How to increase vocabulary of 10-year-old DS?

[juneau]

DS1 will be sitting his 11+ next year and he's unfamiliar with many of the words that are coming up in practice VR tests. He's bright and reads a lot and is in the top set for English, but seeing what he's expected to know I'm just wondering how we're going to get him familiar with so many additional words in just 9 months. Does anyone have any ideas that don't involved just sitting and reading the dictionary???

We bought lots of "older" audio CDs for the car and I would pause them when an interesting word came up. One of the ones we had was the trilogy of His Dark Materials and I remember DS2 at the time (who would have been 7) being asked what he thought about the story, which would have run to 10+ CDs worth. He replied...."didn't understand any of it!"

juneau I was not intending to make you feel defensive. DS1, now 15, knew those sort of words aged 10. He read a lot (back then, not now!), listened to audio books and picked things up by speaking with DH and I. It may have been laziness on our parts, but we had stopped filtering our vocabulary by then to choose the simpler words.

That's not a false memory: DS's IQ was tested twice around that age and his word knowledge and spelling were both 18+.

If I had wanted DS to pass an entrance exam, and had a list of words I had wanted to make sure DS knew, I'd have subtly introduced them one word at a time when we were sitting down for dinner, or driving in the car, and asked him if he knew what they meant / how to spell them.

Other people have other ideas of how you could do this, but that's how I would have gone about it with my child, who was (still is!) very able.

I just realised you bought scrabble. My ds loves them, and plays almost every night with dh.

It's okay mmzz I'm not being defensive - I'm interested to hear about other parents' experiences and their DC's learning and what is normal and not. Your DS sounds like he was extremely advanced at this age, which is great. I always had a huge vocabulary too, but I was a real bookworm and I never played computer games - such as they were in the 1980s when I was that age.

They don't have to be able to use the words in speech, they need to be able to recognise the written word, and have a good idea of the meaning. If they are reading widely and at a level that provides some challenge then they will learn new words, which can often be understood up from the context.

Oh iceweasel they do have to know how to use them in speech otherwise they risk making an absolute arse of themselves as I did this week.

Genuinely have never heard Pouffe used in conversation. Went to a shop to buy one and had to ask the sales assistant where they were. Took her a while to figure out what I was on about.

Turns out its not pronounced POWFEH.

Have had similar in the past with other words that have slipped my mind for now.

They don't need to be using them in their own speech or know how to pronounce them to do well in the 11 plus, recognising them in the written form is more important. If they know words by what they sound like in speech but if they have an unusual spelling then they might not recognise the word in the test.

Was meant to be slightly lighthearted iceweasel.

But at the end of the day if you're looking to spend time improving vocabulary- you may as well learn how to use the words in context.

Oh ok .

My post was mainly in response to the OP's post where they mentioned that they didn't know any Year 5s who use those words in their speech, despite reading widely. My DC is an avid reader and has an expansive vocabulary, as in understanding written words, both in isolation and in context, and using them correctly in writing. He uses a fraction of them in his speech. He hasn't spent any time specifically improving his vocabulary though, he just reads a lot.

You’d be surprised by the vocabulary you can learn from Warhammer books! DS has a quite spectacular vocabulary, mostly from role playing game rulebooks and late 20th century comic non-fiction (eg The Book Of Heroic Failures).

Other things I’d recommend are Terry Pratchett - either children or adult books. Lemony Snicket - with the caveat that when a word is glossed as “which here means” he’s not always telling the dictionary definition. Frances Hardinge’s Fly By Night, The Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy, and HG Wells’ The War Of The Worlds - which I read to my DC. Artemis Fowl is probably better for vocabulary than Alex Rider I think.

Is he too old for the Just William books? Some of the vocab in there is very advanced (I still remember learning pugnacious, credulous and irascible from them).

mmzz's comments chime with me. DS, now an adult, knew those sorts of words at 10. Great reader, but I would say he picked up a lot just from listening to DH and I discussing things and joining in conversations on the school run, over dinner etc. All those hours of conversations every day really add up. Of course the sophistication of conversations children are exposed to on a daily basis will vary, perhaps depending on whether parents are home from work and the family eat together and the number / age range of siblings.

I wouldn't worry about him reading Alex Rider. DS used to read Harry Potter, Alex Rider, Artemis Fowl, Lemony Snicket, Terry Pratchett and Robert Muchamore. He probably read so much because of my "books don't count" approach for pocket money purposes, he could always have any book he wanted and his pocket money too, so of course he always bought books.

