New uses for old materials

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One of my standby language activities is to play “memory” or “concentration,” where the players flip over cards and try to find pairs.  I have used the game for articulation, vocabulary, categorization, syntax, and word finding. No matter what the goal, I ask the child to make up a sentence using the word when he or she uncovers a pair.   I recently discovered a new use for this activity.  When the child finds a pair, I ask him or her to name the category in which the object is contained, and then name one or two “important characteristics.”  For the older kids, I use the term “salient characteristics.”  

What are “salient characteristics”?  Salient characteristics are the most important or defining characteristics of an object.  I start by using the example of a chair.  Does it matter what color it is?  NO. Does it matter what material it is made from? NO.  What is the important thing about a chair?  It is a piece of furniture on which one person sits.  So what is a salient characteristic of a spoon? It is an eating utensil which consists of a bowl and a handle.  What are salient characteristics of a duck?  If I say it’s a bird that quacks, there is no doubt what animal I am describing.

When a word finder is stuck on an “evasive word,” he can let his listener know the word for which he is searching by naming its category and salient characteristics.  Obviously, this doesn’t work for all words.  However, it is one more tool for him to have in his toolbox.

You can totally control the vocabulary and the level of difficulty with this game.  When I get energetic, I even use curricular words.  It’s a fun way to work on word finding skills for all ages.

 

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