Word-of-the-Day
I discovered my own genius in the 5th grade. I had a teacher by the name of Mrs. Burnett who made it a point of having us choose one word from the dictionary and define it so we could present it to our class. I still remember my first word as a new student in a new class and school. It was “physician” and my teacher praised me. She told the other students that I had set the bar high, and now they would have to move beyond words like “goat”, “fence” and “tree” to more challenging fare. My 5th grade friends and I still get a laugh out of that.
Fast forward–30-years. I am teaching a second grade group of students. I never forgot the influence of developing my own vocabulary, so I decided it was time to really challenge my own notions of language acquisition and give them a “word-of-the-day”. This exercise has been fascinating. Merriam-Webster provides a word of the day on their online site. Unless the word is one that would have lewd undertones, I choose it. I do not discriminate. The routine? I write the word on the board and provide the part of speech. Then we try to make connections with the word looking at splitting it apart and guessing what it could possibly mean. Then I come up with a definition that we can all understand. Their mission? To use the word-of-the-day discreetly in conversation with their family at home.
The retention of these words has been remarkable. For instance, Daniel told both his parents and I that he “asked his brother nicely to leave his room, but when he wouldn’t, he frog-marched him right out of the room. Paige said, after a moment of quiet reflection, “My mom has a nosocomial job. She’s a nurse.” Parents have giggled to me that they try to downplay the new words since their kids are trying to be so natural with the usage, but they are always able to notice the word-of-the-day, and they too get a chuckle from it. My students feel smart and validated with the new weapon they have, and I feel proud that the lessons my teacher taught me about the power of language, can now be passed on to my little geniuses.
They are an omnium gatherum of fertile minds prepared to meet the challenges of today’s world…hint hint….that’s today’s word!
Tags: Language acquisition, vocabulary, word usage
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