While students do get English classes at school, young children still need encouragement to keep up with their schoolwork at home, and the adults in their lives play an important role in helping them develop a love of words while practicing the skills they’ll need to succeed in their education and future careers. Here’s how you can help the students get the most out of their vocabulary study:
Encourage children to read. Studies have shown that children whose parents read out loud to them have better vocabulary skills and reading abilities later in life.1 It’s never too early to start reading to children, and more importantly, it’s never too late. You can also teach by example; if your children see you reading, rather than watching television or playing computer games (not that there’s anything wrong with either of those pastimes, of course), they’ll have more of a tendency to follow suit. Libraries have books for all age levels, from simple picture storybooks to the latest teen thrillers. In fact, so many teen movies are based on books these days that it’s easier now to get children to read the books, either before or after watching the movies.
Show children how to find answers. Children, like adults, benefit from deeper knowledge of the words they learn, and teaching them how to do their own research and vocabulary practice will both help them memorize the words and give them the tools they can use in their own study, all the way up to the university level.2 While young children don’t necessarily need to focus on etymology, older students will quickly recognize the value of being able to identify prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Because spelling is also an important component of vocabulary study, learning how to use a dictionary (whether on-line or paper-bound) will allow students to look up words on their own. While the internet is a valuable resource (The Vocabulary Builder’s Blog included, naturally!), making sure that children can take responsibility for their own knowledge will help ensure that they don’t fall into the trap of relying on spellcheck programs in the future.
Help children get organized. We’ve talked before about how useful vocabulary study journals can be. They provide a place to write down words there’s not time to look up at the moment, and give students a place to collect information they can refer to later. When you’re reading out loud together and come across a word that’s unfamiliar to the child, rather than explaining it in detail right at that point, make a note in the journal and do the research later. If the meaning of the word is essential to the story, ask the child if they can guess at the meaning given the context of the phrase. Use the journal to write down definitions, synonyms, and practice sentences. Once this practice is started, older children can do this for themselves, thereby getting even more value out of their reading.3
How do you encourage the children you know to read and enjoy vocabulary study?
1 Nagy, W.E. and Anderson, R.C. 1984. How many words are there in printed school English? Reading Research Quarterly 19, 304-330.
2 Bear, D.R., Ivernizzi, M., Templeton, S., and Johnston, F. (2004). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
3 Teaching and Developing Vocabulary: Key to Long-Term Reading Success. John J. Pikulski and Shane Templeton, Houghton Mifflin Reading (2004).
