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Have you ever noticed your learner trying to learn new vocabulary, spending lots of time and energy memorizing various definitions and then promptly forgetting them a few hours later? It's not their fault! It's because 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. This class is different! Rather than studying a random list of definitions in isolation, we will study vocabulary the way the human brain works best; 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬. In this class, we’ll study words in the context of their word families to see the relationships among words that come from a common base or root. 

Put simply, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺! No more frustrating memorization of lists of definitions and then trying in vain to remember them later. Rather, your learner will come away knowing how to figure out the meanings of words and their related words by finding their base or root, independently.

Each week we will start by examining an interesting vocabulary word. Together, we’ll work to identify that word’s base or root. From there, we will build and list other words formed from that base or root to see all the members of the word family and discuss the connections in meaning that the words share. We will also learn how to use a variety of resources to research a word’s origins, confirm its base, and discover related words. Studying bases is a very powerful, effective and efficient way to build vocabulary and equip learners with the skills to figure out new words they encounter in their reading and cross-curricular work.

Let’s look at an example: consider the word <mediocre>. On doing research into the word’s meaning and origins, we can see it stems from the base <medi> which forms the basis, or is a relative of, countless other words including <middle> <medium> <median> <intermediate> <intermediary> <mediate>, as well as multiple other words we can build by adding various suffixes to some of these including <middling> <medians> <intermediates> <intermediary><mediates><mediating>. We can even discover a relationship with words like <Medieval> and <Mediterranean>. Notice that all these words have some connection in meaning with the idea of being “in the middle,” or between something. With one base we’ve just covered 14 other words, and these are words you’ll find in math, history, AND geography classes! Check out the slide in the class video for a complete list of words we might build from this base - the total is 27.  We’ve just been able to cover 27 words - meaningfully -  in just a 30 minute class!

After each class I will post a screenshot of our work from that day to the class page so students can review and share their learning, and practice working with the words we’ve learned; using them in their writing, conversation, looking out for them in their reading, etc. This is the way to build meaningful vocabulary exponentially! 

Each week, we will discuss the meanings of a minimum of 10 related words and as many as 20-30 more, depending on the word, and on our time. 

Please note this list may change as I am always finding more new words that would work well for our learning! The ultimate aim is that by the end of the class your learner will be equipped with the knowledge to be able research words and generate lists of related words on their own.