Going into the Vocabulary Bowl last year, no one could have predicted how seriously Obehi Obano would take word learning. A typical eighth grader, Obehi had to work extra hard in math to make the honor roll, and listed among her favorite activities hanging out with her friends, watching "Full House," and going to the beach. But, when it came to vocabulary, "typical" Obehi was not. After she got hooked on the game, she mastered more than 5,000 words during the school year. That's more than 600 words per month, 150 per week, and an impressive 20 per day. Continue reading...
I recently ran across a quote in a "This I Believe" list on Beers' blog supporting the self-selected reading model, and it reminded me to question our collective faith in Lexile and other measures of readability. The resistance to self-selected reading goes hand in hand with the resistance to giving students the power to be in charge of their own vocabulary enrichment. In both cases, the resistance is a result of the faulty assumption that if a teacher is not in charge of the learning, then it must not be taking place. Continue reading...
On the latest installment of the Slate podcast Lexicon Valley, I look into the origins of the slang term humdinger, which hit it big around the turn of the 20th century to refer to someone or something remarkable or impressive. Continue reading...
Maybe it's the newly chilly air, or the dwindling daylight, or the thrilling prospect of costumes and candy. Whatever the reason, each autumn brings a harvest of seasonal neologisms, word blends, and commercial coinages as colorful as the falling leaves. Continue reading...
Last night, the five Democratic candidates for president squared off in the first of their televised debates, moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton and her four challengers, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee, stated their cases to primary voters, and their rhetoric was crystallized in the vocabulary items they used. But what were their significant "vocabulary moments"? Continue reading...
Do you like sowing your wild oaks? Do you sometimes feel like a social leopard? Could you use a new leaf on life? Or do you just enjoy the infinite creativity of the English language, even when people make mistakes? If you answered yes to any of the above, you need to check out Robert Alden Rubin's terrific new book Going to Hell in a Hen Basket: An Illustrated Dictionary of Modern Malapropisms. Continue reading...
Have you encountered a transition counselor lately? I hope not. In the real world, a transition counselor is a diabolical euphemism for a profession made famous by George Clooney's character in Up in the Air: someone who fires people for a living. But in Matt Kindt's extraordinary conspiracy thriller Mind MGMT, the term has an even darker sense: assassin. Continue reading...
This year's Vocabulary Bowl has just kicked off, and already one school has big dreams. A teacher celebrates his school's strong early showing with a video. We challenge you to watch it without smiling. Continue reading...
Social studies teachers: For a current-events mini lesson on the historic Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement, check out our 10-word Vocabulary List, drawn from five key sentences in the New York Times article announcing the agreement. Continue reading...
Teachers, administrators, and students, it's go time! Following the September "preseason," the second annual Vocabulary Bowl officially kicks off on October 1st, 2015 and will run through April 30, 2016. If you aren't signed up to play yet, this is a great time to get in on the action. Continue reading...