Ah... yes, vocabulary. It just develops overtime. No
need teaching vocabulary it is just a natural progression of a
child's growth and education right? Well, not exactly. Especially not to
the point that you want your child to command an excellent vocabulary.
One that will carry them through life's situations with confidence. Like
a job interview perhaps. That's so far away you say? Well, a lazy
vocabulary is also developed early just as a strong one isn't.
For me it wasn't easy to come up with a teaching
vocabulary game plan. Knowing that I should make a consistent attempt at
teaching my kids vocabulary, I would generally make some feeble attempt
to satisfy my all knowing need to produce a well rounded child.
Racking my brain, I had to come up with some way
to teach vocabulary effectively to my children. But how, I asked myself.
Then a thought occurred to me. Why not pause for a vocabulary moment
within each of
the subjects I was teaching. Hey, instead of setting aside a block of
time to teach vocabulary words, why not teach a few words as they
pertain to each subject and do it consistently.
After a couple of weeks
I actually began to see results! My kids were grasping the concepts of
all the subjects much better as I made it a point to make sure they well
understood the vocabulary of each subject! Imagine that. When the kids
actually understood the math vocabulary words and what they meant, the
better they understood the math concepts itself. Hmmmmm, I may be onto
something.
As I took this concept further a I developed more
consistency in my attack of teaching vocabulary and it became
easier for me to come up with the day's vocabulary words. Then I began
working out of a three pronged approach. Vocabulary words for the
particular subject. Vocabulary words for the day, and of course, a
review of previous words.
And finally I would look up four or five synonyms
of each of the words we were working with and have the kids explain or
define the word to me without using the word or one of it's synonyms!
Sometimes not easy to do and you can get some hilarious results that
actually greatly reinforce the word. Because the easiest most retentive
way to learn is to learn by having fun, and teaching vocabulary
words is no different.
