Vocabulary links, articles and resources from across the Primary English website collated on one easy to navigate page.

Here at Primary English HQ, we’ve talked about, written about, and led training on vocabulary for several years. As a consequence of all those conversations about words, we’ve collated some of the FAQs we’re asked about vocabulary.

Explicit, planned, and strategic strategies for teaching vocabulary are at the core of the Primary English approach to teaching vocabulary. However, we also love to have fun and in this article we exemplify some of our vocabulary resources and how they can help you and your class play with words.

In this article I share some of the children’s books I take to schools when training teachers and TAs about vocabulary. To know a word well requires: “Rich, decontextualised knowledge of a word’s meaning, its relationship to other words, and its extension to metaphorical uses.” Beck, McKeown, & Omanson (1987). The quotation above finds its way into all the vocabulary training that I do. To me it sums up what word learning is all about.

I’m currently big on graphic organisers. It’s the way that graphic organisers make it easier for children to articulate their understanding that I particularly like. But also, it’s the way that a really good graphic organiser lends itself to a multitude of educational requirements. The Frayer model (sometimes called the Frayer diagram) is one such graphic organiser.

The first in a series of posts about putting the playfulness into vocabulary learning.

Wordplay is a great way to grow vocabulary. In this article we look at riddles and how they can improve language learning in your classroom.

In this post I consider the place of wordplay in building children’s vocabularies.