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Vocabulary development is an important part of learning. It can open up an understanding of the world that would otherwise be ‘closed’ to our students. Not only that, the more complex vocabulary a student can accumulate, the more they’ll be able to develop reading comprehension. But in today’s world of abbreviated text messages, our students may be lacking in vocabulary acquisition.

So today, we’ll be covering some ideas on how to encourage vocabulary development in young minds.

Method 1: Teach word origins to encourage vocabulary development

The reason word origins may be a good way to encourage vocabulary learning is because they can provide context and meaning to the words. The stories can be remembered more easily than words alone as mere ‘data.’

Word origins can also be fun, since they may sound funny without their backstory. They can also teach some history. And they can show kids how language develops. They may be using the dictionary as an authority on words. But word origin stories can show them that dictionaries are actually a reflection of how societies use language.

And, it can show them that all the slang they use today is rapidly developing the English language thanks to the Internet. In fact, it only took one 16-year-old to randomly use the phrase “on fleek,” which then became part of pop culture language. And this article explains the story of a courtroom that needed interpretation of many new words the boom of the Internet has created. So, imagine what English may sound like in 100, 200, 500 years?

Therefore, this lesson can also expand into etymology. Read more about language etymology, and get a list of word origins here.

Here is a resource on the origins of terms:

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-origins

Method 2: Teach kids word morphology to develop vocabulary

Related to our topic above about teaching word origins, you can also teach word morphology. This is when an old word takes on a new form. Or, when you add affixes or suffixes to a word to help it better relate to the context in which you are speaking. How do you turn a word into its past tense form? It’s plural form? Morphology, according to this article,

“Morphology is a critical element of successful vocabulary development and accurate decoding.  …Subsequently, weakness in decoding and vocabulary skills is noted as a potent inhibitor to fully comprehending text.”

That sounds like something to pay attention to!

Here is a video on the meaning of morphology with some examples.

What is one word morphology example causing the world to raise an eyebrow? How about Donald Trump’s use of, “bigly”? According to this article, it’s actually a word!

Can your students identify other word-morphing happening in current events? Can they come up with their own? This can be a fun exercise to get kids using words, and being aware of their so-called ‘correct’ usage (which remember, is only dependent on how we all adapt to those morphologies!)

Method 3: Encourage kids to tell their own stories, so they use vocabulary in more sentences

Whether in written or spoken form, kids telling their own stories can help them use vocabulary, which in turn can help that vocabulary ‘stick.’ If they are telling a story verbally, such as a bedtime story, and they use a word, you can mention synonyms. Like the example in this article, if the child uses the word “buy,” you can introduce the word “purchase.”

This article also explains more reasons to encourage kids to tell their own stories:

4 Benefits of kids telling their own stories

Method 4: Use kids’ novel interests to develop vocabulary

Who says kids have to learn vocabulary ‘by the book’? They can pick up new words in many places, including their current obsessions. This can be part of teaching words as ‘related groups,’ according to this article. Anyone with a kid may notice that they go through ‘phases’ of novel interests. This month it may be insects. Next month it may be Star Wars. The month after it could be dinosaurs or cars.

You can use these opportunities to explore vocabulary with kids at home. Or as teachers, ask kids to do language arts assignments that are based on topics they choose. This can enhance their motivation for the work.

Take our article on the Maker education movement, for instance. If a kid is into electronics and ‘making’ things, they can start their vocabulary learning to name the objects they are working with. Often, those words can have meaning in different contexts later on. There can be crossover of language into different subjects or for different needs.

So let’s take the word “microprocessor.” What does “micro” mean? Remember word morphology above? Ok, so then, what is the opposite of “micro”? It’s “macro”!

Kids may learn to “tinker” with objects in a Maker education space. But then they’ll later be able to use that word when referencing something like “tinkering” with a recipe in the kitchen. And so on.

To conclude: vocabulary learning can be engaging and fun

There’s no need to rely on memorization and spelling bee contests alone for vocabulary enhancement. Use the 4 tips above to help kids get a hold of vocabulary they will enjoy learning. This will help with interactive methods as well, since the students can talk about their words while using them.

