Vocabulary Activities
Encourage the student to use new vocabulary words in daily conversation and in their writing.
- Discuss any multiple meanings of a word that are relevant to the student.
- When a student uses a word for which the context does not make its meaning clear, ask, “Do you mean _____ or _____ or something else?”
- Encourage use of a thesaurus while writing to add to the vocabulary. Using a thesaurus online is preferable to a printed one because it’s easier to find the word you’re looking for. Visual Thesaurus and www.thesaurus.com are good options.
- Make index cards with words on one side and their definitions on the other side. Review these throughout the day and use them to play games.
- Games to play to expand vocabulary:
- Rummy Roots™ vocabulary-building games teach Latin and Greek word roots borrowed by the English language.
- A fun, free resource for vocabulary building is www.freerice.com.
- Play various matching games using synonyms and antonyms to build vocabulary, such as Concentration, Old Maid, and Go Fish.
- Use any generic board game and move one space for each synonym or antonym a player can give for the vocabulary word-card that is drawn.
See also Vocabulary Development.
