Chapter 5 of 6
Building Vocabulary in Conversation
Words arrive through use, not lists.
6 min read
Three exposures, spread out
A word usually needs several encounters before it belongs to a child. So use the words from the book during the day: at dinner, in the car, while tidying up. "That box is enormous — like the enormous turnip."
Explain in the moment, briefly
A ten-second definition inside the story beats a lesson afterwards. "Reluctant means he did not want to go." Then keep reading. Long explanations stop the story, and a stopped story stops the reason to learn the word.
Use the harder word yourself
Children cannot use words they have never heard an adult use. If you always say big, they will always say big. Say vast, cramped, delicate, furious. You are the vocabulary they are copying.
Words about words
Some of the most useful vocabulary is about thinking: predict, compare, remember, wonder, disagree. A child who can say "I disagree, because on the last page..." has a tool they will use in every subject for twenty years.
Practice exercises
0 of 3 complete1.A new word is best explained…
2.Why use harder words yourself?
3.Pick three words from a recent book and write how you would slip each into tomorrow's conversation.