vocabulary acquisition

[ginlindzey]

When I work with my youngest son on his homework and in particular on his spelling, I often think about why we don't do similar things with Latin.

I had the right idea last year with a vocabulary log, but I didn't execute it well nor could I think of when to grade it. That is, I grade warm-up spirals during the tests (I never take stuff like that home!) and perhaps I should try to grade BOTH during that time. I don't know. I'm not sure how to do what I want.

But let me explain what my son, a 3rd grader, did last year in 2nd grade and what he's doing this year for his spelling words. One day he'd find a pair of rhyming words, next day he'd alphabetize, next day write sentences, and the last day take a practice quiz with mom or dad. This year he's alphabetized; next night he sorted the words into a table under the headings of short a, short e, short i, short o, short u; and last night he basically gridded them like a crossword or playing scrabble. (I've forgotten what he's supposed to do with them tonight.)

HERE'S THE POINT: You can't learn vocab unless you use it. You can't. I tried a vocab log--a spiral with a list of things they could do with the words each week. It included things like copy them 3x each, make flashcards, divide and accent words, sort by declension into a table, sort by conjugation into a table, pick 5 nouns and describe them in Latin, pick 5 verbs and describe them in Latin, substitute vocab in a pattern sentence, and "decline" a noun in my model sentences.

On the describe in Latin, here's exactly what I had on the guide sheets:

Pick 5 NOUNS from your vocabulary list and describe them in simple Latin.
A noun is a person, place or thing. nOmen est persOna, locus aut rEs.
exemplI grAtia: fIlius, via, coquus, vIlla, mEnsa, cibus, mercAtor
fIlius est nOmen. fIlius est persOna.
via est nOmen. via est locus.
coquus est nOmen. coquus est persOna.
vIlla est nOmen. vIlla est locus.
mEnsa est nOmen. mEnsa est rEs.
cibus est nOōmen. cibus est rEs.
mercAtor est nOmen. mercAtor est persOna.

Pick 5 VERBS from your vocabulary list and describe them in simple Latin.
A verb shows action. verbum actiOnem dEmOnstrat.
A “be” verb links information or shows existence. verbum “est” coniUngit aut existentiam dEmOnstrat.
exemplI grAtia: dormit, intrat, respondet, pugnat, erat
dormit est verbum. dormit actiOnem dEmOnstrat.
intrat est verbum. intrat actiOnem dEmOnstrat.
respondet est verbum. respondet actiOnem dEmOnstrat.
pugnat est verbum. pugnat actiOnem dEmOnstrat.
erat est verbum “est”. erat coniUngit aut existentiam dEmOnstrat.

And here's the pattern sentence:

Substitute vocabulary in pattern sentences (more will be provided later).
______________ (nom. case) est in vIllA. _____________ is in the house.
exemplI grAtia: fIlius, mEnsa, mercAtor
fIlius est in vIllA. The son is in the house.
mEnsa est in vIllA. The table is in the house.
mercAtor est in vIllA. The merchant is in the house.

None of this is bad. The problem was that to enforce it I had to grade it all; I couldn't figure out when to grade it, most kids didn't do it, those who did mainly did it badly, and so I dropped it.

Sometimes it's worth dropping something that's not working and rethinking.

So I'm rethinking now. Here are some of the things that are wrong:

1) I didn't say EXACTLY what had to be done each night. I let them choose. BAD.
2) They would opt for the easy option: copy 3x or flashcards--the one that made it passive learning not active. USING the vocab would make it active.
3) I still don't know WHEN I'd grade it or how. BUT, this could be ideal homework. This could really help students internalize the vocab.

So, if anyone's out there reading this, I wouldn't mind striking up a discussion on this. Maybe I'll put this on a list. I just figured it would be too long to post.