Learning Language One Noun at a Time

I'm sure if you have a toddler you can attest to fact that these wee ones ask the same question over and over. So my daughter has 3 questions that she asks everyone she meets/interacts with.

I brought her to my school (my work) the other day for our annual field day. As she met people in the hall she would ask, "What's that (pointing to some object)?" or "What are you doing?" or "Where's your home?"

I started to think more about these questions...here's my take on each one:


What's that?
She's been asking think question since she first started stringing a couple words together (at about 12-13 months). This question is handy- this is how she learns her nouns. She asks what something is and we tell her. This question also helps her to create a meaningful interaction with someone- if she asks a questions, she's going to (hopefully) get a response. And my social daughter loves this.

What are you doing?
This question has many variations: What are your toes doing? What is the man doing? What are the kids doing? I especially love this question. This is how she's learning new verbs all the time! Every time she asks this questions she learns types of verbs. Momma is wiggling her toes.The man is working. The kids are splashing in the water.

What I love about these two questions is that she asks them ALL the time ALL day long. It's so interesting to see how she's developing word knowledge day by day. And how her questioning patterns are helping her learn words and the relationships between words.

Where's your home?
My daughter started asking the question over the past month. I'm not sure why she started asking this question. But I think she realized that people live in different places, that she lives in Oakland. Maybe it's because she knows that some of her cousins live nearby and some live in DC or Chicago. It's interesting because it this question has a lot to do identity and the essence of who someone is- where your home? Where do you belong? People are never really sure how to answer this question. I love to hear how people respond.

I also think my toddler loves to ask questions because she's extremely social. Questions help her to interact with the people in her world- her most favorite thing!

While my daughter may annoy some with her very repetitive questions- I marvel at how she chooses her questions careful to get at the essential things in language and life- where, what, how...I'm sure why will be next in her line of questioning!


What questions have your kids ask over and over?

Hope you're having a great week!

Teaching Tipsters: Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

Kids need to know a lot of words to be successful in school. It is estimated that materials that schoolchildren read include a total of 100,000 different words! That's a crazy amount of words. Kids learn about 3,000-4,000 words every year, and they learn these words in a lot of different ways. Students pick up a lot of words without explicit teaching- through read alouds, independent wide reading, building word consciousness (awareness) in the class, through conversations, etc... But explicit teaching is important to build your student's basic reading vocabulary.

What is Explicit Vocabulary Instruction?

Intentional, Explicit Instruction Research indicates that the intentional, explicit teaching of specific words and word-learning strategies can both add words to students’ vocabularies (see Tomeson & Aarnoutse, 1998; White et al., 1990) and improve reading comprehension of texts containing those words (see McKeown, Beck, Omanson, & Pople, 1985; Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986). Whereas intentional instruction can benefit all students, it is especially important for students who have not developed the decoding and comprehension skills necessary for wide reading. For these students in particular, intentional, explicit teaching of specific word meanings and of word-learning strategies is especially important (National Reading Panel, 2000). Specific word instruction refers to vocabulary instruction that enables students to develop in-depth knowledge of important words – that is, to know words well enough to access information about them from memory as they read.

Every year I dabble in vocabulary instruction. But I want to make sure next year there's a specific plan for vocabulary instruction for all my intervention groups and for our classrooms school wide. I know how valuable it is for the kids, especially English Language Learners. This past year I read aloud a book once a week in my intervention groups. I  pre-taught words before the read aloud, and just with that simple forethought I saw my students word interest and knowledge grow. It was very exciting! I want to be even more intentional next year and have use a specific method for teaching pre-selected words weekly.

Michael Graves, vocabulary instruction guru extraordinaire, suggests explicitly teaching 10 words a week, in additional to other vocabulary building activities integrated into the teaching day.



I've gathered some explicit vocabulary methods online:

Method 1

Marzano's Six Steps of Explicit Academic Vocabulary Instruction

(check out the link for more details and awesome vocab lists!)

