Q&A DEARTEACHERS
BY PEGGY GISLER AND MARGE EBERTS
INCREASING CHILDREN’S VOCABULARIES
QUESTION: My son currently is in fourth grade.
things with neither of you using any electronic devices.
His teacher says he has a very limited speaking
The more you and your son talk to each other, the
vocabulary and is not using grade level vocabulary to
faster his vocabulary will increase. And the more the
express himself. Also, the teacher says he has trouble
discussions go beyond trite exchanges to talking more
understanding more advanced vocabulary. How can
about current happenings in the world, the sooner he
he increase his vocabulary? — Needs Words
will enlarge his vocabulary. Doing these things is really
ANSWER: Children pick up new words and their meanings in two major ways: through listening and through reading. Starting in fourth grade, new and unfamiliar vocabulary is introduced in all subjects, especially science and social studies, building a foundation for future learning. Mastery of these words is absolutely essential to understanding the material. This task is much easier for the good listeners in every classroom. Children who don’t listen in class are always playing catchup in learning vocabulary. Could this be part of the reason that your son’s vocabulary is limited? The teacher can have him sit in the front of the classroom, take notes on what is being said and answer questions about what is being discussed—all ways to improve his listening skills. Building children’s vocabulary does not just occur at
a great way to increase all children’s vocabularies. Your son’s limited vocabulary may be partially due to his not mastering much of the new vocabulary in content area subjects, especially social studies and science, as well as new words in his readers. The secret to his learning these words is to hear them at least four to 12 times. Part of this will occur at school. However, you can accelerate the process by having him write out the meaning of new words (textbooks usually list these words for every chapter). Then make a point of using these words in conversations as you discuss each day what he is learning in school. By hearing, saying, reading and writing more challenging words, his limited vocabulary should grow. You might want to start building his vocabulary by checking whether your son understands the 300 most
school. The more you talk to your children, no matter
basic words that should have been mastered in first,
what their age, the larger their vocabularies will be,
second and third grades. You will find this list on our
because parents use far more challenging words than
DearTeacher.com website under Skill Builders -
children’s peers. So much of the key to increasing
reading. There are also lists of words there that middle
your son’s vocabulary lies in your talking to him and his
schoolers and high school students should know that
talking more to you. Increase the opportunities to do
will be helpful for your son later on. If he doesn’t know
this by doing chores together, having mealtime and
these very basic words, use flashcards to help him
car conversations and bedtime chats. Do all of these
learn them.
18 january 2022
kcparent.com
