words, words, words

The Yopp & Yopp article talked about promoting word consciousness in the classroom. I believe this concept is crucial when children are learning vocabulary. It is extremely important to help your students become aware of new vocabulary when they see it in content areas, everyday talk, and in books they are reading. When students become naturally intrigued with new words, they will begin to notice foreign words and ask about their meanings. They will also learn how to decode the word using context clues by learning about the affixes and roots. If an entire school system becomes aware of noticing new vocabulary words, everyone in the school could benefit. The students will become excited about learning new words and even begin to use them in everyday conversations. When students feel connected with vocabulary, they will not feel discouraged when they come across a word they do not know while reading. Their confidence will influence them to read more and more.

The ten important words strategy would be interesting to observe in a classroom. Just the fact that children would be talking about different ways of interpreting and creating new vocabulary would be inspiring to see. The making words strategy mentioned in Cunningham and Cunningham is another intriguing way to get students involved in understanding that you can make multiple words with just a few letters. Some children may not realize this until they have a concrete experience of experimenting with words.
1.) How would these strategies work with ELL students?