11/09/05

OUR GROWING VOCABULARY

By now, your new school year is up and running, although I’m sure your thoughts stray like mine to the teachers, schools and children affected by hurricane Katrina. In this letter I will continue with thoughts from my last Ellie’s Word. I keep realizing how our vocabulary constantly grows — and how my awareness of words increases.

As I mentioned in early September, when I wrote the definitions for the pre- and post- web words, I realized that September 11 hadn’t yet happened. So, I am asking users of Volume I to please add various statements about pre-9/11 and post-9/11 to Lessons 8 & 9, respectively. Perhaps ideas like these will help: “I remember how easy it was pre-9/11 to go through security at the airport. Now I have to take off my shoes, take my computer out of its case, and a whole lot of other bothersome things.” Or, “Post-9/11, my mom cries a lot since she lost her best friend.”

I am also going to ask you to update some other words. In Volume I, it was an unfortunate oversight of mine to have left semester out of the semi-, demi-, hemi- lesson. It came to me recently that semester must be related to semi-. I looked it up, and, of course it is! It comes from the Latin semestris, meaning “half-year.” While I was on the semi- page in the dictionary, I skimmed through the long list of “semi-” words and thought these would also make good additions to the lesson: semi-aquatic mammals (mink, beaver) and plants (rice, lemon grass, mosses, lichens, bloodroot, wood ferns, violets, trailing arbutus, anemones) that do not live wholly in water; semicircular, as in a driveway; semi-classical music; semidarkness; semiliterate; semi-terrestrial, as in some turtles and other reptiles.

For the prefix di-, also a Volume I word, I made a very bad error. Please go to Lesson 5 and remove diurnal, the last word on the page inside the green section. This word does not relate to the prefix di-, meaning two. Its correct meaning is daily; occurring or active during the daytime rather than at night. Mea culpa!

In Volume I, Lesson 20 (geo-), I should add more information about geothermal. In Iceland, residents heat their houses with geothermal water. California, Japan, New Zealand and the Philippines are among many other areas that harness geothermal energy. Encourage your more able students to view the wonderful slide show about geothermal energy at: http://geothermal.marin.org/GEOpresentation/sld001.htm.

For Volume II, Lesson 20, there is a new window product called Vista® Window Film. Perhaps you or your students can find an ad in a magazine for this product.

Since I am constantly on the prowl for new words, you can expect more updates like this. Better yet, why don’t you send me words that you think should be added!

That’s my word for this time. Ellie

Word Web Vocabulary - recommended on Heidi Hayes-Jacobs' website - moving vocabulary from the edge of language arts to its center