Building Brilliant Vocabulary

10 May 2021

Did you know that the English language borrows words from 300 different languages? Or that the typical vocabulary size of a successful pupil leaving secondary school today is 50,000 words? Our language, in terms of breadth and depth, is more difficult to learn than many others.

It’s no wonder then, that our vocabulary is one of the biggest predictors of success at GCSE.

At Park Vale Academy, we take a coherent approach to teaching vocabulary. All of our teachers and teaching assistants are trained in explicit vocabulary teaching. Vocabulary is taught explicitly through tutor time as well as being embedded into curriculum plans. Click here to see an example PowerPoint lesson [or example lesson in PDF] and here to see an example subject vocabulary plan.

Week 1: Hierarchy
Week 2: Manipulation
Week 3: Context
Week 4: Contemporary