Response to "Mastering the Art of Effective Vocabulary Instruction"

This chapter actually made me think. To break down something in the English language that is key to communication as well as the way to describe life, words are often overlooked. I've never thought about the stages of "word knowledge." Once I read about it, I could see how that process could be broken down but before then I never noticed. While that was a new perspective for me, my favorite part of the chapter were all the different teaching tools and ideas that instructors could use to increase students' vocabulary. This was my favorite part because I've experienced the struggles of trying to learn a new language (swahili) and if I had known of any of these strategies, I'm sure I would have learned a lot more and quicker. While history teachers aren't known for teaching about language, I feel like I could use the concept circles to help students understand foreign words. Even the little knowledge can go a long way with the kids.