Vocabulary and ways to build it

It is almost impossible to understand a passage if one cannot understand at least 95% of the words in it. This is true for all subjects, not just English. Fortunately, the readings which I did for this week list and describe a number of strategies which the enterprising educator can implement to aid their students.

Having said that, let us look at my favorite.

The first strategy described in the textbook (and a very similar one was buried near the end of the article) was the “Personal Glossary.” This is quite similar to the standard deck of flash cards which I remember seeing when I was a wide-eyed high schooler years ago; when an unknown word is found, it is written down on something (ideally an index card or something similarly shaped) on one side. On the other is a simplified definition (essentially what you’d find in the dictionary, sans the pronunciation and syllable indication) and an example sentence.

This handy little technique will work with anything which has text and a teacher can add a bit of guidance by “suggesting” certain words be added to the students’ growing glossaries. The fact that most of the work will be done by the students is a happy occurrence.

The Etymologia and Morphologia techniques are almost certain to get use in my classroom; I distinctly remember one of my professors telling us that the verb insulto which means “to be insolent, scoff, revile, abuse, taunt, insult” literally means “to jump up and down, blowing raspberries.” Whereas morphology is far more reliable in Latin, as you can reliably guess the meaning of a word if you know what its morphemes mean (a fossilized language does wonders for nailing down definitions).