Learning objective:
- to expand students’ receptive vocabulary (words we recognise and understand but rarely use) and productive vocabulary (words we use in our writing and speech)
- to turn receptive vocabulary into productive vocabulary
Developing students’ vocabulary works best (and perhaps only) when words are used purposefully and in context. Building word banks to describe characters in class readers/set texts is invaluable in supporting analysis – and in building Level 2 vocabulary.
Focus on a key character and invite the class to suggest words that describe them. Note the suggestions on the board, grouping any synonyms. Use an online thesaurus, displayed at the front of the class, to add to synonym groups.
Explain the meaning of, and model usage of, each word added to the word bank.
Your board might look something like this:
The same tactic can be used to develop descriptive writing or descriptive elements of narrative, eg gothic stories.
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