Learn That Word

Categories

Video: Why vocabulary matters

Video: Who uses it


Video: What people say
Rewards and prizes!

Snigdha Nandipati, Spelling Bee Champ Over the last few decades, Indian Americans have been outshining other ethnicities at the National Spelling Bee.

Why is a population that makes up roughly 1% of the US population so heavily represented at the event?
Why were 10 champions in the last 14 contests of Indian American/South Asian descent?
There must be more to this than chance.

Unlikely that there is such as a thing as a spelling bee gene, so this is not about racial stereotypes.

Here are a few things that contribute to the strong presence of Indian/South Asian students at the event:

1 -  The American school system and culture has a conflicted relationship with memory-based learning.
Indian culture values academic achievement highly and values memorization as well, as a building block of higher-level knowledge.
This, by the way, is also the reason why Indian Americans are not only dominating the Spelling Bee, but also produce much more than their statistical share of doctors, engineers and executives.

2 -  Indian Americans/South Asians maintain tightly knit family and social communities, and place a paramount value within their community on academic performance. Social expectations around academic performance tend to be much higher than in other demographic groups.
Academic success therefore has a big social pay-off.

3 -  Last but not least, the success at Spelling Bees is fostered by various initiatives that exclusively support Indian American/South Asian students. NorthSouth Foundation and the South Asian Spelling Bee are both set up to support the Indian American/South Asian community of aspiring champions.
It's great to win the first prize at the Scripps National Spelling Bee by competing with 10 million students for over $40,000 in prizes. There is certainly more incentive to dedicate the thousands of hours of intense study needed knowing that you can also apply these skills at the South Asian Spelling Bee, where you compete with just a few thousand other kids for a $10,000 first prize.
These additional events also build friendships and mutual support within the Indian American speller community.

Posted by Rosevita Warda in spelling bee. | 6 Comments |

It will make the Scripps National Spelling Bee harder, but also much more meaningful. The thousands of Spelling Bee hopefuls who use LearnThatWord will have an easy time with this, since we already teach meaning and usage along with spelling.

This new requirement makes it nearly impossible to win the National Spelling Bee without LearnThatWord or similarly sophisticated help.

Read the Reuters article here.

deneme bonusu veren siteler
Posted by Rosevita Warda in fun with English, LearnThatWord, spelling bee, vocabulary. | 1 Comment |

We have a lot of members who prepare for the National Spelling Bee, so this article about a Vocabulary Bowl held by I.B. Tigrett Middle School in Jackson, Tennessee, was brought to our attention:
http://www.wbbjtv.com/news/local/Vocabulary-Bowl-Tests-Students-Knowledge-199199441.html

What stood out was the method by which they helped their students prepare:

A select group of academic/SAT-type words was featured on notes posted throughout the school.
Every time a student used one of the words in conversation, it was recognized and rewarded, kind of like a verbal Easter Egg hunt. What a great way to turn learning vocabulary into a social game!

Posted by Rosevita Warda in education, fun with English, how to learn, vocabulary. | 1 Comment |

International English: Interesting blog post by Richard Flynn of UsingEnglish.com fame 

"The status of English as an international language is long established and, for the foreseeable future, unlikely to be greatly challenged. However, I believe that to make it genuinely international, then one step in that direction could be to consider the influence of non-native speakers in a different light.

Generally, their non-occurent uses are labelled errors and they are encouraged to change to conform to the standard English model, even though many native speakers don't. I've heard the question 'what means' so many times now that I have decided to accept it as correct without question. I also can't feel too strongly about 'depends of' being used by so many European and other speakers.

Allowing a greater influence from outside will probably annoy the pedants, but it would be much more of an international language if it were able to absorb more such forms and allow them to coexist alongside the forms preferred by native speakers."

 

International English Is Our Reality

As the creators of the first multimedia learners' dictionary committed to International English, we're delighted to hear more and more people vote in favor of acknowledging International English.  English has never been a restrictive or exclusive language, which is the very reason why it became the language media of choice for the people of this world.

Today, there are more Indian, Pakistani, Filipino or Nigerian English speakers than those living in the UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population). Many of them are not native speakers, but contribute to the largest population of English speakers: Those who learn English as a foreign language. People who speak English as their non-native language are by far the largest English-speaking group today (http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-faq-the-english-language.htm).

