About this activity
Fourteen tier-2 academic words with plain definitions: enormous, very big; curious, wanting to know more; fortunate, lucky; exhausted, very tired; peculiar, strange or odd; reluctant, not wanting to; fragile, breaks easily; observe, to watch closely; persuade, to convince someone; sufficient, enough. These are the words that cross every subject and rarely get taught in any of them.
How to use it in a session
Ask for a sentence, not the definition. A definition can be recited without meaning, and a sentence cannot — a student who says the box was fragile so we carried it carefully has it. Pair each word with the plain synonym the card supplies and then ask when you would use the harder one, since enormous and very big are not interchangeable in tone. Ten minutes covers four or five words properly.
What to listen for
Listen for the word being used with the right connotation. Peculiar means strange with a hint of amusement, and a student who uses it for something frightening has the definition and not the flavour. Watch reluctant and sufficient, which are the two most abstract here and the two most likely to be recited rather than understood.
Carrying it home
These words appear in books above a child's talking level. Substituting one into ordinary conversation — you look exhausted — gives the word a real context and takes no time at all.
Questions
- What are tier-2 words?
- High-frequency words that cross subjects — enormous, observe, reluctant — as opposed to everyday words or subject-specific technical terms. They carry most of the meaning in academic text and are rarely taught explicitly.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all fourteen cards play with no account and no card.
- What grades is this for?
- Third through sixth, where academic vocabulary begins to outpace conversational vocabulary.