Increasing a child's vocabulary?

[Hot Lava Mama]

We are using some different vocabulary books, so they are being "exposed" to lots of different words. But how do I get them to "use" a more expanded vocabulary, especially since I have, what I consider, a limited vocabulary? We read a lot, but it doesn't seem to translate into their working vocabulary. Any ideas?

Hot Lava Mama

[Critterfixer]

Audio books that are above their working grade level are useful for expanding the vocabulary. I find that limited television in favor of audio book time is adding a wealth of new words to my ds7 boys general conversation. It also is providing an opportunity to talk about the meanings of the more difficult words.

[Snowfall]

I think you need to use words in order for them to pick them up. :)

[kristinannie]

With my kids, I don't dumb down my speech at all. I read them living books with good vocabulary. Sometimes they will ask me what a word means or I will explain something I am sure they don't understand, but mostly they just pick it up through daily use. Of course, my kids are still very young. They do impress people with their grown-up words though! :D

[SorrelZG]

I think you need to use words in order for them to pick them up. :)

 

I agree. :) It's a great opportunity for you to grow too!

 

Just an idea to add to your reading, etc.: Sign up for Merriam-Webster's word of the day and make a point of using it (they won't all stick for you or the children so don't get hung up on it; just keep it light) or take the same idea but per week. :)

Edited June 6, 2011 by SCGS

[Satori]

We love learning vocabulary too. Like Snowfall suggests, I myself try my best to squeeze in new words in our everyday conversation. I also challenge her to use her new words with Daddy.

 

We do use vocabulary programs, as well as do read-aloud books above her level. I see the words in her creative writing, so I know that our efforts do pay off.

[jenbrdsly]

We play a game my own third grade teacher invented called "Magic Word". You introduce a new vocab word each night at dinner, and then at some point that night slip the word into the converstaion. The first person who calls out "Magic Word" and can tell you what the word means, wins a prize. Right now we are pulling from an SAT word box. I explain the game in more detail here: http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/2011/03/03/magic-word/ This game works for all ages. We have played it with my son since he was three or four.

[Hot Lava Mama]

down I would need to expand my vocabulary, too. I figured that was the only way to "model" a better vocabulary. But I just wasn't sure how to do it for myself, either! That "magic word" game sounds wonderful! Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

Thanks!

Hot Lava Mama

[creekmom]

I tried having a word wall this year, and it worked really well! Each day I pick one word from the book I'm reading to them. First, they try to guess what the word means from the context of the sentence. If anyone "nails" the definition, he/she gets a small treat. Then, I tape the word to the wall. Every day, we review what the words mean. Every few weeks, I gave them a quiz over the word wall words. Also, if they hear the word on TV, or see it in the book they are reading, they have to tell me the definition to get a small treat.

 

Since there is constant review as a family of the words, I notice the kids using them in their own conversations (and I use them also). Nothing else I've tried (over the past 7 years) has worked as well as our word wall for having the kids remember the words and use them. Also, because the words are taken from our read aloud, the kids remember the definition from the context of the story. For example, the word "impetuous" came from a story where a fox was not impetuous (and got the turkey eggs). Even my 5 year old remembers the words. The other day, she looked at me and said, "Mom, that really bewilders me!" :D

[nono]

down I would need to expand my vocabulary, too. I figured that was the only way to "model" a better vocabulary. But I just wasn't sure how to do it for myself, either! That "magic word" game sounds wonderful! Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

Thanks!

Hot Lava Mama

 

I find that Mad Libs Junior, in addition to reinforcing the parts of speech, have my kids searching for more obscure vocabulary. Constantly! :tongue_smilie:

[Donna]

I also think you have to model word use for kids to pick it up in their regular vocabulary. I haven't really done a formal vocab program with dd but we read good literature together and pick out "interesting" words in the books we read together. She keeps a notebook of interesting words which might be words she likes the sound of or any word she doesn't know the meaning. She looks up meanings for any words she doesn't know yet and writes them in her notebook. We talk about words we hear or read..."Wow! That's a really neat word. How else might you use it?" Then talk back and forth about different uses for the word.

 

She loves to write so we will often talk about word choice in what she's written..."Is that the best (or most colorful) word to say what you mean?" We use the Thesaurus for alternatives.

 

I am not saying she uses every word but I think they are there in her mind somewhere after she's looked harder at them and it is much more "real" to her than studying random words without any context.

