Vocabulary

We had a meeting with my son's fourth grade teacher not too long ago — nothing extraordinary or unusual, just an opportunity to find out how he's been doing. She mentioned that he had been part of (I think) a small group of children in the class, working with a program of enhanced vocabulary words — but he hadn't been all that enthusiastic about the idea.

My son has, you might say, an interesting vocabulary for his age. We've always had fun, he and I, with words — with what they mean, and the way they sound. (We must have read an entire library of Dr. Seuss books through the years, just before nap time.) I've never made much effort to "dumb down" what I say to him, if I think he'll understand it, so he's probably picked up some uncommon words (for a nine-year-old) from me. (That, and the sort of documentary programs he often watches are full of strange and unusual technical terms that are unfamiliar even to many of the adults he encounters.)

I couldn't understand how he wouldn't have been interested in this program — that just didn't seem like him at all — but I asked his teacher to send along the set of vocabulary words. I told her I was sure I could inspire some enthusiasm.

So each day, when he would arrive home from school, I'd ask him for one of the words he'd studied. ”Ramshackle" was one of his favorites. (It's fun just saying it.) ”Surly" was another — I got to demonstrate that by acting, well, surly. I think "guffaw" was another. (I got to demonstrate that, too.)

Today, he brought back the results of his vocabulary test: 50 questions he had to answer, covering 25 words (several with two or three definitions), filling in the missing vocabulary word when given the definition. (I think that's a big test by fourth grade standards.) He aced it. Didn't miss any of 'em.

(Can you tell how proud I am?)