See other articles in this series:

• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (1): understanding the fundamentals of media
• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (2): the elements of a news story
• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (3): learning to write news copy (part 1)
• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (3): learning to write news copy (part 2)
• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (4): learning to research and identify sources of information
• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (5): learning to critique the media and spot ‘fake news’
• Teaching kids how to start a newspaper (6): tips and resources for fact checking

In our past articles on this series, we’ve been covering the subject of teaching kids how to start a newspaper. Our focus has mainly been on the ‘hard news’ style of print publishing. We’ve covered a lot about producing – and thus recognizing – quality news. However, there is a side to journalism that does bring out a different style of writing and coverage. This comes in magazines and ‘features’ (more in-depth areas of newspapers).

There is just as much merit in saying that good journalism expands into magazine-style publications, as it does newspapers. This is because there is certainly an audience that likes to read periodicals, but isn’t always looking for breaking news. Plus, magazines and ‘feature sections’ of newspapers attract revenue in the same way for publishing companies.

And, to be honest, the kids in your class are probably more familiar with magazines than they are with hard news. So this lesson may be fun for them, since they’ll be able to apply its lessons to their own interest-based reading material.

So in this article, we’re going to teach kids about magazines and feature articles. Let’s get started!

Teach kids the differences between a newspaper, a magazine and a feature story

The first step, of course, is to know what a magazine and a feature story are, in comparison to a newspaper. We gave some tips on writing news copy in earlier lessons, but those tips may not always apply to magazine or feature writing. This is because the audience, style, timeliness and length are going to be different.

Magazines and feature articles are longer, and more in depth. Feature articles are what usually show up in magazines, though they can be found in newspapers as well. They have more creative freedom and aren’t as bound by the restrictions of ‘getting to the point fast.’ They can take their time, so to speak, to tell a story fully.

They also have broader inclusions of acceptable topics. The elements that make a news story are stringent, whereas the elements that make a magazine or feature story could still include those relevant factors, while also highlighting a new angle, with a more focused approach.

In writing news copy, we learned that ‘writing tight’ is key. This is to make room for advertisements. While making room for advertisements is still important in magazine publishing, it doesn’t always mean a lesser word count per article. Thus, the writing can include things like adjectives, if it adds to the enjoyment of reading the story. The aim here is more for ‘digest’ and ‘leisure’ reading, rather than finding out the news as fast as possible.

This article we found explains that there are 4 main elements that make a magazine different from a newspaper. To use their words, they are:

• Audience
• Content
• Distribution
• Design and layout

And this article goes into depth about how a journalist’s job is different when it comes to newspaper and magazines.

This PDF we found online highlights the types of feature articles, as well as great vocabulary to know when producing a feature or magazine article. It can also be used as a full lesson plan for teaching kids how to write a feature article.

This article explains with utmost clarity that feature stories are not just ‘softer’ stories. It also explains that the main difference has to do with writing style.

Use practice lessons to teach kids about magazines and features

Practice makes perfect! While you are teaching kids about how to start a newspaper, you can also teach them a new facet of journalistic writing: feature articles and magazine production.

Thankfully, there are some great resources ready-to-go for your lesson planning on this topic.

There is the PDF we linked to above, and these:

Magazine Production – Lesson (by Media Smarts)

Feature Writing Lesson Plans (by schooljournalism.org)

You can stick to one you like, or combine them, with your own additions and input, to teach magazines and feature article writing to your students.

Magazine and feature articles can be a fun way to teach kids about writing styles

As we brought up in our articles about writing news copy, there are different forms of writing styles. Kids in school may have been taught essay, book report or story writing in their English classes. But in the wider world that they’ll operate in after they graduate, they’ll soon realize the world doesn’t always write in those formats. But reading and being able to articulate in different styles can go a long way when putting ‘communication skills’ on a resume.

As mentioned above, kids are probably reading magazines already, or could certainly find a magazine on their interests. This may be a fun way to pretend to be a fashion writer, national geographic explorer or a Maker magazine contributor (see our article about Maker education to learn why kids may enjoy this topic).

