In this opening chapter of Vocabulary at the Center, veteran teachers Amy Benjamin and John T. Crow explain how words can function as "gateways" to student knowledge and academic achievement. Continue reading...

Teachers, looking to get students out of their seats and learning some new words? Try introducing pantomime as a vocabulary-enriching activity. As Beck, McKeown and Kucan point out in Creating Robust Vocabulary, "physically responding to words can promote connections to new word meanings." Continue reading...

We recently spoke to education experts Amy Benjamin and John T. Crow about their new book, Vocabulary at the Center. Amy and John explain the most effective methods for extending the use of new words, so that vocabulary instruction can move beyond rote memorization. Continue reading...

Teachers, are you wondering how you can use Visual Thesaurus word maps to introduce new concepts to your students? Check out this excerpt from Sharon Walpole and Michael C. McKenna's Differentiated Reading Instruction for some ideas. Continue reading...

Since there never seems to be enough time for in-class vocabulary instruction, this excerpt from Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, and Linda Kucan, can help teachers decide which "Tier Two" words to prioritize. Continue reading...

These sites can help your students decipher some common English idioms.

Funbrain: Paint by Idioms

UsingEnglish.com: Dictionary of English Idioms

The Idiom Connection

In this excerpt from Active Literacy Across the Curriculum: Strategies for Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening, Heidi Hayes Jacobs advocates developing students' "word power" by borrowing methods from the foreign language classroom. Continue reading...