Dr. Marzano describes a six-step process in the instruction of vocabulary (Building Academic Vocabulary).  The first three steps are to assist the teacher in direct instruction.  The last three steps are to provide the learner practice and reinforcement.

Step 1:  The teacher will give a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

Step 2:  The teacher will ask the learner to give a description, explanation, or example of the new term in his/her own words.

Step 3:  The teacher will ask the learner to draw a picture, symbol, or locate a graphic to represent the new term.

Step 4:  The learner will participate in activities that provide more knowledge of the words in their vocabulary notebooks.

Step 5:  The learner will discuss the term with other learners.

Step 6:  The learner will participate in games that provide more reinforcement of the new term.

Method 2

Early Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners
1. Choose three to five words from a story.
2. Preview the words, using definitions the student can understand.
3. Read the text (as a read aloud, shared or guided reading).
4. Put the words in context.
5. Give an example in a different context.
6. Ask students to provide their own examples.

Method 3
The STAR Model (see more detail here)
1. Select
2. Teach
3. Activate/Analyze/Apply
4. Revisit

Method 4
This is a method by Michael Graves, one of my favorite vocabulary experts in the field of teaching reading:
1. Define the words
2. Use them in context
3. Give students opportunities to contribute what they know about the words
4. Display taught words predominately in classroom
5. Review and rehearse the words in a variety of ways (games, chants, listening activities etc...)

Each one of these methods has its place in the teaching of vocabulary explicitly- and they're all similar to each other. Method 1, Marzano's method, seems a little rigid to me, but I know a lot of people like it for teaching academic vocabulary. I like that in Method 2 the words are taken from a text that the class is reading together. I think this is very powerful. Method 3 is simple, and simple is good. And finally, Method 4 is the general, but I feel like the most practical for me to use on a day-to-day basis.

I know that with a school filled with English Language Learners, vocabulary instruction must come to the forefront of my teaching. I am looking forward to being more systematic next year with my explicit vocabulary instruction- I know is will really benefit my students.

Link to these AMAZING online resources:

• Scholastic's Lesson Plan for Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
• A Good Overview on the Research of Vocabulary Instruction
• Vocabulary Instruction for English Language Learners
• How Systematic Vocabulary Instruction Can Close the Literacy Gap
• Reading Rocket's Developing Academic Vocabulary
• Integrated Vocabulary Instruction- Complete Packet of Ideas

I was inspire to write this post after reading Five-Day Plan for Developing Breadth of Vocabulary via Storybook Reading on Vocabulogic. A wonderful post, and an equally lovely blog!!

If you're a teacher, how do you explicit teach vocabulary in the classroom? Do you prefer any one of these four methods, or do you favor another method altogether? How else to you integrate vocabulary instruction into your day?

If you're an interventionist/reading specialist, how do you weave vocabulary learning into intervention?

If you're a parent, how do you find yourself teaching new words to your kids? I'd love to know!

Bridging the Widening Vocabulary Gap with TV

I went to the new Jane Eyre movie last night with my mom and sister. I was not much of a reader when I growing up, but for some reason I loved reading Jane Eyre my senior year of high school. I downloaded it onto my Kindle (for free!) when I got home from the movie, and started reading it aloud to my husband. The writing is beautiful (yet complex), using quite sophisticated (and dated) language.

Again, I was not a reader growing up. My mom said that I was a bit behind in learning how to read. I didn't gobble up series books or carry a book around with me as a kid. I was too busy playing, I suppose. Last night I was impressed with my childhood self. How did I comprehend that complex novel? How did I understand all of those words? I guess I did well because my mom used good vocabulary when speaking with me, I usually read some of what was assigned to me in school, I understood concepts well, and I had a lot of books read to me when I was young....and that was just enough to help me get by.

Knowing a lot of words and having the ability to to figure out unknown words is essential to reading well. Many of us are lucky enough to come from homes that know this: Words are spoken purposefully. Words are taught explicitly. Wordplay abounds. But all kids are not so lucky. Even many darn good parents, who want the best for their child in every way possible, don't know about the value of teaching and learning words. And the challenge is, how do we teach kids without a hearty vocabulary enough words once they get to school? How do we catch them up to speed and bridge the vocabulary gap??

