Parent Magazine St. Johns September 2018 | Page 18

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Successful
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Vocabularies Students
GUIDE YOUR CHILD TO AN EVER-EXPANDING VOCABUL ARY
by Jan Pierce, M.Ed.
T
eachers know that one of the marks of a bright child is the size of his or her vocabulary. The definition of
vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. Children with a larger vocabulary
communicate better, read and write with greater understanding and radiate confidence in their
learning ability.
While much of a child’s vocabulary growth occurs naturally through listening to language, hearing stories
read aloud, speaking with others and general immersion in the family’s native language, there are simple and
fun ways to increase word knowledge.
You, the parent, can boost your child’s vocabulary by:
INCORPORATING WORD KNOWLEDGE INTO READING TIME.
When you’re reading a story to your child and come to a new word, take the time to expand on it,
define it, and relate it to another word your child already knows. For instance when you come to the
word “gigantic” you might say. “The egg was gigantic. That means it was really big. Can you think of
some other gigantic things? A dinosaur maybe or that huge play structure at school?” Then give your
child the opportunity to use the word in naming other gigantic things. Studies show that rereading
books is another way to reinforce new vocabulary.
ENCOURAGING THEM TO READ, READ, READ INDEPENDENTLY.
Researchers say we learn from 5% to 15% of the words we know from our independent reading times.
Children who read more develop a richer vocabulary. They’re exposed to genre words such as
everything related to kings, queens and castles, or everything about the beaver and its habitat. They
learn to understand the meaning of new words through the context of their story. Encourage readers
to make note of words they don’t understand and keep a dictionary handy.
FOSTERING REAL DISCUSSION IN YOUR HOME.
Make dinner time a time to share the stories of the day. Or take the time to talk about current events,
while using some of the vocabulary related to that topic. Conversation is two way—with questions and
responses. Children who engage in such discussion build their vocabularies and also learn the value of
higher level interaction with language.
BUILD “ WORD CONSCIOUSNESS” BY PL AYING WORD GAMES
that focus on meaning. You might play twenty questions which is a game of reasoning with words. “I’m
thinking of an animal.” Then allow questions that can only be answered with yes or no. Or play a
guessing game with a word clue. “I’m thinking of a word that starts with b and is something a monkey
likes to eat.” You might take a word walk where you decide to walk outdoors and name everything
you can find that begins with the letter “t.” Be sure to match the game to your child’s age and
ability levels.
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