11 Plus Exams Forum

DS son reads and although I like the idea of word lists I can see why they seem boring and pointless! We’ve found an American site that does reading comprehensions that match to his ability and have decided that Boggle might be a good game for anagram/missing letter practice. Is there a kind of Call My Bluff style game, one word, three potential meanings only one is correct, type of game on the market? Any other fin nd quick ways of learning? DS is definitely more of a mathematician with a good vocabulary thT just needs further expansion.

Thanks for your post. I’m interested in this also. Boggle, that’s a good idea. I’m going to see if I can get that

There's Balderdash which is exactly what you're describing but I don't think it would be very useful. We used to play it at university sometimes and my memory is that the words are mostly ones that you would never need to know. I don't know if there's a junior version?

Developing a good listening vocabulary also helps (a lot more than you’d imagine!). Radio 4 in the kitchen/car. Unabridged audio books are great too - use the library or audible.com . Both help by introducing new words in context and exposing listeners to the speech patterns and grammar used by a variety of typically well-educated folk.

There is no requirement for word lists.

Encountering words in context while reading and then using them is the natural way to expand vocabulary. DG