Top Tips for Building Words within the Home

Top Tips for building vocabulary at home

  • Notice new words when you’re reading or listening. Talk about the importance of a large vocabulary and make an effort to learn new words.
  • Talk about what to do when discovering unknown words. Don’t just skip them! Try using context clues or other resources to find the meaning, like a child-friendly dictionary.
  • Read. A lot! Read all sorts of books, signs on the wall, directions, recipes… A wide variety of reading material will expose kids to a wide variety of new words.
  • Try to find concrete examples of new words for them whenever possible to make meaning more clear.
  • Interact with the words in some way. Get them to draw their meaning. Act them out. Make them come alive so they will remember them.
  • Focus on learning the right kinds of words. Pick words that are more complex or descriptive versions of common words that kids already know.
    (For example, descriptive adjectives and verbs.)
  • Focus on kid-friendly definitions and examples of new words rather than complicated dictionary-style definitions. Using words in a sentence or a rhyme will help commit it to their memory.
  • Learn common prefixes and suffixes to SUPER SIZE vocabulary knowledge. (eg. happy / unhappy) When they learn one word part, they will begin to easily recognise many more words with the same word parts

Enjoy,

The TalkHQ Family

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