Teaching New Vocabulary to Children

A rich vocabulary forms one of the many building blocks of language. Understanding of words is essential as it greatly enhances the child’s communication enabling him to express his thoughts, ideas, and emotions more articulately. 

The Heritage School, best ICSE School inUttarakhand, has come up with a few tips to keep in mind when introducing children to new words:

Avoid Overdose of Words

Slow and steady is the way to go when teaching new words to children. This is because if you try to bombard them with a deluge of words they have not heard before they are more likely to lose interest in the entire activity rendering all your efforts ineffective. Introducing 5 or 6 words every week is a good start.

Repetition and Multiple Meanings

A word has to be repeated multiple times before it finally gets registered in the child’s memory. Ideally, parents need to repeat a word 4-12 times. However, it has to be used in different kinds of sentences and contexts for the child to understand it properly. Moreover, some words have more than one meaning so these have to be explained accordingly.

Give a Thorough Explanation of Meaning

A mere verbal explanation of the words will not suffice. The meaning of the words has to be explained comprehensively, creatively and concretely without leaving any room for confusion. Visual demonstrations work well in this regard as they give children something to relate to. Show them pictures and illustrations. You can also use flashcards. Act it out.

Encourage Writing and Speaking

For a proper understanding of words, it is essential to ask children to spell it out verbally and in writing as well. This ensures that they are getting the spellings and pronunciation right. When you say a word, encourage them to write it down. When children read a difficult word, ask them to read it out loud.

It will take time to build up a rich and varied vocabulary. But The Heritage School, the top school in Dehradun, believes you should have patience till you start seeing fruitful results, and who knows maybe you could end up learning a few words yourself!