Use Dictionary Game To Build Vocabulary Of Pupils - RGF

As part of Read Ghana Foundation's programs in schools across the country in promoting the culture of reading among students, the foundation in this Third Term will be playing Dictionary Game in most Junior High Schools.

This game is aimed at building vocabulary of pupils and also to enable them develop love for the dictionary as a reference book at a very tender age.

There are 5 keys for effective teaching of reading thus Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension.

It is however, evident that, out of the 5 keys, phonics gets attention the most and it is in the right direction because most pupils are very deficient in it and therefore special attention to phonics instruction is very necessary.

But it must be said that, phonics is only 1of 5 keys to reading and a focus on phonics alone will not ensure reading success.

Vocabulary teaching is as well very important because it is the glue that holds stories, ideas and concepts together. It allows us to express our ideas and communicate effectively.

It must be noted that, there is a very high correlation between academic success and vocabulary size.

The fact remains that, if children do not adequately and steadily grow their vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension will be affected.

Against this background, it is very important for all teachers across the country to carry more vocabulary instruction activities.

In our schools across the country, pupils with reduced vocabulary find it more challenging to access meaning from reading and therefore read less because they find it more challenging and this is a very unfortunate situation and something drastic should be done in order to curb it.

On the other hand, pupils with wider vocabularies read more because it is less challenging and as a result further increase their vocabularies.

The dictionary as we are all aware has been arranged alphabetically starting from A-Z.

So, in playing this game concentration will be on the letters of the Alphabet as a guide to achieving results.

How do we play this important and interesting game?

Firstly, we need to get participants. Against this background, let's say for instance Form 1 and Form 2 Class or yet still for boys and girls in Form 1 or Form 2 Class.

Let's say, Form 1 presents 3 participants and Form 2 equally presents 3 participants.

What then, is the next step?
Each of the participants should be given a dictionary.

Meaning 6 dictionaries will be given out in all.
You then instruct the participants as in what they should do with the dictionary given to each of them.

For a start, let's say you instruct the participants to read the dictionary from Page 1 to Page 3 which are within the section of alphabet A.

During this silent reading, they are supposed to keep the words and their meanings in mind.

The point here is that, you can give the participants let's say 1 week to enable them have ample time to read the required pages.

After a week, what then is next?
It will now be time for the participants to compete, in order to see which class will carry the day.

This should be done in the presence of the entire school as usual because eventually every pupil will be made to participate.

Teachers must therefore, coordinate the process in making sure the rules pertaining to the game are strictly followed.

Teachers are again, responsible for awarding of marks to enable them declare the winner after it all.

How should the competition be like?
The participants will sit in groups as we do in Quiz Competitions in schools.

Their leaders will be made to pick 1 or 2 for teachers to determine which Form is to start the game.

So for instance, if Form 1 gets 1 then it means Form 1 will start the game and the vice versa.

What is the next thing to be done?
The groups will have a dictionary in front of them and since Form 1 must set the ball rolling, any participant from Form 1 will then open the dictionary and read out the meaning of a word.

Eg. The state of being able to do something.
The answer is "Ability"
So it means, Form 2 participants should be able to mention "Ability" as the answer.

If they are not able to do so after 1 minute then the teachers coordinating the competition should give Form 1 participants 3 points and then allow Form 2 to also take their turn etc.

We should understand here that, the participants will only open the dictionary when it is their turn to ask a question.

How many rounds can they have?
The teachers coordinating the competition can decide that, each group has let's say 20 questions to ask in all.

4 questions in each round making the total rounds to be 5.

After which the marks will be collated for the winner to be declared.

Another day, it could be played again but this time round a word will be mentioned and the meaning of the word will be provided. This is the exact opposite of the first game.

This should still be on the same page 1 to 3 of the dictionary. All rules should be equally followed as in the case of the first one.

This game is very interesting and a great way of teaching vocabulary to children.

It is our fervent prayer and hope as a foundation that, all teachers across the country especially those in JHS will play this game with their pupils.

Any further explanation or clarification on how to play this very important and interesting game, they should not hesitate to call the CEO Mr Mathias Tulasi.

To conclude, Read Ghana Foundation is committed to sweeping away the saying that, if you want to hide something from an African then put it in a book.

We are of the firm believe that, together, we will change and shape the future of education in Ghana.

Signed:
Mathias Tulasi
CEO - Read Ghana Foundation
0200255295
Rose Letsu
Executive Secretary
0245028527
Rev Bright Tulasi
Training Officer
0242662979