In short, use their interests to start lessons on magazines and feature articles. In the end, they’ll be better equipped to communicate to new audiences, and to alter their writing style with a specific purpose in mind.

Science is fun when it’s applicable, and you can watch it happen before your eyes. One way to instil the idea that science is practical, is to teach kids about yeast and fermentation with food projects. Usually science chemistry lessons are taught in the kitchen with baking projects. But biology also happens in the kitchen with healthy foods like bread, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, ginger ale and kombucha. And, you don’t need an oven for most of these science projects. So they can happen more easily in classrooms with a few materials (and maybe a kettle or portable heating element).

In this three-part series we’ll give you ideas to teach fermentation kids about living microbes, biological multiplication, fungi, single-celled organisms, osmosis, ph levels and other ‘sciencey’ things with the projects we’ll mention below.

This subject may also lead into a health lesson on how yeast affects our bodies – both negatively and positively.

Let’s get started!

Teach kids about yeast growth with bread leaven and anaerobic fermentation

The most obvious place to start teaching kids about yeast is with bread, of course. How does that delicious flaky dough become so poofy? Through the active, living fungus that makes it so! In fact, you can see, without a microscope, all those air balloons that appear in the dough as the yeast produce a carbon dioxide byproduct.

Here are some lessons to pursue on the web about teaching kids about yeast with recipes like sourdough:

http://www.kidsdiscover.com/teacherresources/science-of-yeast-for-kids/ (get a starter on the lesson of yeast producing rising bread)

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-3-5/13436-science-project-is-it-alive/ (make a hypothesis and conclusion based on yeast bread experiments).

http://redstaryeast.com/science-yeast/yeast-experiments/ (learn how temperature and other environmental factors affect fermentation).

https://zerowastechef.com/2015/10/08/kitchen-science-for-kids-sourdough-starter-lesson-plan/ (show kids the difference between flat breads and rising breads, and why they’re different. Also get a history lesson on sourdough bread).

Teach kids about ph levels and acidity using fermented sauerkraut and kimchi

In our search to find resources on this subject, we found that the pickling of cabbage recipes like sauerkraut and kimchi brings in a lot of science vocabulary to teach kids.

In the sauerkraut and kimchi processes, we’re still dealing with anaerobic (i.e. low-oxygen surviving) bacteria. However, this time, they’re first going through osmosis. They are also living in salted water (brine). This is called lacto-fermentation. Not only that, but pickling this way has the aim of ‘bad’ bacteria dying off, while ‘good’ bacteria survive. All this results in lactic acid production, which means an acidic environment.for the surviving lactobacillus. And that brings us to the lesson on pH levels, among other things you could teach here.

Here are lessons on the subject, along with recipes:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p051.shtml#summary (a full-on science fair project with tons of info on “kimchi chemistry”)

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151022-the-secret-behind-kimichis-sour-taste (an interesting breakdown of how the DNA and microbes change among kimchi)

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/lab-rat/the-science-of-sauerkraut-bacterial-fermentation-yum/ (gives some info on how sauerkraut can go bad, too)

http://bodyecology.com/articles/acidic-foods-and-acid-forming-foods-do-you-know-the-difference (a lot of science on how acidic foods can make your body alkaline)

http://olykraut.com/blog/the-stages-of-sauerkraut-fermentation/ (a description of the stages of fermentation when making sauerkraut, full of that science lingo, but not too much)

(more on the stages of fermentation when pickling sauerkraut)

Here is a video on making sauerkraut (pickled cabbage):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueAVPxQVCac

And, from the same creators, here is a video on making ‘vegan kimchi’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HNTMFUiX-E

Here is a traditional kimchi recipe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTucCw1w6Ak

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series on teaching kids about dairy fermentation

We’re breaking this topic up into a 3 part series. In part 2, we’ll talk about teaching kids about dairy fermentation. Kids can make kefir, yogurt and cheese at home or in the classroom. But more importantly, they’ll learn how the yeast they’re ‘playing’ around with in these science projects can transform foods in different ways.