The Wonder of Words
Helping build a child’s vocabularyby Laurie Duncan/Special to the Daily Press
“A superabundance of talent skilled in the preparation of gastronomic concoctions will impair the quality of a certain potable solution made by immersing a gallinaceous bird in ebullient Adam’s ale.” It’s very possible that, while the reader of the previous sentence is perfectly capable of reading the individual words contained in the sentence, understanding the meaning of that sentence is nonexistent. A similar experience confronts students in school on a daily basis when they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary. What’s a parent to do?
A dictionary and thesaurus are tools no home should be without. For younger children, a dictionary that has pictures, larger print, and does not weigh 5,000 pounds is a good starting point. By having a dictionary at home, children can be encouraged to explore this tool as enjoyable instead of the dictionary as a source of frustration. If the only time children are encouraged to use a dictionary is when they don’t know how to spell a word and are told to “look it up” the dictionary quickly becomes a source of dread instead of a place for self-investigation of new words.
Joke and riddle books are another great resource for vocabulary development. I personally had not realized the vocabulary development possibilities of this resource until several years ago, when my son, who was 6 years old at the time, read every joke and riddle book he had packed for our five hour drive to Cambria. Five hours of jokes and riddles can really help one focus on the vocabulary represented!
Comics are another often overlooked resource for learning new vocabulary. I recently had my 9th grade language arts students use the comic pages of the newspaper to find at least ten new and/or interesting vocabulary words. They discovered words such as “pelagic”, “influential”, and even “voluptuous”. Their goal was to find words that I did not know—and several students were indeed successful!
As students move through the grades, the vocabulary they encounter becomes increasingly difficult, and a student’s ability to comprehend the content of challenging subject areas can be greatly enhanced by the development of a wide vocabulary. Parents can support students in this accomplishment by making the learning of new words an enjoyable, every-day activity. Oh yes, for those wondering about the first sentence of this article, it’s a fairly familiar proverb: “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Aren’t words wonderful?
Laurie Duncan currently teaches 9th grade Language Arts at the Academy for Academic Excellence. She can be reached by phone at 760-946-5414x231, or by email at lduncan@lcer.org.
Used with permission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2003