Chapter 5: Vocabulary-- Word for Word

Sometimes I get scared to use certain vocabulary words in sentences because I fear someone might ask me to define it. Now of course I wouldn’t use a word I don’t know the meaning to, but my definitions tend to be a little under developed. I know I should already be familiar with the word infrastructure but that was one word I looked up within the last two weeks. After hurricane Sandy struck NYC, I came across an article that had the word infrastructure in it. “I know this” I kept rolling my eyes “I just looked this word up the other day, ugh lord.” When I FINALLY remembered what the word meant, my exact definition to myself was “infrastructure is like the bridges and tunnels and schools and stuff that make a community.” Defining words can be extremely difficult if you don’t already have a word bank of general categories to begin with. I think chapter five gives effective and detailed steps towards constructing clear definitions.  Students would need to practice doing this of course because this does require multiple steps; it’s not a simplistic process.

Besides being able to provide clear definitions students need to integrate these words into their speech as much as possible. Chapter five’s suggestion on writing two types of sentences, one being a metaphorical sentence is a creative way to develop full understanding of the word. Once there’s a clear understanding on what the word means and how it can be used, it naturally finds its way into daily conversation.  A good exercise would be to have students write out sentences utilizing the vocabulary words then give it to their peers to try and figure out what it means. The sentences though would provide a synonym or defining phrase somewhere in the sentence like the reading suggests.  Something else I think is a good idea to help with learning vocabulary words is learning the Latin and Greek root of words in the English language. When I was in high school the student teacher assigned to my class would review some roots with us for 10-15 minutes in the morning. I ended up buying the Merriam-Webster’s Vocabulary Builder which concentrates on root words and it has been of great help to me.