Get Excited About Language!

 I LOVE ......

So, here I was at at grade level meeting online to talk about literacy with fellow teachers in my supervisory union. We were discussing the use of a certain vocabulary program we are using and then we just started talking about vocabulary in general. Then, one of my favorite colleagues said:" How do we get kids excited about words?" Well, that's easy....for me at least. 

It is easy for me because as a child my parents spoke to us with proper English. They corrected our grammar. They told us to look up the big words that they used if we asked them what they meant (in the Dictionary). Then they encouraged us kids to play all sorts of word games when we were bored. We played Scrabble and Boggle and made up poems.  We sang lots of songs from musicals and read a lot of books. As I got older, I started to complete crosswords and the Word Scramble puzzles in the newspaper. 

Now that I am a teacher. Well, the poor kids in my class get to experience the joy and fun I have when using language in my lessons. I don't shy away from big words or "old fashioned" sayings. I challenge them in Boggle and Bananagrams.  Boy does it irritate them when I beat  them, but they keep coming back for more and are more interested in applying themselves in each subsequent game. I also push them to embellish their writing sometimes, just to get them jazzed about using words or phrases that they normally would not use. As long as it is in the right context and used the right way- what's the harm? It gets them thinking outside the norm. I also make puns and use wordplay whenever the opportunity arises. Generally, I guess you could say that my classroom is "language heavy." It's how I roll. 

So, that is how I get my students excited about words and vocabulary. How about you?