I'm in love with this new blog Vocabulogic. It's a treasure trove of valuable resources all about vocabulary, with articles written by the most known and trusted vocabulary researchers. I found an article, Vocabulary for Preschoolers: The Martha Speaks Program (Biemiller), that has some good ideas about bridging this gap.

This article mentions using the Marta Speaks TV to improve students' vocabulary. I checked out the Martha Speaks TV program on PBS, and I'm loving it! Anyone can watch all of the episodes for free online.  Did you catch that? It's free! Hey parents- show these to your preschoolers! Hey teachers- use these as centers in your K-1 classroom! I know I certainly would. I love the way the program teaches vocabulary. The programs are engaging, and are proven to improve kids' vocabulary.

Read Alouds Online? Check out StoryBookOnline!

I love love love Read Alouds. Here's why:

• Read Alouds are enjoyable (entertaining) for kids of all ages
• They encourage a love of reading- who wouldn't love cuddling up and hearing a good story?
• Kids are able to listen to text above their reading level which helps them to learn new vocabulary and improve listening comprehension
• Reading Alouds improve fluency. When kids hear competent readers read, they learn how to read out loud well and began to mimic the master reader's expression, intonation, rate, phrasing, etc... 
• Read Alouds engage students that struggle with reading 
• Reading a chapter book (non picture book), can help transitional readers build confidence- so they feel ready to tackle chapter books independently
• They widen students' perspectives and build background knowledge
• Read Alouds are especially essential for non-native speakers for all the reasons mentioned above
• They are an excellent way to teach/introduce a complex subject. I especially love using read alouds to teach middle/high schoolers about history. There are moving picture books about Hiroshima, the Japanese Internment in the US, affects of radiation, civil rights, slavery, etc...

Check out Storyline Online to hear quality picture books read by members of the screen actors guild. I discovered this site a couple of months ago. My students like using this site at home to listen to the books online. Many of my students' parents do not speak English, so this is a great way for them to build their fluency, background knowledge, and vocabulary.


Here's a couple way to use this site:

• You can sit with your student/child as they listen to these books online. Then you can have a conversation about what they read. What did the characters learn? Did this remind them of another book (why?)? What was the most important part of the story? What questions do you have after reading?
• If you're a teacher, you can use this as a listening center in your classroom.
• Have your child/student listen to these books independently. Talk to them about the stories afterwards. 
• Have your child/students read the stories multiple times.
• Turn the volume off, and have your child/students retell the story in their own words.
• Turn the captions on; this helps with word learning! Seeing the words at the bottom of the screen AND hearing them read is an excellent way to build a student's vocabulary.
• Use the provided activities to extend learning.

What are your favorite books to read aloud?

Read On!

Bountiful Benefits of Biligualism

I came across the website ScienceDaily.com recently. I immediately began saving links to articles that were blog-worthy (and there were so many!). I am no science junky- but these recent studies revealed so much about language learning and bilingualism.

Most of my students know both Spanish and English, yet instead of seeing that knowledge as an asset, many of my students act like knowing Spanish is a deficit. Just today I had a student claim that he never wants to speak Spanish at home (his parents only speak Spanish)- aye aye aye! Oh how I wish I could speak Spanish well! He's so lucky, and he's yet to realize it (he's only in 2nd grade, after all)!

As the excerpts below point out, becoming bilingual encourages you to see the world differently. I completely agree. The little that I know of Spanish (I can hold a casual conversation, albeit rife with grammatical and word choice errors), I am constantly pushed to see the world from a different culture's perspective. I also feel like my knowledge of Spanish has helped me better to understand English root words, suffixes, prefixes, verb tense and conjugations, etc... Knowing Spanish has also makes me a much better teacher; using cognates in teaching builds meaningful connections for my students.

