Vocabulary Instruction in The Electric Company
Teaching Vocabulary Words to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills
Aug 31, 2009
Designed to help elementary students ages 6 to 9 learn basic literacy skills like decoding words and reading connected text, the PBS Kids GO educational tv program The Electric Company also includes vocabulary instruction as one of its four main literacy goals. After all, struggling readers will not become fluent readers until they know the meaning of the words they are decoding and reading.
Improve Reading Comprehension by Teaching Vocabulary Words
Each Electric Company episode has been assigned four or five content area vocabulary words relating to one of the four "conceptual domains" on which each show focuses – The Body, Animals, Games, or Space. Parents and teachers can download an Electric Company Episode Guide from the PBS org Parents Web site that charts out the curricular goals of each show, including a list of its assigned vocabulary words.
Vocabulary Development Strategies
One method by which The Electric Company helps kids learn new vocabulary is to have the characters discuss and use the new words in context. For example, in the episode Lights, Camera, Beetle, the characters teach science vocabulary words like characteristic, insect, examine, and beetle during a discussion about a rhinoceros beetle they plan to give as a present.
Another way the characters define a new vocabulary word is to have Keith, whose literacy superpower is to make pictures appear in the air, create a visual image of the new word to help young viewers (especially visual learners) understand it. Keith's talent is particularly useful for clarifying the meaning of science terms, and over the course of various Electric Company episodes, Keith conjures up pictures of everything from a meteorite to a moving model of a solar eclipse.
A third way the characters teach new vocabulary is to restate the definition of a new term in their own words. For example, a character might remark offhand that gravity is "the force that pulls us toward the ground" or that when people visualize something, they see it in their heads.
Reteaching Words to Increase Vocabulary
After the target vocabulary words have been introduced, the Electric Company characters continue to use them for the rest of the episode. Sometimes the new vocabulary words are retaught in context through the use of specific examples. For example, in Scent of a Human, when Hector is hypnotized into thinking he is a dog, the characters teach and reteach the words human, canine, and instinct by identifying and comparing several human and canine instincts while discussing Hector's behavior.
Some episodes include a short mid-episode segment in which puppet versions of the main characters use the target vocabulary words to summarize the action so far. The vocabulary is retaught and redefined to make sure that all kids understand the meaning of the target words before watching the rest of the story. Seeing the same material taught in a different way will help a wider range of students at different levels of ability learn vocabulary.
Funny fake movie trailers that run at the end of some episodes and star celebrities like Kelly Ripa are another method by which this educational kids TV program reteaches vocabulary. Now that children have seen the vocabulary terms introduced in context and taught explicitly, these parody previews model how to use the words in normal everyday speech.
Improving Vocabulary Skills
Along with helping kids learn vocabulary words, this educational TV show also focuses on improving vocabulary skills like identifying and using synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. For example:
- A main character noting that immobile means the same as frozen both defines immobile for the viewer and introduces the idea of synonyms, or different words with the same meaning.
- In the same episode, temporary and permanent are used together in context so that children understand that they are antonyms, or words with opposite meanings.
- An animated segment about a girl selling things introduces the concept of homonyms – words that look and sound alike but have different meanings – when a potential customer thinks the girl might be selling a ruler (meaning "leader") rather than a ruler for measuring.
Vocabulary Activities to Improve Reading Skills
An essential component of effective vocabulary instruction is practice. Teachers and parents can access a variety of free vocabulary activities at the PBS org Parents site for The Electric Company. For example, elementary students can practice new vocabulary with word scrambles and categorizing activities. Tip boxes on some of the activities suggest comprehension strategies that educators can share with students to help them become better able to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Naturally, The Electric Company teaches decoding skills, but to teach kids how to read, this educational kids tv program also aims to increase the number of words that children can use and understand. It is only by truly comprehending the meaning of what they are reading that children can become proficient readers.
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