Language Development Part I:
Rich Vocabulary Instruction

Dear Educator,

It's spring in California, and our thoughts have turned to newborns... our new 2007 catalog and new products, that is. I hope you've received your catalog and had a chance to look through it, and to browse our website's "New Products" category.

Language development has become a hot topic this year. Over the next two newsletters, we'll talk about this important element of literacy instruction, beginning with rich vocabulary instruction. We hope you find these tips and links useful in your classroom.

Best wishes,

Rosalind Iiams, Editor
editor@primaryconcepts.com

How Do Children Differ? In today's world, children come to school with vastly different levels of vocabulary knowledge. Some children come from language-rich environments where they have heard many millions of words spoken. Others come from homes where a language other than English is spoken, or where they are simply not talked to as much as are highly verbal children. Children from vocabulary-poor environments pay a price: Oral language skills are strongly linked to success in learning to read. According to Pamela Hook, Ph.D., "In addition to phonological awareness and phonic word attack strategies, vocabulary knowledge is closely associated with a child's ability to decode words and read fluently as well as comprehend what they have read." As early as 4th grade, children's reading comprehension skills and scores suffer from poor word knowledge.

Robust Vocabulary Instruction: According to researchers Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction), the most effective way to teach vocabulary directly is through rich vocabulary instruction: conversations about words that allow students to connect what they already know with the new words they are learning. In activities like those described in Primary Concepts' Word of the Day series, students learn a new word by hearing a story about it, then answering questions that make them think about the new word and what it means. The teacher can extend these conversations by encouraging children to use their newly learned words at home and school, following up the next day by having children describe how they were able to use their new words.

Talk About Real Things: Teachers can also build young children's vocabulary and English fluency by talking about real things. An established daily "Talk Time," focused around a real, familiar object like a mirror, a potholder, or a lamp, gives children an opportunity to build their language skills, and gives the teacher an opportunity to evaluate the oral language needs of each child in the classroom.

Try this fun Talk Time Activity to get your students describing, comparing, extending... and expanding their vocabularies.

[Lesson taken from Talk and Learn (Primary Concepts Product No. 3923).]

These 10-minute oral vocabulary activities provide you with the tools for rich vocabulary instruction. The teacher introduces each word or phrase with an engaging Word Story. Children then "cement" the word or phrase in their vocabularies by acting out the meaning, drawing pictures, finding other ways to use the word, and more.

Books in this popular series include:
Word of the Day
Idiom of the Week
Word of the Day: Synonyms
Word of the Day: Bit by Bit

See sample lesson

March specials, online only!

Word of the Day Special (3917) Regularly $39.00; Special $35.00 Includes Word of the Day, Idiom of the Week, Word of the Day: Synonyms, and Word of the Day: Bit by Bit $43.00 Value!

Talk and Learn (3923) Regularly $17.95; Special $15.00

Do you have a favorite vocabulary activity that has worked with your students? Share it with us! Send your activity (electronic photos are great too) to editor@primaryconcepts.com. We’ll share selected activities in our next newsletter.

Realistic objects (realia) are a great way to engage young children, and to build vocabulary in English language learners and struggling native speakers. How do you build and organize your collection, and what can you do with the objects? In our next newsletter, we'll show you.

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
–Mark Twain