Doing stuff, going places, reading, listening and discussing, as well as dictionary skills, all help build vocabulary. Here are some notes in this regard:
EXPERIENCES AND DISCUSSION
Much vocabulary is learned or reinforced via experiences:
Many times we read something and a new word comes up and we don't want to interrupt out reading. Context clues are whatever background information is given in a reading selection to understand or interpret, at least for the time being, what a word means. In this way, reading is not interrupted the first time around. Later on, the word should be looked up to see if the primary guess was correct, but also to fine tune the meaning one already has guessed at.
MAKING A WORD MEANINGFUL
Many of these are time consuming, so use judiciously:
All these stretch word usage. Highly recommended is the series entitled "Good Clean Jokes for Kids" by Bob Phillips. Many are also online. "Why are cashiers smart? They have lots of cents!"
SUBJECT VOCABULARY
Every subject has its special vocabulary to study. For example, in science lessons there is photosynthesis, erosion, molecule... Include the study and drill of important philosophical or Vedic glossary words during sastra class.
FOREIGN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGE STUDY
English uses lots of French words. Even better is a study of Latin roots. Even better than that is to study the mother of all languages- Sanskrit.
If Sanskrit study is not possible, at least study the word for word meanings in verses and prayers.
WORKBOOKS
Some people opt for using Vocabulary workbooks each year, such as "Wordly Wise" which contains a variety of exercises to utilize the words learned.
DICTIONARY SKILLS
ABC ORDER
Children's dictionaries are good to have around the house for children to get acquainted with. With a standard dictionary, demonstrate its use personally by frequent consultation as well as flipping through it and explaining its parts as well. Children should understand and be able to use the following:
GUIDE WORDS - These are at the top of the page to aid in finding a word quickly. Show children how they are the first and last words on each page. Give them words and a set of guide words. Ask which of the words given would they be able to find between the two guide words.
ENTRY WORDS- These are the main words listed on the page, and are helpful to check for the proper spellings of words.
PRONUNCIATION
Also referred to as “dictionary spellings” or "phonetic spellings" in while teaching phonics, these are listed next to their respective entry words. Consult the pronunciation key in the dictionary used to aid pronunciation. Some dictionaries vary.
SYLLABICATION
Show children that the written pronunciation of each word is divided into syllables.
Drill the most important rules of syllabication, but also explain how the dictionary may be consulted whenever in doubt about how to separate a word (For example, at the end of a line of writing.)
ACCENTS
Demonstrate the need of accent marks by reading words with different emphasis on different syllables sounds.
MULTIPLE MEANINGS
In grammar study, children will learn the eight parts of speech. Explain to them how this is very useful for identifying the correct definition of a word in a dictionary whenever there is more than one definition to choose from. They can locate the correct definition according to the way the word is used in the sentence it was found in. Show the children how in a dictionary, the many words that have multiple meanings, are thus divided by their definitions according to the parts of speech.
SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS
Synonyms are antonyms are also usually given for words listed in a dictionary. Both help to unlock further meaning in an unfamiliar word. A thesaurus can be consulted for many more.
Synonyms are similar in meaning to the given word, but they have subtle differences.
Antonyms are opposite in meaning of the given word.
ETYMOLOGIES are also helpful. They are the origins of a word or roots to further understand its meaning.
MORE WORD STUDY
Students should become familiar with all the following:
COMPOUND WORDS
These consist of at least two words that are either written together or written separately but go together. For example, blue bird. A dictionary may be consulted when in doubt.
PREFIXES, SUFFIXES -
Collect the most important ones into a list for drill and to save in their spelling notebooks. For example, anti - against; re - again. These are super helpful for unlocking the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
RHYMING WORDS
Beyond the help of a rhyming dictionary, demonstrate how to find a word that rhymes with another. It’s helpful to go through the alphabet to do this. For example, while thinking of a word that rhymes with "can" think, "an, ban, Dan, fan, Jan, man..." and so on. Blends and consonant digraphs should be tested also (bran, clan, than...) to find words that rhyme with any given word.
HOMONYMS
Homonym means two or more words that are pronounced the same or have the same “nym” or “name”, but they have different spellings and definitions.