Definitely agree with mmzz and LadyLapsang's opinion of Sophisticated conversation. But also think it's not only thing it can affect children's vocabulary. Unfortunately I can never have sophisticated conversation In English myself, simply because I only have limited vocab as a non native. But fortunately, it didn't seemed to have affected my ds.

I also think the background noise children are exposed to has a big impact. If, for example, you have the Today programme on at home every morning as people are getting ready for work / school, children will hear interesting content on such a variety of subject matter it is sure to spark discussion.

On the subject of sophistication, interesting article here comparing the linguistic standard of presidential speeches using the Flesch-Kincaid scale:

www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/feb/12/state-of-the-union-reading-level

If you haven't try reading 'Just William' books to him or get the audio books. They use a wider range of language - as well as being funny - than most modern books.

Lemony Snicket is on Netflix - if you have it - and he doesn't want to read the books.

As a slight aside with the 11 plus exams (DD took it last year) - if the papers are multiple choice - one thing they do need to learn is guess if they don't know something and to keep moving through the questions.

One of the practice papers used 'The Phantom Tollbooth' . I think that would be interesting to read too.

"Unfortunately, he doesn't like writing stories or poetry - he only does that if he's been set it as homework. What he likes doing is playing football/rugby/cricket or playing computer games."

Think before you rage - is an academically selective school the best place for a child that only enjoys sport and computer games? WOuldn't you be better off looking for a school that fits him rather than trying to cram vocabulary into his head so he fits a school?

He didn't like the Lemony Snicket books - he read a couple in Y4, but then abandoned the series. I'll take a look at Just William - thanks. He has the first Artemis Fowl, but doesn't seem keen to read it - so I'll try to encourage him. He tried 'Truckers' by Terry Pratchett and didn't like it. I've never read 'The Hitchhikers guide', but I'll take a look. It always seemed a bit silly to me, but what do I know? I do, however, have the Today programme on at breakfast time! As for sophisticated conversation - well I try ... obviously need to try harder.

Word analysis bit IXL.

Use spelfabet for spelling but dealing with Greek and Latin words has introduced a few new words.

Radio 4 in background, watch documentaries on TV or things like QI adult programing basically or better quality you tube things - extra history etc. and reading or audio books if they are not big readers.

We found The works good for cheaper audio CD of Terry Pratchett books and The Hitchhikers guide though The Book people are also a good place to look for cheaper audio CDs.

If you are looking for audio books, then audible is the best i found. Except Pottermore was the best (in other words: cheapest) for Harry Potter.

I used to play audio books to the DC in the car on the school run when they were at primary school and the first couple of years of secondary. The DC used to love them - the Wolf Brother series especially, but also Artemis fowl, Harry Potter, Tom's Midnight Garden and so many others. They used to sit there is silence taking in every word, and not wanting to get out of the car when we got home.

I haven't thought about those days for ages, but now that I am, I really miss the innocence of the times.

he can play Free Rice
an online game which increases your vocabulary, and every answer you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to feed people in famine-stricken areas, so there's a massive incentive to stcik with it and fill a bowl or sack with grains.

Also, I used to read to Dc every night, but coming up to 11+ when I read I'd stop at every unusual word and check if they understood and ask them to guess what it meant from the ocntext. I was amazed by how many they didn't know but didn't ask about. Once I started stopping to ask, they started stopping me at other times and asking what words meant and their vocanulary increased massively.

Also, a fun ritual is to have breakfast with the newspapers one weekend morning every week. Get your favourite paper and give him First News or The i or The Week. I think The i (easy Independent) is brilliant. Then chat about what's in the papers. Whether his paper has a different angle on a story from yours. DC are now addicted to current affairs due to this, and know far more than I do. And if you go on a train journey, pick up the free Metro and Standard for him as well as for you and chat about the stories.

Bananagrams is a fun variation on Scrabble

Also, I found my Dc were constantly asking what words meant and when I asked them where they heard them it was always on the Simpsons. The Simpsons was a fantastic resource for them learning a big vocabulary, loads of artistic references, classical music etc. There's even a book about maths in The Simpsons. It's a treasure trove of painless education.

Use some difficult words yourself. When your child looks confused explain them. This week my daughter 11 learned 'perfunctory' and yesterday she used it. If language is not used, it is forgotten.

The Red Hot Root Word books are good for vocabulary development

www.prufrock.com/Red-Hot-Root-Words-Mastering-Vocabulary-With-Prefixes-Suffixes-and-Root-Words-Book-2-P210.aspx