I get my 20-minute Spanish practice in daily when I drop my little one off at daycare. I have finally mastered the past tense and I'm able to say she slept? (it only took me a year!). I need to continue my bilingual efforts; I'm eager to boost my memory and cognition abilities! How about you?

Read On! And check out the links below--

Excerpts from- Bilinguals See the World in a Different Way, Study Suggests

And you don't need to be fluent in the language to feel the effects -- his research showed that it is language use, not proficiency, which makes the difference.

Most people tend to focus on how to do things such as order food or use public transport when they learn another language to help them get by, but this research has shown that there is a much deeper connection going on.

"As well as learning vocabulary and grammar you're also unconsciously learning a whole new way of seeing the world," said Dr Athanasopoulos. "There's an inextricable link between language, culture and cognition

Excerpts from- Exposure To Two Languages Carries Far-Reaching Benefits

"It's often assumed that individuals who've learned multiple languages simply have a natural aptitude for learning languages," said Viorica Marian, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northwestern University. "While that is true in some cases, our research shows that the experience of becoming bilingual itself makes learning a new language easier."

And they believe the bilingual advantage is likely to generalize beyond word learning to other kinds of language learning, including learning new words in one's own language and a very basic ability to maintain verbal

Second Language Acquisition: It Takes Time

As a reading specialist in East Oakland, I work primarily with students that are struggling with language acquisition. A lack of English language knowledge tends to be the most common deficit. Secondly, many of my students do not have access to books and do not read often- which continues to keep them back. When my students' knowledge of  English sounds/patterns/words grow (in concert with a toolbox full of learned reading skills), their reading usually takes off. Makes sense, right? Yes, I have several other students that have visual/auditory processing issues- which are different issues (and hard to sort out especially when they are ALSO learning English!). But again, most of my students need intensive and explicit language and vocabulary instruction. It's hard to read and make sense of the words, when you don't know any of the words and their meaning to start with!

I like this snippet from an article on everythingesl.net (a great site, with great resources for esl/el teachers)-

Stages of Second Language Acquisition by Judie Haynes

It takes students from 4-10 years to achieve cognitive academic language proficiency in a second language. Student at this stage will be near-native in their ability to perform in content area learning. Most ELLs at this stage have been exited from ESL and other support programs. At the beginning of this stage, however, they will need continued support from classroom teachers especially in content areas such as history/social studies and in writing. 

Language Acquisition in Babies

I have a toddler whose language ability is beginning to skyrocket. It's so intriguing to watch her, at 16 months, manipulate sounds and form meaning with those sounds on a daily basis. I often try to figure out how and where she picks up her language.

Talkin up a storm!

For example, several months back she started repeating te-eh-go or de-eh-go, we weren't quite sure what she was saying. Through sleuthing attempts, and after talking with her day care providers, I realized she was singing "Diego" from Dora the Explorer- a TV program that an older kid at her day care is obsessed with. He would sing the Diego incessantly, in hopes to watch the program, and my daughter began to mimic him. This same process happened a few weeks ago with her saying "Oh nah nah" for everything. We wondered what she was saying. And again, after a little digging, our home day care provider has a 15-year-old who likes to watch music videos on YouTube. We figured out that my daughter has picked up "Oh nah nah" from Rihanna's song (not entirely appropriate for a baby!), What's My Name? (Oh Na Na). What I find intriguing about these 2 examples is that in both of these cases my daughter's language acquisition was linked to music.

She has picked up a lot of other words from social experiences, including, agua, this, that, what is it?, doggie, and so on. But she her language acquisition seems faster and more accurate when the word is linked to music. Now, this is just my observation as a mother. I'm not basing this on anything scientific. I wonder, have any of you had similar experiences?

I came across this video from TED TV on a friend's blog. As a reading specialist and a mom, I was immediately interested in Deb Roy's study. He video recorded his family's interactions with his son from ages 0-3 with an end goal to study his son's language development. It's completely fascinating; he documents every word and sound uttered by his son and tracks how it morphs and develops.


It's fascinating to watch a child's language develop. Do you have any anecdotes from a student, child, or relative to share?

Read On!