11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi ...I m looking for some good ideas for improving vocabulary which can help in CEM VR paper. Any books, documentary, special topics or movies ...

May I know what is CEM VR paper?

AVI25 - I find the easiest way DC learn and retain vocabulary is wide reading of good material. We have tried teaching new words in other ways but it has been more difficult to retain, unless we make it a point to use those in everyday language with them. DD1 can recollect where and when she came across a new word for the first time even a couple of years after. With reading, it is often in context and used appropriately. For example, me trying to teach her "solitary" independent of any reading material, meant she was using it wrongly... e.g. She was solitary as she had no one to play with (using it instead of lonely).

We also spend some time, when energy allows, reading to them books that they wouldn't readily pick themselves e.g. Wind in the Willows which has some tough vocabulary. It is taking us some time to get through the book as we use it to build comprehension and new word lists too.

Others have suggested audiobooks which we have just started doing and again, we are mainly using this to entice them reading books they otherwise might not want to read, and even if they don't pick those books, we can still build the vocabulary in a very casual fun way.

One tip I would suggest which we have begun to use to improve my younger dds vocabulary amongst the strategies by her school is simply to turn the text on the TV programmes she is watching live.Its not possible for recorded programmes but it means when she is watching live programmes as she is hard of hearing in one ear anyway she has to read the text.Subconsciously this makes a difference as she is reading whilst she is enjoying her TV.Its something everyone can do and a sacrifice we parents can make even if it spoils the pictures a little.

May I know what is CEM VR paper?

Maybe look around the site a little?

Start as young as possible (but any time is better than never).

Read picture books with tiny tots. Read with older kids. Let children see you reading and enjoying it. Listen to Radio 4. Listen to audio books (good for everyone, even moreso if the parents don't have a good standard of English themselves, regardless of where they grew up).

Eat meals together, without tv or screens. Talk! Discuss issues of the day.

Avoid tv programmes where characters speak with a limited vocabulary, poorly articulated. Likewise, choose songs carefully.

Hearing unfamiliar words is a good prompt to understanding how they are used and what they mean. Look words up in a dictionary if the meaning is unclear. Deciphering a written word becomes a bit easier if you have come across it as a spoken word at some stage. This applies to all of us, forever.

Read this:
http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles ... -children/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;