be very limiting. That’s why we encourage you to explore different areas of vocabulary improvement so that you can be exposed to as many sources of knowledge as possible. For example, if you read a wide range of materials – from science textbooks to cooking magazines, biographies to mystery novels – you’ll come across the most vocabulary words, many of which will be new to you. Take this opportunity to look up those words and add them to your vocabulary, practicing them in conversation and written documents until they’re just as familiar as the words you grew up using. Look for authors from different parts of the English-speaking world, and you’ll get an idea of the different ways English is used.

Being comfortable with your own language helps you to be comfortable in other languages as well. Don’t be afraid to travel to different countries, even if you don’t speak the language. If you’ve been practicing keeping your eyes, ears, and mind open to new English vocabulary words, you’ll find that it’s easier to pick up the basics of other languages as well.

There’s a world of words out there waiting for you – go and explore!

As a matter of fact, let’s look up three words: homograph, homophone, and homonym. Obviously, the words share one root in common, the prefix homo-, which comes from the Greek word homos, meaning “the same.” You’ll find the last half of each word in Greek as well:

graphein = “to write”
phone = “sound, voice”
onoma = “name”

By knowing the meaning of the words’ roots, you should be able to easily guess the meaning of each word:

homophone means “sounding the same”
Examples: through (“going from one side to the other”) and threw (past tense of the verb “to throw”)

homograph means “written the same”
Examples: suspect (pronounced SUSS-pekt, “someone believed guilty of wrongdoing”) and suspect (pronounced suss-PEKT, “to have a feeling or idea, but no proof, of something”)

homonym means “named the same”
Examples: sound (an adjective meaning “in good shape, undamaged”), sound (a noun meaning “a narrow body of water between two larger bodies of water”), and sound (a verb meaning “to make noise”)

As you can see, homophones don’t have to be spelled the same, and homographs don’t have to be pronounced the same. However, homonyms must both be spelled and pronounced identically, and have different meanings. In this respect, the idea of having the “same name” is like two people sharing a name – they might both be named Alex, but they’re entirely different individuals.

By combining your research into a word’s etymology, its spelling, its pronunciation, and its definition, you’ll get a well-rounded education in that word, and it will quickly become a useful and permanent part of your vocabulary.

Reading introduces you to new words, and your vocabulary study techniques allow you to build on those words so you’re learning groups of them at one time. Take the word insatiable, and apply some of the study tips to it that we’ve discussed in previous posts on this site. A good place to start is with the word’s etymology, so you can find out more about the word. If you look up the roots of this word, you’ll see that it comes from the Latin root satiare (“to fill full”) with the prefix in- (“not”). Without even looking up the dictionary definition, you can put those two root words together to get the meaning “not filled full” – that is, not satisfied. “Insatiable” (pronounced ihn-SAY-shuh-bull) is an adjective usually paired with the words “hunger” or “desire” and used to describe the feeling of never having enough. If you’re an insatiable reader, it means you’re never tired of reading, and perhaps would rather be reading than doing anything else.

When you’re looking at the root word satiare you’ll probably notice that another word shares that root, the verb satiate (“to satisfy, to fill to completeness”). If you pair those words together in your mind, you’ll be able to learn them both – and you can add even more words to the group by including the related words satiation (noun: the state of being completely filled or satisfied) and satiated (adjective: completely satisfied, usually referring to being full of food).

To increase your exposure to as many words as possible, pick from a variety of sources and topics. Keep a notepad handy to jot down words you’re not sure of so you can look them up later and practice them. As your vocabulary and reading skills improve, you’re sure to be satisfied with your progress and achievements.

Cross-posted at the 7 Speed Reading blog.