- Foster a reading habit. First and most obvious, parents should encourage their children to read. At a young age, reading aloud is vital so that parents can help them with pronunciation, comprehension and more, but as children grow older, reading should continue to be a nightly habit. The more children read, the more skilled they will become at it, and the more excited they will be about continuing to read more difficult material.
- Pay attention to their spelling lists and bring those words into conversation. Most elementary students have spelling tests regularly. Parents can use those word lists as opportunities to introduce words into everyday conversation. Allowing children to decode words’ meaning when used in context is a good way to strengthen their vocabulary “muscles” and broaden their word use.
- For younger children, pause during stories to ask what hard words mean. Parents who read aloud to children or have them read to them should point out bigger, more difficult words and ask their children to attempt to define them. If they aren’t able to derive a word’s meaning from context, parents can quickly define it and have their children repeat the sentence.
- When new words come up, point out essential components. Children in school don’t always appreciate those grammar lessons, but when put to use in everyday language, they’ll start to understand how those prefixes and suffixes can help them understand other words with different roots. Pre is a prefix that means before. Knowing this, children can more easily understand the meaning of words like precaution and precede.
- Explore other forms of learning. While reading is a valuable activity, the reality is, today’s generation appreciates digital media as a way to consume information. There are thousands of podcasts out there on all different topics, and many are hosted by intelligent people with broad vocabularies. Older children might enjoy this form of entertainment and learning. Screens shouldn’t dominate children’s lives, but there’s no question that many programs—from dramas to documentaries to feature films—are educational and smart and help children see people speaking, communicating and using words in new and innovative ways.
“Children who build their vocabularies are more likely to become stronger, more fluent readers and better students,” says Huntington. “Parents should make words a part of daily family life, both by embracing reading and literature and by having conversations and encouraging their children to explore their interests and ideas in books, articles and other media.”
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Huntington Learning Center, Community Contributor
