Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A walking dictionary

That's what I used to feel like!!

Everytime the children are reading and they come across a word that's new to them, they would go: "Mum, what's the meaning of ......"

Initially I would tell them the meaning of the word. BUT now I dont! That is, not unless I want to emphasize a point, or teach them something related to it.

Why? Because I read somewhere that if we just tell them the meaning, they are not likely going to learn and remember it. However, if they look it up in the dictionary, the very act of taking out the dictionary, looking up the word, and seeing the words describing the meaning and actually reading it for themselves, the chances of them remembering the meaning will be much much higher. (Some precentages were quoted, but I cant remember it.)

So, because of that, now my reply to them when they ask me the for the meaning of a word is: "Gee! I am not sure. Can you look it up in the dictionary and tell me the meaning?" And, I dont feel like a walking dictionary anymore!

7 comments:

Jo said...

you are wrong mummy!! you are not a walking dictionary but a walking encyclopedia. you are expected to know everything!! mothers would concur with me on this. ;)

iml said...

Most of the time,disbelief!!! "Are you sure you don't know?" they would query me. I would confuse them even further. "Hmmm...not too sure if it is a e or a in stationery."

stay-at-home mum said...

Yes Jomel, an encyclopedia too!!

Hmmmm iml - looks like we have the same tricks up our sleeves.

TripleJin said...

hahha..i remember doing this to my mum. but she answered me everytime! I still remember them! Maybe because she gave me real life meaning to the words?

mott

tasy said...

Oh yes, exactly the same thing I am going through. I bought a dictionary for him, encouraging him to check out the meaning, and he came back telling me he doesn't know what it says!

But nowadays, some of the times, I really have no idea what some words are.. his vocab is getting deeper. So , I have to admit I don't really know and do me a favor to tell me what that means when he finds out. No more respect for me anymore! haha..

bp said...

Hehe, dictionary, encyclopedia, and thesaurus too, eh?... when we need to "encrypt" our language talking with the hubby about something we don't want the kids to "hear", tho' that's probably the trickiest of all!

stay-at-home mum said...

hi bp
When we dont want the kids to know what we are talking about we speak Malay now!! (previously we used to spell or speak in mandarin!)Looks like I have to learn french next.