Vocabulary---Huh?

Vocabulary is an extremely critical aspect of learning. As teachers, we are supposed to model rich vocabulary for our students, however if there are students with very limited vocabulary, we might as well be speaking in a different language. The home life of a student can affect the vocabulary knowledge from student to student. Students who come from a home in which they are read to and talked to a considerable amount come to school with a much larger background knowledge of words than those who have little contact with adults. When students have a gap in word knowledge they struggle in the comprehension aspect of reading. If a student only understands one third of the words in a text they will not have an understanding great enough to get any valuable information. Vocabulary depth varies from subject to subject; therefore students not only have to have a basic word vocabulary, but a subject based word knowledge. As with other things vocabulary can strengthen through practice. We as teachers need to incorporate a wealth of vocabulary into our classroom, through games and other interactive activities that students not only can enjoy but benefit from. Let’s make our students fluent in all vocabulary aspects through innovative teaching and interactive lessons. No more huh? We can turn the lightbulb on for them.