Vocabulary augmentation: Then and now

We might need to be cautious before prescribing what would work for digital native students.

In the Mangsir 2082 BS issue of the monthly Shikshak magazine, writer Ananta Wagle has written an article on classroom techniques to expand the vocabulary of school children. He starts by saying that mastery of vocabulary allows individuals to be both effective communicators and better readers. He then describes various techniques: Today’s word (discussing a new word each day), finding related words, finding synonyms and antonyms of words, word bingos, and creating a word list to hang on the classroom wall. Other techniques that Wagle mentions include acting out words, filling in the blanks in brief passages, writing short stories using specified words and creating personal “dictionaries” in handwritten notebooks. Reading this article made me both nostalgic and anxious.