Key Words and Additional Vocabulary Activities Suggested activities for reviewing and recycling words Key words from the entire book (in alphabetical order) Key words listed by unit (in alphabetical order)

 

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Suggested activities for reviewing and recycling words

1. Students create their own dictionaries with their own student-friendly definitions in English or in their home language. These should not be dictionary definitions. For example, business = buying and selling; building = house. Students can also use sketches and translations—both are excellent memory aids when learning new words.

2. Students quiz each other by giving a definition and asking for a word, or vice versa.

3. Dictate a word. Students use their finger to write it in the air (or on the backs of fellow students), then check themselves by looking at the list.

4. To strengthen sight-sound associations, do brief dictations of words that begin with specific letters. For example, “On Wednesday we will review the spelling and meaning of all ‘B’ words.”

5. Students dictate words to each other as a check for correct spelling.

6. Students write down one or more words they have used during the week and tell when and how they used them.

7. Students group a set of words into categories, using categories that the teacher suggests. Later, they may invent their own categories.

8. Students create a word-wall based on categories. They may update this each week, using the same categories or re-arranging the words into new categories.

9. Students copy words onto a continuum list, re-arranging the list from less to more important (this is a personal choice). For example: boy, friend, brother, father, mother, family.

10. For literacy practice, students look at words in large case and re-write them in small case, or vice versa.

11. Working individually, in pairs, or in small groups, students choose any two words and write them into one sentence (on paper or on the board). They read their sentences to the class. Do as many of these two-word sentences as time allows.

12. Students choose a word of the week and present it in a skit or on a poster.

13. Point out common roots and teach other words that have that root. For example, in unit 6 the word translator appears. This provides a teachable moment for other words that include “trans,” which means “going across,” such as transfer, transport, and transition.

14. Students review names of other places and languages in addition to the ones in the stories. For example: Brazil/Portuguese.

15. Students assign colors to some or all words and explain why they have chosen these colors. Example: “Afraid is yellow. People say, ‘He is yellow.’ It means, ‘He is afraid.’” This often brings up interesting cultural issues. For example, in Asia white is the color of mourning. Green in USA culture is often associated with envy, while in many cultures it is associated with spring and freshness.

16. On a large piece of paper, students draw a simple floor plan of a house where they have many memories. They write words where they feel that these words belong in their house. They tell a partner why they put that word there. For example: “I put old in the kitchen. My grandmother is old. She cooks good food.”

Key words from the entire book (in alphabetical order)

Some of the words below are high frequency. Others are needed to understand a particular story; the pictures in the book make these meanings clear.

AFRAID afraid ALIVE alive ALONE alone ANOTHER another APARTMENT apartment ARIZONA Arizona ATTACK attack BATHROOM bathroom BEAUTIFUL beautiful BEDROOM bedroom BEST best BICYCLE bicycle BLACK black BLOUSE blouse BLUE blue BOOK book BOX box BOYFREIND boyfriend BRAZIL Brazil BROTHER brother BUILDING building BUSINESS business BUY buy CAR car CARPET carpet CHAIR chair CLOTHES clothes COAT coat COME come COMPANY company CRACKERS crackers CRY cry CUT cut DEPARTMENT department DRESS dress DRINK drink EAT eat ENGLISH English EXPENSIVE expensive FAMILY family FATHER father FILL fill FRIEND friend FUN fun GEORGIA Georgia GET get GIRL girl GIRLFRIEND girlfriend GOOD good GREEN green HAPPY happy HELP help HOUSE house HOSPITAL hospital HUG hug HUNT hunt INTERNET Internet JOB job JUICE juice KEEP keep KID kid KITCHEN kitchen KNEE knee KNOW know LATER later LAUGH laugh LIBERIA Liberia LIBRARY library LIFE life LIKE like LIVE live LIVING ROOM living room LOOK look LOSE lose LOST lost LOVELY lovely MAKE make MAYOR mayor MEET meet MONEY money MOTHER mother MOVIE movie NEIGHBOR neighbor NEW new NEWSPAPER newspaper NICE nice OLD old ORANGE orange PACKAGE package PARTY party PEOPLE people PHONE phone PICTURE picture POCKET pocket POOR poor PORTUGUESE Portuguese PRESENT present PRETTY pretty RED red RENT rent RETURN return RIDE ride ROOM room SAD sad SALESCLERK salesclerk SAVE save SHOOT shoot SHOP shop SISTER sister SKIRT skirt SMILE smile SMOKE smoke SOFA sofa SPANISH Spanish STORE store STUDENT student STUDY study SURPRISE surprise SWEATER sweater SWEDEN Sweden TALK talk TEAR tear TEAR DOWN tear down TELEPHONE telephone THINK think TOGETHER together TRANSLATE translate TUITION tuition UNIVERSTIY university WALLET wallet WASH wash WEEK week WHITE white WIDOWER widower WIFE wife WILDCAT wildcat WOMAN woman WORK work WRITER writer YEAR year YELLOW yellow

 

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Key words listed by unit (in alphabetical order)

Unit 1

• building
• company
• gets
• job
• keeps
• lives
• newspaper
• old
• poor
• tear
• tears down

 

Unit 2

• afraid
• alive
• attacks
• best
• cries
• friend
• friends
• hunting
• old
• saves
• shoots
• together
• widowers
• wives

 

Unit 3

• clothes
• friends
• girls
• meets
• movies
• new
• party
• pretty
• shopping
• smiles
• student
• study
• talks
• together

 

Unit 4

• bicycle
• boyfriend
• comes
• family
• lost
• money
• package
• pictures
• rent
• Sweden
• wallet

 

Unit 5

• alone
• apartment
• Arizona
• bathroom
• bedroom
• brother
• cry
• father
• hug
• kitchen
• laugh
• Liberia
• living room
• meet
• mother
• sad
• sister
• smiles
• sofa

 

Unit 6

• Brazil
• business
• carpet
• cuts
• English
• father
• fills in forms
• Georgia
• hospital
• knee
• lives
• old
• phone
• Portuguese
• Spanish
• translates

 

Unit 7

• books
• chairs
• clothes
• crackers
• drinks
• eats
• expensive
• good
• help
• Internet
• juice
• knows
• library
• life
• likes
• new
• orange
• orange juice
• people
• room
• student
• tuition
• university
• washes
• writer

 

Unit 8

• another
• beautiful
• black
• blouse
• blue
• box
• boyfriend
• coat
• comes
• department
• department store
• doesn’t like
• dress
• green
• later
• looks
• lovely
• nice
• present
• pretty
• red
• salesclerk
• skirt
• smiles
• store
• sweater
• weeks
• white
• yellow

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