Hi there! I hope you’ve enjoyed the first part of this series and in Part 2 here, I hope I’ll be able to delight you with another free resource which will save you time, money and frustration.
For those kids who love reading, I would really like to encourage continued interest and reading. One of the things we liked about our own literature series at home was that we could read any book we wanted, dissect it, discuss it and watch a movie about it. When we read Julius Caesar, we were also able to watch a short, animated movie on Sparknotes . I was really pleasantly surprised by their short movies on various popular American and English fiction. Here’s the link to Sparknotes Literature Videos (with narration) : http://www.sparknotes.com/sparknotes/video/title/1 and the link for the second SAT vocabulary resource : www.vocabulary.com.
Also, don’t rule out watching some of the Shakespearean plays on Youtube and also movie versions of famous literature on Youtube as well. Like the Odyssey.
Robert Fitzgerald, a Harvard educated author, translator, and journalist was well known for his wonderful translations of Greek poetry. His translation of “The Odyssey” is one of the most beloved modern translations of this epic Greek poem. Vocabulary.com has vocabulary for the whole translation: Books 1-7, Books 8-13, Books 14-18 and Books 19-24. Each section has 40 words.
How about learning some poetry terms like “caesura”, “enjambment” or “consonance”? No more sitting down and memorizing these facts while staring into space: practice here each day for mastery. Among other great themes, there is vocabulary for those of you who are studying Jane Eyre, Of Mice and Men, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, etc. There are almost 1200 links for literature alone. Just type in whatever you and your kids are reading, and you just might find vocabulary for it. Also, you can make your own list, much like the first resource in Part 1. There is a lot of flexibility here and it’s a very versatile tool.
When I first clicked on the vocabulary link, I didn’t think too much of it until I realized what it would really do. I know of other vocabulary programs which cost incredible monthly fees and don’t work as well. You will have to sign up with a username and password of course, but it’s free. Here’s how it works:
My summary? Here it is :
- Sign up first.
- This website uses adaptive learning technology (Adaptive Vocabulary Instruction ). If you get a word wrong or click for a hint, a list of words you need to learn will be compiled for you.
- You can earn points and achievements on the website. Mastery of words is demonstrated when you answer enough questions right on a word.
- Your progress is charted and can be seen when you click on the ‘My Progress’ tab. ‘Leaderboards‘ show which are the week’s highest scorers.
- You can make your own list or use what the website has. They have lists on test prep, literature, morphology and roots, historical documents, political speeches, news etc.
- When you sign up for a free account, you will also get a weekly vocabulary quiz word in your email, plus alerts to new articles on the Vocabulary blog. Check out a recent blog post : http://www.vocabulary.com/articles/tasty-morsels/whats-the-difference-between-thanksgiving-and-thanksgiving/
Please let us know if you have any questions about this post, and how it has been helpful to you. Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series at a later time.