[my2boys]

For quite a long time, we've gotten a "word of the day" calendar in January. We choose our favorites and stick them up on the fridge for a while and try to use them as much as we can. My sister and bil usually have the same calendar, so when they're visiting we have a competition to see who can use the most "fridge words". :001_smile:

[morosophe]

I think that children usually have to feel comfortable with a particular word, and feel that they know what it means, before they'll use it in conversation. (Then again, there are the show-offs!) Having Mommy use whatever word is certainly the fastest, easiest way to get there. Even more, Mommy using an expanded vocabulary will remove any stigma from speaking "big" or "strange" words aloud. But as your children keep reading quality literature, they'll run into the same word again and again in different places, and their comfort level with it will rise enough they'll probably use it in conversation without even thinking about it. It really has become part of their vocabulary.

 

It just takes a long time that way, and a lot of reading. So, the method works for avid readers, but you probably won't start seeing results until junior high. And it really takes off when the kids are allowed to read for themselves and not treat books as an exercise in vocabulary. Of course, they have to get enough base vocabulary down first that they can keep plugging along when they hit a new and unfamiliar word, so it's a balancing act.

 

Of course, sometimes a child who's taught himself or herself vocabulary in this way will have taken hold of the wrong definition and/or pronunciation. You'll know when they've used a "book-learning" word when it makes you want to laugh at how it comes out. If you do laugh, you'll probably scare them off using big words somewhat--a better approach is to say, "Is that how it's pronounced? I always thought it was ______________." or "I don't think I've ever heard that word used like that. What are you using it to mean?" Then go look it up. This indicates that Mom could be mistaken and isn't ashamed to admit it, and also models dictionary use.

 

I do think Critterfixer's suggestion of audio books for younger children is a good one, because it doesn't take your time, the story keeps plugging right along even when big words that are new to you are used, and yet the reader's inflections provide clues as to its meaning (as well as its pronunciation). Plus, the kids can come to you asking "What does x mean?" when their ignorance is really impeding their understanding of the plot. Then you can either just tell them or look it up in the dictionary with them, depending on your available time and energy level, along with the difficulty of the word.

 

A little rant here:

 

It is very, very easy to make "vocabulary" lessons something your children dread. I have horrible memories of my seventh-grade literature class, where the teacher was very much paint-by-the-numbers and into "make work." She required us to do five vocabulary words per chapter of a book we'd read--we had to find them and write them and their definitions out three times. I never, ever found a word with which I was unfamiliar, and acquiring a dictionary that would have made me more familiar with nuance, which may have actually been helpful, would have required writing out a much larger definition. Three times. Don't ever, ever do this exercise with your children, except possibly as punishment, okay? Sure, it takes up the children's time and doesn't require much energy or time from you, but, if they're anything like me, your children will recognize that and resent you for it.

 

Similarly, if and when you do Shakespeare, try to find an edition that *doesn't* use superscript numbers in the text to denote footnotes that merely contain definitions of a word that may be unfamiliar. This is very disruptive to the reader, or at least it was to me--I kept having to restart passages when all that had distracted me was a word that I already knew! Argh! (I did warn you that this was a rant.) There are editions that use the superscript number in the text for passages whose exact wording is in dispute, or for cross-references to other works, or to talk about staging, etc. (For instance, such a footnote might point out that the Earl of Gloucester would be attempting to "commit suicide" by jumping off a chair or other short prop, and that the scene would have elements of the humorous, or that The Globe theater was indeed near a bear-baiting pit in London, so "Exit, pursued by a bear" may have involved the special effects extravaganza of an actual bear.) These may still use footnotes with line numbers for the definition of words they think may be new to the reader, in case lack of knowledge is what is disrupting their reading, rather than little footnote superscripts.

 

Of course, I can't deny that the best way to "get through" Shakespeare is to go see it.

[Hedgehogs4]

We are using some different vocabulary books, so they are being "exposed" to lots of different words. But how do I get them to "use" a more expanded vocabulary, especially since I have, what I consider, a limited vocabulary? We read a lot, but it doesn't seem to translate into their working vocabulary. Any ideas?

Hot Lava Mama

 

If you use complex vocabulary yourself in everyday speech, then your children naturally will. When you use a word they don't know, they will look at you funny and say, "what does that mean?" or you ask them, "do you know what that means?"

 

My children have a broad vocabulary, and sometimes I wonder where they come up with stuff, but then I realize, they are just reflecting the way I speak to them...I have never used vocabulary that would be "age-appropriate" for my kids--I just talk to them, and they work it out.

 

Reading complex books helps, as well, but only if they have the mental schematics to plug into for the purposes of interpretation. We read books that are unabridged, "dated" in terms of vocabulary, etc, and when we come across a word or expression we don't understand, we talk about it, look it up, etc.