Limiting the English language with traditional labels and doctrines and focusing on UK vs. US English exclusively creates dissonance with this reality. We live in a world where English is growing into a colorful family of English variants. Since it's the first time in history that a language spreads across the globe in such a powerful fashion and at such speed, change in our attitudes and how we perceive this language is inevitable.

Is International English a sign of a decline of the English language? Only, we believe, if your definition of English is narrow and retrospect.

Being the global language of choice is a compliment to the English language. It has always been a language that embraces new ideas and terminology. Instead of seeing this as a threat, it's time to cherish International English for its colors, nuances, and flavors, and to acknowledge that language is alive. Language is in its essence shaped and advanced by the people who communicate in it.

Posted by Rosevita Warda in dictionary, English, fun with English, learn English, ODE. | Leave a comment |

Less than 10 months after the launch of our revised site we crossed the 300,000 user mark. 

Free tutoring, our Vocabulary Junction campaign and the launch of the free Open Dictionary of
English caused exponential growth.

A big Thank You to all who support our efforts, share our solution with their friends and audiences, and voice their opinion and ideas!
Special thanks also to our loyal Premium members who enable us to provide free tutoring to such a large group of learners.

Posted by Rosevita Warda in LearnThatWord, nonprofit, ODE, our members, Uncategorized, Vocabulary Junction. | Leave a comment |

Great article on the value of vocabulary:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/01/building-better-kids-vocabulary-edition

It is beyond me how anybody could doubt the importance of vocabulary, unless you have the agenda of keeping those that don't "need" a strong vocabulary disenfranchised.

I'm also growing tired of the discussion whether words have to be taught in context (works to a degree for students who are at the right level to figure out the text with a few missing words, but costs a lot of time and energy) or through explicit instruction. Of course there are terribly dull and useless ways of "drilling" words, but using internet technology, explicit instruction and review can be very effective and smart, like with our LearnThatWord.org program. For a student who is thousands of words behind upon entering school, explicit instruction is the only lifeline there is.

Unfortunately, although we offer free coaching through Vocabulary Junction, many are not that lucky.

Posted by Rosevita Warda in literacy, nonprofit, self-development, vocabulary. | Leave a comment |

A good frustration-fighting quote from my daughter's blog, www.humanimafoundation.org:

I think its important to remember that learning [...] doesn't take place when the "change" happens...Learning takes place when it seems like nothing is happening. As long as we're trying, we're getting it. It's only when we stop trying that "getting it" becomes impossible.

Mark Rashid

Posted by Rosevita Warda in Uncategorized. | Leave a comment |

“As important as word recognition is, and it’s super important, vocabulary needs to be given as much emphasis. It is essential that children learn to quickly decode words, but if they don’t understand the meaning of the words, then their ability to understand the overall meaning of a story or other text will be compromised. And comprehension should always be the ultimate goal of reading.” says Diane Nielsen, associate professor of curriculum and teaching at University of Kansas, who published her study in the journal Reading Psychology.

Nielsen suggested that the findings are important because students can often appear to be good readers in the primary grades, but when text becomes more demanding they can quickly fall behind.

"I think it really helps if we can all get kids to be ‘word conscious’ – get them excited about learning new words, show them that words can be ‘cool’ and get them thinking about words in many different contexts.” says Nielsen.

Posted by Rosevita Warda in Uncategorized. | Leave a comment |

In A World of 140-Character Tweets, Vocabulary Gains Importance... says article on recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report.

While most students are no longer reading enough to build their verbal skills through this activity, vocabulary is still a core element of education. 

Explicit vocabulary instruction can fill the gap!

Posted by Rosevita Warda in Uncategorized. | Leave a comment |

Study tipsAn estimated 35% of students are so nervous before high-stakes tests that it impairs their performance, says this article from the Wall Street Journal.
Great insights on how to best prepare for a high-stakes test from The Wall Street Journal.

Did your teachers teach you these in school?
Can you share other good study tips?

Хотите провести приятно время? Заходите https://escorteurogirls.com по ссылке
Posted by Rosevita Warda in Abitur, ACT, GED, GRE, how to learn, IELTS, SAT, self-development, test, TOEFL, your brain. | 3 Comments |