Have you ever told your child the definition of a word and then realise they’ve forgotten literally 5 minutes later? I used to hear this in class quite often.
How could a child forget a definition so quickly?
It’s quite easy, actually. When reading and going through a comprehension passage, a child’s head is filled with lots of different words – some old, some new.
Children need a way to mentally anchor a new definition; to hold it down so it stays in place. Without that anchor, the chances of a child remembering a definition are really, really slim.
Just writing definitions isn’t going to cut it when it comes to securing new vocabulary. That’s why I’ve spent the last 6 years writing vocabulary material, testing it and adapting my teaching system so that it works for every child.
All of this work has culminated in the 5-step system that I use to write all of the Wordier materials. This is the system that helps my students to learn and retain 25 new words with just one hour-long vocabulary class a week.
Here’s how you can use it at home:
Do It Yourself: Pick something from your everyday life that inspires you that week. Maybe it’s the book your child is reading, their favourite TV show or a place that you’ve been.
Brainstorm words with your child and write them down to create a list of words for the week, then write down their definitions. If your child already knows a word from the brainstorm, make it your mission to discover its synonyms.
Do It Yourself: The Oxford Primary Dictionary is jam-packed with example sentences. Start by reading these and move on to creating example sentences yourself.
Do It Yourself: When making flashcards, encourage your child to draw pictures for each of the words they’re thinking of. The simple act of drawing an illustration will help to engrain the word in your child’s mind.
Do It Yourself: Make a note when you hear a part of a word that occurs frequently (e.g. one of my students noticed that many words begin with “con-“). Once you identify a root or affix, investigate its meaning and brainstorm other words with the same morpheme.
To get you started with this, have a look at my video series, 5 Words in 5 Minutes
Do It Yourself: Try to review the word 2-3 times over the course of a week and do it in different ways. If your child gets stuck during their revision, give them clues based on the root or affixes in the word.
Some revision ideas:
– Use the Quizlet app
– Play charades with your word list
– Create more example sentences
Most people tell a child to keep reading and reading to improve their vocabulary but I could see that wasn’t working for many of my students. Plus, they didn’t particularly like reading because they didn’t understand the vocab. It was a vicious cycle!
I’m so proud of this system because it really works – children remember new words many months after first learning them AND they use the words correctly (woo hoo!!!).