 

I personally think "vocabulary" programs are for parents, not students. No one learns to communicate from a workbook.

[KristenR]

I try to reward my daughter for including what we learn into how she plays. I have sticker books that we made awhile back and if I see her connecting her lessons or pointing out something we recently learned then she gets to pick a sticker to add to her book.

For example the other day she was singing to her baby sister "Monkeys Jumping on the bed". She added some of her latin vocabulary on her own without any prompting from me. "Mater called the doctor and the doctor said...."

So I made a point to notice and say how nice it was to incorporate what she has been learning so we added a sticker.

Another example when I was watching the news they mentioned China and she ran out and got her map to remind me where China was.

Glistening was one of her WorldyWise vocab words that she LOVES and finds ways to add into her conversations often. Another sticker.

[kristinannie]

I try to reward my daughter for including what we learn into how she plays. I have sticker books that we made awhile back and if I see her connecting her lessons or pointing out something we recently learned then she gets to pick a sticker to add to her book.

For example the other day she was singing to her baby sister "Monkeys Jumping on the bed". She added some of her latin vocabulary on her own without any prompting from me. "Mater called the doctor and the doctor said...."

So I made a point to notice and say how nice it was to incorporate what she has been learning so we added a sticker.

Another example when I was watching the news they mentioned China and she ran out and got her map to remind me where China was.

Glistening was one of her WorldyWise vocab words that she LOVES and finds ways to add into her conversations often. Another sticker.

 

 

I love that idea! I have the same problem with stickers!!! TFS!

[mhornby56]

There are lots of great suggestions here! I agree with the person who mentioned audiobooks, especially if they will listen to the same story over and over. My daughter has picked up a lot of new words from listening to her favorite audiobooks. She'll also randomly ask me throughout the day (not while listening to a book) what a certain word means, and when I ask her to use it in a sentence she will quote the book she was listening to earlier. She has really loved Winnie-the-Pooh, Jame's Herriot's Treasury, Peter Pan, EB White books, and the Chronicles of Narnia.

[texasmama]

My own approach is to never talk down to my kids. I use "big words" with them from early on. I might say to a 6 year old, for instance, "Do not play with the canteloupe in that manner or you will render it inedible." :tongue_smilie:

 

 

I also find that reading aloud to them helps to build vocabulary. I have one child who frequently interrupts me to ask "What does that word mean?" so we have mini vocabulary lessons built right in. We are currently reading aloud The Hobbit, which is very rich in language and vocabulary. Thiis is a natural way to stretch one's vocabulary in a meaningful context. Spelling curriculum also sometimes serves the purpose of adding to my kids' vocabulary.

Edited June 7, 2011 by texasmama

[Critterfixer]

My own vocabulary is pretty good, but I still use the audio books a lot. As a matter of fact, the audio books actually are entertainment. We never narrate on an audio book, and I allow them to play while they listen, as long as it isn't so noisy that they can't hear. Most of the time they lay down and rest or they draw.

A couple of observations: One thing I noticed right away with the audio books was that their comprehension, in spite of more complex words and plots, has gone way, way up. I'm not sure of all the reasoning, but I'm quite sure some of it has to do with the way the books are read. I have accordingly adjusted my reading tone and tempo to match the cadence on the audio tapes. Now I can tell the difference when I am reading to them. My advice--slow WAY down when reading to your children. Long pauses at the periods. Medium pauses at a comma. Slow down more in paragraph breaks. Slow down to the point that you almost want to look at your watch. For whatever reason, the slowing down seems to catch their attention.

 

Audio books can also be a good way of introducing words that would not regularly occur in daily conversation. And example for us was the word "christening." Anticipate being asked the definition about four times before they quit asking. Children seem to enjoy repetition when it comes to words, and it is understandable. Some words just feel or taste good, and they like to hear them and say them over and over. Expect to hear them used multiple times sometimes in unusual contexts if it is one of those tasty words. My ds7 right now is enamored of "faithfully" and "motorcar." We've been listening to the Wind and the Willows.

 

Don't overlook scientific words that sound grand. Try calling plants by their Latin names if you can. Use the proper names for dinosaurs. Encourage them to use the true names for clouds. Things that they can point to and say proudly, like Acer rubrum, Cercis canadensis, Liquidamber styracaflua, seem to attach a prestige to having a large and complex vocabulary.

Both my boys will always head to the magazines in the library and pick up the science oriented publications. So this is a good way for them to hear rare words in a meaningful way in addition to reading and listening to audiobooks.