HOMOGRAPHS
These are two words that have the same spelling, but different pronunciations because of a difference in accents, and also they are different in meaning. In a dictionary, another entry word is given in the case of these words.
PARTS OF SPEECH
Identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc
WORD CATEGORIES
These are important for learning how to sort and organize information and prepare for outlining in future lessons.
DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION
Connotation is the emotional effect a word produces. The denotation of a word is its literal meaning as found in a dictionary.
ABBREVIATIONS, INITIALS, ACRONYMS, AND CLIPPED FORMS OF WORDS
"Clipped forms of words occur when the beginning or ending of a word is removed to form a shorter word, such as dorm, lab, demo, phone, and memo."
ANALOGIES
This is comparing two pairs of words and choosing a pair of word that similarly go together by recognizing their relationships. Explain to students how to write an analogy like this: apples::fruits;brussel sprouts::vegetables
KRISHNA CONSCIOUS WORD STUDY-
Last but certainly not least, don't forget to pay attention to Sanskrit and glossary words, Vaisnava spellings, synonyms (For example, brahman is synonymous to spirit; transcendental is synonymous to neutral)
Much vocabulary is learned or reinforced via experiences:
- Day to Day Experiences- not to be underestimated. The name of the dog the neighbor just brought home. The new tool father got for his job.
- Conversations- listening to others experiences in travels, from books they read, activities they perform...
- Field trips- Every new place you go can become one.
- Multi media experiences- provided by books, educational TV and video, Internet
Many times we read something and a new word comes up and we don't want to interrupt out reading. Context clues are whatever background information is given in a reading selection to understand or interpret, at least for the time being, what a word means. In this way, reading is not interrupted the first time around. Later on, the word should be looked up to see if the primary guess was correct, but also to fine tune the meaning one already has guessed at.
MAKING A WORD MEANINGFUL
- Build context around a word by telling a story or experience, student outside reading, supplemental activities and other experiences. For example, when reading about a compass in Geography class, pull out a real one and put it to use. When reading about gears, create a simple set of gears with corrugated bottle caps.
- Looking up a word on Srila Prabhupada’s folio search for Krishna conscious context.
- Looking up a word on safe Internet access also teaches a word in various contexts. A favorite is to type the word in a search along with the word "funny". Click here for an example found for the word "acquiesce". There are many more to help make a word stick.
- While reading aloud, one may define briefly any new words encountered, especially the ones children ask about.
- In a reading selection, one may wish to choose a few for study. Use a notebook with a graphic organizer for each word or have students write them on 3x5 cards. Include the pronunciation and any other details from the dictionary that a child is learning about such as pronunciation, accent marks, and so on. Copy the sentences (or a shortened version) that the words were found in. These may also be illustrated to make them memorable.
- After about ten words are collected, children can review the words with their cards before a test. They can be tested on both the meaning of a word and its spelling.
- After a word is mastered it may be removed from their pile and filed away in a filing box (or filed in a notebook if a graphic organizer is used).
- Words missed can be added to the next collection and to restudy for the next text. Gradually students can do this word collecting on their own.
- Encourage students to use their new words in their every day speech. Some mothers stress a word a day for each student(and herself) to use in their daily speech or writing. "Mother, please allow me to eradicate any doubts."
- If you prefer to keep daily student reading unburdened by a vocabulary study coming from the same place, many people use pre prepared vocabulary workbooks. Nowadays, there is also available in many places, read made word lists for looking up and using as described above. Click here for a sample. Abraham Lincoln is also famous for his vocabulary study by reading and studying from a dictionary.
Many of these are time consuming, so use judiciously:
- Students give questions to answers using the new words like "Can you filch a potato?" or "Name something innumerable."
- Write a word and illustrate it (good for drawing class, too).
- Use a spelling word within a two lined rhyming definition: "Peddle is done with the feet. Or when something is sold on the street."
- Write a riddle for each word. For example, sugar. "I am attractive to ants and children. What am I?" Then write the answer.
- Write a cinquain or haiku using a word
- Use a word to create an acrostic.
- List spelling words under various categories- foods, things manmade, mammals, ocean words, happy words...
- Sort words according to their parts of speech - action words, describing words, naming words. Some will go under more than one category.
