Simply provide a theme such as Out Of My Window or In The Garden and set the challenge of spotting items on the list. It develops a consciousness of the subcategories of common nouns. This idea is based on the old (but still available) series of i-SPY books. They could compete with each other to supply alternative names such as: “looking glass” for mirror “basin” for sink, “bedspread” for blanket or “lavatory” for toilet! Parents with English as an additional language could add their home language onto the sticky notes.Ĭan they spot similarities in any of the words? 2 | Nuanced nouns Grab a pack of sticky notes and start labelling! Adults could support children to label familiar household objects with synonyms. Ideas that work in home or schoolĮxtend learning to the home, inviting families to participate in activities that will expand children’s repertoire of words in their own setting. Whilst “The old woman lived in a dark, scary forest” works, “The antique woman lived in an opaque alarming forest” does not! The more often children meet the words, the more precise their categorisation will become, and the better they will be at selecting the most appropriate word for the context. It is only when used in context that children will truly embed language and learn (by trial and improvement) that simply swapping out words does not always create the desired effect. If the children are to write a setting description based in a dark, scary forest, anticipate that they may well overwork these adjectives and use the game as a stimulus for a word bank so that children have the means to write “foreboding forest”. Keep categories as tight as possible to ensure children can see the links.īroadening vocabulary enables children to select more specific words to enhance their independent writing, eg “The old crone lived in a shack in the gloomy forest” vs “The old woman lived in a house in the dark forest.” Try: job roles that end in “-er” / “-cian”, or words that end in “-ful”. Other words that work well are synonyms for overused verbs (such as “eat”, “walk”, “sleep”, “go”, “sit”) for adjectives (such as “big”, “red”, “hot”) or for adverbs (“fast”, “happily”, “suddenly”).Ĭhildren could be invited to use a thesaurus to help them generate possible synonyms.Īlternatively, you could link this game to spelling patterns that you have been studying in class. Places you might live in, eg “flat”, “cottage”, “semi-detached”, “bungalow”, “end terrace”, “shack”, “castle”, “tent”.Take time to unpick the vocabulary (you might wish to have images to show the children: “a rickshaw looks like this”).You might simplify the game by giving children a point for each word they call out that is on your list and keep a more traditional method of scoring (i.e. With younger children, you may ask them to pool their ideas and play against you as a class.The winning team is the one with fewest points at the end of the game. If children have a transport device on their list that does not match your list, they get 20 points. Words should be assigned a points value in advance: up to 15 points for obvious answers such as “taxi”, “van”, “lorry” 5 to 10 points for less obvious answers such as “limousine”, “horse and cart”, “cruise liner” and 1 to 5 points for more obscure answers like “rickshaw”, “junk”, and “steamer”.Īssign 0 points to a word you do not think children will come up with (“penny-farthing”). Display a list of 10 modes of transport prepared earlier.Then they choose three that they think will be on your list, with low points. In pairs / small groups, children write down as many modes of transport as they can think of in two minutes. This generates myriad opportunities for adaptation in class: decide on a category, generate a list of your own, and open the floor to the children. The aim of the game is to receive as few points as possible zero points would be ideal. The contestants guess which answers were not given, or were given by the fewest respondents. You may have seen the TV show Pointless where members of the public provide answers within a category, eg countries with the letter “a” in them. If we wish to develop children’s vocabulary quickly, activities such as Word Of The Week will be a laborious process.īut there is an alternative: why not devise activities that generate several connected words and revisit these words often, so that children build vocabulary efficiently in their long-term memories?
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