Vocabulous

Learn the root. Conquer the word.

Vocabulous is a website for 10-13 year olds for use in English lessons. It uses Latin and Greek root words to teach English vocabulary patterns and is a skills-based site. Through using the site, students will gain the skills they need to decode and work out the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary not only in English lessons but across the curriculum.

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Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2021

Established

7K

Children

4

Countries

Target group

Students lower

Updated

June 2023

Vocabulous aims to give students valuable vocabulary skills at transition from primary to secondary school, so they can start KS3 with confidence and have the language they need to access their lessons. Vocabulous teaches students how they can deploy their knowledge of root patterns to work out the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary, giving them skills they can apply in any subject lesson.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Many children enter secondary school with a limited vocabulary, which leads to poor outcomes in education and affects their life prospects. If students are unable to access the language of their lessons, then they risk falling behind and not achieving their full potential. Too many vocabulary programmes focus on teaching lists of words, aiming to improve students' vocabulary one word at a time.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Vocabulous is an innovative online resource to aid targeted and explicit vocabulary teaching in English lessons at transition from primary to secondary school. Vocabulous uses Latin and Greek root words to teach word patterns. Students then use these patterns to work out the meaning of unknown words which share the same root. For example, the root “scrip” meaning “write” can help students understand “inscription”, “manuscript” and “transcription”.

Alex Quigley notes that “over 90% of the vocabulary of academic texts in school has Latin and Greek origins and therefore teaching etymology has positive implications for cracking the academic code of school".

Students each have an individual login to the site and complete quizzes to win stars and climb their class’ leader board. Teachers can see students' progress over time, export progress data and print off certificates to reward good work. There are ten badges to collect, 26 root words to learn and over 1,000 English words to conquer.

How has it been spreading?

The Vocabulous course was designed and built in 2021, and was initially trialled in 5 schools in York. Following a large number of school sign-ups in 2022 when the website first launched, Vocabulous received further funding from The SHINE Trust and worked with over 7,000 students in 50 schools. Over 2 million questions have been answered on the site and over 200,000 quizzes completed by students.

Over the next 2-3 years, Vocabulous will work with over 20,000 students at 200 schools across the UK and wider afield. A new assessment portal will be designed and built to ensure that teachers can track their students' progression in gaining valuable literacy skills. Vocabulous is currently the focus of a research project by Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson, which is funded by Christ Church, Oxford.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Check out the website at www.vocabulous.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @VocabulousUK. There's lots of information on the About page showing how you could incorporate Vocabulous into your curriculum.

If you want to get in touch directly, email info@vocabulous.co.uk and we'd be very happy to chat about Vocabulous!

Media

Ancient languages in primary schools in England

Latin, literacy and EdTech | Christ Church, Oxford University

Latin and Classics teacher moves to working full-time on Vocabulous, which is taking the education world by storm - SHINE

Let Teachers SHINE winner 2021: Lucy Huelin – Vocabulous - SHINE

Introducing Vocabulous - The Classical Association

Why Latin isn’t just for posh boys

Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson, Senior Research Fellow in Classics Education is conducting a research study which will evaluate the impact that use of the Vocabulous website has on students’ understanding and retention of English vocabulary. https://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/classics/documents/media/faculty_of_classics_newsletter_2022.pdf faculty_of_classics_newsletter_2022.pdf

Implementation steps

Take a look at the website

Go to www.vocabulous.co.uk to find out what Vocabulous is all about. There's information on the pedagogy of the site, the key design features, research that's happening and how to subscribe.

Think about your curriculum

Vocabulous provides 36 lessons which explicitly teach Latin and Greek roots and the morphology and etymology of words that derive from these roots. Think about how you currently teach vocabulary and whether following a structured, fully-resourced programme like Vocabulous would help.

You can subscribe to Vocabulous by going to www.vocabulous.co.uk. As soon as you've subscribed, you will receive emails telling you your first steps.

Add your students and unlock the first root

All you need is a list of your students' names to get set up on Vocabulous. If these are in an Excel file, even better - it will only take a couple of minutes to get all your students' accounts set up. The only other thing you need to do is unlock the first root when you're ready for your students to use the site. You can unlock one root at a time to pace their progress throughout the site.

Teach your first root

The first root is "port", which means "carry" and gives us English words such as "support", "transportation", "portable" and "reporter". We recommend that you complete the Learning module as a class. This is a series of videos, quiz questions and text boxes that teaches you the root, so "port" in the first week, and then shows you eight derivates and asks questions to get students applying their knowledge straight away. There are then 6 quizzes for your students to complete independently.

Unlock one root a week

You can unlock content at your own pace, so you can teach one root a week, which would take you one academic year, or you can unlock one every fortnight, so you teach the whole programme over two academic years. Every 3-4 weeks, there's a badge to be won, named after one of the Greek gods and goddesses. This includes a Revision module and 6 quizzes that ask students about all previously learnt content. It really focuses on honing their vocabulary skills, and applying root knowledge.

Keep chatting about words!

The best thing you can do as a teacher is keep talking to your students about words. If you spot a complex word in a guided reading book, point it out and show your students how it has a prefix, root and suffix. If you see a Vocabulous word, check that your students know how to decode it. Keep the excitement around words alive!