You stumble upon a new word while reading something. What do you do as a reader to get acquainted with the new word?
As an adult trying to set a good example for a kid, you perhaps will say, pick up a dictionary and find the meaning. But how often do you do that?
Many of us get accustomed to deciphering the meaning from the text especially if the writing is absorbing and the last thing one wants to do is to hunt for a dictionary. Of course the internet has changed things. Google the meaning. If you are a reader who doesn't mind reading on a Kindle, life is even better. You see a word you don't know, press the word and the definition comes up.
When it comes to children however, we tend to make sure they have learnt the meaning. We tend to test them for their understanding. Perhaps even give them worksheets with a peering eye. But how far does it get them in terms of vocabulary building? Not much I would say. This process makes it mundane and boring.
What is an alternative?
The members of the young readers' club stumbled upon a particularly difficult word - unbecoming.
Now Florence’s mama hadn’t a particle of taste, and Amy suffered deeply at having to wear a red instead of a blue bonnet, unbecoming gowns, and fussy aprons that did not fit.
Simply inferring from the context led them to feel that this meant 'uncomfortable'. Since it wasn't too critical to the story, there was even a temptation to skip looking for the meaning. Resisting that temptation we decided to split into teams and find more information about this word. The task we took was to not just find the meaning but also find interesting instances in which the word had been used.
Team work approaches to reach the same goal
The process led different teams to work in different ways. One team divided the tasks amongst them and efficiently went about accumulating information in more than one way. For instance they tried to find pictures that could depict the meaning of the word. In the end they had discovered multiple meanings and similar words used in a variety of easy to relate contexts. The other team decided to do each task together and hence was much slower. They got stuck with instances which were hard to understand. Instead of looking for easier examples, they pulled on trying to help one another decipher the same set of sentences. Realizing that time was running out, they tried to copy paste sentences without fully understanding them.
The first team was intent upon enabling every team member to contribute. While the second team had its members depending on one person to do the leg work while they helped with picking and choosing. They did not move forward much because they were stuck with only one approach to understanding the meaning by re reading the dictionary definition and corresponding examples which were equally difficult to understand. They did not venture out to find synonyms as a way to better understand this word.
Which approach is correct? It depends if you are looking at efficiency, then team 1's approach worked brilliantly well as all of them took part in exploring the meaning in different ways. They shared their contributions with one another thus reenforcing the meaning once again.
Vocabulary building is far more effective in sessions in which readers come together with a common goal- knowing a word in all its aspects.
Team 2 demonstrated how working on it individually makes it harder to completely absorb the meaning of a difficult word. Although pointers were provided, there were no different approaches to analyzing the word and all of them used the same approach- reading the meaning of the word from the same dictionary source and trying to decipher what it means. When nothing seemed moving, having fun together was a lot more tempting. That's true even one stumbles upon a new word. If you can't understand the word easily, let it go. Move on to something more interesting and absorbing.
In sum, exploring new words with someone, figuring out different ways to achieve the same goal if one tested approach doesn't work, not just helps with enhancing vocabulary but also with other skills such as problem solving, critical thinking and team work!
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Both weekday and weekend batches are available at the Young Readers' Club for the 8-12 age group.
NEW! Writing programs for the 8-12 age group- Young Writers' Club Jr.
The Young Writers' Club program for the 13-15 age group offers a weekly platform to read and discuss curated articles from the news, observe writing approaches and practise one's writing skills.
NEW! Musings from the Young Writers' Club is an online magazine showcasing the work we do at the Young Writers' Club.
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