It makes me feel clever!

Hello Colleague

Here’s how we can help our pupils to feel clever. When we come across a new word that we know is important for our pupils to learn, we can say:

That’s an interesting word, I wonder where it comes from?

This question is the starting point for an exciting journey about the word’s origins. We are particularly interested in vocabulary that our pupils might not have come across before. And in particular, words that open up the gateways to the beautify of the individual subjects.

If we want our pupils to know more and remember more, then one of the most efficient ways of doing this is to expose them to the technical vocabulary and subject specific terminology of the subjects.

Etymology or the origin of a word is a key which can unlock the subject. This is because the subject specific vocabulary often has ancient roots, usually Latin and Greek. There is a temptation to think that these are too difficult for pupils to get to grips with and to use confidently. This should not be the case.

Pupils enjoy doing difficult work, as long as we support them to get there. All pupils are entitled to be exposed to the richness of vocabulary including where those words come from. If we are not prepared to do this, we are denying them the chance to get to grips with beautiful ideas.

However, their learning is likely to be deeper if they know that the word comes from two Greek words: ‘isos’ means equal and ‘sceles’ means legs. When we do this, it gives our pupils a bigger mental picture of what isosceles means. We are building the story of the word. Sometimes people tell me that this is too difficult.

Yet there are children as young as four who are ‘fluent’ in dinosaurs. Many take great pleasure in pronouncing the names of different dinosaurs. Some even know that the word dinosaur comes from the ancient Greek, meaning scary or terrible (deinos) lizard (sauros).

What happens when they are making connections between the root or roots of a word, is that they are creating a larger picture of meaning. In doing this, they are making links to the long-term memory, because it is another layer or a story which connects back to the word.

The schools that are doing this are finding that it’s the children with the greatest language deficit that are making the greatest gains in their learning.

When they ask the pupils why they are getting on so well with it, they say things like ‘I like finding this stuff out’ and ‘It makes me feel clever!’

I’ve done a short recording on helping pupils to learn the curriculum, through ‘High Challenge, Low Threat’, I hope you find it helpful.

Until next time

Mary