Literacy strategy of the week: Vocabulary - This week we are going to be looking at using better vocabulary in our writing.

Literacy strategy of the week: Vocabulary - This week we are going to be looking at using better vocabulary in our writing. Teachers will be asking students  “Is there a better word for that”. This sits alongside the work we have been doing teaching explicit vocabulary. Helping students not only develop their understanding of vocabulary but also use it in their writing helps them communicate more effectively and hopefully achieve higher as well. 

At home: Are there words or phrases that you hear a lot at home? “This sucks”, “I’m bored” or in response to, “How was school? What did you learn?” Do you get a “fine” or “nothing”? This can be an opportunity to ask them, “Is there a better word for that?” which they’ll have been hearing in class. Some teachers may also be giving ‘banned’ words like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in writing tasks to encourage students to use stronger synonyms. You might make a banned word or phrase list at home and help your child find (or give them) better words to express how they feel. 

What we’re reading: I have just read “It ends with us” by Colleen Hoover. It was published in 2016 but gained popularity on social media a couple of years ago. I had seen its pink cover online and had reserved “It starts with us” on the library audiobook app, not realising “It ends with us” was the first book. I didn’t know what it was about when I started reading and I have to say I was surprised when I finished reading it to learn it is marketed to a younger audience. It’s definitely a book for adults with themes of domestic violence and abuse. It wasn’t a life changing read which I’d go out of my way to recommend to people, however it is worth mentioning for the importance of knowing what our young people are consuming (in novels and online) to be able to have supportive conversations about the content. I’m grateful our Year 12s participate in the “Loves Me Not” program run by the police around safe relationships, because a book like “It ends with us” shows how easy it is to stay in relationships which one knows aren’t great, but how incredibly hard it can be to get out of them. I am moving on to the second novel “It starts with us” since it’s waiting in my library app, although I’m not necessarily sure I would be picking it up to read if it wasn’t already there for me. 

Ms Beaumont - HOD English

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