Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion GATE program just started...vocab words are HARD!

BUT I would totally not talk to the teacher about this one, TBH.

How is it going to harm him to learn a few hard words. I agree choosing words related to what the are studying would make more sense but I would suggest the teacher forgot and just googled something and used it without thought. Not a good look but hopefully a one off.

I think "hard" words is just fine. In fact we all have plenty of words in our passive vocabulary, so I don't see not using it as a problem at all; whether a given child will come across a given word is hard enough to predict that I wouldn't try! Even if the child forgets the word, no harm done; the process of thinking about the word is most of the point. I'd expect, out of a list of 10, some to get a "meh" reaction, some to be quite cool, and one or two to be useful.

FWIW my son enjoys vocabulary.com, too.

I think as a parent of two (older) 7 yr olds (but new 3rd graders), my girls would like the list. 2 or 3 words would be fairly difficult to wrap their life experience and interest in, 2 or 3 they know and would use (we use abhor and affinity in conversation as plays on words) and the rest would be new.

Our school (not GT) blends vocab and spelling for all kids. Kiddos that have mastered grade level spelling words get challenge words...last year in 2nd vocab challenge: they had words like determination, exhaustion (core list of words ending in -tion) or patience, perchance (-ence and -ance) . They had to spell them and use them in a sentence. They also did various vocab building activities (word search, story writing, word puzzles, etc). It was a challenge at times, but it should have been and they enjoyed the blend of new words and relevance (often they were connected in some way to something they were doing).

The two words on the challenge list were double bonus. Often they were words that did not fit in the pattern/rule and/or was exceptionally unusual or a word that is tough, but kids showed an interest in.

That is fine with me.

The process of where and the WHY of using that list would bother me though. I would see if as the school year grows, if the lists get more applicable and relevant to theme or topic.

Zen, that is the exact list. That's funny. I'm not shocked, my daughter had the same guy for GATE, I've heard of similar antics in the past. I'm hoping that the peer group will be helpful for him. He has struggled to make friends in the past. The teacher... meh

Colour me sympathetic to the list provided.

Sometimes a new word can be just the tangent needed to spur a new interest. DS, for instance, developed an interest in Medieval life/ephemera when I taught him the word "dissident". Hardly a word a toddler would use in everyday conversation, but it spawned a fascination with other equally obscure language as "crenellated battlements" and various parts of cannons.

To some extent, I think we all delight in being fact curators. I can definitely see some young children thoroughly delighting in dictionary time. I remember how much I loved uncovering a bizarre word and trying to trick my (English major) father with it at that age. That's how I learned about schadenfreude! Imagine a good villainous scheme without schadenfreude...wait...impossible!!

Some words embody so much concept. I still remember watching a Jerry Lewis movie when I was around 7 and there was a gangster who was learning the word prerogative as a word a day smarts building thing. The idea of inalienable rights and rights that attach to a person because of who they are, etc. really fired my brain up (and probably led me to getting into trouble.)

Can I just say I would be enormously tempted to print out Zen Scanner's link and to write the sentences on it directly (copying the definitions in my own handwriting if he's supposed to define them), then turn that in?

Yeah, I did get into trouble with teachers for being snarky in high school - why do you ask?

*Applauds*