DK’s new title English for Everyone Junior: 5 Words a Day is an essential vocabulary builder for young children that teaches five new words each day, for five days a week. Using the visual learning methodology unique to the English for Everyone course, over the duration of one year, children will build up a vocabulary of more than 1,000 English words.
However, it can be difficult to find effective and fun ways to learn new vocabulary. To make things easier, we have compiled a list of five of our favourite study skills to use alongside English for Everyone Junior: 5 Words a Day. With these exciting methods, children will be learning 5 words a day, every day.
In celebration of the release of English for Everyone Junior: 5 Words a Day, we also have a free downloadable activity pack compiled from material from the new release. Get your download here.
Why not try doing a time trial test? Race to see who can spell all the words correctly in the quickest time? Or who can write all of the definitions of the word before the time runs out?
Why not try covering up the words and using them in a sentence? Children could practise their creative skills by drawing a picture of the word they are learning. The most exciting aspect of this is that the stranger the sentence or drawing, the better! Human brains remember something odd much better than something ordinary.
It can be as simple as making a poster, or as ambitious as covering an entire wall in sticky notes. Each word should be written a little bit differently from each other word, whether it is the colour or the size of the handwriting, every word should have something unique about it.
Have the word wall or poster somewhere where they will see it every day or spend a lot of time, so they can become immersed by the new vocab. Once a word (or a set of words) has been learnt, add new ones to fill the gaps and keep the learning going.
Not only does English for Everyone Junior: 5 Words a Day come with free online audio to support learning and word retention, but why not have them make their own recordings?
It can be as simple as recording the words, repeating them, and then listening to them two or three times a day. It can also be as creative as the first two methods. Why not use them in sentences or short funny stories? They could also be sung, as singing and listening to songs is a sure-fire way to get the words stuck in their heads.
Put the children into two teams, on opposite sides of the room. Each team has someone sit in front of their team, facing them in the ‘hot seat’. Stand behind the hot seat, and hold up a piece of paper with a word on it. The team has to describe the word without saying the word, the goal being the child in the hot seat to figure out the word.
Sounds easy right? Try it for yourself and see how well you do!
Put the children into two teams, write the words down on strips of paper, put the strips into a hat, and have children pick out a word at random. They have to act them out, without saying anything or using any props. The team with the most correct answers wins. Simple, right?
This game is particularly good for learning verbs but can be played with all kinds of words.