- Create a crossword puzzle with new words and their definitions. The puzzle may be worked at a later date, as a review.
- Use new spelling or vocabulary words to make up a caption or sentences about a picture.
All these stretch word usage. Highly recommended is the series entitled "Good Clean Jokes for Kids" by Bob Phillips. Many are also online. "Why are cashiers smart? They have lots of cents!"
Every subject has its special vocabulary to study. For example, in science lessons there is photosynthesis, erosion, molecule... Include the study and drill of important philosophical or Vedic glossary words during sastra class.
English uses lots of French words. Even better is a study of Latin roots. Even better than that is to study the mother of all languages- Sanskrit.
If Sanskrit study is not possible, at least study the word for word meanings in verses and prayers.
Some people opt for using Vocabulary workbooks each year, such as "Wordly Wise" which contains a variety of exercises to utilize the words learned.
ABC ORDER
- Show students a dictionary, encyclopedia, index, thesaurus, a filing cabinet filed alphabetically, a phone book and so on to introduce ABC order.
- When showing them how to alphabetize a group of words, circle the letters when alphabetizing by the first, by second, or by third letters and so on until all the words in a given group are alphabetized. This brings students focus on the correct letters and cuts down on confusion.
- By writing out their words rather than simply numbering them, spelling is reinforced.
Children's dictionaries are good to have around the house for children to get acquainted with. With a standard dictionary, demonstrate its use personally by frequent consultation as well as flipping through it and explaining its parts as well. Children should understand and be able to use the following:
Also referred to as “dictionary spellings” or "phonetic spellings" in while teaching phonics, these are listed next to their respective entry words. Consult the pronunciation key in the dictionary used to aid pronunciation. Some dictionaries vary.
Show children that the written pronunciation of each word is divided into syllables.
Drill the most important rules of syllabication, but also explain how the dictionary may be consulted whenever in doubt about how to separate a word (For example, at the end of a line of writing.)
Demonstrate the need of accent marks by reading words with different emphasis on different syllables sounds.
In grammar study, children will learn the eight parts of speech. Explain to them how this is very useful for identifying the correct definition of a word in a dictionary whenever there is more than one definition to choose from. They can locate the correct definition according to the way the word is used in the sentence it was found in. Show the children how in a dictionary, the many words that have multiple meanings, are thus divided by their definitions according to the parts of speech.
Synonyms are antonyms are also usually given for words listed in a dictionary. Both help to unlock further meaning in an unfamiliar word. A thesaurus can be consulted for many more.
Antonyms are opposite in meaning of the given word.
Students should become familiar with all the following:
COMPOUND WORDS
These consist of at least two words that are either written together or written separately but go together. For example, blue bird. A dictionary may be consulted when in doubt.
Collect the most important ones into a list for drill and to save in their spelling notebooks. For example, anti - against; re - again. These are super helpful for unlocking the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
Beyond the help of a rhyming dictionary, demonstrate how to find a word that rhymes with another. It’s helpful to go through the alphabet to do this. For example, while thinking of a word that rhymes with "can" think, "an, ban, Dan, fan, Jan, man..." and so on. Blends and consonant digraphs should be tested also (bran, clan, than...) to find words that rhyme with any given word.
Homonym means two or more words that are pronounced the same or have the same “nym” or “name”, but they have different spellings and definitions.
These are two words that have the same spelling, but different pronunciations because of a difference in accents, and also they are different in meaning. In a dictionary, another entry word is given in the case of these words.
Identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc
These are important for learning how to sort and organize information and prepare for outlining in future lessons.
Connotation is the emotional effect a word produces. The denotation of a word is its literal meaning as found in a dictionary.
"Clipped forms of words occur when the beginning or ending of a word is removed to form a shorter word, such as dorm, lab, demo, phone, and memo."
This is comparing two pairs of words and choosing a pair of word that similarly go together by recognizing their relationships. Explain to students how to write an analogy like this: apples::fruits;brussel sprouts::vegetables
Last but certainly not least, don't forget to pay attention to Sanskrit and glossary words, Vaisnava spellings, synonyms (For example, brahman is synonymous to spirit; transcendental is synonymous to neutral)
